Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 is the second game within the in the West. It was originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, and would later be reissued for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as part of Super Mario All-Stars and for the Game Boy Advance in Super Mario Advance. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 has been reissued on the different iterations of the Virtual Console as well as on Nintendo Switch Online.
In Japan, there was a different Super Mario Bros. 2, which later came to be known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. The game was deemed too difficult for Western audiences and rejected for release by Nintendo of America, so Nintendo took one of their Family Computer Disk System titles, Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, and reskinned it with Mario characters. The Western Super Mario Bros. 2 would not be released in Japan until 1992, with the title Super Mario USA.
==Story==
The storyline is taken directly from the manual for the game:
:One evening, Mario had a strange dream. He dreamt of a long, long stairway leading up to a door. As soon as the door opened, he was confronted with a world he had never seen before, spreading out as far as his eyes could see. When he strained his ears to listen, he heard a faint voice saying "Welcome to 'Subcon', the land of dreams. We have been cursed by Wart and we are completely under his evil spell. We have been awaiting your arrival. Please defeat Wart and return Subcon to its natural state. The curse Wart has put on you in the real world will not have any effect upon you here. Remember, Wart hates vegetables. Please help us!" At the same time this was heard, a bolt of lightning flashed before Mario's eyes. Stunned, Mario lost his footing and tumbled upside down. He awoke with a start to find himself sitting up in his bed. To clear his head, Mario talked to Luigi, Toad and Princess about the strange dream he had. They decide to go to a nearby mountain for a picnic. After arriving at the picnic area and looking at the scenery, they see a small cave nearby. When they enter this cave, to their great surprise, there's a stairway leading up, up and up. It is exactly like the one Mario saw in his dream. They all walk together up the stairs and at the top, find a door just like the one in Mario's dream. When Mario and his friends, in fear, open the door, to their surprise, the world that he saw in his dream spreads out before them!...
In the end, Mario and his friends trounce Wart and open a room containing one of Subcon's characteristic vases. After pulling a stubborn cork from the mouth of the vase, eight red fairies spring out. The four heroes are lauded for defeating Wart, whose beaten body is passed over the crowd and tossed aside. Immediately after, the screen shows Mario sleeping, indicating that the entire adventure had been a dream.
== Gameplay ==
Super Mario Bros. 2 has little in common with the original Super Mario Bros., mainly because it did not originate as a Mario game. Instead of just Mario and Luigi, the player can also choose to play as either Toad or Princess Peach. They can choose to play as a different character before starting each level.
Some of Super Mario Bros. 2s mechanics include plucking clumps of grass to receive a certain object, usually a vegetable, and then throw the vegetable at the enemy. Enemies cannot be defeated from jump attacks, but many can be picked up and thrown, and when it hits another enemy, both of them are defeated.
There are a few elements in common with Super Mario Bros., such as the appearances of the Mushroom and Starman, although the former has a different function. If the player has one health point remaining, they turn into their Small form. There are no power-ups that grant additional abilities in the Super form, so Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the only 2D Super Mario titles to not have additional forms after the Super form, the other one being Super Mario Run.
At the beginning of each level, the player can choose between the playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Peach. All four characters have different powers and statistics. When entering the next level, players can select a different character.
At the end of most levels, a Birdo has to be fought. The player has to jump on the eggs that it spits, grab them and throw them back, hitting Birdo three times to gain a crystal which opens the Mask Gate at the end of the level. There are several colors of Birdos: pink, which only spits eggs; red, which spits eggs and fireballs and green, which only spits fireballs. For the green Birdos, there are Mushroom Blocks nearby for the player to use instead. At the very end of the last level of a world, of which there are seven, the player's character has to fight a boss and defeat it to continue on to the next world.
Any defeated enemies, including a Birdo, can re-spawn if the character runs one screen away from the area where they normally appear and return, which may allow the character to defeat the enemies again in order to regain health if necessary. However, a defeated Birdo does not reappear unless the player's character leaves and re-enters the area where Birdo is fought.
