Super Mario Bros. 2

Everything about Super Mario Bros. 2 is slightly wrong, and that is why people love it. You cannot stomp an enemy; you stand on its head, lift it up and throw it at its friends. Power-ups grow out of the ground as turnips. Doors lead to a shadowy mirror world where the grass gives coins. Four heroes queue up on a select screen, and the best of them for most jobs is Toad. There are no Goombas, no Koopas and no Bowser at all, just a bubble-blowing frog called Wart who, the manual helpfully explains, hates vegetables.

The reason is now one of gaming’s best-known stories. In 1986 Nintendo had released a real sequel in Japan, a brutally difficult remix of the first game, and Nintendo of America did not want it. Instead the company took Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, a Disk System game that Kensuke Tanabe’s team had built for a Fuji TV event, replaced its Arabian-storybook family with Mario, Luigi, the princess and Toad, added a run button and shipped it as Super Mario Bros. 2 in October 1988. Players had no idea, and for years nobody told them.

What they got was a generous, strange and beautifully made game: seven dream worlds of grass, desert, waterfall, ice, night sky and cloud, 20 levels guarded by Birdo and five bosses, a slot machine for extra lives and a cast of masked Shy Guys, cactus Pokeys, walking Bob-ombs and bespectacled Snifits that Nintendo would quietly fold into the Mario universe for good. Super Mario Bros. 3 was already finished in Japan by the time it shipped, which makes this the odd one out twice over.

It sold 7.46 million copies, was named Japan’s Super Mario USA in 1992, got a 16-bit facelift in Super Mario All-Stars and a Game Boy Advance remake with voice samples, and gave the series its four-character template, revived decades later in Super Mario 3D World. For Luigi fans it is a landmark: the first game where he is taller than Mario and scrabbles his legs in mid-air on his high jumps, a quirk Miyamoto added to explain away the borrowed physics.

“Remember, Wart hates vegetables. Please help us!”

Official text: Nintendo, Super Mario Bros. 2 instruction booklet (NES, 1988), story page. One line quoted; the rest summarised.

The plea the mysterious voice makes to Mario in his dream, as told in the instruction booklet: Subcon, the land of dreams, has been cursed by the frog king Wart, and only someone who knows his one weakness can save it.

Fast answers to the questions everyone asks about the strangest Super Mario game, with the detail further down.

The manual sets the scene and the game ends it; in between, Subcon is yours to explore. Here is the dream, world by world.

The dream of Subcon

One night Mario dreams of a long staircase leading up to a door. Beyond it lies a world he has never seen, and a voice tells him where he is: Subcon, the land of dreams, which has fallen under the curse of the frog king Wart. Wart has used the Dream Machine, a device that turns dreams into reality, to breed an army of nightmares, and he has imprisoned the Subcons, the land’s fairy-like people. The voice begs for help and leaves one tip: Wart cannot stand vegetables. Then Mario wakes.

To clear his head he tells Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool about it. The four friends go for a picnic, find a cave and climb a long staircase inside it to a door. It opens onto the very place Mario dreamed about.

World 1: the grasslands

Subcon begins green and rolling. Red Shy Guys march off ledges in their masks, pink ones turn back, Tweeters hop, Ninjis bounce and a ladybird-like Hoopster climbs the first vine. In 1-1 you learn the whole language of the game in a few screens: pluck the grass, throw the turnip, ride the log over the waterfall, find the potion and use it. At the end a pink Birdo stands spitting eggs, and three of them thrown back earn the crystal ball that opens the mask gate.

World 1-2 introduces the Pidgit, a crow on a flying carpet; knock it off and the carpet carries you over the chasm. Deep in a cave a key waits under Phanto’s stare. World 1-3 climbs a waterfall of Trouters to a tower, where Mouser paces the top floor throwing bombs. Throw them back. In the grass by the tower is a jar that, in Sub-space, is a warp straight to World 4.

World 2: the desert

The sand is full of jars, and the jars are full of Cobrats, snakes that pop up to spit at you. Pansers, flame-spitting flowers, sit on the dunes. Quicksand drags you under if you stand still, but digging straight down through soft sand is also how you get anywhere: World 2-2 is one long excavation past rows of Pokeys, the segmented cacti that would become Mario staples. The pyramid at the end of 2-3 belongs to Tryclyde, a three-headed serpent who breathes fire; the Mushroom Blocks in his room are the only answer.

World 3: the waterfalls

World 3 is a cliff face of cascading water, logs and caves, and it introduces the whole bestiary at once: Ostros with Shy Guy riders, spiky Porcupos, walking Pansers in new colours, and in 3-3 the Albatoss, a great bird that carries Bob-ombs over your head and lets them drop. The Bob-ombs are new too, walking bombs that fizz and explode, and the brick walls in their path are there to be blown open. Red Birdos guard the first two levels; Mouser returns with green ears to end the third. A jar in the cave beneath the giant waterfall of 3-1 hides a warp to World 5.

World 4: the ice

The only snow in Subcon, and the only level in the game without a boss. World 4-1 is a slide across the ice, dodging Flurries that skate after you and the wheeled Autobomb, a turret you can hijack by plucking off its Shy Guy driver, and it ends with a rocket ride to an unguarded crystal ball. World 4-2 brings a flock of grey Beezos and the game’s only whales, whose spouts you can stand on; there the warp to World 6 sits in a jar on a tiny island between the last two whales. World 4-3 is an ice fortress with a puzzle that every player remembers: a pink Birdo blocks the way, and instead of fighting her you ride one of her eggs across the gap. Fryguy waits at the top, a bonfire with a face that splits into four when you hurt him.

World 5: the night

Night falls. World 5-1 is a cave with one enormous waterfall, crossed on falling logs and then on the backs of leaping Trouters, and introduces the grey Birdo, who spits only fire and must be beaten with blocks. World 5-2 is a vertical cave of vines crawling with Hoopsters. World 5-3 climbs through treetops to a cliff where Clawgrip the crab hurls rocks across the room; catch five and throw them back. The level’s very first jar is the final warp, to World 7.

