Super Mario Bros. 2 © 1988 Nintendo of America.
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 thy 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!
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, the Princess can remain temporarily suspended in the air, 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. Most enemies may also be picked up and thrown. Many enemies which first appeared in this game would reappear in later sequels and related games.
In each level, there are places where the player can pick up potions, which he can drop to make a door appear. This door will lead to a left-right reversed, non-scrolling version of the section of the level, with no enemies. If a door is created in the right place, there will be coins planted in the ground which the player can pick up, and sometimes a mushroom which will add another unit to his maximum health and re-fill his health. In addition, some jars (the equivalent of pipes in the original game) became 'warp zones' that allowed 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.
At the end of each level, the player is presented with a slot machine-type game. He gets to try as many times as he has coins collected from the level he just completed, and depending on what combinations come up, he can get anywhere from 0 to 5 extra lives for each try.
Region: NTSC USA
Cartridge ID: NES-MW-USA
Package ID: NES-P-MW
Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES was released in October 1988 in North America.
"Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels" was released in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System under the name 'Super Mario Bros. 2'. It featured the same game-play 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 game-play to the original and its increased difficulty, this game was not brought to the West. The American game called Super Mario Bros. 2 is the most unusual 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.
The reason that the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is so unusual is that it was made by making small changes to a Japanese game called "Doki Doki Panic : Yume Kojo" — 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. With these small revisions, it was released to the U.S. market in October 1988 and featured on the cover of the very first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.
Know export releases:
"Super Mario Bros. 2 [Model NES-MW-CAN]"
"Super Mario Bros. 2 [Model NES-MW-FRA]"
"Super Mario Bros. 2 [Model NES-MW-SCN]"
"Super Mario Bros. 2 [Model NES-MW-NOE]"
"Super Mario Bros. 2 [Model NES-MW-EEC]"
The American 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 Japan (Super Mario All-Stars outside Japan).
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, or ice stages. Level 3-1 is notable for taking place against an enormous waterfall which the heroes must ascend.
Levels progress in a linear fashion, but for the first time Mario can backtrack. In the original Super Mario Bros., the screen could only scroll to the right.
* Characters list :
1) Mario : he has average jumping, running, and strength abilities.
2) Luigi : Mario's brother jumps the highest, but is not very strong or fast. He jumps well for distance, but is harder to control, making him weaker in spots where precision is required.
3) Toad : the strongest and fastest of all the players, but he can't jump as high as the others.
4) The Princess : the Princess is the slowest at running and pulling grass and the weakest in strength, but she can hover in the air for a second and a half when players hold the A Button.
* Enemies list :
1) Shy Guys : the most common enemies. They wear masks. The red ones keep walking in a straight line forever, but the pink ones patrol a given area.
2) Snifits : most similar to 'Shy Guys'. They can turn to you while you're facing them or looking away. The pink Snifits are the most common, and patrol a given area, and they can stop and shoot out a bullet so you can accumulate damage. The grey ones stay in one spot, hopping up and down in place and shooting. They're one of the biggest obstacles in Worlds 6-3 and 7-1. The red one is the only one that appears in World 3-3 and is the rarest Snifit.
3) Ninjis : a star-shaped enemy that comes in two forms. The one that jumps in place is the most common, but there's also one that runs around.
4) Phantos : these creepy-looking guys attack you when you steal the key they guard. Putting the key down causes Phanto to stop chasing you temporarily. When you succeed in unlocking the door, Phanto abandons his pursuit.
5) Sparks : these enemies are extremely dangerous and you can take damage, especially landing on them.
6) Porcupos : these enemies are extremely dangerous and you can't jump on them.
7) Albatoss : a red bird featured in only a few levels. Sometimes, they'll fly overhead to drop 'Bob-Ombs' on you, and other times it will be necessary to hitch a ride on their backs. They cannot be picked up by pressing the B button.
8) Bob-Omb : a living bomb. It'll blow you up. What more can be said?
9) Hoopster : a basketball-sized ladybug that climbs up and down vines. If you jump on it, you can hitch a ride.
10) Tweeter : a rarely-appearing masked bird that hops along the ground to attack.
11) Pokey : a tall cactus that can continue to approach you, even after some of its sections have been knocked away.
12) Trouter : a jumping fish that leaps up from rivers and waterfalls in its attempt to bite you. Some levels, such as 5-1, require the player to jump on top of them in order to cross gaps.
13) Cobrat : a bullet-spitting snake that dwells inside jars or beneath quicksand.
