The final two DLC course packs for New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be arriving on North American 3DS systems on December 20th.  Each course pack costs $2.50 and will consist of three new levels.  The "Mystery Adventures Pack" centers around solving puzzles to find hidden coins and pathways, while the "Impossible Pack" pits normal, non-Super Mario against three levels devoid of any coins or power-up items.

Trailer (IGN/Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igOFOEA4q3k

A new Nintendo Direct was released by NCL today, revealing that a special classic level pack will be released for New Super Mario Bros. 2.  In celebration of gamers collecting over 300 billion coins in the game, the pack will be free until January 31st.  The pack will consist of rearranged levels from Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., and Super Mario Bros. 3, and will feature new secrets hidden within the classic layouts.

At the moment, the level pack is only confirmed for Japan; hopefully a U.S. Nintendo Direct will appear shortly.

Source: Nintendo Direct

Two new New Super Mario Bros. 2 Coin Rush levels became available for purchase shortly after the Nintendo Direct presentation this week: "Gold Mushroom Pack" "Coin Challenge Pack B."  Each is available for $2.50 (or as a set for $5), and "Coin Challenge Pack B" also supports a high score table on the NSMB2 web site.  Visit the shop section of Coin Rush mode to purchase these levels.

Donkey Kong: Original Edition, with all four stages, is finally getting released in North America!

As many of you know, the NES port of Donkey Kong only featured three of the four stages present in the original arcade version.  Donkey Kong: Original Edition is an enhanced version of the NES port featuring the previously missing Factory stage.

To get your free copy, simply purchase one of a select number of eShop digital titles and register it on the Club Nintendo site before January 6, 2013.  Eligible titles include: Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Style Savvy: Trend Setters, Crosswords Plus, Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone!, or Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask.

Note that you must buy the eShop digital copy of any one of the listed games to receive Donkey Kong: Original Edition.  Retail (cartridge) releases are not eligible for this bonus.

This special version of Donkey Kong was first released as a preinstalled title on the 2010 European Mario 25th Anniversary Wii set, and recently made available to Japanese 3DS owners with the eShop purchase of New Super Mario Bros. 2.  Pie jumping finally returns to North America!

Source: Club Nintendo

Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the Nintendo 3DS will launch on November 11, Nintendo of America announced today in a press release.

NOA's portable game lineup also noted that the release of Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, originally scheduled for later this year, has been pushed back to the first half of 2013.

Link: NintendoWorldReport.com

A new Puzzle Swap puzzle has been pushed out to the 3DS StreetPass Plaza.  The New Super Mario Bros. 2 puzzle features 40 pink and purple puzzles pieces; collect them all to unlock a NSMB2-themed 3D image!

Club Nintendo is offering Mario Tennis (N64) for Wii Virtual Console as a reward for a limited time. From July 1 through July 22, members can exchange 150 coins for a download ticket, which is only redeemable in the Wii Shop Channel.

Link: Club Nintendo

Several new Mario titles for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS were featured during Nintendo's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) today.

Nintendo of America President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime presented a video of New Super Mario Bros. U, which includes a flying squirrel power-up and baby Yoshis that balloon up. In Nintendo Land, also for Wii U, two of the sub-games announced were Donkey Kong's Crash Course and Luigi's Ghost Mansion.

New footage of New Super Mario Bros. 2 for Nintendo 3DS was shown, and an August 19 release date was announced by Scott Moffitt, NOA Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Two other previously-announced 3DS games, Paper Mario: Sticker Star and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, are planned for release during the holiday season.

On NOA's E3 website, Game & Wario (working title) was announced for Wii U, but not shown during the press conference.

Link: Nintendo All-Access @ E3 2012 (NOA)

Donkey Kong (Game Boy) is one of the four new game rewards available now on Club Nintendo. From today through June 30, Club Nintendo members can exchange 100 coins for a download ticket redeemable only on a Nintendo 3DS. The game is also available for download from the Nintendo eShop for $3.99.

The other three games added to Club Nintendo are Brain Age Express: Sudoku for Nintendo 3DS, Kirby Super Star for Wii, and Maboshi's Arcade for Wii.

