There are actually two Super Mario Brothers 2s. One, released only in Japan, is better known elsewhere as Super Mario Brothers: The Lost Levels. The other is what most people in the United States think of as Super Mario Brothers 2, which is actually a copy of a Japanese game called "Doki Doki Panic" (a loose translation is "Dream Factory"), modified to use Mario sprites and music. This article discusses the American version.
Super Mario Bros 2 is a Nintendo video game, released for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and is the most unusual game in the Mario series. In this game Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach Toadstool, and Toad have to save Subcon from Wart (cousin of Bowser) and his minions.
The Japanese later got the same game for the Nintendo Family Computer, under the name Super Mario USA.
The game is made up of 7 worlds, each of which contain 3 levels, except for world 7 which only has 2.
You choose from four characters each time you (re)start a level: Mario, Luigi, Princess, and Toad. Each has a special ability: Luigi can jump really high, Princess can remain temporarily suspended in the air, Toad can pick things up quickly and is very agile, and Mario is balanced.
Enemies are defeated by throwing vegetables and other items which the character plucks from the ground. Most enemies may also be picked up and thrown.
In each level, there are places where the player can pick up potions, which he can drop make a door appear. If a door is created in the right place, there will be coins planted in the ground which the player can pick up, and sometimes a mushroom which will add another unit to his maximum health and re-fill his health.
At the end of each level, the player is presented with a slot machine-type game. He gets to try as many times as he has coins collected from the level he just completed, and depending on what combinations come up, he can get anywhere from 0 to 5 extra lives for each try in the NES version of Super Mario Bros 2.
Super Mario Bros 2 received a graphical, audio, and gameplay upgrade under Super Mario All Stars on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. On the NES version, the player can only continue twice. On the Super NES version, he can continue any number of times, and can also save the game. As for that slot-machine type game, the icons are bigger on the Super NES version. The player can get up to 10 extra lives on the Super NES version of Super Mario Bros 2, compared to getting up to 5 five extra lives on the NES version. That is because the "7" symbol is an addition to Super NES version. On the NES version of Super Mario Bros 2, the player can select a character and must play as that character at the length of the level. On the Super NES version, the player can select a character at the beginning of each level and when he has lost a life.
See also:
Super Mario Brothers 2: The Lost Levels
Super Mario Brothers 3