This is taking a trip in the Wayback Machine, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless. Apparently “Super Mario Brothers 2″ was originally released in Japan under a different name , with different character graphics, in order for Nintendo to test market it. I assume this was to protect the Mario franchise, in case it stunk the joint up, but this is, of course, baseless and idle speculation.
A few sources say that Doki Doki Panic was originally set to be a Mario game, but Nintendo decided to release it in Japan first with totally different characters & plot, to see how the public would respond to it. I find that pretty hard to believe, but that’s only because it sounds like a stupid idea. Nintendo’s been known to have a few of those. Like the idea to not let Sony help them make a CD game console. At any rate, while the story of Mario 2 revolved around a dream Mario had, the story of Doki Doki Panic was quite different. The game has a short intro to show us what’s going on.
Yep. That’s why the game is totally different from SMB and all the other games in the series – instead of jumping on things, you pick them up and throw them. If my memory serves, I don’t think the early release with different characters was meant to test it. I think Nintendo needed a sequel, so they just slapped Mario in there.
Actually, I just read an article about this (I think it was on wired.com).
SMB2 in Japan was released, but they thought it would be too hard for US players. So, they modified Doki Doki and released it as SMB2 in the US.
You can now find the original SMB2 marketed as “SMB:The Lost Levels” on Super Nintendo. They were probably right to release it that way, have you ever played the Lost Levels? It’s almost impossible!
Thanks for the box art, it’s like they didn’t even try!