Super Mario Bros. 2
Encyclopedia : S : SU : SUP : Super Mario Bros. 2
- This article is about the version of Super Mario Bros. 2 released outside of Japan. For information on the Japanese game with the same name, see .
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a remake of Doki Doki Panic, a Japan-only game. Nintendo licensed Mario to Hudson Soft, who developed the first official sequel to SMB, the wholly obscure Super Mario Bros. Special and only released on the NEC PC88 Japanese PC. Nintendo then developed their own sequel to Super Mario Bros. and released it in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2. The Japanese SMB2 was released in America and Europe in Super Mario All-Stars as , and later in the Game Boy Color Super Mario Bros. remake. Nintendo decided that this game was too difficult and chose not to release the game in North America and Europe. They instead remade Doki Doki Panic as a Mario title. This game was later released as Super Mario USA in Japan in 1990.
It was succeeded by Super Mario Bros. 3.
Gameplay
Players choose from four characters each time they start or restart a level: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Toad. Each has a special ability: Luigi can jump very high, Princess Peach can remain temporarily suspended in the air (levitate), Toad can pick up things quickly and is very agile, and Mario is balanced. In future Mario games in which multiple characters were playable, Mario would always be the most balanced character. A unique ability in this game is the "power squat", by holding Down on the control pad for a few seconds, players could build power for higher jumps.Most enemies are defeated by throwing vegetables and other items which the character plucks from the ground. Unlike other Mario games, simply jumping on enemies does not accomplish anything. In fact jumping on an enemy may do more harm than good. Most enemies may also be picked up and thrown. Many enemies which first appeared in this game (such as Shy Guys) would reappear in later sequels and related games. This is the first time that Princess Peach appears as a playable character.
This is the first Mario game to make use of a life meter, which initially has two segments but can be extended to four through the collection of special items. (In Super Mario Advance, the limit was upped to five.) This allows Mario and his friends to be hit more than two times before dying.
Many power-ups and items from the original game make appearances here, often serving similar fuctions in slightly different ways. For example, mushroom collected add segments to the life meter, and coins are used to play a slot machine minigame at the ends of levels that grants the player up to five extra lives at a time based on differnet combinations of symbols. (Later ports of the game increased this number.)
New power-ups and items also appear in this game. Potions, which are pulled up from the ground like vegetables, can be dropped to make a door appear. This door leads to a non-scrolling, enemy-free, un-lit "mirror-image" version of the current screen in which any remaining vegetables are replaced by coins when uprooted. In addition, if the door is created in the specific areas within a level, the player will discover mushrooms. Some jars (this game's equivalent to the original's pipes) also become "warp zones" in the negative plane, allowing the player to skip to another world. For each coin collected while in these "door levels," the player will get a chance at the bonus slot machine at the end of each level. These areas are referred to as Sub-Space in the first issue of Nintendo Power. There are no fire flowers or feathers to transform into fire Princess Peach, Toad, Luigi, or Mario. (Princess Peach in the cartoon transforms occasionally into Fire Princess Peach.)
Another aspect that differentiates this game from other contemporary Mario games is the fact that there is no time limit within the stages. In addition to, players are allowed to back track their tracks. That is the frame will move left and right. Where in the past once one passed an object he or she could not return.
At the end of each level, the player is presented with a slot machine-type game, in which the player is given one chance for each coin he's collected. Like a real slot machine, depending on what symbols come up, he can get anywhere from 0 to 5 extra lives for each try. (More extra lives could be gained from the game in the SNES and GBA remakes.)
Story
The plot for Super Mario Bros. 2, according to the game's manual: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 the 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 secret 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 snoring, indicating that the entire adventure had been a dream.
Setting
The game takes place in a new setting, "Subcon" (derived from Freud's 'subconsious'). This land is inhabited by many denizens that have since become regulars in the Mario series, such as Shy Guys and Snifits. This game also introduces many game-exclusive bosses, such as Tryclyde, Mouser, and most notably Wart. The land apparently (in the game) takes its name from the pixie like inhabitants of this land (also called "Subcon") which have been captured by Wart.Despite being a new, supposedly unrelated land from a game not initially intended to be a Mario game, Subcon is not all that unlike the Mushroom Kingdom. Instead of brick castles and giant mushrooms, however, Subcon is characterized by palm trees and red-and-white vases dotting the landscape. Though it lacks any underwater stages, Super Mario Bros. 2 introduces other concepts to the series — like desert stages complete with quicksand and ice stages. Level 3-1 is notable for taking place against an enormous waterfall which the heroes must ascend.
