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*Game Houses and Shops, the former replacing Toad Houses, appear on world maps. Dead enemies remain dead even after going into and exiting a bonus room. *In Score Attack, Enemy spawners are disabled, and shell-based enemies stay in their spots if scrolled offscreen rather than respawning in their original locations. Also, each user can register only once per board, excluding on local boards, where the player may input a name of up to thirteen characters, and can wipe individual local highscores or all scores at will without deleting the player's save file(s). The main game also features a highscore feature, but it's only for players that finish the game after getting every Star Coin in the game, calculated based on time taken, number of deaths and continues consumed. Two additional modes: Time Attack and Score Attack, are also available, and each come with their own respective leaderboards, with local scores, recent plays, regional best, and worldwide best. If the player assists in beating the level, they will not have to replay the level when said player unlocks it in the main game, and they can just skip it, but the level will have to be replayed locally or during a "Host" session to have it count towards his/her game completion percentage. *With the online co-op's "Join" system, it is possible for players to end up in levels they haven't unlocked in the main story by joining another player that has already progressed through most of the game. Unlike NSMBWii and NSMBU, it is possible for players to be scrolled off without getting killed.
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Certain enemies and bosses are given attack and/or speed boosts the more players active. *The first game features single player and two player co-op, either locally or online, while the second game has the above, but expands the number to four locally or six online. *Melee attacks (punches, kicks, etc.) can be pulled off by the main characters in the second game.
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