World 6: the desert again

A second, harsher desert. World 6-1 wades through quicksand, Cobrats and Pokeys to a fort of 21 jars, one of them hiding the key, and ends with a Birdo who looks green, a trick of the NES palette on the grey model. World 6-2 is a flight across the sky on the backs of Albatosses to another green Birdo, and 6-3 brings back Tryclyde for a rematch inside another pyramid.

World 7: the sky and Wart’s castle

World 7-1 is in the clouds, a long climb up ladders and cloud platforms past Sparks and Hoopsters to a grey Birdo. Then comes 7-2, Wart’s castle: conveyor belts over spikes, locked doors, a Birdo you can skip and a Birdo you cannot, and finally the mask gate itself tearing loose from the wall to attack. Stun it with blocks and the way to the throne room opens.

Wart is a bloated frog in a cape who hops back and forth blowing bubbles. Between you and him sits the Dream Machine, pumping out vegetables, the one thing he cannot abide. Wait for his mouth to open, throw, repeat six times. He vanishes with a croak. In the final scene the heroes pull the cork from a giant jar and the Subcons pour out to carry their defeated tyrant away; a cast list rolls past (misspellings and all), and then the picture changes to Mario, asleep in bed, who stirs, smiles and goes back to sleep. Was any of it real? In the manual the friends find the cave and the staircase while wide awake, so draw your own conclusions.

Every level in Super Mario Bros. 2

Twenty levels in seven worlds. Birdo guards 16 of them (not 1-3, 2-3, 3-3 or 4-1), and the third level of each world ends with a boss. Four levels hide a warp jar.

1. 
   World 1-1Grass · pink BirdoHills, a waterfall and a log ride. Shy Guys, Tweeters, Ninjis and Hoopsters all debut.
2. 
   World 1-2Grass · pink BirdoPidgit’s carpet over the chasm; the first key and Phanto chase.
3. 
   World 1-3Waterfall tower · Mouser · warp to World 4Trouters leap up the falls; Sparks orbit in the tower. The warp jar is the only one in the level.
4. 
   World 2-1Desert · pink BirdoCobrats in jars and the first Pansers.
5. 
   World 2-2Desert · red BirdoDig through the pyramid’s sand past Pokeys.
6. 
   World 2-3Pyramid · TryclydeDeeper sand and the three-headed snake.
7. 
   World 3-1Waterfalls · red Birdo · warp to World 5Logs over the falls; the warp jar is in the cave under the biggest one.
8. 
   World 3-2Cliffs · red BirdoOstros and Porcupos debut.
9. 
   World 3-3Fortress · MouserAlbatosses drop Bob-ombs; red Snifits appear only here.
10. 
    World 4-1Ice · no BirdoFlurries on the ice and the Autobomb. A rocket, then an unguarded crystal ball.
11. 
    World 4-2Ice · red Birdo · warp to World 6Grey Beezos and the game’s only whales; the warp jar is on the islet between the last two whales.
12. 
    World 4-3Ice fortress · FryguyRide a pink Birdo’s egg across the gap, then face the flame.
13. 
    World 5-1Night, waterfall cave · grey BirdoLogs and Trouters across a huge waterfall, and the first fire-only Birdo.
14. 
    World 5-2Cave of vines · red BirdoA vertical climb through Hoopsters.
15. 
    World 5-3Treetops · Clawgrip · warp to World 7The first jar is the last warp. Bob-ombs in a jar near the end.
16. 
    World 6-1Desert · green BirdoQuicksand, Cobrats and Pokeys, then a fort of 21 jars and a hidden key.
17. 
    World 6-2Desert · green BirdoA ride across the sky on the backs of Albatosses.
18. 
    World 6-3Pyramid · TryclydeThe snake’s rematch.
19. 
    World 7-1Sky · grey BirdoLadders and clouds; Sparks and Hoopsters.
20. 
    World 7-2Wart’s castle · mask gate, then WartConveyor belts over spikes, an optional Birdo and a compulsory one, and the final two fights.

Forget what the first game taught you. Jumping on an enemy here just parks you on its head. To hurt anything you must pick something up, with B, and throw it: a vegetable plucked from a tuft of grass, a Mushroom Block, a shell, a bomb, or the enemy itself. Thrown objects bounce off one victim into the next.

Levels are vertical as often as they are horizontal, a relic of the game’s prototype. You climb vines, ladders and chains, ride magic carpets, logs and Albatosses, dig through sand, and enter doors and jars to find the key or the crystal ball that opens the way forward. There is no time limit and no score; the pressure comes from a small life meter and a limited stock of lives.

Controls

Left and Right walk; hold B to run (the one thing Nintendo added that Doki Doki Panic lacked). A jumps, higher the longer you hold it, and a jump from a crouch is the Power Squat Jump: hold Down until your hero flashes, then press A to leap far higher than normal. B picks up whatever you are standing on or next to and a second press throws it. Up enters doors and climbs; Down crouches and, on top of a large jar, drops you inside. Start pauses, and on the Game Over screen Select switches between Continue and Retry.

Hearts, lives and continues

Your hero starts each level with a life meter of two hearts and, at full size, loses one per hit. At a single heart you shrink to a small version of yourself, exactly like small Mario, and the next hit costs a life. The only way to add a heart (up to a maximum of four) is to find a mushroom in Sub-space, and the extra heart lasts until the level ends. Small floating hearts appear for every eight enemies you defeat and restore one point.

You begin with three lives and two continues. Lives come from hidden 1-Up Mushrooms and above all from the Bonus Chance slot machine at the end of every level, which you play once for each coin you collected in Sub-space. A cherry on the left reel is worth one life, cherries on the left two reels two lives, three cherries five lives, and any other three of a kind one.

