| 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. | p. 14, 4人のジャンプ力 (the four players' jumping power)p. 14, 4人のジャンプ力 (the four players' jumping power), Imajinp. 14, 4人のジャンプ力 (the four players' jumping power), Linap. 14, 4人のジャンプ力 (the four players' jumping power), Mamap. 14, 4人のジャンプ力 (the four players' jumping power), Papa | Manual |
| Super Mario Bros. 2's manual gives B a third use, running faster, and its code raises the top speed by half while B is held (smb2/run-cap). Doki Doki Panic's manual gives B only lifting and throwing. Both manuals say every character runs at the same speed. | p. 18, コントローラの使い方 (how to use the controller)p. 18, コントローラの使い方 (how to use the controller)p. 15, the running and lifting speeds | Manual |
| Both games have the charged crouch jump. Doki Doki Panic's manual says the character flashes while Down is held and then jumps about 1.5 times as high as a standing jump, and Super Mario Bros. 2's manual says the same of its power squat jump. SMB2's code charges it after 60 frames of crouching on the ground (smb2/jump-start). | p. 19, ためジャンプ (charged jump) | Manual |
| Both games start the life meter at two marks and let it grow to four. Doki Doki Panic's manual says so, as does Super Mario Bros. 2's, whose code sets health from a table of three values, two to four marks, by the number of extra marks found, and sets two marks again when a level ends, on a game over, and on a warp. | p. 16, ライフゲージが0になるとアウト! (out when the life gauge reaches 0)p. 16, ライフゲージが0になるとアウト! (out when the life gauge reaches 0) | Manual |
| Doki Doki Panic's manual says the two children are saved only if the whole family beats Mamu, so each of the four must clear the last page. In Super Mario Bros. 2 the last level leads to the ending whichever character clears it; the end of each level adds one to the character's count of levels cleared, which the ending shows. | p. 13, the chapters and the family rule (CHAPTER diagram) | Manual |
| Super Mario Bros. 2's magic potion is Doki Doki Panic's magic lamp: in both manuals, the item thrown makes a door appear, and Up at the door enters the other side, Subspace in SMB2. SMB2's code turns a thrown potion into a door where it lands, except in a vertical area, where it puffs away. | p. 26, 魔法のランプで裏画面へ (to the reverse screen with the magic lamp) | Manual |
| Both games turn the grass on the other side into money for only two visits an area: medals in Doki Doki Panic's manual, coins in Super Mario Bros. 2's. SMB2's code counts a Subspace visit that pulled at least one coin, and after two, grass in Subspace gives small vegetables. | p. 26, 魔法のランプで裏画面へ (to the reverse screen with the magic lamp) | Manual |
| Super Mario Bros. 2's code puts a mushroom in Subspace that adds a mark to the life meter and refills it, where Doki Doki Panic's manual describes a heart. SMB2's manual names the mushroom in its item list, but its Subspace paragraph still calls it a heart that increases the life meter. | p. 26, 魔法のランプで裏画面へ (to the reverse screen with the magic lamp) | Manual |
Both games end a level with a Bonus Chance, and Doki Doki Panic's disk holds Super Mario Bros. 2's 24 bytes of slot-machine reels with two exceptions. Where SMB2's first reel has a turnip (its second symbol) and a Snifit (its fifth), the disk has $00, the value SMB2's code reads as a cherry, so that reel holds three of SMB2's cherry values on the disk and one in SMB2. A cherry on the first reel wins a life. | PDF p. 5 (unnumbered), contents | Code |
| Both games have 20 levels in seven parts: Doki Doki Panic's manual calls them pages in seven chapters, and Super Mario Bros. 2's calls them areas in seven worlds. SMB2's table of each world's first level, three levels a world and two in the last, is on Doki Doki Panic's disk byte for byte. | p. 13, the chapters and the family rule (CHAPTER diagram) | Manual |
| Doki Doki Panic's final boss, Mamu, is Super Mario Bros. 2's Wart; each manual names its own. Kensuke Tanabe's team added enemy characters and visual nods to the Mario games for the American release, Chris Kohler reported. | p. 13, the chapters and the family rule (CHAPTER diagram) | Manual |