Super Mario Bros. 2

Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese name: Super Mario USA) is the second game in the Super Mario Bros. series. It originally was for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but has several remakes for many other systems. This game has been criticized for being too much a departure from its predecessor, Super Mario Bros..

Development
The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan, but various Nintendo of America employees personally disliked the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, which they found to be frustratingly difficult and looked too much like its predecessor, so it was not released in the North America or Europe. However, Nintendo was already working on Super Mario Bros. 3 and they had not released a SMB 2 in NA or Europe yet. They needed to make a game which was quick to make, so they took Doki Doki Panic, replaced all the playable characters with Mario characters and called it Super Mario Bros. 2. Super Mario USA was eventually released in Japan for the NES, in 1992.

The Japanese SMB 2 was also released outside Japan as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, as a part of Super Mario All-Stars. It was also released on Super Mario Bros. Deluxe as Super Mario Bros. for Super Players.

Many characters and abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2 later reappeared in the Mario series. Luigi's ability to Jump higher than Mario comes from this game, as well as Peach's ability to float in midair and pull vegetables from the ground (Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl). Shy Guys, Snifits, Bob-ombs, Pokeys, and Birdo were also introduced. Wart, the main villain, never reappeared in a video game.

Comparison with Doki Doki Panic
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a clone of the Japan-only Doki Doki Panic. Almost all characters, enemies, levels and musics are unchanged, which explains why SMB2 has no Goombas and Koopa Troopas and the main villain is exclusively Wart instead of Bowser. Most of the differences between DDP and SMB2 are small graphical changes, such as animation being added to the POW blocks, bomb fuses, cherries and vegetables for the SMB2 version, Super Mushrooms replacing large hearts as life-meter increases, and the characters shrinking when reduced to only one unit of health. Another difference is that in SMB2, a red shell can be picked up instead of a head like in Doki Doki Panic.

Playable Characters
Imajin / Mario: The balanced character, Imajin was the perfect fit for a player just starting out. While Mario replaced him, Imajin's balance in all areas has since become a staple of Mario's in the sports games and the Super Smash Bros. Series.

Mama / Luigi: With the ability to jump higher and lightly hover at the top of her jumps, Mama was a good choice for areas with long gaps. Luigi took her place, and in later games he kept his special jumps.

Lina / Princess Toadstool: The perfect character for a player with trouble timing jumps, Lina could hover, although she has low speed and strength. Princess Toadstool replaced her. Lina's moves inspired two of Peach's moves in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Papa / Toad: The most powerful character in the game, Papa could throw enemies and items very far, but he was not very good at running or jumping. Toad takes his place.

This also started idea that Toad may have superhuman strength.

Trivia

 * The box art for this game changed the emphasis from the original Super Mario Bros. game. In the original game, the words "Mario Bros." were bigger than the word "Super", but with this game, the words "Super Mario" became bigger than the word "Bros.". However, in the title screen of the game itself, the same text is used as the original game.
 * This is the first game to have Princess Toadstool and Toad as playable characters.
 * Some of the remakes, such as Super Mario Advance, used the name Peach instead of her original English name, Princess Toadstool.
 * The end credits contained some errors, such as Birdo mistakenly being labeled as "Ostro" (and vice versa), Hoopster was mistakenly labeled as "Hoopstar", Tryclyde's name was misspelled as "Triclyde", and Clawgrip's name was misspelled as "Clawglip". These errors remained unchanged in Super Mario All-Stars, but were fixed in Super Mario Advance.
 * Coincidentally Mama in Doki Doki Panic was replaced by Luigi in Super Mario Bros. 2, and the very last episode of the Super Mario World cartoon series is named "Mama Luigi".