14) Flurry : a slick, ice-skating snowman.
15) Ostro : an ostrich ridden by 'Shy Guys'.
16) Beezo : a flying, spear-wielding Shy Guy.
17) Pidget : a bird that rides upon a magic carpet. If you throw Pidget off, you can use the carpet yourself.
18) Panser : the only 'Piranha Plant'-like enemy in the game, Panser shoots out big fireballs like a tiny volcano.
* Bosses list :
1) Birdo : appears in 3 colours : Pink, red, and green. She is the boss at the end of nearly every level, and sometimes appears in levels when she isn't the boss. She attacks by spitting eggs when she's pink. She can be defeated by throwing 3 eggs back at her. When she's red, she spits eggs and fireballs. Fireballs cannot be grabbed, but she can still be defeated by cracking 3 eggs on her head. When she's green, she only spits fireballs, so it is required that players throw Mushroom Blocks at her.
2) Mouser : appears in world 1-3 and world 3-3. He attacks by throwing bombs. He can be defeated by throwing 3 bombs at him. The bombs have to explode for him to be hit. During the second battle, 5 bombs must be thrown at him.
3) Tryclyde : appears in world 2-3 and world 6-3. He is a 3 headed snake that attacks by spitting lots of fireballs. He can be defeated by throwing Mushroom Blocks at him.
4) Fryguy : appears in world 4-3. He attacks by floating around and spitting fireballs. He can be defeated by throwing 3 Mushroom Blocks at him to turn him into little Fryguys. Little Fryguys can be defeated in one hit with the Mushroom Blocks.
5) Clawgrip : appears in world 5-3. He attacks by throwing rocks at players. He can be defeated if players grab the rocks and throw 5 at him.
6) Hawkmouth : the last Bird's Head Gateway before the confrontation with Wart will come to life and swoop around the room to attack you after you claim the Crystal Ball. Hit it with three Mushroom Blocks, then step through its open mouth to confront Wart.
7) Wart : the final boss. Appears in world 7-2 and he attacks by firing bubbles at players. There is a vegetable machine in the room. He can be defeated if players catch the vegetables and throw 6 into his open mouth.
* Warp Vases :
1) World 1-3 : there is a warp vase by the brick wall. Bring a potion and drop it on top. Go down the vase in subspace to warp to world 4-1.
2) World 3-1 : fall down the giant waterfall and make sure you land in the center on top of the door when you reach the bottom. The potion there is under the 6th grass from the right. Drop it on the vase in that room. This goes to world 5-1 (best place for coins).
3) World 4-2 : get a potion in the whale section and work your way right to the vase. This goes to world 6-1.
4) World 5-3 : if you have Luigi, then you could easily jump to the top at the beginning of this world to get the potion next to the vase. Go down and this takes you to world 7-1.
* Get the music from SMB1 : make sure that when you collect 5 cherries and the star comes up that you have a potion very close to you (even in your hands is good). Before getting the star, drop the potion so the door appears. Get the star and go into the door to subspace. You will hear the subspace music playing (from SMB 1) but you know that the music stops once you leave subspace. When the invincibility starts wearing off and the character starts to flash, exit subspace through the door and if you did it right, the subspace music repeats when you're back to the normal world. But this time it continues like the SMB 1 music. This lasts until you go into a door or lose a life. The best place to try this is World 1-3 at the beginning with all the cherries. This trick is not too hard to do.
* Suicide : pause the game, then hold UP+A+B on the player2 side. Unpause and your character will instantly die and have to restart the level.
* Suicide door : while entering a door, pause the game before the screen changes. Enter the suicide code (UP+A+B on the player2 side), then unpause the game. Instead of dying once, you'll watch your character fall through the floor and die for each extra life remaining! Game over.
Designed by : Shigeru Miyamoto
Music by : Koji Kondo
CONSOLES:
Nintendo Super NES (aug.1993) "Super Mario All-Stars [Model SNS-4M]"
Nintendo Super NES (dec.1994) "Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World [Model SNS-5M-USA]"
Nintendo Wii [Virtual Console] (jul.2, 2007) [Model FBYE]
Nontendo Wii U [Virtual Console] (may.16, 2013) [Model FAHE]
HANDHELDS:
Nintendo GBA (june.10, 2001) "Super Mario Advance [Model AGB-AMAE-USA]" : Also Player's Choice edition with same game ID (apr.2, 2006)
Nintendo 3DS [Virtual Console] (jul.11, 2013) [Model TBME]
Game's ROM.