Game

New Super Mario Bros.

2006

Insufficient evidence

We did not find enough credible, independent evidence to publish a numeric cash-grab score. Unrated is more honest than a guess.

What counts as a cash grab?

Commercial extraction prioritized over meaningful consumer or creative value. Profit, popularity, adaptations, sequels, remakes, high budgets, and normal marketing do not count by themselves.

Why?

New Super Mario Bros. is a 2006 Nintendo DS platformer that became the system's best selling game, moving over 30.8 million copies worldwide according to sales reporting. Contemporary reviews from outlets like GameSpot praised its level design, new 2.5D presentation and mechanics such as the Mega Mushroom, and Nintendo documentation and retail listings show it launched as a full, traditionally priced retail product with no microtransactions, DLC or documented predatory monetization practices.

No credible sources report predatory monetization, microtransactions, or deceptive pricing for the 2006 DS release.
Contemporary professional reviews praised design, level variety, and new presentation, indicating substantial creative effort.
Nintendo and reputable outlets document large commercial success, but high sales alone are not evidence of extraction.

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Score factors

Direction	Factor	Evidence	Impact
Against	Positive critical reception and level design	Major reviews at release praised its classic 2D gameplay, level design and new presentation, indicating notable creative value.[1][2]	-18
Against	New mechanics and content	The game introduced new presentation and mechanics for a 2D Mario, eight worlds, minigames and items like the Mega Mushroom, showing substantive new content.[3][4]	-16

Confidence: Low · No source-backed commercial-extraction signal was found. · Researched 2026-08-01

Sources reviewed

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