Sub-space and the potions

Among the vegetables are magic potions. Throw one and a door appears where it lands; step through and you are in Sub-space, a dark, still copy of the screen you were on. For a few seconds you can pluck the grass there for coins (the first two visits in each area only), grab a mushroom if one is hidden nearby, and, in four levels, drop into a jar that warps you forward a world or more. The music is a slowed, dreamy arrangement of the Super Mario Bros. ground theme. Then you are pulled back out and the door is gone.

Four heroes, four ways to play

Before every level, and after every lost life, you pick your hero. Mario is the middle of the road in speed, jump and plucking. Luigi has the highest jump by far, flutters his legs for a little hang time and is slow to lift things. Princess Toadstool can hover for about a second and a half after a jump, which turns many pits into formalities, but she is the slowest runner and the weakest plucker. Toad is the fastest on his feet and whips vegetables out of the ground instantly, but his jump is feeble. Experts switch constantly: Toad for the long digs through sand, the princess for the sky levels, Luigi for the tall climbs.

Birdo, crystal balls and the mask gate

Most levels end the same way: a pink, red or grey Birdo stands guard spitting eggs, you throw three back (or three Mushroom Blocks, if she only spits fire), and the crystal ball she drops opens a stone mask gate called the Hawkmouth in the English manual. In the third level of each world the gate leads to a boss room instead. The boss levels of Worlds 1 to 3 have no Birdo, just a crystal ball waiting to be picked up, and World 4-1 has no boss of any kind.

Keys and Phanto

Some doors are locked. The key is usually down a jar, resting under a stone mask called Phanto, and the moment you pick it up the mask comes alive and chases you relentlessly, through doors and even into Sub-space, until you put the key down or use it. The Phanto chase is the closest the game comes to real terror, and the trick is to drop the key whenever the mask swoops, then pick it up again.

The bosses

Mouser, a bomb-throwing mouse in shades, guards Worlds 1 and 3; pick up his bombs and lob them back before they go off. Tryclyde, a three-headed snake, spits fire in Worlds 2 and 6 and is beaten with the Mushroom Blocks stacked nearby. Fryguy, a living flame in World 4, splits into four little flames when hit enough times, each of which needs one more block. Clawgrip, a crab in World 5, hurls rocks that you catch and return; five hits does it. In World 7 the mask gate itself attacks you before Wart, who takes six vegetables to the mouth.

Items and objects

What comes out of the ground, out of jars and out of Sub-space.

• 
  VegetablesTurnips and friends, pulled from grass. Ripe ones are big; sprouts are small. Pull four ripe ones in a row and the fifth pluck is a stopwatch.
• 
  Magic PotionThrow it to make a door to Sub-space. Where you throw it decides what you find there.
• 
  MushroomFound only in Sub-space. Adds a heart to your meter (maximum four) and heals you, for the rest of the level.
• 
  1-Up MushroomAn extra life, hidden in a few well-chosen spots.
• 
  CherryCollect five in a level and a Starman floats up from the bottom of the screen.
• 
  StarmanTemporary invincibility, to the old tune.
• 
  CoinPlucked from grass in Sub-space; your stake in the Bonus Chance slot machine.
• 
  POW BlockThrow it and the screen shakes, wiping out every grounded enemy. Borrowed from Mario Bros..
• 
  StopwatchFreezes every enemy for a few seconds.
• 
  KeyOpens a locked door. Wakes Phanto.
• 
  Crystal ballDropped by Birdo or found on a pedestal; opens the mask gate.
• 
  Mushroom BlockA throwable, stackable block. Your weapon against fire-spitting Birdos, Tryclyde and Fryguy.
• 
  ShellHidden in grass. Slides along the ground knocking enemies flat until it hits a wall.
• 
  BombDropped by Mouser or pulled from grass. Blows up brick walls, enemies and, if you dawdle, you.
• 
  RocketPull one from the grass and it flies you to the next part of the level.
• 
  Flying carpetLeft behind when you defeat a Pidgit; rideable for a short while.

A game built from someone else’s cast ended up supplying half the cast of the Mario cartoons, comics and manga of the next few years.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!TV · DIC Entertainment · September to December 1989The syndicated series leaned on this game at least as hard as on the original: Mouser, Tryclyde, Fryguy, Shy Guys, Snifits, Bob-ombs, Birdo and the vegetables all appear, King Koopa took Wart’s place, and the game’s music is everywhere. Only Wart and the Pansers were left out. Super Luigi Bros. has a full guide to the show.

Nintendo PowerMagazine · Vol. 1, July/August 1988The very first issue of Nintendo’s magazine made this its cover story, with a clay Mario hoisting a turnip, and ran a map-filled feature; Vol. 2 finished the walkthrough and Vol. 7 added a 1-Up guide. SLB archives all three.

Nintendo Comics SystemComics · Valiant · 1990–1991Wart, Mouser and friends turn up in Valiant’s Mario stories, which borrowed the Super Show’s version of the Mushroom Kingdom.

KC Mario: Super Mario USAManga · Kodansha KC Deluxe, volume 16 · 6 March 1993The only volume of Kodansha’s Mario manga with Toad as a co-lead. Mouser steals the heroes’ vegetable seeds, which sprout in Subcon; Wart kidnaps Peach to be his cook; Birdo switches sides after two defeats.

Super Mario-kunManga · Yukio Sawada · volumes 6 and 8Because Japan met the game only in 1992, Sawada’s adaptation comes after his Super Mario World arc. Wart kidnaps Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Birdo, and Bowser of all people has to help.

Super Mario Bros. 2 by Jon IrwinBook · Boss Fight Books · 6 October 2014A 184-page study of how Nintendo of America came to swap one sequel for another, with a foreword by Howard Phillips, the company’s original “Game Master”.

