'New Super Mario Bros. 2' confirmed for August release in U.S.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 hits North America in August.

New Super Mario Bros. 2, announced last night in Japan, was confirmed as an August release in North America this morning by Nintendo of America.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is a traditional side-scrolling adventure game featuring Mario, Luigi and "loads of other favorite characters from the popular Mario series," according to the release. Nintendo writes that the game was created specifically as a pick-up-and-play experience for players of all skill levels on the Nintendo 3DS system.

Grid View

Nintendo of America also reiterated that they would be releasing a special anniversary Kirby collection for the Wii sometime this year. The disc will include "a variety of previously released, fan-favorite Kirby games."

"A new Mario game and a big Kirby celebration will help make 2012 an especially great year for Nintendo fans," said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America's executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. "Whether they're playing at home on Wii or using Nintendo 3DS to have fun on the go, players can look forward to experiencing some of our biggest franchises in exciting ways."

Nintendo of America also confirmed that a new system update for the Nintendo 3DS is hitting North American devices on April 25. The update will allow users to create folders on the system's Home menu.On April 28, a recent series of Kid Icarus anime videos will return to the Nintendo Video service, according to the release.

Finally, Nintendo of America said they're releasing an update for Mario Kart 7 in mid-May to patch shortcut exploits in the game.