New Super Mario Bros./Mario Vs. Luigi

The New Super Mario Bros.'s multiplayer is either single or multicard play, meaning it can play with 1 or more cards. There are 2 types of multiplayer; Mario vs. Luigi and Minigames. Some mini-games can also be played with 1 player, though the gameplay is somewhat different.

Mario vs. Luigi
Mario vs. Luigi is the main competitive form of multiplayer and has 2 players compete with each other in a battle for stars.

Set up

 * 1: Upon selecting the option from the main menu, you will be asked if you wish to compete with someone who owns the New Super Mario Bros., or someone who does not. Choose whichever is appropriate.
 * 1A: If you are playing with someone who does not own a copy of the game, you will be asked which Mario brother you wish to play as; Mario or Luigi. The differences are cosmetic only, choose whichever you want.
 * 1B:  After choosing your Bro., you will need to have whoever you are playing with select "DS Download Play" from the DS bootup menu. After a brief period you will see this message: "(Username of other player+Bro. you did not choose) has appeared! Play a game?". If you want to play with the person, select yes. If not, press no.
 * 2: You will be confronted by an options screen. The options are:
 * Wins: How many wins are needed are needed to finish the match. Ranges from 1 to 3. Default 2, a best out of 3 game.
 * Big Star: How many big stars are needed to win the game. Possible settings are 3, 5 (default) and 10. For longer games, select more stars.
 * Mario/Luigi's Lives: How many lives the Bros. have. Possible settings are 3, 5 and Endless (default). Changing the lives from Endless can change the game from a star collecting race to a race to collect coins in the hope of getting a Starman, Mega Mushroom or Blue Shell to kill the enemy. For a truly deathmatch centered game, set Big Stars to 10 and lives to 3.
 * Course: Determines the selection method for stages. Possible settings are Choose Each Time (default) and Random. Choose Each Time will make you choose the stage each time, Random will choose it for you.


 * 2A: If you chose Choose Each Time you will have to choose a stage (see below for info). If you set it to Random, you will be plunged into one of the stages listed below.

Stages

 * Grass Land: Modeled off the World 1-1 of the original Super Mario Bros., this stage is fairly basic, the only thing notable with this stage is that it has more enemies than any other. Player 1 should move off to the left, get the powerup, coins and Big Star (if it's there). Afterwards, stomp the Green Koopa, carry it's shell and fling it in the general direction of the opponent. Player 2, on the other hand, should move to the right, getting the powerup, Big Star (once again, if it's there) and take advantage of the greater number of coins. From there, anything can happen. Stage size: Medium.
 * Block World: Modeled after the many underground courses, this stage is highly erratic. Gameplay consists mostly of frantic collection of coins and beating the Big Stars out of your foe. Consider yourself lucky if you get a Starman, extremely so if you get a Mega Mushroom. Although, if you do get a Mega Mushroom, heres a tip: Don't jump unless you want to die. A stray Koopa shell can deal a lot of damage to the stage and Mini Mushrooms should be avoided. Stage size: Tiny.
 * Icy Waste: Modeled after World 5 in general, this stage involves traversing large distances while avoiding the Bullet Bills. Both players should head for the Blue Koopa (to the right) as quickly as possible as the Blue Shell it drops is crucial to winning the game. If you get the first shell you should focus on getting Big Stars and preventing your opponent from getting a shell. If you did not get the first shell, get only Big Stars that are close to you and focus on getting a Blue Shell of your own. Once both players have a shell, the winner will mostly be determined by where the Big Star spawns, however, one thing that can help a lot is the knowledge of how to fly (using the spring pad) at high speed. It is easiest to to with a Blue Shell (and how to is based on the Blue Shell) but it is possible in all forms other than Mega. Stage size: Huge.
 * How to: Distance yourself from the spring pad and begin dashing. Once you are in your shell, let go of the D-pad (but not the dash button). Jump to land on the spring pad and then bounce off it. If performed correctly you will be travelling through the air at roughly twice the normal speed.
 * Pipe World: Modeled after a stage in World 7, this course is strange due to the fact that wall-jumping gives a huge advantage and dying is common. Despite the large number of pipes only 2 can be warped through. Stage size: Small.
 * Splat World: Modeled after several towers/castles, the stage probably has the highest fatality rate of them all. Gameplay is slow and semi-strategic, with players having plenty of time to plot their next move while they are trapped in one of the small alcoves. Consider yourself extremly lucky if you get a Mini Mushroom, but if you do, stay away from fireballs.

