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Super Mario Bros. 2[a] is a 1988 platform game developed by Nintendo Research & Development 4 (R&D4) and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It is an American localization of the 1987 Japanese advergame Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic,[b] retooled as a sequel to Super Mario Bros. (1985). It follows Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool as they attempt to save the dream world Subcon from King Wart, an evil frog. Players progress through a series of side-scrolling levels, collecting items and defeating enemies.
| Super Mario Bros. 2 | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Nintendo R&D4 |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Director(s) | Kensuke Tanabe |
| Producer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Composer(s) | Koji Kondo |
| Series | Super Mario |
| Platform(s) | Family Computer Disk System, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy Advance |
| Release | Famicom Disk System
|
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Nintendo of America found the Japanese sequel to Super Mario Bros. unsuitable for release in the United States for its intense difficulty and visual inferiority to other games. Doki Doki Panic had been in development as a Mario sequel by Kensuke Tanabe, originally a multiplayer-focused platformer with vertically scrolling gameplay. Fuji TV approached Nintendo with creating a game to promote its Yume Kōjō '87 technology exposition, to which Tanabe's prototype was altered into an advergame. When the American branch suggested reworking an older title into a Mario game, Doki Doki Panic was chosen and rebranded as a Super Mario Bros. sequel.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a side-scrolling platform game. Its plot involves Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool navigating through the dream world of Subcon to defeat the tyrannical frog Wart.[1]: 3–4 Players can select one of these characters before beginning a stage. All four can run, jump, and climb ladders or vines, but also possess a unique strength that causes them to be controlled differently. Luigi can jump the highest; Mario can jump the farthest; Princess Toadstool can float; and Toad's strength allows him to pick up items quickly. Players can move either left or right, as well as vertically in some areas. Unlike other Mario games, the characters cannot defeat enemies by jumping on them; but they can stand on, ride on, and jump on the enemies. Instead, the character picks up and throws objects at the enemies or throws the enemies away to defeat them. These objects include vegetables plucked from the ground or other enemies.[1]: 13–16
The game consists of 20 different levels across the seven worlds comprising Subcon. Each world has three levels, except World 7, which has two.[1]: 6 Each world has a particular theme that dictates the obstacles and enemies encountered in its levels, such as desert areas with dangerous quicksand and snowy areas with slippery surfaces. Levels contain multiple sections or rooms that are connected via doors or ladders. Some rooms are accessible by entering certain jars. Magic potions found in each level are used to temporarily access "Sub-space", an inverted area where the player can collect coins and Mushrooms that increase the character's maximum health. In addition, certain jars, when entered in Sub-space, will warp the player to the later worlds, skipping levels altogether. Other items available include cherries, which are collected in order to acquire a Starman; and the POW block, which can be used to quickly destroy all the enemies visible on the screen.[1]: 17–21 The player must defeat a boss enemy at the end of each of the first six worlds, then defeat Wart himself at the end of World 7 to complete the game.
The player starts Super Mario Bros. 2 with three lives, which are lost each time the player's character loses all health from enemy or hazard damage or when the character falls off the screen. The player can replenish health by collecting floating hearts that appear upon defeating a certain number of enemies. The player will receive a Game Over upon losing the last life, though the player may continue up to twice in one game. Additional extra lives may be obtained by collecting hidden 1-Up Mushrooms or by using the coins collected from Sub-space to win the slot machine minigame played between the levels.[1]: 9–10, 19, 22
Background
In 1986, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 2, a sequel to its bestselling Super Mario Bros. (1985), for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. The sequel used the same game engine as Super Mario Bros. and featured new levels and mechanics, some of which were culled from the arcade game Vs. Super Mario Bros.[2][3] Though it was commercially successful and became the Disk System's bestseller,[4] Super Mario Bros. 2 was criticized for its intense difficulty level and recycling of assets from the original.[5] Nonetheless, Nintendo of Japan shipped the game to its North American office to see if a Western release for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) would be appropriate.
