The black sheep of the Mario platformers. I could give you the usual, trite spiel about the Lost Levels being too hard for westerners so we got a reskinned Doki Doki Panic and blah blah blah. Honestly, I don't think this game is good or interesting enough to warrant that, nor is its supposed "real" Japanese counterpart. Both SMB2s represent a turning point, the videogame equivalent of an awkward, hesitant pause. Unsure of how to follow up such a smash hit as the first Super Mario Bros, Nintendo opted for a bullshit troll level pack for Japan and some reskinned crap for the West.
What's curious is how much of this game has survived in Mario's canon, but in such minor roles. Shy Guys and Birdo haven't gone away, but you can't say they've ever taken the centre stage in a way like this again. There's an air of begrudging duty forcing Nintendo to acknowledge this game, but never to give it any more than that, and perhaps that's for the best. The first and third SMB games are still innovative, fantastic pioneers for the genre, but both versions of the second entry are little more than historical curios. Their legacy will always be an overshared anecdote about the bizarreness of 80s games localisations and little more than that.
What's curious is how much of this game has survived in Mario's canon, but in such minor roles. Shy Guys and Birdo haven't gone away, but you can't say they've ever taken the centre stage in a way like this again. There's an air of begrudging duty forcing Nintendo to acknowledge this game, but never to give it any more than that, and perhaps that's for the best. The first and third SMB games are still innovative, fantastic pioneers for the genre, but both versions of the second entry are little more than historical curios. Their legacy will always be an overshared anecdote about the bizarreness of 80s games localisations and little more than that.