The Secrets of Super Mario Bros. 2. A review of Jon Irwin’s Boss Fight Books release.
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Welcome to Burning Books. I’m Caleb, and today I’m continuing my mission to review every book in the Boss Fight Books catalog. I believe that by learning more about the video games we love, we will discover ways to love those games even more. Join me on this journey, won’t you. Subscribe by clicking that red button.
Today, I’m talking about Super Mario Bros. 2 by Jon Irwin, which I can comfortably say may be a contender for the de facto history of the game that shares its title.
Not to toot my own horn, but I know stuff. I know that horns make toot sounds. And I also know a lot about Super Mario Bros. 2. I’ve read a few books about Nintendo, all of which at least touch on the subject. I know that the Super Mario Bros. 2 we have here in the West is not actually the original sequel, and that the original sequel was deemed to be too difficult for Western audiences. I know that the Super Mario Bros. 2 that we received here in the West is a re-skinned version of a game called Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, which was a game developed to support a summer long event called Yume Kojo, or “Dream Factory,” sponsored by Fuji Television, a major Japanese TV station.
So when diving into a book about the Western sequel to Nintendo’s biggest game at the time, I feared being too informed. I’ve said before that the style of writing can compensate for content, to an extent, so I was willing to read about a history I already knew if that history was presented in a unique way. But when considering a game with a history and a fandom as far-reaching as Super Mario Bros. 2, one has to assume that a book about it would have a hard enough time staying under a billion pages without trying for unique presentation. And I already know plenty about this game. I’m more aware of the history of Nintendo than most casual gamers.
So go ahead and make that horn toot (toot). Wait, that’s what a horn sounds like?
Okay, so I don’t know everything. Like, this book taught me that Howard Phillips–yes, the Nintendo Gamemaster himself–was responsible for suggesting that Nintendo rethink the idea to introduce the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 to Western audiences. That’s impressive considering his official job was a shipping and warehouse manager. I also didn’t know that despite the narrative that Doki Doki Panic served as the basis for the Western Super Mario Bros. 2, Doki Doki Panic is itself a game that started as a Mario game. So in a sense, the wonderful story that Super Mario Bros. 2 is re-purposed from a completely unrelated property isn’t entirely accurate.
Perhaps one of the most interest revelations for me when reading Super Mario Bros. 2 by Jon Irwin is that the seeming massive departure in style that the Western Super Mario Bros. 2 was from its predecessor isn’t really that big of a departure when we consider the context of early video games.
It seems reasonable to look back on the Western Super Mario Bros. 2 as a jarring pivot away from the conventions established in Super Mario Bros. Where are the Koopa Troopas? Where are the Goombas? Where’s King Koopa? Where are the power-ups? In fact, the ability to run was only included in the Western Super Mario Bros. 2 game because running is so necessary in Super Mario Bros. Admit it, when you play Super Mario Bros. you never let off of the run button. But in the Western Super Mario Bros. 2, you never actually need to run. But it seems strange to give us just the run button, right?
The book makes the case that at the time of Super Mario Bros. 2’s creation products like video games didn’t yet have the expectation of narratively congruent universes. Plopping characters into a new environment and calling it a sequel is how it was done. Just look at the Donkey Kong trilogy. In the first game, we had Jumpman (the good guy) vs. Donkey Kong (the bad guy). Then in Donkey Kong Jr. we have Jumpman, now called Mario, as the villain with Donkey Kong, Jr. as the hero. Then in Donkey Kong 3 you play as Stanley, a greenhouse caretaker who uses bug spray to get rid of a pesky Donkey Kong who has, for some reason, decided to squat in the greenhouse. It’s only now, decades later, that we question the story arc because only now, after decades of maturity, have video games developed the expectation of a consistent story.
I highly recommend Jon Irwin’s Super Mario Bros. 2 for fans of Nintendo, fans of Mario, and fans of video game history in general.
And before I go, I feel like I need to redeem myself. Give me another chance to prove to you that I know what a horn sounds like…toot…No, that’s clearly a dog barking. You guys are wrong.
Tell me in the comments below any Super Mario Bros. 2 memories you have. What’s your favorite NES Mario game and why? And please like and subscribe while you’re down there in those comments. Thank you for watching.
Credits
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan) via World of Longplays
Super Mario Bros. 2 vs Doki Doki Panic via VCDECIDE
The following are YouTube videos licensed under CC BY 3.0
Music Credits
8bit Dungeon Level Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