In later gamesCameos and callbacksShy Guys, Bob-ombs, Pokeys and Birdo became regulars almost at once, in Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World and Yoshi’s Island. Super Smash Bros. Melee has a Mushroom Kingdom II stage with Birdo and Pidgit; Wart taught Link a song as Mamu in Link’s Awakening; Super Mario 3D World brought back the four heroes with the same strengths; and Wart, Birdo, Mouser and Clawgrip reappear in 2026’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Four heroes, a frog, a mouse, a snake, a flame, a crab and the most misunderstood dinosaur in gaming. Who they are and what they do in Subcon.

Character	Who they are	In this game	Abilities & notes
MarioThe all-rounder	The dreamer who starts it all. Built over Imajin, the boy hero of Doki Doki Panic.	Dreams of Subcon, leads the picnic party into the cave and, in the ending, wakes up in bed.	Average speed, jump and plucking Good for any level, best at none
LuigiThe high jumper	For the first time, a different character from his brother: taller, thinner and with a scuttling mid-air kick that Miyamoto added to explain the borrowed jump of Mama from Doki Doki Panic.	The best choice for tall climbs and the sky world.	Highest jump and longest hang time Slow to pluck and lift Slightly slippery landings
Princess ToadstoolThe floater	Her first playable appearance in any game, replacing Lina, Imajin’s girlfriend. Her hover became her trademark in Super Smash Bros. and Super Princess Peach.	Floats over pits that stump everyone else; many players finish the game with her alone.	Hovers for about a second and a half after a jump Slowest runner, weakest plucker
ToadThe sprinter	The Mushroom retainer of the first game, now a hero in his own right (standing in for Papa). His first playable role too.	Digs through sand and plucks vegetables faster than anyone; useless in the air.	Fastest runner and instant plucks Barely slows when carrying things Lowest jump
WartKing of Subcon	A corpulent frog in a cape and crown who seized the land of dreams and its Dream Machine. He was Mamu in Doki Doki Panic, and he kept that name for a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening.	Final boss in World 7-2. Blows bubbles, hates vegetables.	Six vegetables in the open mouth Carried off by the Subcons in the ending
BirdoEgg-spitting gatekeeper	A pink dinosaur with a bow who guards sixteen of the twenty levels. The manual swapped her name with Ostro’s and then described her in a line that fans still quote: that he thinks he is a girl and would rather be called Birdetta. In Japan she was Catherine.	Spits eggs (pink), eggs and fire (red) or only fire (grey, which looks green in the deserts). Three hits for a crystal ball.	Pink: 1-1 to 4-3 Red: 2-2 to 7-2 Grey/green: 5-1 to 7-1
MouserBomb-throwing mouse	A mouse in sunglasses with an endless supply of bombs, and the first proper boss.	Guards the tower of World 1-3 and returns with green ears in 3-3. Throw his bombs back before they blow.	Replaced by the robot Robirdo in World 3 of Super Mario Advance.
TryclydeThree-headed snake	A fire-breathing serpent with three heads, spelled Triclyde in the credits.	Boss of World 2-3 and 6-3. Mushroom Blocks only.	Breathes fire in volleys; stack the blocks as a shield.
FryguyLiving flame	A fire creature who guards the ice fortress of World 4-3, of all places.	Hit him with Mushroom Blocks and he splits into four small flames, each needing one more block.	The only boss who multiplies.
ClawgripRock-throwing crab	A giant crab who hurls boulders, and the one boss Nintendo added that was not in Doki Doki Panic. Clawglip in the credits.	Boss of World 5-3. Catch his rocks and return them; five hits.	Pounds his chest like a certain ape.
Shy GuyMasked foot soldier	The face of Wart’s army, or rather the mask. Red ones walk off ledges, pink ones turn round.	Everywhere, from 1-1 to 7-2. The ideal projectile.	Later a mainstay of Yoshi, Mario Kart and Mario Party.
SnifitThe one that shoots	A Shy Guy with a nozzle for a mouth that spits bullets. Pink ones patrol, grey ones hop in place, and the red ones appear only in 3-3.	From 1-2 onwards. Jump the bullets, then jump the Snifit.	Can be picked up and thrown like a Shy Guy.
NinjiThe little ninja	A small black imp that jumps straight up, or hops after you in the second variety.	From 1-1 to the castle. Handy as a springboard for the Super Jump trick in 1-2.	Returned in Super Mario World and Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
PidgitCrow on a carpet	A black bird who swoops at you on a flying carpet.	From 1-2; beat him and the carpet is yours for a few seconds.	The carpets came back in Super Mario 64.
PhantoThe guardian mask	A stone face that sleeps above every key and wakes the instant you lift it.	Chases you anywhere, even into Sub-space, until the key is dropped or used.	Cannot be killed; a stopwatch pauses it.
AlbatossBob-omb bomber	A red bird that flies in straight lines carrying Bob-ombs, and that you can ride.	Bombs you in 3-3 and 5-3, carries you across 6-2.	Indestructible; just a very convenient bird.
Bob-ombWalking bomb	A wind-up bomb with feet that flashes and explodes. A Mario fixture from here on.	From 3-3. Pick one up and throw it at a brick wall before it goes off.	Dropped by Albatosses; spawns from a jar in 5-3.
PokeyWalking cactus	A stack of spiny segments with a face on top.	The deserts of Worlds 2 and 6. Pick off the segments or pick up the head.	Another future regular, from Super Mario World to Odyssey.

Enemies and hazards

Every creature in Wart’s army, with where it first turns up. Almost all of them can be picked up and thrown.

