Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 (known as Super Mario USA in Japanese, and Super Mario 2 in Super Mario Advance) is the second game in the Super Mario series outside Japan. It is a 2D platforming game originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America on October 9, 1988. In the years that followed, it has been ported to many other systems, including a release on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2012, and the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2013. As a result of Japan already having a Super Mario Bros. 2 (known in English as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels), the game did not make its debut in the country until after the release of Super Mario World, on September 14, 1992, making it Japan's fifth installment of the series.

One of the central game mechanics that differentiates Super Mario Bros. 2 from other Super Mario games is that players can select four characters – Mario, Luigi, Toad, or Princess Toadstool – and each of these characters have their unique gameplay mechanics, offering advantages and disadvantages in their stats. Another distinction is that players cannot defeat enemies by stomping on them: players need to either toss items at enemies or pick up and toss enemies at each other to defeat them.

Super Mario Bros. 2 came about after Nintendo of America deemed Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels too difficult for Western audiences, which led Nintendo to redevelop the Family Computer Disk System game Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic into a Super Mario Bros. game for the international release. After its release, the game became a commercial success, and eventually the game became well received enough that it was also released in Japan. After performing well both critically and commercially, Super Mario Bros. 2 has been re-released as one of the Mario games featured in Super Mario All-Stars, and as well as having its own remake in Super Mario Advance. Many enemies first introduced in Super Mario Bros. 2 have become common recurring enemies in the Mario franchise, like Bob-Ombs, Pokeys, Shyguys, and more, while the gameplay mechanic of picking up various items and tossing them has been reused in several later games.

Story
Story from Instruction Booklet One night, Mario had a strange dream. He found himself climbing a long staircase leading up to a mysterious door. Opening the door, Mario's eyes fell upon an incredible world unlike anything he'd ever seen. A quiet voice spoke to Mario, saying,

"Welcome to Subcon, the land of dreams. Our once-beautiful world now suffers at the hands of the evil Wart. Please help us! Only you can free us from his tyranny. Oh, and remember one thing: Wart hates vegetables."

However, before Mario could figure out what was happening, he suddenly awoke on his bed and realized that it was all a dream. The next day, while heading out to a picnic with his friends Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Toad, Mario told the tale of his strange dream. Hearing this was quite a shock to his friends, who all had the very same dream the night before.

Upon arriving at their picnic spot, the group noticed a small cave. Inside was a long staircase that led up to a door. At the top, the four friends opened the door and stood shocked by what they saw. It was Subcon - the world of their dreams!

Mario discovers that Subcon has been taken over by Wart and that the events of his dream are true. Mario and co. are now on a quest to defeat Wart and restore peace to the dream world. At the end of the game, Mario, Luigi, Toadstool and Toad are seen being chanted on by the inhabitants of Subcon, who are carrying Wart across the room. Mario then wakes up and wonders about whether the events were true or just a dream. He then continues sleeping and the game ends.

In-Game Story When Mario opened a door after climbing a long stair in his dream, another world spread before him and he heard a (faint) voice call for help to be freed from a spell.

After awakening, Mario went to a cave nearby and to his surprise he saw exactly what he saw in his dream....

Gameplay
Since the game is a reskin of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, it has little in common with the original Super Mario Bros. For example, in order to defeat enemies, the player needs to pluck clumps of grass to receive items (such as vegetables), and then throw the vegetables at them. It is also possible to defeat enemies by jumping on them, picking them up and then throwing them to other enemies. There are a few elements in common with its predecessor, however, 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. Additionally, there are no power-ups in the game that grant the player additional abilities in the Super form such as the ability to shoot fireballs, making Super Mario Bros. 2 one of the only 2D Super Mario titles (with the other being Super Mario Run) to not have additional forms after the Super form.

At the beginning of each level, the player can choose between the playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool. All four characters have different powers and statistics. When entering the next level or losing a life, players can select a different character.

At the end of most levels of the game, the player fights Birdo. The player has to jump on the eggs that Birdo 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.

There are seven worlds in this game. The first six has three levels apiece, and the seventh has two. At the end of each world, the player encounters one boss. Mouser is encountered at the end of World 1, Tryclyde in World 2, Mouser again in World 3, Fryguy in World 4, Clawgrip in World 5, Tryclyde again in World 6, and Wart himself at the end of World 7.

