Have you played Mario 2?

I bet you thought you had... but its all lies, all lies!. Nintendo just slapped some new sprites on and old game called Doki Doki Panic because the real Mario 2 was too dificult for those silly americans.

Japanese versions of games are consistently easier than the US and European versions. Check any single player console game out of Japan, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill or even sports games like Gallop Racer. The opposition is significantly easier to beat in Japanese versions because they opt for more quantity in enemies rather than difficulty of enemies. This is why most top US players will buy the Japanese versions so they can beef up their time and score records.

The reason the US didn't get the real Mario 2 is because what ever "born circa 1925" American that ran the US marketing team decided it would be too difficult for children. Years later, my 5 year old cousin is 100%ing GTA3. Anyway, this Doki Doki Panic story is really old news. :p

I taught my 4 year old cousin to play EQ... and she got to level 12 in a weekend or so when I had to baby sit her. Also used it as a way to get her into reading, she loved it all the lore books and stuff... anyway

Yeah I learned about the Doki Doki Panic thing a couple years ago... interesting story though :D

So is there a copy of the REAL Mario 2 out there?

Yep, you'll find it under the name "The Lost Levels".

Super Mario All Stars for the SNES had it.

Interesting - never knew that about Mario 2, but it doesn't surprise me. When
I was about 6 or 7, I had completed Street Fighter 2 with every character on
maximum difficulty. I don't play games much anymore, but that's probably my
crowning achievement.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SMurf

Yep, you'll find it under the name "The Lost Levels".

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Oh yeah. I remember when "All Stars" came out I always wondered where the "Lost Levels" came from. I guess they were right about it being too hard.

New Super Mario Bros is sooooooooooooo awesome.
Everybody go buy a DS Lite because it's better than PSP

I always knew there was something fishy about that game.

The SNES re-release (and probably lost levels) was a simplified version (according to that article). Face it, we'll never know the real mario 2.. :(

Would you want to though? I mean, face it, when "Mario 2" was doing the rounds in Japan we hadn't had Wolfenstein or Doom yet (games whose sequels were exactly the same apart from levels and one or two other changes), so in essence you'd be shelling out for the same again but... harder. If your target age group is 5-12, that does not spell $$$s.