NES: Super Mario Bros. 2 - Doki Doki Panic
October 10, 2008 - 12:46 am - Posted by Luke C.
Super Mario Bros. 2, Doki Doki Panic, Super Mario USA, and the Lost Levels, two games with four names.
I was talking to Sean a while ago about the holes in my NES collection when I mentioned that my copy of Super Mario Bros. 2 had gone missing long ago.
Sean starts talking about how different the gameplay in SMB2 is compared to anything else in the series.
I eventually realize that he doesn’t know one of the most infamous bits of retro gaming trivia out there: Super Mario Bros. 2 as we know it outside Japan, is not actually a Super Mario game.
It started as a Famicom Disk System game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panikku, created to promote Fuji Television’s Yume Kojo (or Dream Factory) ‘87 festival (which itself promoted that year’s lineup of new shows).
“Doki doki” is the Japanese onomatopoeia or sound effect for a rapidly beating heart, while “panikku” is the Japanese pronunciation of “panic”; a translation of the game’s name would be roughly “Heart-Pounding Panic.”
In Japan the game featured a four-person family, the mascots of the Yume Kojo festival, adventuring through an Arabian-themed book.
All other characters, including end boss Wart (or Mamu in Japan) were created by Nintendo.
When the game was localized for the US and other English-speaking areas, Nintendo didn’t want to have to market such a promotional game so they performed a sprite swap.
They basically exchanged Papa for Toad, Mama for Luigi, and the brother and sister of the family for Mario and the Princess.
After making a few other cosmetic changes, voila! A brand new Super Mario Bros. game!
The real kicker? The game was eventually re-released in Japan with the new sprites and the name Super Mario USA.
If you’re wondering where the Lost Levels come in, well, that’s easy. They’re the real SMB2, which was not released in the US.
Nintendo didn’t think Americans would want to play something that looked almost exactly like the original SMB but was much harder.
Eventually the game was released outside Japan, first in compilations like Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo, and now on the Wii’s Virtual Console.
So to sum up: Japan’s Doki Doki Panikku is our Super Mario Bros. 2 is Japan’s Super Mario USA, and Japan’s Super Mario Bros. 2 is our Lost Levels.
Now if you think that’s confusing, try working out the Final Fantasy family tree.
7 Responses to “NES: Super Mario Bros. 2 - Doki Doki Panic”
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Hey Luke, do you know if the “Doki Doki Panic” version is available on a cartridge that would play on a US Nintendo? I would love to have this version just for the different sprites.
Devin, I wouldn’t bet on it. Doki Doki Panic was made to promote a single Japan-specific event over twenty years ago, so it’s very unlikely Nintendo would ever have bothered to bring the game across the ocean. Also, as far as I know the NES is region-locked, so even if you imported the game yourself you still wouldn’t be able to play it on a US Nintendo.
@Luke: In October 1993 Nintendo released the NES 2, also known as the Top Loader, which is pretty much a normal NES but with the better connector and smaller form factor. It’s also region free and doesn’t have the lock out chip, so if we could track down Doki Doki Panic, there is a good chance we could play it. The search is on for this cartridge.
@Sean: Aw man, I was hoping I could finagle an RG Japan trip out of this to pick up an original Famicom…
Luke, it would be cheaper to have an original Famicom shipped to the US then a trip to Japan. However the weather is decent this time of year in Japan…
Luke, I’m going to start searching around for the Doki Doki version of the game. If I find it, I’ll let you guys know. Of course I could it with an emulator but there’s nothing like firing up a game on a real system with authentic controls.
I’ve seen this version and as pointed out in the review, it’s pretty much the same game as SMB2 but with different graphics. If I remember correctly, I think there were also some sound and music changes too.