==Characters==
===Playable characters===
Sprite	Name 	Description
/ 	Mario 	Mario is the balanced of the four. His jump, speed and power are at four out of five stars.
/ 	Luigi 	Luigi has the most advantaged jump of the four, with five out of five stars in that specific statistic. While his speed and power are only a three, his movement control is very touchy.
/ 	Toad 	Both Toad's speed and power are higher than the others', with a five in both statistics. To make up for those two high stats, Toad is the worst jumper of the four, with only a two in that statistic.
/ 	Princess Toadstool	Princess Toadstool does not excel in speed or power, with a two for both statistics. Her jump, though, is only a three. Peach is the only character who can perform a Floating Jump, allowing her to hover in the air for one and a half seconds.
===Supporting characters===
Sprite	Name 	Description
 	Subcon	A fairy-like species and the namesake of the game's setting, Subcon. Wart took over the Subcons' land and trapped them in jars, so the Subcon call for Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, and Toad to help rescue them.
===Enemies===
===Mini-bosses===
Sprite	Name 	Description
 	Birdo 	Birdo is a recurring mini-boss, appearing at the end of every first and second level in the worlds. Regular, pink Birdos shoot eggs, which can be picked up and thrown at it to attack. Red Birdos shoot either eggs or fireballs. Gray Birdos (which appear green in certain areas, due to the hardware's palette) shoots only fireballs, and can be attacked only from a Mushroom Block.
 	Mask Gate	Most Mask Gates are portals to other worlds, though one in World 7-2 is a mini-boss that attacks by flying into the player's character. It can be stunned temporarily by throwing a Mushroom Block at it, giving the player a chance to enter it and continue into Wart's room.
===Bosses===
Sprite	Name 	Description
 	Mouser 	Encountered at the end of World 1-3, then later in World 3-3, Mouser is the first boss. His attack involves throwing bombs. With good timing, the bomb can be thrown back at Mouser and explode on him to deal damage. A cosmetic difference between the two Mousers is that with pink ears and one with green ears. In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic only, a white Mouser is fought at the end of World 5-3.
 	Tryclyde	Tryclyde is a three-headed snake first encountered at the end of World 2-3 and then later at the end of World 6-3. He attacks by shooting fireballs from all three of his mouths. Tryclyde is defeated after being hit by three Mushroom Blocks.
 	Fryguy 	Fryguy is a living flame who appears at the end of World 4-3. He attacks by shooting fireballs. The player's character can damage Fryguy by throwing a Mushroom Block at him. After three hits, Fryguy divides into four Small Fry Guys, each requiring only one hit from a Mushroom Block to defeat. The player wins the battle after defeating every Small Fry Guy.
 	Clawgrip	Encountered at the end of World 5-3, replacing the white Mouse from Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, Clawgrip is a large, red crab who throws rocks to attack. The player's character can attack Clawgrip by picking up the rocks and throwing them back at him. After five hits, Clawgrip is defeated.
 	Wart 	The final boss, encountered at the end of World 7-2, Wart shoots hazardous bubbles at the player's character to attack. The player's character can attack Wart by picking up a vegetable spawned from the nearby Dream Machine and throwing it into Wart's mouth. After six hits, Wart is defeated.
==Items==
Sprite	Name 	Description
 	1 UP 	Collecting this gives the player's character an extra life.
 	Cherry 	They are scattered in fixed locations in every level. Collecting five causes a Starman to appear.
 	Coin 	Appearing only in Sub-space, plucking any grass patch gives the player's character a coin instead. Coins are not used in levels, unlike in Super Mario Bros., but rather during a Bonus Chance at the end.
 	Crystal Ball	Picking one up opens the mouth of the nearby Mask Gate, allowing the player's character to progress. A Crystal Ball is either in direct sight or appears after defeating Birdo.
 	Mushroom 	Appearing in fixed areas in Sub-space only, Mushrooms can be picked up by the player's character to receive an extra hit point for the rest of the level. The Mushroom restores any health if the player's character is not at full health.
