Super Mario Bros. 2

A Mario sequel adapted from a non-Mario game.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is a 1988 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was created after Nintendo of America rejected the Japanese sequel for being too difficult and similar to the original, leading to a Western sequel based on a Famicom Disk System game originally themed around a media technology expo. The game became a major commercial success and the fifth-best-selling NES title, helping to differentiate the Super Mario series.

Quick Facts

Developer

Nintendo R&D4

Publisher

Nintendo

Director

Kensuke Tanabe

Producer

Shigeru Miyamoto

Artist

Tadashi Sugiyama; Yōichi Kotabe

Designer

Kensuke Tanabe
Yasuhisa Yamamura
Hideki Konno

Programmer

Toshihiko Nakago
Yasunori Taketani
Toshio Iwawaki

Composer

Koji Kondo

Facts from the source article.

Development

Nintendo originally released a different Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Family Computer Disk System in 1986, later known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. That game used an enhanced engine from the original Super Mario Bros. with more complex levels and higher difficulty, partly derived from the arcade Vs. Super Mario Bros. Nintendo of America, concerned about the recovering American market after the 1983 video game crash, rejected that sequel for being too difficult and stylistically outdated.

Instead, they requested a more player-friendly sequel. Development of a third Super Mario installment began after The Legend of Zelda in February 1986. Kensuke Tanabe created an early prototype with vertical scrolling in two months, designed by a team led by Shigeru Miyamoto and programmed by SRD. The prototype emphasized cooperative two-player action with lifting, carrying, and throwing objects.

Miyamoto later added horizontal scrolling to make it more Mario-like. The prototype was considered too complex for the Famicom hardware and lacking in single-player mode.

Re-releases

Super Mario All-Stars, released in 1993 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, includes an enhanced version of Super Mario Bros. 2 with 16-bit graphics and sound, minor collision changes, and the ability to change characters after losing a single life instead of only after completing a level or continuing. The player starts with five lives instead of three, and the slot game awards ten lives for three sevens, which was not in the original NES version, with a 99-life limit. In 1996, Nintendo partnered with St.GIGA to release a Satellaview version titled BS Super Mario USA, broadcast episodically in Japan. It featured 16-bit audiovisual enhancements and SoundLink narration with CD-quality music, available only during specific broadcast times. A rerun occurred from June 3 to June 29, 1996, at a different time and download location.

Reception

Super Mario Bros. 2 was the top-selling video game in the United States for fourteen consecutive months from October 1988 through November 1989. By early 1990, 3.5 million copies were sold in the U.S., with worldwide sales totaling 7.46 million, making it the fourth highest-selling NES game overall and the best-selling standalone NES title not bundled with hardware. The game received critical acclaim, with Nintendo Power ranking it the eighth best NES game and praising its unique take on the franchise.

GamesRadar ranked it the sixth best NES game, and Entertainment Weekly called it the sixth greatest game available in 1991. Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the All-Stars edition the 14th-best console game of all time. In Nintendo Power's Pak Source edition, Super Mario Bros. 2 was one of only three games to receive the maximum score of 5 in any category, earning 5 for both Challenge and Theme Fun.