Nintendo of America spokesperson Howard Phillips played the game and was astonished by its unfair, "stymieing" difficulty.[6] As the North American game market was still recovering from the market crash in 1983, Phillips believed releasing a difficult and frustrating sequel to the most-popular NES game would damage the market and the Super Mario brand.[6] Nintendo of America was also concerned its visual similarities to the original would make it seem outdated in comparison to other releases, especially with the time required to convert it from a Disk System game into a cartridge. Phillips forwarded his opinion to Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa, who chose not to release it in the United States in the belief it would be a commercial failure. Nintendo of America requested a more player-friendly sequel, as they feared without one, its flagship franchise would fall into obscurity.[2]
Production
While Nintendo of America was evaluating Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo Research & Development 4 (R&D4) designer Kensuke Tanabe had been working on a multiplayer-focused Mario sequel for the NES where players ascended vertically rather than horizontally. It also placed emphasis on lifting up and tossing objects across the screen, such as items, blocks, and other players. Tanabe was unsatisfied with its progress since he did not find it enjoyable, so Shigeru Miyamoto, the head of the R&D4 department, suggested adding horizontally-scrolling levels to complement the vertically-scrolling gameplay. It proved too complex for the hardware of the NES at the time, and Tanabe chose to shelve the prototype when he rejected making significant modifications to the engine.
Following its cancellation, Nintendo was approached by Fuji TV to create a game based on its Yume Kōjō '87 (Dream Factory) technology exposition.[7] Fuji executives handed Tanabe a sheet of paper with drawings of its Arabic-inspired mascot characters and requested he produces a game with them.[7] Tanabe worked with Miyamoto to alter his prototype into a Mario-esque action game using the Yume Kōjō characters.[7] The advergame Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic was released on July 10, 1987 for the Famicom Disk System.[7]
After discussions with his father-in-law, Hiroshi Yamauchi, Arakawa made the decision to retrofit an older Nintendo title into a Mario game. Doki Doki Panic, having been intended as a Mario sequel from the beginning and sharing many of the same staff as the original Super Mario Bros., was chosen as a potential answer.[8] Though Fuji TV held the rights to the playable characters, Nintendo owned everything else, and could rebrand it into a Mario game without any legal disputes. Nintendo sent the game to its American office for review with a note asking if rebranding it as a Super Mario Bros. sequel would be appropriate. Nintendo of America approved the decision, as Tanabe and R&D4 began work on a version of Doki Doki Panic for North America. Outside the Yume Kōjō characters being replaced with those from the Mario series, its gameplay and artwork were modified to bring it in line with the Mario universe, including the addition of sprinting and certain objects being replaced with those from Super Mario Bros., such as extra life hearts being changed to mushrooms.
Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 2 on October 9, 1988 in North America, and on April 28, 1989 in Europe. To hype up its release, it was selected as the featured game in the first volume of Nintendo Power magazine, with a front cover designed by Will Vinton Studios, the production company behind the California Raisins claymation advertisements.[9] The industry-wide chip shortage of 1988 prevented Nintendo from producing as many copies as hoped. As a result of its popularity in North America, Nintendo re-released Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan on September 14, 1992, as Super Mario USA.[10]
In 1993, Super Mario Bros. 2 was remade for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as part of the compilation Super Mario All-Stars, which includes similar remakes for the other three Super Mario games on the NES.[11] The All-Stars version features updated graphics and music, in addition to minor quality of life improvements such as fixing glitches present in the original.[12] A variation of the All-Stars remake was published as BS Super Mario USA Power Challenge[c] in 1997 for the Satellaview, a Japan-exclusive peripheral for the Super Famicom that played games downloaded through satellite broadcasting. Power Challenge added in-between level cutscenes and gold Mario statues that could be collected to earn extra lives. Like other Satellaview games, it was released in an episodic format through the span of several weeks, and could only be played for a limited time during the broadcasting session.
The All-Stars remake of Super Mario Bros. 2 was re-released in 2001 as a launch title for the Game Boy Advance, titled Super Mario Advance.[13] The Advance version implements several new mechanics and ideas, including the addition of a new boss, Robirdo, and a gamemode where players revisit stages in search of Yoshi eggs.[14] Alongside the main game is a 16-bit remake of the arcade game Mario Bros. (1982). Super Mario Bros. 2 has been re-released several times through Nintendo's digital distribution platforms, including the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2012, the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013, and Nintendo Switch Online in 2019. The Super Mario Advance remake was re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2014.[15]
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Computer and Video Games | 97%[16] |
| Famitsu | 24/40[10] |
| GameSpot | 8/10[17] |
| IGN | 8.5/10[18] |
| Nintendo Life |   [19] |
| The Games Machine (UK) | 92%[20] |
Reception
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