• 
  Shy Guy (red / pink)1-1 to 7-2Red walks off edges; pink turns back.
• 
  Tweeter1-1 to 7-2A masked bird that hops in short arcs.
• 
  Snifit (pink / grey / red)1-2 to 7-2Spits bullets. Red only in 3-3.
• 
  Ninji1-1 to 7-2Jumps in place, or hops after you.
• 
  Beezo (red / grey)1-2 to 6-2Winged Shy Guy with a fork; red swoops, grey flies straight.
• 
  Hoopster1-1 to 7-1Ladybird that climbs vines. Stand on it.
• 
  Phanto1-2 to 7-2Key guardian. Cannot be picked up.
• 
  Trouter1-3 to 5-2Leaping fish; a stepping stone up waterfalls.
• 
  Porcupo3-2 to 5-2Spiky; thrown objects only.
• 
  Bob-omb3-3 to 7-2Explodes near you; throw it first.
• 
  Albatoss3-3 to 7-1Carries Bob-ombs, and you.
• 
  Pidgit1-2 to 5-3Crow on a carpet.
• 
  Cobrat2-1 to 6-3Snake in a jar or sand, spits a bullet.
• 
  Panser (red / grey / pink)2-1 to 7-2Fire-spitting flower; the pink one chases you.
• 
  Ostro3-2 to 5-2Ostrich with a Shy Guy rider.
• 
  Pokey2-2 to 6-3Segmented cactus.
• 
  Autobomb4-1 to 4-2Wheeled turret; ride it or bin it.
• 
  Flurry4-1 to 4-3Skating snowman that chases you on ice.
• 
  Spark1-3 to 7-2Electric orb circling walls and ceilings. Untouchable.
• 
  Birdo16 levels; not 1-3, 2-3, 3-3 or 4-1Three eggs or three blocks.
• 
  Mouser1-3, 3-3Return his bombs.
• 
  Tryclyde2-3, 6-3Mushroom Blocks.
• 
  Fryguy4-3Blocks, then four more blocks.
• 
  Clawgrip5-3Five rocks.
• 
  Mask Gate7-2Stun it with blocks to reach Wart.
• 
  Wart7-2Six vegetables.

The people who made it

The NES game has no staff roll; these names come from the credits of Doki Doki Panic and from Nintendo’s own interviews.

The story of how a Japanese sequel was shelved and a television tie-in became a Mario game has been told by Kensuke Tanabe himself (to Wired in 2011 and Nintendo World Report in 2004), by Nintendo of America veterans in Jon Irwin’s 2014 book, and by Nintendo in its anniversary material.

The sequel Japan got

On 3 June 1986, nine months after the original, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Famicom Disk System. It was built on the first game’s engine and looked almost identical, but it was a different animal: Luigi now jumped higher and slid on landing, Poison Mushrooms lurked in ? Blocks, warp pipes could send you backwards, and the 32 new courses were tuned for people who had already mastered the original, with a hidden World 9 for anyone who finished without warping and Worlds A to D for anyone who finished eight times. Some of its courses had first appeared in the arcade VS. Super Mario Bros.

Nintendo of America, which was still coaxing a nervous US market back into video games after the 1983 crash, played it and did not want it. The verdict, as Nintendo has described it since, was that the game was too close to the original and far too difficult for the audience the NES was trying to win. The West would not see it until Super Mario All-Stars in 1993, where it was renamed Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and the untouched disk version arrived only on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007.

Tanabe’s vertical prototype

Meanwhile, in Kyoto, a young designer named Kensuke Tanabe had spent about two months after The Legend of Zelda shipped in February 1986 building a very different platformer under Miyamoto’s supervision, with SRD doing the programming. It scrolled upwards. Two players climbed together, stacking blocks to make stairs, lifting objects and each other, and throwing a partner higher when the screen demanded it. Tanabe later told Wired that the picking-up idea survived directly: lifting blocks, he said, “was the same thing as pulling out vegetables from the ground.”

It was not much fun. The Famicom struggled with it, the single-player game was thin and Miyamoto asked for something more like Mario, with ordinary left-to-right stages mixed in. Several of the tall climbing levels survived that note. Then the project was put on a shelf.

Dream Factory ’87

The shelf did not hold it long. Fuji Television was planning Yume Kōjō ’87, a summer festival whose name means Dream Factory, and wanted a Famicom game starring the event’s mascots. Tanabe was handed a sheet of character designs and asked to make a game with them, so he poured his prototype into a new setting: an Arabian storybook in which the twins Piki and Poki have torn out the last page, letting the frog Mamu escape to kidnap them, and their brother Imajin, his girlfriend Lina and their parents Mama and Papa climb inside to put things right. Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (the title means a pounding heart) reached the Disk System on 10 July 1987, with Koji Kondo’s music, four playable characters, a magic lamp for the dream world and a rule that you had to finish the game with all four heroes to see the real ending.

Putting Mario in the picture

Nintendo of America president Minoru Arakawa asked for a Mario sequel the West could actually play, and the answer sat right there. Nintendo Power’s founding editor Gail Tilden later told Irwin the idea seemed odd at first, though not for Nintendo. R&D4 rebuilt Doki Doki Panic around the Mushroom Kingdom: Imajin became Mario, Mama became Luigi (hence his tall frame and his high jump), Lina became Princess Toadstool and Papa became Toad. The lamp became a potion, the Starman and the first game’s sounds were already there, and a run button was added because Mario has to run. The need to finish with every character was dropped, animation was added so that enemies and grass moved, and Tanabe told Wired the team knew the Fuji mascots would mean nothing in America but Mario would sell. Clawgrip and a few tweaks were new.

It is the first time Mario and Luigi were visibly different sizes, and Miyamoto gave Luigi his frantic mid-air leg kick to make the inherited jump make sense. Birdo and Ostro had their names swapped in the manual and credits, where Tryclyde became Triclyde, Clawgrip became Clawglip and Hoopster became Hoopstar; Super Mario Advance finally fixed the spellings thirteen years later.

Home to Japan as Super Mario USA

The American game shipped on 9 October 1988 and became one of the NES’s biggest sellers. Japan, which had already moved on to Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, finally received it on a Famicom cartridge on 14 September 1992 as Super Mario USA, unchanged apart from the title screen. By then its enemies were already turning up in other Mario games, and the odd one out had become part of the family.

Series firsts that can be traced to this game (or to Doki Doki Panic through it).

No codes, but plenty of tricks. SLB’s cheats page, completion guide and Nintendo Power 1-Up guide go deeper.

