Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
From English to Japanese

The Japanese version shown here was released on 3/1/2000, a little over 9 months after the English version. Therefore, unlike the other pages of this special, I've put the English screens first.

Menu screen | Good deal | Challenge mode | You Vs Boo | Records screen | Saving

Menu screen

In the Japanese version, a flashing "NEW" appears above the Photo Album if there are pictures you have not viewed.

Good deal

When you save your game, end, and restart, Mario comes back to the level as small Mario. The Japanese version keeps track of Mario's form as well. So, if you saved as Super or Fiery Mario, you'll start the saved game as Super or Fiery Mario, respectively. This "added feature" in the Japanese version opens up the possibilty of becoming small and Fiery Mario...

Challenge mode

In the Japanese version, for some reason the "scores to beat" for Worlds 1-1 through 4-4 were lowered, except for W2-3 and 3-4, whose scores stayed the same. Shaving off a few thousand points here and there leads to a lower requirement of 869,000 points needed to completely fill the "total score bar," as opposed to the 942,000 points required in the English version.

For example, here in World 1-1 the "score to beat" drops to 26,000. Remember that Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2 was deemed "too hard" for American players? Well, then, why do Japanese players have an easier Challenge mode in SMBDX? Interesting. Here is a chart of all the score changes:

World	English	Japanese
1-1	32000	26000
1-2	38000	30000
1-3	24000	19000
1-4	13000	12000
2-1	40000	28000
2-2	25000	23000
2-4	14000	13000
3-1	45000	40000
3-2	85000	70000
3-3	23000	21000
4-1	32000	26000
4-2	33000	29000
4-3	24000	21000
4-4	17000	14000

You Vs Boo

There were quite a few changes to the You Vs Boo mode. Probably the first thing you'll notice is that in the Japanese version, the words have changed to "You Vs Ghost." Also, your time-remaining record for each level is saved to the battery, and is displayed in the lower right of the screen.

As you may already know, pressing Select at this screen changes Mario's form, from small to Super to Fiery then back to small. In the Japanese version, after Fiery Mario comes small, Super, and Fiery Luigi. (In the English version, you only get either Mario or Luigi for the You Vs Boo mode.) Just like the Original 1985 mode in both games, Luigi and Mario have equal abilities.

Records screen

On the Ranking (records) screen, the Japanese version shows Japanese names for the "built-in" scores. This comes as no surprise. The only name that doesn't seem to match up is the 9th place entry: Toad and Pakkun. You see, Kinopio is Toad's Japanese name; Pakkun is normally used for Piranha Plants, but, Kinopio is too long for the six-character-wide name field.

Pressing Start at the Japanese version's Ranking screen brings up the "Erase ranking?" option, which lets you reset all scores.

Saving

After saving from the pause screen, "Save OK!" replaces "Save Done".

The two-part Game Over screen in the English version ("Continue? Yes/No", "Save? Yes/No") was combined into one screen in the Japanese version. And now, a flashing "Rank in!" lets you know if you have a score worthy of the records list.

Another improvement (which I especially like): When you break 100,000 or 300,000 points (the requirements for unlocking You Vs Boo and "SMB for Super Players" mode, respectively), you don't have to purposely lose all your lives to get a game over to unlock the hidden modes. Once you break the point requirements in the Japanese version, the new modes are automatically added to the menu screen.

Special thanks: Jesse Chavez Jr.

Menu screen | Good deal | Challenge mode | You Vs Boo | Records screen | Saving