Was "Doki Doki Panic" Really Supposed to Have Been a Mario Game?

[TonyTheTiger]

Howard Phillips certainly deserves a lot of credit for that judgment (not to release SMB2 Japan in the West). I think it would have been a mistake because it would have been too similar to what was done in the previous years, where game sequels were far too similar to each other.

In a weird way, it's both too similar and too different. The Lost Levels is so difficult and meta that it sometimes borders on being a puzzle game. Its level design is like a subversion and deconstruction of the original Super Mario Bros. where it behaves in ways that undermine and contradict the rules established in the first game. It's like an elaborate Mario themed practical joke. Like the designers are sitting behind you laughing as they make you expect A but give you B. So not only do you have to deal with what's essentially a Kaizo hack, you also have to navigate all the tricks and essentially unlearn all the things you were trained to take for granted in the original. As much as I like the game, I think it was absolutely inappropriate to call it "Super Mario Bros. 2." It's like, "Hey, kids, you like Super Mario Bros.? Well get ready because we're about to seriously piss you off."