Defeated enemies and Birdo can re-spawn if the player runs one screen away from the area where they normally appear and return, which may allow the player to defeat the enemies again in order to regain health if necessary; this still occurs in later releases (except Super Mario Advance), but a defeated Birdo does not reappear unless the player completely leaves and re-enters the areas where Birdo is fought.

List of levels
Enemies that make their first level appearance are marked with an asterisk.

Development
Super Mario Bros. 2 started out as a prototype Mario-style platform game developed by Kensuke Tanabe, a developer for Nintendo. The prototype game emphasized vertically scrolling levels and throwing blocks. It was originally intended to be a two player co-op game, allowing players to toss each other around. However, the technical limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System made it difficult to produce a polished game with these elements. It was decided to add more Mario-like elements, such as horizontal levels (although many vertically oriented levels were retained in the final project). Some time later, the Company requested that Nintendo create a video game using Yume Kōjō mascots, and Tanabe developed the prototype into Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, which became one of the best-selling games for the Family Computer Disk System.

In 1987, Nintendo of America got its first look at the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2. Nintendo of America believed that Super Mario Bros. 2, which was a slightly altered version of the first Super Mario Bros. game with an increased difficulty level, would not be a commercial success in the United States and elsewhere in the world. To deal with this, Nintendo took the finished Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and reverted the licensing changes to once again feature Mario and his friends as playable characters. The game would later be released in Japan under the name Super Mario USA in 1992.

Many characters and abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2 later reappear in the Super Mario series. Princess Peach's occasional ability to hover in midair and pull vegetables from the ground (Super Smash Bros. Melee), for example, originates from this game. Toad's nimbleness (as seen in the Mario Kart series, where he is a light driver with good acceleration, and from his running speed in Mario Sports Mix) could also have been influenced from his uprooting speed first introduced in Super Mario Bros. 2. Shyguys, Snifits, Bob-Ombs, Pokeys, and Birdo were also introduced and would later be incorporated into later Mario games. Some of the enemies (most notably Bob-Ombs and Pokeys) have made countless reappearances as enemies within many of the later Super Mario titles. Wart, the main villain, never reappeared in a Mario game after Super Mario Bros. 2, but he appeared in the Nintendo Comics System, and was mentioned in later games. He also appeared as an ally in The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening under his Japanese name, "Mamu". The four playable characters return in Super Mario 3D World, where they retain their unique abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2.

Remakes and ports

 * In Japan, the American Super Mario Bros. 2 was eventually re-released under the name Super Mario USA. It was marketed as the American Super Mario Bros. 2, and the game is unaltered save for the title screen. As such, the ending cast uses the characters' English names (in the manual, their Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic names are also included). Super Mario USA is also the name of the game in the Korean Virtual Console version.
 * The game was ported to the American arcade machine, the Nintendo PlayChoice-10.
 * It was later remastered on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, and it was also included in the Wii re-release of the compilation game, Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition. The All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 2 possessed updated graphics and music.
 * The NES version of the game was released on the Wii Virtual Console for 500 points in 2007.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl features masterpieces, short demos of games. One unlockable Masterpiece is Super Mario Bros. 2. Here, the player starts out with the princess immediately (however, it is possible to switch to a different character if the player gets a Game Over before they are forced to quit the game). To unlock it, one must win five brawls with Peach.
 * The game is one of the 30 titles included in the NES Classic Edition and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer.
 * The game was made available for the Nintendo Switch Online service on February 13, 2019.

Super Mario Advance
The most notable port of Super Mario Bros. 2 is Super Mario Advance for the Game Boy Advance. This port featured the enhanced graphics and sound effects of the Super Mario All-Stars remaster, as well as voice acting and various other slight changes. It was bundled with an enhanced port of the original Mario Bros. game.

Notable mistakes and errors
Some errors can be found in the credits of the game: These errors remain in Super Mario All-Stars. In the Japanese version of Super Mario Advance, the Ostro and Birdo mistake was corrected, and in the International version, the remaining names were corrected to match the manual.
 * Ostro and Birdo have their names swapped.
 * Hoopster is spelled "Hoopstar".
 * Clawgrip is spelled "Clawglip".
 * Tryclyde is spelled "Triclyde".