The four warps

Each warp needs a magic potion thrown beside a particular jar, a trip through the door and a dive into the jar in Sub-space. World 1-3: the only jar, at the end of the outdoor section, goes to World 4. World 3-1: the jar in the cave at the foot of the giant waterfall goes to World 5. World 4-2: the jar on the little island between the last two whales goes to World 6. World 5-3: the very first jar goes to World 7. Using all four, the game is six levels long.

Farming lives at the slot machine

Every coin you pluck in Sub-space is a spin on the Bonus Chance. The first two Sub-space visits in each area turn grass into coins, so throw your potions where the grass is thickest (World 1-1’s opening hill is the classic spot) and remember that a cherry on the left reel alone is worth a life.

The Starman

Five cherries in one level summon a Starman from the bottom of the screen. Grab it before it floats away.

Stopwatch on demand

Pull four fully grown vegetables in a row (not sprouts) and the fifth pluck is always a stopwatch.

Phanto management

Phanto only chases while you hold the key. Drop it when the mask dives, let it pass, pick the key up again. A stopwatch freezes Phanto too.

The Power Squat Jump

Hold Down until your character flashes, then jump: the extra height clears walls the designers never meant you to cross and is essential in the fortresses.

Skipping Birdo in 1-2

Hold the key, Power Squat Jump off a Ninji to reach the Birdo door early and go in with the key: three hits with the key itself finish her.

The egg ride

In 4-3 do not fight the pink Birdo on the ledge. Jump on her egg as it passes and ride it over the pit.

Choosing your hero

Toad for digging levels (2-2, 2-3) and anything with lots of plucking; the princess for the sky (7-1) and wide pits; Luigi for 5-2’s climb and the castle; Mario when in doubt.

Continue wisely

You have two continues. A continue restarts the current level with three lives, so use the Bonus Chance to stock up before World 7.

Compiled from the instruction booklet, Super Mario Wiki (Sub-Space, Bonus Chance and glitch pages) and Nintendo Power Vol. 7.

Super Mario Wiki lists some forty bugs. These are the ones worth knowing.

The Super Mario Bros. music glitch

Grab a Starman, throw a potion and enter Sub-space while still invincible, then leave. The ground theme from the first game keeps playing in the main level until you enter a door or finish. Stay in Sub-space until the star wears off and it lasts the whole stage.

Lifesaving jar

As a small character, drop into a jar at the exact moment Phanto hits you. The death jingle plays but you go down the jar anyway, emerging alive with an empty life meter. It survives in the All-Stars version.

Unlimited coins

Throw a potion by a bottomless pit next to several grass tufts, pluck the coins and then jump into the pit. A Sub-space visit that ends in death is not counted against your two, so the grass refills, at the price of a life per go.

Disappearing Mushroom Blocks

Throw a block off the screen where you cannot see it land and it vanishes until you leave through a door and come back. Hopeless if it was the block you needed.

Death by potion

Throw a potion above the top of the screen and enter the door it makes: you appear at the bottom of Sub-space and die on the spot.

The Bob-omb block of 5-3

Put a Mushroom Block two tiles left of the Bob-omb jar in World 5-3, let a Bob-omb destroy the jar, drop another block where the jar was, scroll the first one off screen and return: the block now spawns Bob-ombs.

Item on your head

Exit Sub-space over a grass tuft and pluck and throw it immediately. The item is thrown but a copy stays glued to your head until you die or change areas, so you can carry a key or a potion where it should not go.

Over the vine

Climb to the top of a vine with a Hoopster below you while holding Up, and the Hoopster will shove you a few feet into the air above the vine, still in your climbing pose, until you let go.

Nintendo’s announcement of the game’s arrival on Switch Online, and the best long-form account of how it came to exist.

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  The ending credits misspell three enemies (Triclyde, Clawglip, Hoopstar) and swap Birdo’s name with Ostro’s, an error repeated in the manual and left alone in All-Stars. Super Mario Advance finally corrected them in 2001.
• The NES manual says of Birdo that he thinks he is a girl and would rather be called Birdetta. In Doki Doki Panic she was Catherine, nickname Cathie.
• World 7 has two levels instead of three; fans link this to Doki Doki Panic, which is set inside a storybook whose last page the twins Piki and Poki tore out, though Nintendo has never confirmed it.
• Luigi’s mid-air leg scuttle was Miyamoto’s idea, a visual excuse for the high jump inherited from Mama in Doki Doki Panic. It is also the first game in which the brothers are different heights.
• Clawgrip was not in Doki Doki Panic; Nintendo added him for the Western game. He throws rocks and beats his chest like Donkey Kong.
• World 4-1 is the only level with no boss at all, not even a Birdo; its crystal ball simply lies unguarded at the end.
• The grey Birdos and Snifits of Worlds 6 and 7 look green because of the NES palette; they behave exactly like the grey ones elsewhere.
• Pull four ripe vegetables in a row and the fifth is always a stopwatch.
• The grass tufts are red before you pull them and black afterwards, a colour slip left over from Doki Doki Panic, where they were always black. The remakes turn them green instead.
• Sub-space’s music is a dreamy arrangement of the original Super Mario Bros. ground theme, and a Starman carried into Sub-space can make that theme play through the rest of the level.
• Wart kept his Japanese name, Mamu, for a cameo in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (1993), where he teaches Link a song.
• Japan did not see the game until 14 September 1992, when it arrived on a Famicom cartridge as Super Mario USA, by which time Japanese players had already finished Super Mario World.

