The release of New Super Mario Bros. 2 has seen a lot of praise but also a lot of criticism. The majority of players are pleased by the enjoyable and robust 2D platforming but many acknowledge that not much has changed since the previous titles.

The fact that another New Super Mario Bros. title is on the way this fall has only led to further concern about overstretching the series but Iwata is keen to ensure people that Nintendo don't plan on making this a yearly event. They won't over-use Mario, they plan to stick to just one 2D Mario title per platform.

Iwata does admit that working on two 2D Mario titles at the same time has been strange but is certain that the two titles are unique enough to not cause confusion for consumers. 

"We only create a New Super Mario Bros. title one per platform. I think we'll probably go ahead and continue at that pace. That being said, that's probably Miyamoto's choice, so I can't give you a 100% guarantee that that's the pace we'll continue at."

Have you played New Super Mario Bros. 2 yet? See what we think in our review.