Super Mario Bros. 2 is of course the sequel to what was at the time the most popular video game ever, Super Mario Bros. However, Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America and most of the rest of the world was not the same sequel that was released in Japan. Nintendo of America deemed the Japanese sequel to be too difficult and too much like its predecessor to be successful. Instead, an unrelated game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic was improved upon and retrofitted with Mario Bros. related graphics, characters, etc. and released as Super Mario Bros. 2.
Despite being derived from a non-Super Mario Bros. game, SMB 2 was still a huge success. In fact, it was so successful that it was later also released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. USA. The original Japanese sequel was also later released to the rest of the world as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels as part of Super Mario All-Stars on the Super Nintendo.
Super Mario Bros. 2 as a whole is very similar to the original. It is the epitome of the side-scrolling platform adventure game. However, gone is the two-player mode of the original and you now have four protagonists to chose from instead of just two. In addition, each one has slightly different abilities as opposed to all playing identically. One key new feature was the ability to lift and throw enemies and objects. This ability, along with a several new characters, have been included in a number of sequels and spin-offs since.
Super Mario Bros. 2 was hugely successful, selling in the neighborhood of 10 million copies and becoming the third highest selling video game for the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Because of its success, it has seen several re-releases. In 2001 it was released as Super Mario Bros. Advance for the Game Boy Advance. It was also included as part of Super Mario Bros. All-Stars for the Super Nintendo which was itself expanded and re-released multiple times for the Super Nintendo and Wii. It has also seen various Virtual Console releases for multiple subsequent Nintendo systems. This is one of those games that every gamer should at least try and it's pretty easy to come by in one form or another so what are you waiting for?