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  Nintendo Power’s first issue (July/August 1988) put the game on its cover as a clay model of Mario brandishing a turnip.
• An early build used a lamp rather than a potion to open Sub-space, a tan and orange title screen, and heroes who could not run and had no whites in their eyes.
• Each hero in Doki Doki Panic had to finish the whole game before the true ending appeared; Nintendo dropped that rule for the Western release.
• The run button was Nintendo’s addition. Doki Doki Panic walked everywhere.
• Super Mario Advance (2001) replaced Mouser as the World 3 boss with Robirdo, a robotic Birdo, and added a Yoshi egg hunt, a scoring system and voice samples.
• The Satellaview broadcast BS Super Mario USA in four weekly episodes between 31 March and 21 April 1996, the first Mario platformer to use the service’s SoundLink audio.
• Kensuke Tanabe went on to produce the Metroid Prime games and the Paper Mario series; Hideki Konno, his assistant director, directed Super Mario Kart.
• Toad barely slows when carrying things, which is why speedrunners live in his shoes.
• Jon Irwin’s book on the game (Boss Fight Books, 2014) carries a foreword by Howard Phillips, Nintendo of America’s bow-tied “Game Master”.
• Nintendo Power’s 100th issue ranked it 47th of all time; the magazine’s final list, in 2012, moved it up to 22nd.

The Western box shows Mario mid-leap with a turnip, a pose Nintendo of America’s artists drew for the game; Japan’s 1992 Super Mario USA cover gathers all four heroes with the Stars and Stripes behind them.

More of Subcon.

Artwork from the manual, Nintendo Power and the Japanese Super Mario USA release. Select any image to view it full size.

From arcade cabinets to Game Boy Advance launch title, Subcon has been rebuilt more than once. The timeline, then what the game left behind.

Versions and re-releases

• NES 1988–1989North America 9 October 1988; Europe 28 April 1989; Australia 4 May 1989.
• PlayChoice-10 (arcade) 1988The NES game on Nintendo’s coin-op cabinet in North America.
• Super Mario USA (Famicom) 14 September 1992Japan’s first look, on cartridge, with only the title screen changed.
• Super Mario All-Stars (SNES) 1993Japan 14 July, North America 1 August, Europe 16 December 1993: 16-bit graphics and sound, battery saves and a lucky-seven reel on the slot machine worth ten lives. Re-released on Wii in 2010 as Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition and on Switch Online’s SNES library in September 2020.
• BS Super Mario USA (Satellaview) March–April 1996Four weekly Japanese broadcasts of a reworked All-Stars version with live audio, one world per episode and prizes for high scorers.
• Super Mario Advance (Game Boy Advance) 2001Japan 21 March, North America 11 June, Europe and Australia 22 June 2001: the All-Stars version with voice samples, giant enemies and vegetables, a score counter, a Yoshi egg hunt, Robirdo in place of Mouser in World 3, and Mario Bros. for up to four players. Added to the Switch Online GBA library in May 2023.
• Wii Virtual Console 2007Europe and Australia 25 May, North America 2 July, Japan 10 August 2007.
• 3DS Virtual Console 2012–2013Japan 28 November 2012; North America 11 July, Europe 7 August 2013.
• Wii U Virtual Console 2013–2014North America, Europe and Australia 16 May 2013; Japan 19 March 2014.
• NES Classic Edition November 2016One of the 30 built-in games.
• Nintendo Switch Online 13 February 2019Added to the NES library alongside Kirby’s Adventure.

All-Stars and Super Mario Advance

The 1993 Super Mario All-Stars gave Subcon parallax skies, bigger sprites and a save file, and let Western players meet the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 at last, under its new name The Lost Levels. In 2001 the Game Boy Advance launched with Super Mario Advance, a reworking of the All-Stars version by Nintendo R&D2 that added digitised voices for the heroes, oversized vegetables and enemies, a points system, a Yoshi egg hunt through every level and a robotic Birdo in place of Mouser in World 3, with a four-player Mario Bros. on the side. SLB has a separate page on Super Mario Advance.

The odd one out that stuck

For a game that was never meant to be a Mario game, Super Mario Bros. 2 left an enormous mark. Shy Guys, Bob-ombs, Pokeys, Snifits, Ninjis and Birdo were absorbed into the series within two or three years, and Shy Guys in particular went on to anchor the Yoshi games. The pick-up-and-throw move returned in Super Mario Bros. 3 and has never left. Princess Toadstool’s hover became her signature from Super Smash Bros. to Super Princess Peach; Luigi’s high jump and flailing legs are his, permanently; and Toad’s turn as a playable hero led, eventually, to Captain Toad. In 2013 Super Mario 3D World brought the four heroes back with the very same strengths and weaknesses.

Wart has had a quieter afterlife: a cameo as Mamu in Link’s Awakening, a few spin-off nods, and then, in 2026, a return alongside Birdo, Mouser and Clawgrip in The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Not bad for a frog from a torn storybook.

Sales

The switch paid off handsomely. Nintendo’s lifetime figures put the NES cartridge at 7.46 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling NES games that was never bundled with the console. In Japan, where it arrived four years late as Super Mario USA, it was a curiosity rather than a hit, and Famitsu’s reviewers were lukewarm.

• 7.46mcopies worldwide (Nintendo data)
• 9 Oct 1988North American release
• 4 yearsbefore Japan saw it
• 84Metacritic, Super Mario Advance

Reviews and rankings

British magazines reviewed the game at its 1989 European launch and liked it very much; Japanese critics, meeting it in 1992, were cooler. Later writers tend to judge it on its own terms. Period scores are as listed by Wikipedia with the issues it cites.

Reviewing the Virtual Console release in 2007, IGN’s Lucas M. Thomas observed that American players had long since proved they could handle the Japanese sequel, and GameSpot’s Alex Navarro argued that straying from a series’ formula is not always a mistake. Nintendo Life’s Marcel van Duyn put it simplest: being so unlike the rest of the series is exactly what makes it fun.

In the lists it sits respectably rather than at the summit: 47th in Nintendo Power’s 100 Best Games of All Time (issue 100, September 1997), 22nd in the magazine’s farewell list (Vol. 285, December 2012), 18th in IGN’s Top 100 NES Games and 81st in Game Informer’s Top 200 (issue 200). Polls of favourite Mario games usually place it below its two NES siblings, and its defenders usually reply that it was never trying to be them.

