Tropes common to both Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic and Super Mario Bros. 2 are found on the latter game's page.
Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (literally "Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic") is a platform game made by Shigeru Miyamoto in 1987 for the Family Computer Disk System. It started development
as a Mario-style tech demo by Miyamoto and company, and was dolled-up as Super Mario Bros. 2 after its initial release.
The story starts with twin children, Poki and Piki, reading a storybook when a hand suddenly grabs them and sucks them inside the book. The family of the twins and Imajin's girlfriend Lina discovered what happened thanks to their pet monkey Rūsa, and rush inside to save them. Sucked into the world of the storybook, the family has to fight off several monsters across seven chapters: Imajin, the balanced one; Lina, who can float for a few seconds; Mama, a very high jumper; and Papa, who has the strongest throw.
It was originally a Licensed Game starring the Mascots of Fuji Television's Yume Kōjō '87 (Dream Factory '87) event, which promoted several of Fuji Television's shows and other products. (The enemies were owned by Nintendo, which is why they could appear in other titles.)
No relation to Doki Doki! PreCure, Doki, Doki Doki School Hours, and certainly no relation to Doki Doki Literature Club!.
Major differences between this game and Super Mario Bros. 2:
Visual
- Overall, the game had an Arabian theme, as Imajin and Lina were originally designed with an "Arabian Nights"-esque theming for the event (i.e., lots of dreams, lot of stories for Fuji TV to share, etc.). This still remains in SMB2 to a slightly lesser extent.
- The title screen in this game was a bit more lively, with balloons rising and popping the logo out. It even played a cutscene to show the story.
- The worlds were called "chapters". This explains why the last world is missing the third stage — it's actually a missing page from the final chapter, which was ripped when the twins fought over the book and accidentally removed the ending.
- The character select, stage start and pause screens are different, noticeably having a book border.
- The magic potion in SMB2 was originally a magic lamp; both produce a door to Subspace.
- The mushroom that grants you an extra hit point was originally a heart.
- Very few sprites in this game (including, but not limited to, the cherries and POW blocks) are animated compared to those in SMB2, and even those that were didn't have as many frames of animation as the American version (for example, Albatoss only has a two-frame "flap" in DDP).
- The slot machine at the end of each level was very bland looking, but the vegetable icon changed to match the level's theme. Also, if the player had more than nine bonus coins, it was replaced with a letter (i.e. A for 10, B for 11, et cetera).
- The tufts of grass were black. They're red in SMB2, but when you pull out a vegetable, it still has black leaves in the original Disk System version.
- Waterfalls rushed down much faster.
- The turtle shell was originally "Big Face", a Shrunken Head designed as a Blackface-Style Caricature.
- Masks exist in place of the SMB2 mushroom blocks. These masks were a reoccurring motif throughout the game and Yume Kōjō '87.
- Bombs that went off went "BOM"note instead of "BOMB" like in SMB2.
- The 1-UP items you can dig up are represented by the head of the character. Additionally, while SMB2 uses (some form of) the 1-UP jingle, this game uses the same one that plays when you pick up the crystal ball that opens the door, or when you get an extra life in the slot game.
- The mask gates that represent the level goal were human-like masks compared to the hawk heads in SMB2.
- Phanto's sprite wasn't the Nightmare Face it was given in SMB2: instead of a Slasher Smile, it had a very solemn open-mouthed expression.
Audio
- Being on the Family Computer Disk System, the DDP sound effects are generally more detailed than SMB2.
- The character selection track has an extended second half in SMB2.
- Enemies made a louder screeching sound. The sound for picking them up and plucking things off the ground is also different.
- Subspace plays an Arabian-esque theme instead of the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme. Picking up a Super Star also plays an Arabian theme.
- At least two level themes were altered in SMB2; the Ground Theme has an additional section not found in DDP, and the Underground Theme was slowed slightly and given an additional "drum" part in SMB2.
- The title screen and ending(s) are different in DDP. It was remixed into the SMB2 cast roll.
Gameplay
- You can save in DDP.note SMB2 wouldn't have a save feature until All-Stars.
- Once you select a character, you must commit to that character for the entire game. Each character represents a save file.
- Getting down to one HP doesn't shrink you like in SMB2.
- The B button cannot be held to run; the only way to move faster is to have Papa carry an enemy or mask.
- When you get the key from Phanto's room, it doesn't pursue you until after you leave the room with the key.
- Chapter 5-3 in this game features a third Mouser encounternote . He was replaced with Clawgrip in SMB2.
- Chapters 7-1 and 7-2 have a slightly different design.
- Mamu/Wart has less HP in DDP.
- The game must be completed with all four characters in order to see the true ending.note
- The staff credits are displayed instead of the cast of characters, and the true ending has a few differences such as Poki and Piki being freed from their prison rather than announcing the top contributor.
This video game uses the following tropes:
- Acrofatic: Papa is the most portly of the bunch, but when picking up an enemy or item, he's the fastest runner in the game.
- Action Girl: Lina is every bit as gung-ho and heroic as her boyfriend, and has the same play style as Peach from the SMB2 version.
- Action Mom: Imajin's mother, Mama, takes part in his adventure. She'd be adapted into Luigi in SMB2. note
- All There in the Manual: The Dream Machine's purpose is only explained in the manual and other supplemental media, which is to provide Mu with good dreams. Wart used it for nightmares in order to take over the dream world. He was actually defeated before the events of the game, but the two kids that read the book accidentally tore off the page containing the ending, causing his defeat to have never happened and allowing him to capture the children. The torn page is also the reason why Chapter 7 has two levels instead of three like the rest of the worlds. Players who didn't read the manual (or have it at all) would only know about the capture of the two kids. The reason why the seventh world had only two levels wasn't explained in SMB2, which caused confusion for many people.
- Badass Family: Imajin's family, of course, one of the few playable nuclear families in gaming to this day.note
- Blackface-Style Caricature: Big Face, which became the turtle shell (presumably of a red Koopa Troopa). Apparently intended as a Shrunken Head.
- Meaningful Name: Imajin (from Imagination) was originally the mascot of the Dream Factory festival in 1987.
- Portal Book: The plot begins when Poki and Piki are sucked into a book.
- Shout-Out: Before it became part of the Mario franchise proper, it already had the POW block from the original Mario Bros., plus the star from Super Mario Bros..note The electric Sparks made their first appearance in Donkey Kong Jr.. It's possible that these items were leftover from when Doki Doki Panic was closer to a Mario title in development.
- Trapped in TV Land: The plot involves Imajin and his family being trapped within a book.
- Unnamed Parent: Imajin's parents are only called "Mama" and "Papa".