 	Small heart 	Restores a missing hit point if the player's character is not at full health. One floats upward from the screen for every eight enemies defeated. If the player's character is small, collecting the item can grow them to their Super form.
 	Starman 	It spawns from the bottom of the screen, gradually zigzagging upward. A Starman appears only after the player's character collects five cherries. Like in Super Mario Bros., collecting a Starman gives the character temporary invincibility.
 	Stop Watch 	Appears from every fifth grass patch plucked and stops all enemies from moving temporarily.
==Projectiles==
Super Mario Bros. 2 has a myriad of objects that can be picked up and thrown. Some projectiles have additional functions.
Sprite	Name 	Description
 	Bomb 	A Bomb explodes eventually if picked up or thrown, damaging enemies and the player's character if they touch the explosion. Some Bombs can be plucked from the ground. Mouser throws Bombs to attack in both of his boss fights, and the player's character has to throw them at Mouser to counterattack.
 	Egg 	Eggs are objects spit out by pink Birdos, and sometimes by Red Birdos, as they can also spit out fireballs. The player's character can jump on an egg as it travels towards them and throw it at Birdo to attack. The player's character takes damage if the egg hits them.
 	Key 	Each key is required to unlock a Key Door. Because each key is guarded by a Phanto, it begins to chase the player's character while they hold the key, but not if they drop it or unlock a Locked Door with it.
 	Mushroom Block	Mushroom Blocks can either be stacked or thrown as a weapon. Using them is required in the fight against Tryclyde. A Mushroom Block has differing designs between some of the worlds.
 	POW 	Picking up and throwing a POW creates a powerful tremor that defeats most enemies onscreen.
 	Turtle Shell 	A Turtle Shell slides across the ground if thrown by the player's character, defeating any enemy in the path. The player's character can ride on a Turtle Shell. A Turtle Shell breaks upon hitting a wall.
 	Vegetable 	Coming in a variety of shapes and sizes, Vegetables are the most basic projectile and the most common. A vegetable bounces upon hitting an enemy, which can hit a number of other enemies, depending on how many are in range; if enough enemies are hit, each hit in succession rewards an extra life.
==Levels==
World 	Terrain 	Level 	Enemies found (first introduction in bold)
World 1	Grass 	World 1-1	Shy Guy, Tweeter, Ninji, Hoopster, Pink Birdo
World 1	Grass 	World 1-2	Pidgit, Beezo, Phanto, Ninji, Shy Guy, Snifit, Pink Birdo
World 1	Grass 	World 1-3	Snifit, Shy Guy, Trouter, Ninji, Spark, Phanto, Tweeter, Mouser
World 2	Desert 	World 2-1	Cobrat, Snifit, Shy Guy, Panser, Pink Birdo
World 2	Desert 	World 2-2	Cobrat, Beezo, Shy Guy, Pokey, Panser, Ninji, Snifit, Red Birdo
World 2	Desert 	World 2-3	Shy Guy, Beezo, Cobrat, Pokey, Tweeter, Phanto, Spark, Panser, Tryclyde
World 3	Grass 	World 3-1	Shy Guy, Pidgit, Beezo, Panser, Red Birdo
World 3	Grass 	World 3-2	Shy Guy, Ostro, Beezo, Tweeter, Porcupo, Red Birdo
World 3	Grass 	World 3-3	Albatoss, Bob-omb, Shy Guy, Ostro, Ninji, Spark, Snifit, Phanto, Tweeter, Panser, Ninji, Mouser (replaced in Advance by Robirdo)
World 4	Ice / Snow 	World 4-1	Flurry, Trouter, Shy Guy, Autobomb
World 4	Ice / Snow 	World 4-2	Beezo, Flurry, Snifit, Shy Guy, Autobomb, Porcupo, Red Birdo,
World 4	Ice / Snow 	World 4-3	Pink Birdo, Flurry, Shy Guy, Phanto, Beezo, Fryguy, Mini Fryguy
World 5	Grass (night)	World 5-1	Shy Guy, Ostro, Panser, Trouter, Gray Birdo
World 5	Grass (night)	World 5-2	Bob-omb, Hoopster, Shy Guy, Ostro, Porcupo, Panser, Ninji, Beezo, Snifit, Trouter, Red Birdo,
World 5	Grass (night)	World 5-3	Albatoss, Bob-omb, Panser, Spark, Shy Guy, Snifit, Pidgit, Red Birdo, Clawgrip
World 6	Desert 	World 6-1	Cobrat, Shy Guy, Pokey, Panser, Phanto, Green Birdo
World 6	Desert 	World 6-2	Albatoss, Panzer, Beezo, Green Birdo
World 6	Desert 	World 6-3	Shy Guy, Pokey, Cobrat, Bob-omb, Ninji, Hoopster, Snifit, Red Birdo, Tryclyde (replaced in Advance by Mouser)
