The Month of Mario Begins: Nintendo Announces Four Discounted Mario Titles in Nintendo eShop

Nintendo has declared the four weeks preceding the Aug. 19 launch of New Super Mario Bros. 2 as the Month of Mario. To celebrate the launch of this new game, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo is making one Mario game per week available at a discount in theNintendo eShop. Mario's featured in well over 200 games since his inception, so which games is Nintendo releasing?

July 26 - Aug. 1 Super Mario Bros. $3.99
Aug. 2 - Aug. 8 Super Mario Land $2.99
Aug. 9 - Aug. 15 Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins $2.99
Aug. 16 - Aug. 22 Mario's Picross $2.99

Four Mario games from the mid 80's and early 90's? Wow, you're too good to us Nintendo.

Cynicism aside, Super Mario Bros. IS a classic, Mario Land gave Mario a pretty nifty sub, and Mario Land 2 introduced us to Wario. As for Mario's Picross? Meh...

New Super Mario Brothers 2 holds the special distinction of being the first ever fully downloadable game on the 3DS (or any Nintendo system), as well as the first Nintendo game to feature DLC. The game will have an emphasis on coin collecting, with various items dedicated to producing large amounts of coins. These include Gold Flowers that turn blocks into coins, rings that temporarily turn enemies gold and a block mask that produces coins as Mario runs, as well as a gold variant of the Super Leaf.

New Super Mario Brothers 2 is out this summer, August 19.