Welcome to the fifteenth episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years, the show where we put old school video game endings into proper context. It's a me, Mario! Today we're going to be dreaming about the world of Subcon and their Wart-related problems. Does Super Mario Bros. 2 have the best 8-bit ending, or is it a giant cop-out? Find out now when you watch today's brand new episode of 23 Endings: The Early Years!


Even as Mario games go, this is a weird one. It all starts with Mario receiving a mysterious call for help in his dreams. He's told that the once-peaceful land of Subcon has been invaded by the evil Wart and his vegetable-hating minions. The next day, Mario is shocked to discover that Luigi, Toad and even Princess Toadstool all had the same dream. Even stranger, the foursome notices an odd little cave with a long staircase leading to the door from their dreams. They open it and discover that the world of Subcon is real, and they are the only ones who can overthrow the tyrannical Wart.

Not missing a beat, Mario, Luigi, Toad and the Princess run and jump their way through the grassy plains, attempt to avoid the sun in the desert, slip past the snow world, return to the desert, and then climb a bunch of clouds in order to make it to Wart's palace. Once there, they remember what the dream told them and start chucking vegetables at the tyrant. It worked, and this is how Super Mario Bros. 2 ends.

Before we get into some of my criticisms, I want to say that I think this is probably the strongest ending of any of the 8-bit Mario games. We'll talk about how it's not very satisfying, but at least there's some thought put into it. It's a fully realized idea that works for the story, even if it ultimately left me cold. Let's unpack that.

As a rule, I've never been a fan of the "it was all a dream" trope. I know that everybody loves The Wizard of Oz, but that ending always felt like a cop-out to me. It's a cheap way to write yourself out of anything and is rarely satisfying. Super Mario Bros. 2 goes one step further by having a dream inside a dream. It's one thing for Mario to get a vision in a dream and use that information to help, but having the whole thing end up being a dream has always felt cheap. I know it's a video game and none of this matters in the long run, but it still comes across as pointless.

I know what you're thinking: "But Cyril, wasn't this the ending found in the original game Doki Doki Panic?" You're right to point out that Super Mario Bros. 2 is little more than a retooling of another Nintendo game, but the two games have slightly different stories and endings. Doki Doki Panic takes place inside of a book and tells the story of a world that realizes that they can control the weather based on whether they have good or bad dreams. So what they do is create this dream machine that will help them only have good dreams, thus keeping the land warm and sunny all year round. But things go bad when an evil toad named Mamu invades the land and turns the dream machine into a nightmare machine, forcing the people of Muu to rise up and defeat the tyrant.

Now, here's where things get strange: Apparently this book finds its way to an Arabian family with a pet monkey. Unfortunately, the last page of the book is torn out when siblings Poki and Piki get into a fight, causing the ending to be erased. This frees Mamu, who grabs the twins and literally pulls them into the book. Now it's up to the pet monkey to assemble a rescue team made up of mom, dad, brother and girlfriend Lina. They fight their way through the book until eventually making it to Mamu's lair. This is what happens next.

For as similar as this ending is, it's also radically different. We still see the main villain's dead body carried out by the happy survivors, as well as the four heroes waving to the people they freed. The difference is that Doki Doki Panic ends with everybody getting spit out of the book, much to the delight of their pet monkey. And while both this and Super Mario Bros. 2 have the player running through imaginary worlds, one of them has real world ramifications and the other is just a dream. From a storytelling perspective, Doki Doki Panic is a lot more satisfying.

On the other hand, the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 ended with the plumber defeating Bowser and being told that his long trip of "friendship" has come to an end. If you ask me, I would rather have a really exciting dream than be forever stuck in the friend-zone.