Gameplay and Difficulty:
More substantial an issue than individual design decisions is Super Mario Brother 2's difficulty. It's a hard game. The level design grew increasingly complex between the first and second iteration of the game, and far less forgiving. Pits are often just barely wide enough to leap over, and plummeting to your death is a standard fair. A number of more complex elements that make their U.S. debut in Mario Brothers 3 begin to appear, such as more advanced moving platforms and more detailed levels. The result is a game that's extremely challenging. Whether or not this would have turned U.S. and European gamers off to the title is hard to say, but Mario Brothers: The Lost Levels certainly takes a step outside the reach of the average casual gamer.
Should Nintendo Have Released Mario 2?
Miyamoto's Super Mario Brothers 2 feels more like the true sequel to the original Mario Brothers than the Doki Doki remake ever could. With increased difficulty, the overall flavor might have been less palatable than the original installation, but the added elements helped to evolve the gameplay. So should Nintendo have released Mario 2 in its original form? A part of me argues that yes, they should have. On the other hand, many Mario fans list the outlandish styles of the U.S. release of Mario Brothers 2 as the best in the series. Miyamoto's version might have fit better into the line-up of Mario titles leading to Super Mario World and Yoshi, but it probably wouldn't have left nearly as many distinctive memories. There are legions of fans that wouldn't change Doki Doki Mario (as I like to think of it) for anything.
Where to Find Mario Brothers 2 for Yourself:
Since the original Mario Brothers 2 was never released in the United States, and only came to Japan on Nintendo's disk-based NES expansion, finding an original copy of the title might be hard. If you're curious about playing it for yourself, you'll need to track down a copy of Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game included on the cartridge, The Lost Levels, is not an exact copy of the Mario Brothers 2 released in Japan, though. The graphics, for example, have been redone to take advantage of the SuperNES's more powerful graphical abilities. What you get is a version of Mario 2 that looks much like Super Mario World. Included with the game is a reworked version of the original Mario Brothers as well. The original Mario 2 graphics looked very much like the original Super Mario Brothers.
You can click here to see a side-by-side comparison of the original Mario 2 and the graphically enhanced SuperNES version. In the mean time, take a moment to reevaluate what you think of as Mario Brothers 2. Is it really a Mario title? Or just a good game playing dress-up for Halloween?
