Doki Doki Panic Yume Kōjō : Doki Doki Panic Developer ( s ) Nintendo Publisher ( s ) Fuji Television Designer ( s ) Shigeru Miyamoto Release date ( s ) July 10 , 1987 Genre ( s ) Platform game Mode ( s ) Single player Platform ( s ) Famicom Disk System Media FDS disk 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 elsewhere . 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 . Background Papa , Imajin , Mama and Lina in the game 's opening story . The game was developed in cooperation with Fuji Television to promote its Yume Kōjō '87 ( tr . Dream Factory '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 Toadstool ( as Peach was known in North America until the late 1990s ) to floaty Lina , high-jumping Mama to Luigi and the stout Papa to Toad . 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 . Remakes 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 Toadstool , 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 enemy ( or ally ) in most Mario games since . Differences between Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros . 2 A screenshot from Doki Doki Panic . 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 , bomb fuses , 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 . 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 ) . Elements taken from Mario games Some elements from the Mario universe already existed such as the Starman and the POW blocks . This may be because Shigeru Miyamoto also worked on this game . External links ( French ) 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 Categories : 1987 computer and video games | Nintendo Entertainment System games | Famicom Disk System games | Japan exclusive computer and video games | Computer and video games developed in Japan | Mario platform games In other languages : Español | Français | 日本語 | Svenska Yume Kōjō : Doki Doki Panic Nintendo Fuji Television Shigeru Miyamoto July 10 , 1987 Platform game Single player Famicom Disk System FDS disk 