World 7	Cloud 	World 7-1	Albatoss, Bob-omb, Ninji, Shy Guy, Spark, Tweeter, Snifit, Hoopster, Gray Birdo
World 7	Cloud 	World 7-2	Snifit, Ninji, Shy Guy, Bob-omb, Panser, Spark, Tweeter, Red Birdo, Phanto, Hawkmouth (as an enemy), Wart
==Comparison to Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic==
Most of the other differences between Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 are small graphical changes, such as animation being added to the POW Blocks, bomb fuses, cherries, and vegetables for the localized version, mushrooms replacing hearts as health boosters, and the characters shrinking when reduced to only one unit of health. The save feature was also taken out of the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2, due to the limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System compared to the Famicom Disk System (battery-backup was also very expensive). It was restored in the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2.
Main character switches:
*Mario → Imajin, the fearless son.
*Luigi → Mama, the mother.
*Toad → Papa, the father.
*Princess → Lina, the little sister.
All abilities of the characters remain the same.
Other changes include:
*In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, one must beat the entire game once with each character to tally up to four times to view the ending.
*In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, the player cannot change characters until they defeat an end boss of a chapter. Even if the player warps to a new chapter, they still have to play as the same character until an end boss is defeated.
*In the manual that comes with the original NES cartridge for Super Mario Bros. 2, Phanto (the head that chases the player's character around when holding a key) looks a little different. Nintendo inadvertently placed a screenshot of its appearance in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Originally, he was a passive, expressionless mask, whereas in Super Mario Bros. 2, he has slanted eyes with an evil, mischievous grin.
**Furthermore, Phanto begins its pursuit only after the player leaves Phanto's chamber, unlike Super Mario Bros. 2, in which it chases the player when they retrieve the key from the chamber. The "shuddering to life" sound and animation is unique to Super Mario Bros. 2.
*Waterfalls, especially the enormous one in World 3-1, are more speedy in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.
*Extra lives were originally representations of the character's face; 1-up Mushroom are a feature specific to the Mario series. The traditional "1-up sound" was originally the short tune played when you pick up a crystal ball or earn an extra life playing the slot machine.
*The large hawk head at level entrances and exits was originally a large African tribal mask.
*The mushroom blocks were originally small tribal masks which closely resembled the painted faces of the band members of Kiss.
*The character select and overworld music is much shorter in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. Super Mario Bros. 2 has a new section added to where the music would originally loop.
*Invincibility and sub-space music is different, and there are some minor differences in other songs (the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic songs give an Arabian feel).
*Most sounds featured in Super Mario Bros. 2 use the Nintendo Entertainment System's synthesizer, and a number of PCM audio samples, rather than the Famicom Disk System's synthesizer, which is used prominently in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. The changed audio includes the sound effects for picking up and throwing objects, grabbing hearts, receiving damage, defeating enemies, bombs exploding, the ticking of the stopwatch, damaging a boss, Birdo, shooting eggs, and the rocket. In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, the sound effects were mainly a combination of synthesized beeps, tones, and screeches.
*The potions were originally Arabian lamps. The unused sprites for the lamp were not completely removed during the conversion and can be found in the data located within the cartridge of Super Mario Bros. 2.