Another mistake which was never fixed for the enhanced ports is the color of the vegetable tufts – in Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, the grass is consistently black, while in Super Mario Bros. 2 they are red, but keep the black coloring after being picked up. Enhanced ports maintain the red coloring for the tufts, though they turn green when dug out.

Additionally, at least three versions of the North American manual exist. One version provides the full description of Birdo ("Ostro") as "He thinks he is a girl and he spits eggs from his mouth. He'd rather be called "birdetta." [sic], while another version omits the second sentence. The full "Birdetta" version is more true to the original Japanese version, which explains that Birdo, known as "Catherine" in Japan, would rather be called "Cathy." A third version of the manual is known to exist which properly labels Birdo and Ostro, keeps the full Birdo bio, and shows artwork of the unusual pink Beezo as gray and misnamed. This matches its depiction in the game and the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic manual.

The NES Super Mario Bros. 2 manual reuses enemy sprites and artwork from the Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic manual (with the notable exception of the Pokey artwork, as well as the omission of a gray Shyguy and addition of Tweeter, Flurry, Spark, and Clawgrip ). Thus, it uses the designs of Albatoss and Phanto from Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.

During the ending celebration sequence in the NES version, there are common mistakes in the number of levels each hero completes.

Staff
A number of people involved in the game include the composer Koji Kondo, known for composing the main Super Mario Bros. theme. Kensuke Tanabe is the director of the game with Shigeru Miyamoto and Hiroshi Yamauchi as producers.

Pre-release and unused content


In the game's prototype, there is a different color palette for the in-game title, which includes tans and oranges, which contrasts with the final version's reds and blues. Princess Toadstool is shown to have more hair. Characters need to use a Magic Lamp to access Sub-space, similar to Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. The characters also lack the whites of their eyes and the ability to run.

Jar-entering glitch
This glitch requires precise timing; the character must be small and must enter a jar at the same time they are hit by a Phanto. If this is done correctly, the defeat fanfare plays as usual. However, the character still goes through the jar. When they exit, the character has no health sections left, yet is still alive. This glitch remains in the Super Mario All-Stars enhanced port.

Disappearing Mushroom Blocks
If the player throws a Mushroom Block offscreen and does not see it land, even to a place where it should safely land, it disappears until the player leaves through a door and comes back.

Critical reception
Super Mario Bros. 2 has been received positively, with IGN editor Lucas Thomas praising the graphics, sound and replay value, although he insisted that Western gamers could have gotten into the Japanese version of the game. GameSpot critic Alex Navarro agreed, and commented that the game "...shows that veering from the beaten path of a franchise's standard game design isn't always a bad idea".

The game placed 47th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997. It also placed 81st in the 200th Issue of GameInformer's "Top 200 Games of All Times" and placed 18th on IGN's Top 100 NES Games list. As for sales, it is the fourth best-selling NES game, with 10 million copies sold worldwide.

References to other games

 * Donkey Kong: Clawgrip tosses rocks in a very similar manner to the way Donkey Kong tossed barrels. Also, Clawgrip frequently bangs his chest like a gorilla. In the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance versions, some of the indoor areas look like warehouses with familiar-looking girders in the background.
 * Donkey Kong Jr.: Sparks reappear in Super Mario Bros. 2. This makes them the only returning enemies to appear.
 * Mario Bros.: POW Blocks appear as usable items.
 * Super Mario Bros.: The Starman power-up appears in the game, as well as a remix of the Ground Theme from Super Mario Bros. played in Sub-space. Also, the heroes shrink once they are down to one heart point. Also, the ability to run by holding down the button is exclusive to the Mario series, and was not present in Doki Doki Panic. The title theme is a rearrangement of the Underwater Theme from this game. Mario's artwork on the international box art is a flipped and modified version of his artwork from this game.
 * The Legend of Zelda: The sound effect of Birdo spitting an egg is taken from the sound effect that plays when a magic projectile is fired from Link holding the Fire Rod or from a Wizzrobe.
 * Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: Luigi being a higher jumper than Mario is re-established when he replaced Mama in the game.