Super Mario Bros. 2 consists of seven "worlds," each one containing three stages except for the last, which only has two. Levels progress in a linear fashion, but for the first time Mario can backtrack — in the original Super Mario Bros, the screen scrolled only to the right, but in Super Mario Bros. 2, the screen can scroll both right and left, as well as vertically from one screen to another — thus, many levels have sequences involving climbing or descending long distances, and the final level in particular is a large and mazelike fortress, in contrast to the linear Castles in Super Mario Bros.
This land has never made an appearance since Super Mario Bros. 2, but several enemies appear in other games, such as Birdos and Pidgits. The last reference to Subcon was the Super Smash Bros. Melee stage Mushroom Kingdom II.
Playable characters
There are four playable characters in the game, each with a score of 1-5 stars for speed, jump and power.
- Mario - Mario is the balanced character, and is thus the most user friendly of the four characters. All three stats (jump, speed and power) are at four stars.
- Luigi - Luigi has the best jump of the lot, with a five in that category, while his speed and power are only a three.
- Toad - Both Toad's speed and power are higher than anyone's, with a five in both categories. However, he is the worst jumper of the four, with only a two in that category.
- Princess - The Princess does not excel in strength or power, with a two for both, while her jump is only a three. However, she has the ability to float in the air for a couple of seconds, making her jumping skills superior for horizontal jumps.
Development
The Lost Levels was released in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System, a Japan-only disk-based add-on for the Famicom (a.k.a NES), under the name Super Mario Bros. 2. It featured the same gameplay and level design as the original Super Mario Bros., with the addition of poison mushrooms and a much higher difficulty level than the first game.Due to the similarity in gameplay to the original and its tremendously increased difficulty, this game was not brought to the West. It was later available, with improved 16-bit graphics, in the Super Nintendo game collection Super Mario All-Stars. In 1999, when Super Mario Bros. Deluxe was released on the Game Boy Color, the now-dubbed "Lost Levels" were an unlockable extra (after obtaining 300,000 points in the original 1985 version).
The American/European game called Super Mario Bros. 2 is the most unique game in the Mario series. In this game, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad have to save Subcon, the land of dreams, from Wart and his minions. Other changes include Birdo actually being a male in the original version of this game.
The reason that the American/European version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is so unusual is that it was created by making small changes to a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic: Yume Kōjō, a loose translation is "Heart Thumping Panic: Dream Factory". Various Nintendo of America employees personally despised the original Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, which they found to be frustratingly difficult. Knowing such a game would likely sell poorly in the United States, they wanted to release a different sequel they thought would be friendlier to American audiences. Although Doki Doki Panic was originally set in a storybook and had an "Arabian" theme completely unrelated to Mario, it was modified to use Mario sprites and music. (As such, it is sometimes said that the game is not really a 'proper' Mario game at all.) With these small revisions, it was released to the U.S. market in 1988 and made the cover of the very first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.
The American/European version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was eventually released in Japan for the Nintendo Family Computer under the name Super Mario USA. It was also released as part of the Super Mario Collection (in the U.S., Super Mario All-Stars) in Japan.
Differences between Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2
Most of the other differences between Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 are small graphical changes, such as animation being added to the POW blocks, 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 NES system compared to the Famicom Disk System. (Battery-backup was also very expensive during those days.) But it was restored in the Super Mario Collection/Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2.
Other changes include:
- In Doki Doki Panic, one must beat the entire game once with each character (four times, that is) to view the ending.
- 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 he or she has a key) looks a little different. Nintendo inadvertently placed a screenshot of its appearance in Doki Doki Panic.
- Furthermore, Phanto begins its pursuit only after the character leaves Phanto's chamber, unlike Super Mario Bros. 2, in which it chases the character once the character retrieves the key from the chamber.
- Waterfalls, especially the enormous one in level 3-1, move much more quickly in Doki Doki Panic.
- Extra lives were originally representations of the character's face; 1-Up mushrooms 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 African tribal masks.
- The character select and overworld music is much shorter in Doki Doki Panic. Super Mario Bros. 2 has a new section added to where the music would originally loop.
- In Super Mario Bros. 2, the underworld music has an added drum sample.
- Invincibility and sub-space music is different, and there are some minor differences in other songs (the Doki Doki Panic songs give an Arabian feel).
- Most sounds featured in Super Mario Bros. 2 use the NES' synthesizer, and a number of PCM audio samples, rather than the Famicom Disk System's synthesizer, which is used prominently in 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 stop watch, damaging a boss, Catherine (Birdo) shooting eggs, and the rocket.
- The potions (for entering sub-space) were originally Arabian lamps.
- In Doki Doki Panic, the boss of level 5-3 is not the rock throwing crab Clawgrip, as it is in Super Mario Bros. 2, but a third Mouser.
- The Albatoss's animation has seven frames, in comparison to the two in 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 Doki Doki Panic, cherries, grass, vines, POW blocks, bomb fuses, spikes, seas, and crystal balls are not animated.
