Collection essentials #103: Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

The story behind Super Mario Bros. 2 is an interesting one, and it’s very well-known among classic video game fans. You see, the Super Mario Bros. 2 you see here was not the first game to carry that title. In Japan, the Famicom had an add-on called the “Famicom Disk System” which was sort of like a new console, only it needed to be connected to a Famicom console to function. Games for the Disk System could be acquired cheaply, as you could bring a disk to a kiosk at a local electronics store and have your desired game written onto a disk at a cost far lower than buying a new Famicom cart. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was specifically made for fanatics of the first game that wanted more of a challenge, and it was almost like modern-day video game “downloadable content” to give you more levels to play at a low cost. The graphics and look of the game were barely changed, and it uses the exact same music as the original Super Mario Bros.

Over in America, the Famicom Disk System was never released, so releasing Super Mario Bros. 2 as a budget disk game wasn’t an option. They could have made an NES cartridge out of the game and sold it as a normally-priced release, but that didn’t make a lot of sense. The player base overseas was largely young boys, and probably not many of them were clamoring for the next Mario game to be ruthlessly difficult, and the lack of graphical and audio improvements may have come off as lazy on Nintendo’s part, so that game would have to wait a while before seeing the light of day outside Japan (we’ll get to that). But Nintendo of America also wasn’t going to go very long without riding the wave of momentum of this huge new mascot they had. As it turns out, Nintendo had recently made another platformer for the Famicom Disk System called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. It wasn’t a Mario game, though it certainly had enough influence from Mario that Nintendo decided it made sense to replace the four heroes with Mario characters and release the game overseas in NES cartridge form as Super Mario Bros. 2! But this was not just a temporary gimmick, as Nintendo has embraced this rebranded game as a true, bonafide mainline game in the Mario series that went on to influence future games. This means some iconic recurring Mario enemies such as Bob-Ombs and Shy Guys were originally not Mario characters. And the abilities Mario and his friends received upon replacing the original characters influenced how those characters played in future games, too. Nintendo never re-releases the original Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic release, as that version uses characters owned by Fuji Television, not to mention some gameplay improvements were also made in the change.

Since it wasn’t originally a Mario game, it shouldn’t be too surprising that Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES is a bit of an oddball when compared to other games in the series. There are some staple elements that are missing, for example there is no fire flower power-up and thus no way to shoot fireballs. This game also lets you pick up, carry and throw objects, which is not something Mario normally does. One way the game stands out, in a very positive way, is how the game utilizes four playable characters that have different abilities. Mario is the most balanced character. Toad jumps the worst, but picks up things incredibly fast. Luigi has a high jump. Princess Toadstool (later known as Peach) has the ability to float in midair but picks up objects the slowest. You can change your character between levels if you wish. This makes for fun and dynamic gameplay that adds replay value.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is another outstanding game that’s well worth revisiting. It didn’t rock the entire video game industry and forever change the platformer genre like its predecessor did, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway and it didn’t really have to. The game has been re-released many times, so there’s no excuse not to play it. Another true retro gaming essential.