Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Super Mario Bros. 2
Also known as: Super Mario USA (JP) Based on: Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic Developers: Nintendo EAD, SRD Publisher: Nintendo Platforms: NES, Arcade (PlayChoice-10) Released in JP: September 16, 1992 Released in US: October 9, 1988 Released in EU: April 28, 1989 Released in AU: May 22, 1989 This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a Data Crystal page

As most Nintendo fans already know by this point, the game released as Super Mario Bros. 2 outside of Japan was not the same Super Mario Bros. 2 that Japan had gotten in 1986. Due to a negative internal testing response to the Japanese SMB2, Nintendo chose not to localize it and instead took another game they made and modified it to serve as the Super Mario sequel for the west.

Nevertheless, the game was a smash hit, and many characters and enemies introduced in this game (Birdo, Shy Guys, Ninjis, Pokeys, etc.) were gradually incorporated into future Mario games.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Changes from Yume Koujou: Doki Doki Panic It takes a lot to convert a promotional item into a wildly-popular game.

Unused Graphics

Doki Doki Panic Leftovers

Found among the graphics used in the ending scenes.

A magic lamp. This became the Magical Potion, and has the same effect (creates a door to Subspace).

This heart was the equivalent to the Mushrooms found in Subspace. Interestingly, one page of the instruction manual mentions that Subspace has hearts in certain places despite having just introduced the Mushroom on the previous page.

This is the original grass sprite. Which is no longer used in SMB2 using a new set of sprites with animations. Interestingly the grass used in the title screen is based on this sprite.

This is the original needle sprite. Which is no longer used in SMB2 using a new set of sprites with animations.

A lock and a metal platform, used in the ending of Doki Doki Panic for the cage where Wart kept the two children he kidnapped in the prologue. Neither the objects nor the cage (nor the children, for that matter) have any equivalent in Super Mario Bros. 2.

The original Albatoss sprite, no longer used as SMB2 uses a new and more elaborate set of sprites for it. The first half of the first sprite is duplicated 8 times in the graphical data for the playable characters.

Prototype Leftovers

Yes, money; dollars, in fact. At one point in development, the ending awarded "Prize Money" based on the number of lives used, with fewer deaths awarding more money (all the way up to $10,000,000). The final game replaced this with a display showing how many times you used each character.

Miscellaneous Graphics

Hidden in the tileset for the desert stages is a little smiley face that isn't used anywhere in the prototype, final, or Doki Doki Panic. It appears to just be a placeholder.

Eighth Animation Frame

The animated tiles, such as the POW Blocks and Cherries, have eight frames of animation. However, due to a bug, only the first seven frames are displayed. To fix this and cycle through all eight frames, set $FAF5 ($1FB05 in the ROM) to $28 or use Game Genie code AXNYSZTX. (This code will not work on an original Galoob Game Genie.) Note that the graphics for the top of the waterfall, the POW Block, the slower quicksand, and Albatoss are unique to this missing frame.

Used	Full

Used	Full

The Albatoss and POW Block have noticeably smoother animations with the missing frames added.

Book Border Tiles

The between-level and pause screens in Doki Doki Panic are two screens wide and resemble an open book, which makes sense given that nearly all of the game takes place inside a storybook. SMB2 shrunk these to one screen and the book theme was (mostly) removed, but the extra tiles can still be found in the CHR data.

Unused Death Sound

The game is programmed to play a DPCM sample when the player dies (a recording of the sound heard in Doki Doki Panic, in fact). However, due to the fact that the sound engine silences DPCM samples on music track changes, the sound does not actually play.

To restore the sound, change these values in a headered ROM: 0x8431 from $8D to $AD and 0x8436 from $8D to $AD. Game Genie codes SZXAPKSE and SZXATKSE will also work.

Full Subspace Music

The Subspace music lasts 14 seconds and loops, but only the first ~7 seconds are heard due to that being the duration of each Subspace visit. The easiest way to hear the full track in-game is to pick up a Starman, enter Subspace, and then exit just before the invincibility wears off; if done correctly, the Subspace music will continue to play until the next track change.

To hear the full song at the title screen, use Game Genie code KEOOXXSE.

The full track also plays in Super Mario Maker 2 upon collecting the SMB2 Mushroom and hitting a P-Switch.

Unused Text

The string "ZELDA" is present at ROM address 0x1FFFB. It appears that Nintendo copied the PRG footer/vector table from The Legend of Zelda (another FDS-to-NES conversion) and simply forgot to change the title.

Revisional Differences

Fryguy Glitch

Revision 0	Revision 1

Normally, hitting a mini-Fryguy with a Mushroom Block will cause it to disappear in a puff of smoke. In the original release, however, if you manage to hit one while your character is shrinking, it will flip upside-down and fall off the screen instead.

This somehow confuses the game into thinking there are mini-Fryguys left even after the rest are extinguished, and hence the exit will never appear. This game-breaking bug was fixed in Revision 1.

Bonus Chance

US Revision 0 (North America)	US Revision 0 (Europe)

Revision 1 adds an extra NMI wait before drawing the Bonus Chance screen layout. This was done to resolve an issue where the screen fails to render properly on European consoles (essentially, an NMI occurs immediately after the pointer to the screen layout data is set, which causes it to be erased before the game can actually do anything with it). While US Revision 1 was not released in Europe, it was used as the basis for European Revision 0.

Regional Differences

US/Europe	Japan

Despite them already having Doki Doki Panic and a game called Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan as Super Mario USA to differentiate it from their aforementioned Mario 2, due in part to the inability to rerelease Doki Doki Panic due to copyright issues with Fuji TV (though the back of the Super Mario USA box still mentions Doki Doki Panic as part of a small blurb detailing the game's history). Aside from the modified title screen, which now uses the same brown and black palette as the Bonus Chance screen instead of the original red and blue palette, it is identical to US Revision 1. This noticably also extends to the cast roll at the end of the game, with everyone still going by their English names (though the manual uses their Japanese ones).

Virtual Console Changes and Unused Content

To do: Do more research on this, and see if there's anything else the 3DS VC version changes/leaves unused.

Unused Text

The Virtual Console's config.ini contains unused text related to a variety of things.

Line	Text	Notes
76	NetDelay = 3 ;Multi Play - Network Delay Frame	Possibly some kind of lag compensation for wireless play? It's unusual to see this option here as Super Mario Bros. 3 is the only VC game to allow wireless multiplayer, as well as the fact that SMB2 is a single-player game.

Build Time

The file buildtime.txt contains the build time string "4月 12 2013 13時14分15秒", which translates to "April 12th, 2013 1:14:15 PM".