Doki Doki Panic
Doki Doki Panic is a
Japanese
video game released for the
Famicom Disk System about a family who plans to rescue two children. The game is best known as the precursor to
Super Mario USA which was released as
Super Mario Bros. 2 in the US. The full title is
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panikku (夢工場：ドキドキパニック), translating to
Dream Factory: Doki Doki Panic. "Doki doki" is a Japanese
onomatopoeia for a rapidly beating heart, and it is commonly found in Japanese video game titles, carrying connotations of excitement and anxiety.
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Papa, Imajin, Mama and Lina in the game's opening story. |
The game was developed in cooperation with
Fuji Television to promote their Yume Kōjō '87 event, which showcased several of Fuji TV's latest TV shows and other products at the time. The game featured the mascots of the Yume Kōjō festival " an Arabian family consisting of siblings Imajin and Lina and their parents, Papa and Mama " as its main characters. The rest of the characters, including the main villain, Mamu (
Wart), were all creations by Nintendo for the game. The game takes place within a book with this
Arabian or
Indian setting. All four characters are playable, and the game is not completed until the player plays through as all four. In the American remake, Mario corresponds to the Imajin character, Princess Peach to floaty Lina, high-jumping Mama to Luigi and the stout Papa to Toad.
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A sticker packaged with Doki Doki Panic. |
Even though it was not originally conceived as a
Mario game,
Shigeru Miyamoto had a larger involvement in this game than he did with the original
Super Mario Bros. 2 (known in the English-speaking world as
The Lost Levels) which was released in Japan.
Lost Levels was directed by
Takashi Tezuka, the programmer of the original
Super Mario Bros, but reportedly due to its high difficulty level and the fact that the US never got the
Famicom Disk System (information on the exact reason is inconclusive), it was never released in its original form in the United States.
In
1988, the game was localized for
North America and
Europe as
Super Mario Bros. 2. The Yume Kōjō family members were replaced by
Mario,
Luigi,
Princess Peach, and
Toad, and numerous other small changes were made. This game was later released in Japan as
Super Mario USA in
1992, as a
Famicom cartridge as opposed to the original
Famicom Disk System version of
Doki Doki Panic. Doki Doki Panic represents the original source of the
Shy Guy enemy (known as "Heiho" in Japan), which has become a prominent baddie (or ally) in most Mario games since.
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A screenshot from Doki Doki Panic. |
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Equivalent scene in Super Mario Bros. 2. |
Most of the other differences between
Doki Doki Panic and
Super Mario Bros. 2 are small graphical changes, such as animation being added to the
POW blocks,
cherries, and
vegetables for the localized version, mushrooms replacing hearts as health boosters, and the characters shrinking when reduced to only one unit of health. The save feature was also taken out of the NES version of
Super Mario Bros. 2, due to the limitations of the NES system compared to the Famicom Disk System. (Battery-backup was also very expensive during those days.) But it was restored in the
Super Mario Collection/
Super Mario All-Stars version of
Super Mario Bros. 2.
Other changes include:
* In
Doki Doki Panic, one must beat the entire game once with each character (four times, that is) to view the ending.
* In the manual that comes with the original
NES cartridge for
Super Mario Bros. 2, Phanto (the head that chases the player's character around when he or she has a key) looks a little different. Nintendo inadvertently placed a screenshot of its appearance in
Doki Doki Panic.
* Furthermore, Phanto begins its pursuit only after the character leaves Phanto's chamber, unlike
Super Mario Bros. 2, in which it chases the character once the character retrieves the key from the chamber.
* Waterfalls, (especially the enormous one in level 3-1) animate much more quickly in
Doki Doki Panic.
* Extra lives were originally representations of the character's face;
1-Up mushrooms are a feature specific to the
Mario series. The traditional "1-UP sound" was originally the short tune played when you pick up a crystal ball or earn an extra life playing the slot machine.
* The large hawk head at level entrances and exits was originally a large African tribal mask.
* The mushroom blocks were originally small African tribal masks.
*The character select and overworld music is much shorter in
Doki Doki Panic.
Super Mario Bros. 2 has a new section added to where the music would originally loop.
*In
Super Mario Bros. 2, the underworld music has an added drum sample.
* Invincibility and sub-space music is different, and there are some minor differences in other songs (the
Doki Doki Panic songs give an Arabian or Indian feel).
*Most sounds featured in
Super Mario Bros. 2 use the NES' synthesizer, and a number of PCM audio samples, rather than the Famicom Disk System's synthesizer, which is used prominently in
Doki Doki Panic. The changed audio includes the sound effects for picking up and throwing objects, grabbing hearts, receiving damage, defeating enemies, bombs exploding, the ticking of the stop watch, damaging a boss, Catherine (
Birdo) shooting eggs, and the rocket.
* The potions (for entering sub-space) were originally Genie lamps.
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Papa fighting the third version of Mouser. |
* In
Doki Doki Panic, the boss of level 5-3 is not the rock throwing crab
Clawgrip, as it is in
Super Mario Bros. 2, but a third
Mouser.
* The
Albatoss's animation has seven frames, in comparison to the two in
Doki Doki Panic.
* Holding down "B" to run is a featured trait for the Mario series.
* When a bomb explodes, it says "BOM", as opposed to "BOMB" in
Super Mario Bros. 2* In
Doki Doki Panic, cherries, grass, vines, POW blocks, bomb fuses, spikes, seas, and crystal balls are not animated.
*The slot machine minigame (which appears after you collect coins) is the same in both versions, but has a green background in DDP, as opposed to the title screen variant in SMB2.
*The shell you use in
Super Mario Bros. 2 to kill enemies was a
shrunken head in DDP.
*The story was changed for the U.S./Europe localization (see
Super Mario Bros. 2 article for more information).
*The popular gender confusion for
Birdo (in US she was described as a male who thinks he is a girl in the manual).
*
1UP, differences between Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2.
*
Super Mario Bros. 2 Madness*
Super Mario Bros. 2: From Doki Doki Panic to Super Mario Bros. 2*
Doki Doki Panic at Progressive-Boink*
About.com Article comparing differences between the two games
