This article claims it to be. It is not the main thrust of the article, mind you, but it does mention Miyamoto's mental health at the time of development as an explanation for the game's insane difficulty:
"...in Steven L. Kent's The Ultimate History of Video Games, a Nintendo executive suggests that revered game designer Shigeru Miyamoto might have been "depressed at the time'" (http://www.slate.com/articles/techno...st_levels.html).
Just who was this Nintendo executive you ask? None other than Howard Phillips of "Howard and Nester" fame from the glory days of Nintendo Power (http://www.destructoid.com/miyamoto-...ve-47616.phtml).
The writer of the latter article suggests that Howard, always the jokester, was kidding but I wonder. What are your thoughts? Is the hyper difficulty of the true sequel to Super Mario Bros. the result of a creative melancholy that seeped into the design of the game, mirroring the hopelessness that tormented Miyamoto inside? God knows some of the levels tormented me at the very least...
Also, any other games that come to mind that are possibly influenced by an abnormal mental condition?