/vr/ - Retro Games

>>2883695
It didn't start as a Mario game, but it was made by Mario devs and made to be Mario-like, and Miyamoto was indeed involved. It was always very Mario-y

It was later retooled into a full-fledged Mario game when it was brought to Nintendo's attention that the Mario 2 they had would probably see poor sales in the west.
Super Mario Bros. has a lot of it's appeal that it's a simple game to pick up and play, Super Mario Bros. 2 is pretty much the same game but with new levels that are MUCH harder, not only would it be technologically unimpressive and just more of the same, it would be way more difficult to get into for the average customer, releasing it at that time would not be a good business move, it was determined.

This guy really does a great job explaining it if you have 20 minutes to kill:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2EUYSN5aFcE

Super Mario Bros. 2 wasn't without it's criticisms, but ultimately it was liked. Later, the western Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan as "Super Mario USA", and it was actually quite the hit.