There is no doubt at the Super Mario Trilogy was legendary on the NES back in 80’s and in the early 90’s when it was re-released as Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES. In terms of gameplay Super Mario Bros 2 was always viewed as the black sheep of the trilogy due to the fact that its gameplay was significantly different from Super Mario Bros 1 & 3. Also, Super Mario Bros 2 allowed players to choose between Mario, Luigi, Peach Princess Peach, Toad which was very rare in any Mario based game from the 90’s. While the gameplay for Super Mario Bros 2 was slightly better than its predecessor along with having a plot that did not involve Bowser capturing the Princess it was not quite as popular as Super Mario Bros 1 & 3.

Basically, Super Mario Bros 2 was almost the equivalent of what Zelda II: Adventure of Link was to its 1986 predecessor and Link to the Past which appeared on the Super NES in 1991 in terms of popularity. The original Super Mario Bros game despite having the most inferior gameplay of the NES trilogy will always be more popular than Super Mario Bros 2 simply became it was the title where Mario’s legacy had begun.