Honours

Super Luigi Bros readers have reviewed Super Mario Bros. 2 over the years. Their write-ups are kept exactly as they were sent in:

• Spektre
• dgiglio84
• RHarrison
• VideoGamer
• Heroic Mario
• PlayerGuyForever

Played it? If you’d like to add your own review, please get in touch.

This game had several references to other games, and in this section you can see all of those references…

• Donkey Kong: The boss of the fifth world in this game (Clawgrip) throws rocks in a similar way like Donkey Kong throws barrels in the popular arcade classic. He even bangs his chest like the famous gorilla. Also, in the 16-bit versions of the game, you can see the warehouses that appear in this old iconic title, in the background

Clawgrip

• Mario Bros. : The POW Blocks made their official debut in this title

• Super Mario Bros. : The Starman power-up and the Mushroom power-up have debuted in this game. The ability to run was introduced in this game, and it was implemented into the sequel as well (it wasn’t present in Doki Doki Panic). The cover of the main Super Mario Bros. theme appears in the Subspace world of this game, while the title theme is a cover for the music of the underwater levels

• Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels: The players are given the option to choose their character. Luigi can, also, jump higher than his brother.

Even though it is not as influential as the original game, this game still had a certain influence on the other Nintendo games that were later released. Right now, you will be able to see which elements of this game appeared in the later titles, as well as the names of those games:

• Super Mario Bros. 3: Bob-ombs from the second game return in this sequel. They have the exact same attributes like Bob-ombs from this game

• Super Mario World: Pokeys, Pidgits and Ninjis reappear in this release

• Wario’s Woods: Birdo, a character that was a regular mini-boss in Super Mario Bros. 2 reappears in this game. Also, Toad has similar characteristics to the ones that he has in the sequel of the original game. Lastly, it should be mentioned that some items (like the Spuds) also look similar to the vegetables that appear in the second Super Mario Bros. game

• Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island: Shy Guys and Snifits return in this title

• Super Mario 64: Magic carpets, that were ridden by Pidgits in the sequel of the original game, make their reappearance in this game

• Super Smash Bros. Melee: A stage called Mushroom Kingdom II is greatly inspired by this game. Birdo reappears in this game as well, and she is spitting eggs at the player. The theme song, that can be heard in every overworld stage of the NES game, is present in this title as well, just like the boss theme (it can be heard in the Sudden Death matches). Also, Princess Peach’s movement was copy-pasted from the NES game. There are trophies of Pidgit, Birdo, and the vegetables as well

• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Shy Guys and Ninji’s reappear in this game, and they are called “Mini Shy Guys” and “Mini Ninjis”. Also, the way Mario picks up the items and the enemies in this game is directly inspired by the same attribute in the NES game

• Super Mario 64 DS: Luigi’s jumping style in this game is directly inspired by his jumping mechanic that was used in the NES game

• Mario & Luigi – Partners in time: Pidgits make their full reappearance in this game

• Mario Hoops 3-on-3: The final victory theme is actually a cover of the ending theme of this game

• Super Paper Mario: In one part of the game, Francis mentions that he possesses a comic called “Cybort Wart” which is an obvious influence of the main antagonist Wart from Super Mario Bros. 2. Also, some Sammer Guys carry the following names: “Squatting Birdo”, “Pidget on Wind’s Breath”, “Sleeping Turnip”, “Plugged Snifit”, “Upward Leaping Ninji” and “Guy Who Fry”. These are the obvious references to: Birdo, Pidgit, Turnip, Snifit, Ninji and Fryguy

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl: Just like it is the case with Super Smash Bros. Melee, Princess Peach’s movement is copied from the NES game and there are is another trophy of Birdo. You can also see the names of Birdo and Wart in the random name selection. The NES game can be played as trial game or Masterpiece as well (the character that you first get to play as, in the trial game, is Princess Peach, although, it is possible to play the trial game with different characters as well, but only if you get a Game Over screen before the trial ends)

• Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story: In this title, you can see Wiggler attacking you by pulling out the vegetables that look identical to those that are used in the sequel of the original game. Also, one minion that was brainwashed by Bowser calls his castle “Mouser’s castle”, by mistake

• New Super Mario Bros. Wii: The way in which the characters pick-up the items (like the POW Blocks) is copied from Super Mario Bros. 2 . A playable Toad also reappears in this game

• Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!: You can hear the covers of the Overworld theme, Lifelost theme, Boss theme and Boss Victory theme from the NES game in this release (in the first world)

• Super Mario Galaxy 2: Luigi’s triple jump in this game is inspired by his jumping mechanic from the second Super Mario Bros. game

• Mario Sports Mix: The throwing animations of Toad are obviously inspired by his throwing mechanics from the NES game. Also, the huge speed of Toad from the original game’s sequel reappears in this release

• Super Mario 3D Land: The Power Squat Jump from Super Mario Bros. 2 has inspired the crouching jumps of Mario and Luigi in this game. The back flip element from the NES game found its place in this title as well

• Mario Kart 7: The Shy Guy Bazaar has a whole lot of references to the elements of the second NES Mario game (like the vases, magic carpets, and the Shy Guys themselves, who appear in the audience)

• New Super Mario Bros. 2: A night level of this game has platforms that look like they are copied from the overworld levels of Super Mario Bros. 2

• Paper Mario: Sticker Star: You can hear the jazz arrangement of the main theme of the second NES Mario game when the credits start rolling

• Super Mario 3D World: Toad and Princess Peach reappear in this game as playable characters. Their abilities and attributes are copied directly from Super Mario Bros. 2.

Detailed sub-pages, walkthroughs, manuals and reader-submitted reviews covering every angle of Super Mario Bros. 2.

Box art galleries, rendered artwork, and screenshots for Super Mario Bros. 2.

Every fact on this page was checked against the 27 sources listed here.