References in later media

 * Super Mario Bros. 3: Bob-ombs return here and act similarly as in Super Mario Bros. 2. Also, Mario can pick up shells or Ice Blocks to throw them. Desert, sky, and snow themes of levels and doors returned. Players can earn lives via the Spade Panel slot minigame. Peach's sprite is also reused here.
 * Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3: Vegetables (which can also be added to the main game via the Blue Green Switch), soft sand that can be dug through, Porcupos, Flurries, Hoopsters, and locked doors return in this game's World-e levels.
 * The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!: Super Mario Bros. 2 is represented heavily in this show along with the original Super Mario Bros. Nearly all of the characters (notably excepting Wart and Pansers) and game play props appeared in the stories, and are often more prominent than the original game's features.
 * Super Mario World: Pokeys, Ninjis, and Pidgits first reappear here.
 * Wario's Woods: Toad's strength returns in this game, and he picks up, carries, and throws Bombs and his enemies as he did in Super Mario Bros. 2. Some enemies (such as the Spud) also vaguely resemble the vegetables from Super Mario Bros. 2. Birdo also makes her first reappearance in the Mario series through this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee: A Super Mario Bros. 2-themed stage called Mushroom Kingdom II is selectable, and Birdo frequently appears at the sides of the stage, spitting eggs at fighters. This stage also plays Super Mario Bros. 2's Ground Theme, as well as that game's boss music (during Sudden Death matches). Also, parts of Princess Peach's moveset (floating and picking vegetables) come from Super Mario Bros. 2. There are also trophies of Birdo, Pidgit, and the vegetables.
 * Super Mario 64 DS: Luigi's scuttle jump appears to have been influenced by his jumping style from Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: Pidgits reappear and they attack as they do in Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * Super Princess Peach: The ability to pick up enemies and throw them at each other to defeat them is reused in this game, although it is not the only way Peach can defeat enemies as she can also attack enemies with Perry.
 * Mario Hoops 3-on-3: The final victory theme is a rearrangement of the ending theme of Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * Super Paper Mario: Francis mentioned having a comic called, "Cyborg Wart", which is clearly a reference to Wart. Also, there were Sammer Guys by the names of "Squatting Birdo", "Pidget on Wind's Breath", "Sleeping Turnip", "Upward Leaping Ninji", "Plugged Snifit", and "Guy Who Fry", references to Birdo, Pidgit, Turnip, Ninji, Snifit, and Fryguy, respectively.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Peach retains her moveset from Melee, and there's another trophy of Birdo. Also, Wart and Birdo's names appear in the random name selection. Finally, Super Mario Bros. 2 is available as a Masterpiece to play. The character the trial starts out with is Peach (but it is possible to play as another character if one gets a Game Over before the trial ends). Snifit and Mouser appear as stickers.
 * Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: In this game, Wiggler sometimes attack by pulling out vegetables, which are the same ones that are seen in Super Mario Bros. 2. Also, one of Bowser's brainwashed minions states that he forgot what Bowser's Castle was originally called (before it was turned into "Fawful Theater"), and mistakenly referred to it as "Mouser's Castle".
 * New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The way the characters are able to pick up the items, such as the POW Block, returns.
 * Super Mario Galaxy 2: Luigi's Triple Jump may be based on his jumps from Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!: Arrangements of the Ground Theme, life lost, boss battle, and victory themes are heard in World 1.
 * Mario Sports Mix: Toad's throwing animations appear to be influenced from Super Mario Bros. 2, and his high running speed returns.
 * Super Mario 3D Land: Mario and Luigi's chargeable jumps while crouching resemble the Power Squat Jump ability that the playable characters can perform in Super Mario Bros. 2 while crouching.
 * Mario Kart 7: The Shy Guy Bazaar course makes references to the elements from Super Mario Bros. 2 such as the addition of magic carpets and jars in their original color schemes. The namesake Shy Guys also appear to be the dominant audience members throughout the course.
 * New Super Mario Bros. 2: The Cannon levels resemble Sub-space.
 * Paper Mario: Sticker Star: Pokeys based on their appearance in Super Mario Bros. 2 return. Also, the main theme is a jazzy version of the credits theme from this game. Ninjis reappear as enemies.