*In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, the boss of World 5-3 is the third Mouser who is albino colored. The albino Mouser needs seven hits for defeat. In Super Mario Bros. 2, the boss is replaced by the rock-throwing crab Clawgrip. During the credit sequence after the game is beaten, Clawgrip is listed as Clawglip. Likewise, the names of both Birdo and Ostro are accidentally switched. They are also switched in the manual.
*The Albatoss's animation has seven frames, in comparison to the two in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.
*Holding down "B" to run is a feature specific to the Mario series.
*When a bomb explodes, it says "BOM," as opposed to "BOMB" in Super Mario Bros. 2.
*In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, cherries, grass, vines, POW blocks, bomb fuses, spikes, seas, clouds, and crystal balls are not animated.
*The slot machine mini-game is the same in both versions, but has a green background in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, as opposed to the title screen variant in Super Mario Bros. 2.
*The shell used in Super Mario Bros. 2 to kill enemies was a decapitated head in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.
*Wart is defeated by six hits rather than seven.
*One of the vegetables in World 3-1 is different. In Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, there is a long, slender grouchy vegetable, while on Super Mario Bros. 2, it was a heart-shaped feminine vegetable.
*Birdo has more color variations on Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, including green and grey.
==Development==
The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan, but various Nintendo of America employees personally disliked the game, on which they found to be frustratingly difficult and looked too much like its predecessor, so it was not released in North America or Europe. However, Nintendo was already working on Super Mario Bros. 3 and they had not released a Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America or Europe yet. They needed to make a game which was quick to make, so they took Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, replaced all the playable characters with Mario characters, along with some minor changes to suit the international audience and the Mario series and called it Super Mario Bros. 2. Super Mario Bros. 2 was eventually released in Japan for the Famicom in 1992.
In 1993, the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 was also released outside Japan as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, as a part of Super Mario All-Stars. Later in 2000, it was released as an unlockable game in Super Mario Bros. Deluxe entitled as Super Mario Bros.: For Super Players where the player needs to score at least 300,000 points in the regular game.
Many characters and abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2 later reappeared in the Mario series. Luigi's ability to jump higher than Mario comes from this game, as well as Peach's ability to float in midair and pull vegetables from the ground (Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl). Shy Guys, Snifits, Bob-ombs, Pokeys, and Birdo were also introduced. Wart, the main villain, never reappeared in a Mario video game (but appeared in Link's Awakening).
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*The box art for this game changed the emphasis from the original Super Mario Bros. game. In the original game, the words "Mario Bros." were bigger than the word "Super," but with this game, the words "Super Mario" became bigger than the word "Bros." However, in the title screen of the game itself, the same text is used as the original game.
*This is the first game to have Toad and Princess Toadstool (later renamed Princess Peach) as playable characters.
*Some of the remakes, such as Super Mario Advance, went by the name Peach instead of her original English name, Princess Toadstool.
*The end credits contained some errors, such as Birdo mistakenly being labeled as "Ostro" (and vice versa), Hoopster was mistakenly labeled as "Hoopstar," Tryclyde's name was misspelled as "Triclyde," and Clawgrip's name was misspelled as "Clawglip." These errors remained unchanged in Super Mario All-Stars, but were fixed in Super Mario Advance.
*Coincidentally, Mama in Doki Doki Panic was replaced by Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2, and the very last episode of the Super Mario World cartoon series is named "Mama Luigi."
*This is one few Mario games that Bowser doesn't appear in.
**It is also the first Mario game Bowser doesn't appear in after his debut in Super Mario Bros.
*While the use of "BOMB!" as a written sound effect is purely humorous, the word "bomb" does derive from Ancient Greek onomatopoeia.
*Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in the United States the same year as Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in Japan (since Japan already had their own version of Super Mario Bros. 2).
==See also==
*Super Mario Bros. 2 (prototype), a circulated prototype build of the game
==External links==
*Title at GameFAQs
*Title at MobyGames
*Super Mario Bros 2 - NES - Online Emulators
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