- The slot machine minigame (which appears after you collect coins) is the same in both versions, but has a green background in DDP, as opposed to the title screen variant in SMB2.
- The shell you use in Super Mario Bros. 2 to kill enemies was a shrunken head in DDP.
- The story was changed for the U.S./Europe localization.
Musical score
The music of this game is reminiscent to basic ragtime with traces of dixieland jazz and March. All music was written by Koji Kondo.Enhanced remake
Super Mario Bros. 2 received a graphical, audio, and gameplay upgrade in Super Mario All-Stars (in Japan, Super Mario Collection) on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and the Super Famicom. In the NES version, in the case of losing the last life, the player can only continue twice. In the Super NES/Super Famicom version, a player can continue any number of times, because he or she can continue from a saved game. As for that slot-machine type game, the icons are bigger in the Super NES/Super Famicom version. The player can get up to 10 extra lives in the Super NES version of Super Mario Bros. 2, compared to getting up to 5 extra lives in the NES/Famicom version. That is because the "7" symbol is an addition to the Super NES/Super Famicom version. In the NES/Famicom version of Super Mario Bros. 2, the player can select a character and must play as that character until the end of that level. In the Super NES/Super Famicom version, the player can select a character at the beginning of each level and after losing a life.
There was also a remake similar to the All-Star version for the Satellaview in 1997 titled BS Super Mario USA.
Super Mario Bros. 2 received another enhanced remake as Super Mario Advance, the first Super Mario title for the Game Boy Advance. It included several graphic and sound enhancements in the form of enlarged sprites, multiple hit combos, and digital voice acting. Two notable additions are the new character, Robirdo, a robotic Birdo who acts as the boss of the third world, and the Yoshi Challenge, which encourages players to revisit stages and search for Yoshi eggs.
Reception
Due to its unique style of gameplay and set in a completely different world, Super Mario Bros. 2 has become one of the most popular games for the NES and has made a continuous impact on the entire Super Mario Bros. series. Notable examples include:
- Bob-ombs have appeared in just about every other Mario game, starting with Super Mario Bros. 2.
- Super Mario World featured Pokey, Ninji, (in Bowser's castle), and Pidgit (occurs as Pidgit Bill if the player completes the SPECIAL levels; the Pidgit Bill is a transformed version of Bullet Bill).
- features multiple enemies from Super Mario Bros. 2 such as the Shy Guys, with multiple variations, as does Yoshi's Story.
- Many variations of Shy Guys have appeared in all of the Mario RPGs, including Paper Mario and '. Super Mario RPG and ' also had appearances of Birdo.
- Super Mario 64 featured Pokey, Bob-omb, Fly Guy, and Snufit, the latter two are variations of Shy Guy and Snifit.
- In Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World, , and Super Mario 64 DS, Luigi is played with a higher, more "floaty" jump as in Super Mario Bros. 2.
- In Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, Bob-ombs are used as explosive items that can be thrown at opponents. If not picked up in time, they would come to life and roam about dangerously, blowing up the first player to bump into them.
- Super Smash Bros. Melee features a stage derived from Super Mario Bros. 2. This was the first time that any part of the game had officially been rendered in 3D. (The stage's characters, however, are still two-dimensional.) The stage is initially unavailable; however, if the player manages to get a Birdo or Pidgit trophy, it is unlocked. The stage is called Mushroom Kingdom II, though it should properly be called Subcon, the Dream World's real name. Bob-ombs also appeared as items in the same manner in Super Smash Bros. Melee as in its predecessor. As a playable character, Peach retained her ability to float and could pluck vegetables (and occasionally other items) from the ground and throw them.
- Birdo and various Shy Guys appear in several Mario sports games, sometimes playable, sometimes in the background; for example, in Mario Superstar Baseball, Birdo is a team captain, while a Shy Guy is an available player.
- Shy Guy appeared in the Mario Party series as a host, and in Mario Party 7, Birdo is a secret playable character. He is also a playable character in
- Birdo appears as a playable character in and in Mario Kart: Double Dash.
- The Princess' unique 'floating' ability is used as gameplay elements in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Princess Peach.
- Many elements from the game showed up regularly on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, although Wart did not make an appearance.
- The game's elements were utilized generously in the Super Mario Bros. comic books, published as part of the Nintendo Comics System by Valiant Comics
- Bob-omb was featured in the Super Mario Bros. movie.
See also
External links
- [Super Mario Bros. 2] at MobyGames
- [Play Super Mario Bros. 2]
- [Screenshot Gallery] (German)
- [Super Mario Brothers 2 Transmogrificator], a GPL'ed level editor for Super Mario Brothers 2 on the Nintendo Entertainment System
- [BS Super Mario US]
- [Speed Demos Archive] - Speedruns
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.