Link: Club Nintendo

An update for Mario Kart 7 was released on the 3DS eShop today.  The update removes track-warping exploits found on Maka Wuhu, Wuhu Loop, and Bowser Castle 1.  However, the update only fixes these exploits in online games; the exploits/glitches continue to work in single player mode and in local matches.

The eShop entry for the update states that the update will be required for online play starting on May 16th.

Source: Nintendo eShop

Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Donkey Kong Country Returns are both getting official price drops this June.  On or around June 10th, the MSRP for both titles will be just $29.99.

Source : Nintendo.com

The Nintendo Selects line of Wii titles will be getting two new games on June 10th of this year.  New Play Control Mario Power Tennis is being added to the line, and New Play Control Pikmin 2 will finally get a North American release as well.  Both will carry an MSRP of $19.99.

Source: Nintendo.com

Iwata revealed that the upcoming New Super Mario Bros. 2 will be simultaneously released as a cartridge and an eShop download.

Iwata directly stated that digital copies of retail titles would be available for direct purchase from the eShop itself, and that retail stores would be selling download codes for those same titles.

In a seeming contradiction, Iwata also seemed to state that Nintendo would be eschewing from the standard digital sales practice and selling through retail partners instead of directly to the consumer, thus letting stores set the prices of games.  Given that these two comments appear to flatly oppose each other, perhaps there was a mishap in translation.

Iwata regarding direct eShop sales of digital titles:
"Naturally, consumers can digitally buy packaged software at the Nintendo eShop."

Iwata regarding direct corporate sales of digital titles vs. retail sales of digital titles:
"As you can see here, in the common digital product distribution of today, it is the standard business model where the platform holder makes direct sales to consumers, which is often called the disintermediation type of digital product distribution. However, the digital product distribution channel Nintendo conceives is not the disintermediation type.

As you can see, Nintendo sells its digital download products to its retailers, and the retailers sell them to the consumers.

In this case, retailers are going to decide the retail prices of our digital download products, which have been decided by Nintendo so far. Nintendo will not be involved in the retailer’s retail price decision. Also, Nintendo has so far been shouldering the billing and the settlement costs at the Nintendo eShop business, but with this system, just like the ordinary packaged products, Nintendo will not shoulder these costs."

Source: NCL Financial Results Briefing for Fiscal Year Ended March 2012 (English)

During today's Nintendo Direct presentation, Nintendo revealed that an upcoming firmware update would provide patching capabilities on the 3DS.  In May, Mario Kart 7 will receive a patch to eliminate the glitched shortcuts being used on Maku Wahu and other tracks.

Link: NCL Nintendo Direct Presentation (Japanese)

During today's Nintendo Direct webstream, Nintendo revealed New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS.  The game is scheduled for release in August of this year.  Preliminary screenshots show a return of both the Raccoon Tail and the P-Meter from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Link: NCL Nintendo Direct Presentation (Japanese)
Link: NOA Twitter Announcement (with screenshot)

Nintendo has confirmed that the New Super Mario Bros. Mii demo from last year's E3 will be revealed as a full-fledged game at this year's E3. The new Mario game was mentioned, but not specifically named in an El Mundo newspaper interview in which Miyamoto states that the new Pikmin game for the Wii U will be shown at E3 as well.

Source: Nintendo World Report: "New Super Mario Bros. Mii Is the Mario Bros. Wii U Game"
Source: El Mundo: "Miyamoto: 'No me veo como un artista, hago videojuegos sólo para entretener'"

Nintendo of America issued a new press release detailing sales figures for a number of their key titles.  Super Mario Galaxy 2 has sold more than five million copies in the U.S., but it's far from the best selling Wii Mario game -- Mario Kart Wii still holds that title.  Total U.S. sales for Mario's Wii and 3DS games are as follows:

* Mario Kart Wii - 11.3 million
* New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 8.86 Million
* Super Smash Bros. Brawl - 5.43 million
* Super Mario Galaxy - 5.04 million
* Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 5 million
* Super Mario 3D Land - 1.85 million
* Mario Kart 7 - 1.45 million

Link: NOA press release

Nintendo's Koichi Hayashida will be giving a presentation entitled "Thinking In 3D: The Development of Super Mario 3D Land" at today's session of the 2012 Game Developers Conference.  Nintendo of America is going to be offering updates on their Twitter feed today at 3:30 PST (#SuperMario3D by @NintendoAmerica).  Industry and news sites will hopefully have a transcript of the event up later today.

