| IGN's history says Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad were built on the models of Doki Doki Panic's Brother, Mama, Sister, and Papa. The two manuals describe the four in parallel terms: Mario and Imajin jump lower with an item; Luigi and Mama jump high and far but slowly; Toad and Papa jump lowest, but an item changes neither their jump nor their running speed; and the Princess and Lina, third in jumping power, float for about 1.5 seconds while A is held. The manuals disagree on the highest jump: Doki Doki Panic's gives it to Imajin (いちばん高く), with Mama as high, where Super Mario Bros. 2's calls Mario average and gives it to Luigi. | Super Mario Bros. 2 | Manual |
| Nintendo of America's list of NES games dates Super Mario Bros. 2 to October 1988, and Computer Entertainer's October 1988 issue lists it among Nintendo's games due that month. | Super Mario Bros. 2 | Publisher |
| Retellings agree that Nintendo didn't release the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America and remade Doki Doki Panic as the sequel instead. IGN's 2010 history says Nintendo judged the Japanese game too hard for North American players and cancelled its release there, and Boss Fight Books' description of Jon Irwin's book says Nintendo of America declared it "too hard". | Super Mario Bros. 2Super Mario Bros. 2 | Web |
| GameSpot's review credits the game with the Princess's and Toad's debut as playable characters, and says Super Mario Bros. 3 went back on many of its ideas. IGN's history calls it the series' big aberration, and says Luigi got his first distinctive traits in the Japanese sequel and his first model of his own here, built on Mama's and taller than Mario. | Super Mario Bros. 2Super Mario Bros. 2 | Web |
| Miyamoto recalls that the team used the arcade VS. System, based on the Famicom, to make Super Mario, started changing its levels because they could, and, as they played, made "very challenging levels", and that the game gave infinite 1-ups early to prepare players for what came. IGN's 2010 history says its later stages came from Vs. Super Mario Bros. | Super Mario Bros. 2 | Web |
| Retrospectives say the game was kept from North America for its difficulty. IGN's 2010 history says Nintendo judged it beyond North American players and canceled its release there; GameSpot's 2007 review puts the call on the head of Nintendo of America; Den of Geek's 2024 article names Howard Phillips. | Super Mario Bros. 2 | Web |
| IGN's 2010 history describes the game as looking exactly like its predecessor but much harder, with poisonous mushrooms, warps that send the player back, and weather that blows Mario off course. | Super Mario Bros. 2Super Mario Bros. 2 | Web |