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Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
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| Super Mario Bros. 2 |
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Also known as: Super Mario USA (JP)
 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 asSuper Mario Bros. 2 outside of Japan was not the sameSuper Mario Bros. 2 that Japan had gotten in 1986. Due to a negative internal testing response to the JapaneseSMB2, Nintendo chose not to localize it and instead tookanother game they made and modified it to serve as theSuper 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.
Contents
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 manualmentions that Subspace has hearts in certain places despite having just introduced the Mushroom on the previous page.
A static crystal ball, grass tuft, and spike, left over fromDoki Doki Panic.SMB2 uses new, animated graphics for these objects. Interestingly, the grass used on the title screen is based on the early grass sprite.
A lock and a metal platform, used in the ending ofDoki 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 inSuper Mario Bros. 2.
The original Albatoss sprite, no longer used asSMB2 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. Atone 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 $10,000,000). The final game replaced this with a display showing how many times you used each character.
Miscellaneous Graphics
Hidden in the tileset for the desert stages is a little smiley face that isn't used anywhere in the prototype, final, orDoki Doki Panic. It appears to just be a placeholder.
Eighth Animation Frame
The animated tiles, such as the POW Blocks and Cherries, have eight frames of animation. However, due to a bug, only the first seven frames are displayed. To fix this and cycle through all eight frames, set$FAF5 ($1FB05 in the ROM) to$28 or useGame Genie codeAXNYSZTX. (This code will not work on a hardware 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 inDoki 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 inDoki 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 and0x8436 from$8D to$AD. Game Genie codesSZXAPKSE +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, useGame Genie codeKEOOXXSE.
The full track also plays inSuper Mario Maker 2 upon collecting theSMB2 Mushroom and hitting a P-Switch.
Unused Text
The string "ZELDA" is present at ROM address0x1FFFB. It appears that Nintendo copied the PRG footer/vector table fromThe 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 havingDoki Doki Panic and a game calledSuper Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo releasedSuper Mario Bros. 2 in Japan asSuper Mario USA to differentiate it from their aforementionedMario 2, due in part to the inability to rereleaseDoki Doki Panic due to copyright issues with Fuji TV (though the back of theSuper Mario USA box still mentionsDoki 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. Weird fact: If you run Wii U VC Release in an emulator like Mesen, you'll notice that the Bomb flash has been altered. But in Wii U VC, the flash works just like in the original. Is it a patch? This is weird. |
General Changes
| Original | Virtual Console | Virtual Console (Emulator) |
|---|---|---|
 |  | .png) |
The Virtual Console release appears to have changed the colors of the waterfalls in some areas. These have been reverted in the NES Classic Edition and later re-releases.
Unused Text
The Virtual Console'sconfig.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 asSuper Mario Bros. 3 is the only VC game to allow wireless multiplayer, as well as the fact thatSMB2 is a single-player game. |
Build Time
The filebuildtime.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".
References
- Games developed by Nintendo EAD
- Games developed by SRD
- Games published by Nintendo
- NES games
- Arcade games
- Games released in 1988
- Games released in September
- Games with unused graphics
- Games with unused music
- Games with unused sounds
- Games with unused text
- Games with regional differences
- Games with revisional differences
- Pages with a Data Crystal link
- To do
- Mario series
Cleanup >To do
Games >Games by content >Games with regional differences
Games >Games by content >Games with revisional differences
Games >Games by content >Games with unused graphics
Games >Games by content >Games with unused music
Games >Games by content >Games with unused sounds
Games >Games by content >Games with unused text
Games >Games by content >Pages with a Data Crystal link
Games >Games by developer >Games developed by Nintendo >Games developed by Nintendo EPD >Games developed by Nintendo EAD
Games >Games by developer >Games developed by Nintendo >Games developed by SRD
Games >Games by platform
Games >Games by platform >Arcade games
Games >Games by publisher >Games published by Nintendo
Games >Games by release date >Games released in 1988
Games >Games by release date >Games released in September
Games >Games by series >Mario series
The Cutting Room Floor >Unimportant Awards >NES games