Basic Gameplay
Controls are exactly the same as Mario Game. The basic premise is to collect the defined number of Big Stars as quickly as possible while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Getting damaged will cause you to lose a Big Star, and, depending on what you get damaged by, can power you down/kill you.

Mini Games
Engage in a set of stylus driven mini-games with 1-4 people. The games you can play depend on the number of players. There are 5 categories of minigames, each representing a different style of play. The categories are: Action (Games based on skill with the stylus), Puzzle (Games based on intelligent though), Table (Games based mostly on luck), Variety (Games that do not fit in other genres, not a genre in 2-player) and 1-on-1 (Games where you actions affect the other player, and vice-versa. 2-player only).

Some of the 1-player games are exactly the same as those in Super Mario 64 DS.

The mini-games themselves, grouped by genre, are:

Action
Snowball Slalom
 * Get Snowman's head through an icy course, avoiding rocks and giant penguins along the way.
 * Rub the touch screen to make Snowman's head move. Do not touch his head, as this will slow you down. As you move, the head will get bigger, making it harder to avoid obstacles and increasing your speed.
 * Moving is more efficient if you stroke the touch screen like you might do to a cat rather than rubbing it like you might do to a dog. Either way, do it quickly for best results.
 * Hitting a rock or penguin will make you smaller (good) and stop you in your tracks (bad). Avoid them!
 * You can rebound off the wall of the course with no ill effects, this can be handy in some situations.
 * You only have 20 seconds to finish this game.

Lakitu Launch
 * Shoot as many Spinies as you can into the baskets.
 * Once a certain number of Spinies have been shot in a basket, the basket will stop moving and fall a bit, doing this again will make it plummet to the ground.
 * This can be both good and bad.
 * There is no countdown to the start of this game.
 * You have 30 seconds to fling Spinies into the bucket.
 * In two player mode, each of the baskets is a different colour, fling the Spinies only in your basket, or they will give your opponent score.

Danger, Bomb-omb, Danger!
 * Avoid fireballs and Bowser's breath for as long as possible.
 * Move your Bomb-omb using the stylus.
 * While it is possible to achieve a decent score simply by tapping where you want to go, it is much easier to simply hold your stylus on the
 * The statue of Bowser will periodically move and breath fire, beware, the flame itself is not hard to avoid but it can pin you to one side.
 * Fireballs move slowly, but can be hard to see and they are very numerous.
 * In multiplayer, bumping your foe will not affect him, but it will affect you.
 * Use this to your advantage by blocking your opponent.

Whac-a-Mole
 * Whack moles as they come out of their holes using the stylus. Don't hit Luigi though.
 * While hitting a mole gives 1 point, whacking Luigi will take 3 away. Be careful.
 * In multiplayer, there are 3 levels of difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the less moles there will be, and, as a result, more Luigis.

Balloon Race
 * Blow into the microphone to make Yoshi rise. Get to the top before time runs out!
 * You have 20 seconds to finish this game.
 * Running into a Fly Guy will cause you lose a balloon.
 * You only have 2 balloons, so if you get hit twice you lose.

Snowball Fight
 * Hurl snowballs at each other! Highest scorer wins!
 * Tapping the top of the will throw a snowball, while tapping the bottom will cause you to move to that point.
 * Around the playing field are snowmen, ducking behind one of these will provide temporary cover.
 * You have 10 snowballs, fling these rapidly for best results.
 * If you run out of snowballs, tap a snowman (or the remains of one) to get a new batch.
 * Hitting your opponent will yield 5 points, while hitting a snowman gives 1.
 * Not available in single player.