When we talk about sequels, what normally springs to mind is a follow-up to a beloved first entry that ups the ante and really puts a series in a whole new spin. Some sequels have been great, Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight, The Godfather Part II, all entries that surpass their predecessors with the quality of the product. Then there are some sequels that crash and burn and the series are never heard from again, then there are Super Mario Bros. sequels.
In 1985, Super Mario Bros. was released and changed the landscape of gaming forever. Packaged with Nintendo’s NES system in the West, it would go on to become one of the most-successful games of all-time, and, of course, a sequel went into production almost immediately. Well, on one side of the globe a sequel was produced, on the other side of the world, the United States market, something else was going to be given to western Mario fans.
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, was a Japanese game set in an Arabian setting, but this is the title that would be re-skinned and packaged as the western version of Super Mario Bros. 2. This version of the game would add two iconic villains to the Mario franchise; Shy Guy, and Birdo.
However, in Japan, the fans there got something very different, Super Mario Bros. 2 or as it’s known in the West these days, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. So, why exactly, did this game not make it outside of Japan? Two reasons: Difficulty and familiarity.
The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 was considered a continuation of the original, and with Nintendo Research and Development 4 declaring it ‘For Super Players’, the game was designed to be brutal, as a real challenge for those who had mastered the intensity of the original game. Mushrooms now killed. Warp zones threw you back to the start of the game, and those little physics comforts you’ve come to know and love from the original, were thrown on their head and the rules had been designed to be changed so much, that fans of the original game would be punished for expecting business as usual with the new one.
For those who want to experience this version of Mario, it’s just been released as a new addition to the Nintendo Switch Online NES library of games that Nintendo Online subscribers have access to. It's worth a run-through for hardcore Mario players, even if its difficulty level is through the roof. The game is designed to test and kill you. There are jumps in this game that if you are a pixel off, you will fall to your death. Whereas Mario has been known to be forgiving for those who make mistakes, this game is Nintendo's version of self-flagellation.
Whilst the game could be accused of being too similar to its predecessor, and is more of an extension than a true sequel to the original, it must be remembered that this is the original sequel as intended, and what we got in the West was a re-skinned game completely unrelated to the Mario franchise. A lot of people count the western version of Super Mario Bros. 2 as one of their favourite games in the series, which is likely more a testamant to Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic taking the place as being a good game in its own right, and not that people will like anything with Mario in.