Links: NoA Twitter Feed for #SuperMario3D
GDC Page on "Thinking In 3D: The Development of Super Mario 3D Land"

Super Mario 3D Land has sold 1.75 million copies in the U.S., with Mario Kart 7 following close behind with 1.45 million copies sold, Nintendo of America revealed today in a press release. The updated sales figures accompany news of the Nintendo 3DS reaching 4.5 million units sold in its first year, which is almost twice the number of Nintendo DS units sold during its first 12 months.

Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 were released November 13, 2011 and December 4, 2011, respectively, in North America. The Nintendo 3DS launched March 27, 2011.

Link: NOA press release

For the upcoming release of Mario Party 9, Nintendo of America is giving away six copies of the game and six 30 minute appearances by the famous Mario Bros.. The contest ends on March 7th, so you'll need to hurry on over to Twitter if you want to enter! 

Contestants need "to (1) be an @NintendoAmerica Twitter follower during the Contest Period, and (2) using the hashtag '#1UPMyParty,' tweet in 140 characters or less why Sponsor should crash your party along with a brief description of your party (including city and state where the party will be) during the Contest Period." 

If you win, be sure to send TMK a photo.

Link: Mario Party 9 Contest

Mario's Picross has replaced Mario Party 2 as the lone Mario game reward available on Club Nintendo. Starting today, members can redeem 100 coins for Mario's Picross on Nintendo 3DS (normally $3.99), which will be part of the rewards catalog through March 31.

Art Style: Cubello (Wii) and Radar Mission (Nintendo 3DS) were the other two games added this month.

Link: Club Nintendo

Mario Tennis Open for 3DS will release in USA on May 20, Japan on May 24, and Europe on May 25, Nintendo announced during today's Nintendo Direct webcast. Mario Tennis Open is being developed by Camelot, the team behind the Mario Tennis series that started in 2000 with Mario Tennis on Nintendo 64.

Before today's announcement, the game was known as "Mario Tennis."

Links:
Nintendo Direct 02.22.2012 (NOA)
Nintendo Direct 22.02.2012 (NOE)
Nintendo Direct 2012.2.22 (NCL)

Super Mario Bros. is now available on the 3DS eShop.  Previously available only to 3DS Ambassadors, the 3DS version is identical to the original NES release, albeit with a save state function.  The game is available for $4.99 on the 3DS eShop, and 3DS Ambassadors can upgrade to the newer version for free.

Early Wednesday morning in North America, Nintendo released an update for the the 3DS Virtual Console version of Super Mario Bros.  While the game content hasn't changed, the emulator and manual have.  The title now includes the standard 3DS Virtual Console save state function and a full manual.  Interestingly enough, the manual seems to adhere fairly closely to that of the original game, at least in terms of background story and character names; for example, Princess Peach is referred to solely by her original U.S. name of "Princess Toadstool."

This update was released last week in Europe, and even earlier in Japan.

Mario Party 2 is now available as a downloadable reward on Club Nintendo. From today through February 29, Club Nintendo members can redeem 150 Coins for Mario Party 2, which normally costs 1,000 Wii Points.

Art Academy: First Semester (DSiWare) was the only other game added to the rewards catalog today.

Link: Club Nintendo

Dr. Mario Online Rx and Dr. Mario Express are now part of the Club Nintendo rewards catalog for a limited time. Members can trade in 100 coins for Dr. Mario Online Rx on Wii (normally 1,000 Wii Points), and 150 coins for Dr. Mario Express on Nintendo 3DS (normally $4.99). The two Dr. Mario games, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Kirby's Dream Land will be available as rewards through January 31.

Link: Club Nintendo