Verb: Refers to the act of media publishers (specifically video
game designers) altering a
work slightly, typically through character, in order to make it more suitable for foreign audiences, or to cash in on an unrelated franchise.
The phrase is a reference to Nintendo's rerelease of the Japanese NES
game "Doki Doki Panic" with Mario characters as "Super Mario bros. 2" in
America; substituted because, supposedly, American distributors believed the Japanese version was too difficult, and too similar to the first Mario NES title.
Also known as "Pulling a Doki Doki Panic" or "Lost Leveling"
When sequels to foreign films that were previously unreleased in
America are brought there, a
common cop out to the missing
original is Pulling a Mario 2 on the sequel, and marketing it as the orignal.