 * Super Mario 3D World: Princess Peach and Toad are once again playable characters, and everybody has the same abilities as in Super Mario Bros. 2. An arrangement of Super Mario Bros. 2's "character select" music is used for the Lucky House.
 * Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury: A portion of the music of Scamper Shores references the start of Super Mario Bros. 2's Ground Theme.
 * Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze: The ability to pluck items out of the ground (using Item Handles) and the ability to carry specific enemies were brought over from Super Mario Bros. 2, according to Kensuke Tanabe.
 * NES Remix 2 / Ultimate NES Remix: Several challenges are based on this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U: Grass appears as an item in these games. Peach's Vegetable move and floating ability returns, this time with the vegetable-pick sound effect taken directly from the NES version of the game. Also, Luigi performs a scuttle in his jump, a technique that originated in this game. The Ground Theme is present in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and can be heard on the stages Peach's Castle (64) and Super Mario Maker.
 * Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker: Turnips return, alongside various roof structures that resemble Wart's castle.
 * Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars: New arrangements of the Ground Theme, world clear, and life lost themes appear in Rolling Hills.
 * Super Mario Maker / Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS: The door sprite from Super Mario Bros. 2 is used in the Super Mario Bros. 3 game style in these two games. Shy Guy's sprite is reused for his costume, and sound effects from Super Mario Bros. 2 can be heard in the costumes for Peach, Shy Guy, and Birdo. A course based on World 1-1 also appeared as an Event Course on December 2015.
 * Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge: The abilities for Mini Luigi and Mini Peach work similar to their counterparts in this game. The arrangements from Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars are reused in Boost Pad Bonanza.
 * Paper Mario: Color Splash: Shy Guys are the most common enemy in this game. An arrangement of the Ground Theme from Super Mario Bros. 2 is used in the Spinning-Door bonus areas. Jars make an appearance in Château Chanterelle. Wart is mentioned by a yellow Toad.
 * Super Mario Run: Ninjis return in this game, retaining their colors from Super Mario Bros. 2 and look from Super Mario Advance artwork. An arranged version of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros. 2 is featured in the background music for Remix 10. This is also Peach's first playable appearance in a 2D Super Mario platformer since Super Mario Bros. 2, although the player has to rescue her in order to play as her as she is also the usual damsel in distress in this game. As in her playable appearance in Super Mario 3D World, Peach also retains her ability to float from Super Mario Bros. 2 along with the addition of slowly descending in mid-air.
 * Super Mario Odyssey: Mario can carry and throw Turnips, as in Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * Super Mario Party: Shy Guy's sprite appears in Puzzle Hustle.
 * Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Peach (and by extension, her new Echo Fighter Daisy) returns her float and vegetable moves from the previous games. Mushroom Kingdom II from Super Smash Bros. Melee returns with updated graphics based on Super Mario All-Stars and various spirits originating Super Mario Bros. 2 also appear. A new arrangement of the Ground Theme is also featured.
 * Super Mario Maker 2: The SMB2 Mushroom was added in the version 3.0.0 update and grants the player Mario's abilities in Super Mario Bros. 2. The 3.0.0 update also added the Cursed Key, which summons Phanto once it is collected.
 * Mario Kart Tour: The Shy Guy Bazaar course from Mario Kart 7 returns as a classic course in Mario Kart Tour.

Quotes

 * "Uprooting and lifting things as you played gave the game a new feel. It was released in Japan as Super Mario USA." — Shigeru Miyamoto, ''Super Mario History 1985-2010 Booklet
 * "The basic controls have a very free, silly feeling to them that I absolutely love." — Takashi Tezuka, Super Mario History 1985-2010 Booklet
 * "I adjusted the sounds of the NES to make it sound like a lot of different instruments were being played." — Koji Kondo, Super Mario History 1985-2010 Booklet

Trivia

 * If the player takes the shortest route possible, the only bosses the player needs to fight are Birdo, Tryclyde (Mouser in Super Mario Advance), Mask Gate, and Wart.
 * In South Korea, the Virtual Console release on Wii is the Japanese version, Super Mario USA, whereas the release on Nintendo 3DS uses the international version, Super Mario Bros. 2.
 * If the player defeats Wart with Luigi, he does one jump in the ending cutscene instead of two.