|
 By the time Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in 1988 Mario was clearly
the mascot of Nintendo. While this
was only the second game in the series it was the seventh action game
featuring Mario as a playable character.
First he starred in two arcade classics: 1981 featured Mario in Donkey Kong and 1983 gave us Mario Bros. 1985 featured Mario in three launch
titles for the NES: Pinball,
where Mario had to save his girlfriend Pauline (first seen in Donkey Kong) in a fun mini-game, Wrecking Crew, a fun strategy game
where Mario had mysteriously switched jobs from plumbing to construction
and finally the classic Super Mario
Bros. In 1986 Japan released Super Mario Bros. 2, but Nintendo of America declined to
release it in the U.S.
deeming this title too hard and not original enough to be a proper
sequel. So, in 1988 when Nintendo
dropped Super Mario Bros. 2,
Mario was already making his 7th featured appearance in a
Nintendo action game.
After Nintendo of America
declined to release the Japanese sequel, they were in a bit of a
bind. Super Mario Bros. 3 was in development but Nintendo really
wanted to maximize their profits by squeezing a game in between just as
Nintendo of Japan had done. The
answer that was decided on has been much criticized but was actually quite
smart. They took a different game
that Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario’s creator) had helped create called Doki Doki Panic
and replaced the original characters’ sprites with those of characters
from the Mario series. While
obviously not a perfect solution, the game that the United States ended up with
was very interesting.
 Super
Mario Bros. 2 is wildly
different than any previous or future Mario game for obvious reasons, but
it does contain a number of ideas that link it with all other Mario
titles. Since Miyamoto had helped
out on Doki Doki Panic,
he had fortunately suggested a few Mario elements that helped the game
later feel like a true Mario sequel.
Even before the game turned into Super Mario Bros. 2, it featured the POW block from Mario Bros., stars that lead to invincibility
(first seen in Super Mario Bros.),
warp zones that are discovered by going down a jar (very similar to the
pipes from Super Mario Bros.) and
the importance of coins that had always been a Mario staple. Once the game became a Mario sequel the
four playable characters in the game became Mario, Luigi, the Princess
and the Mushroom Retainer from Super
Mario Bros. who was given the name Toad. Turtle shells were added as a weapon to
continue the strange turtle obsession that Mario has, mushrooms became
the object that increased your health bar and the “B” button now allowed
you to have your character run like in Super Mario Bros.
Other than these cosmetic changes, the basic gameplay was
identical to Doki Doki Panic.
The fact that this game doesn’t
take place in the Mushroom
Kingdom or feature
any of Mario’s typical villains (such as turtles or Bowser) is explained
by saying that we are inside Mario’s dream world. At the start of each level you get to
choose which of the four heroes you would like to use. Luigi jumps extra high (just like in
the Japanese version of SMB2), Toad digs super quickly, the Princess can
glide through the air and Mario is just his all-around solid self. The goal of SMB2 is to defeat Wart, a
vegetable hating toad, who has taken control of Mario’s dream world
called Sub-Con. There are 7 worlds
with three levels in each one.
Each level is a typical side-scroller
but this time you have to face a mini-boss at the end of almost every
level. At the end of each world,
you have to defeat a mini-boss and then a bigger boss. In each level you can find two potions
that can be used to enter an alternate world where you have a few seconds
to collect coins that can be used at the end of the level on a slot
machine to earn extra lives. This
alternate world also contains mushrooms that you can eat to extend your
health bar. Another major
difference is that instead of jumping on enemies to kill them like in ever
other Mario game, you must pull vegetables out of the ground and throw
them to kill an enemy, you may also jump on a
bad guy, pick him up and throw him at another villain to kill both of
them. While only a couple of the
enemies of Sub-Con were ever seen on the NES or Super NES, they have
begun to appear in newer Mario titles and have been accepted as real part
of Mario’s universe.
Super
Mario Bros. 2 was a huge
success, dominating the first year of the Top 30 chart in Nintendo Power. Over the years, though, SMB2 has
started to get less love as people have discovered the full story of its
origins. That is a real shame
because it is an excellent installment of the Super Mario series and is
one of the shining moments on the NES.
Positives:
 Super
Mario Bros. 2 has the
great graphcs and smooth gameplay that everyone
expects from a Mario title. A
great addition to the Mario universe that was started in this game was
the ability for the screen to scroll in all directions. That meant that you could go backwards
if you thought you missed something earlier in the level. This game has a few cool twists as
well. It is neat how you can stand
on almost all bad guys and use them to your
advantage – either use them to reach something of a greater height or
pick them up and throw them at another enemy. Once again there are lots of secrets to
uncover, such as where to throw your potions to maximize their effect and
multiple warp zones that can be discovered throughout the game (those can
be found by going down jars after using a potion). The music is very cool and different
from SMB1 and the sound effects are top notch.
Glaring
Negatives:
The only real negative is that
the game is too easy. At the end
of each level all of your coins are used to earn 1-Ups on a slot
machine. Once you get the hang of it
you will have no problem getting cherries for 1-Ups, 2-Ups or 5-Ups. I had over 50 guys the last time I
played because I had mastered the pattern. Unlike SMB1 and SMB3 there are no
really difficult levels that will take lots of practice to master. You will die a few times but won’t get
stuck on any one part until you get to the final castle (even that is
only moderately tough).
Graphics
and Sound: Excellent
As with all Mario titles the
graphics and sound are top-notch.
SMB2 provided a step up from other side scrolling games of the
time. Gotta
love that drum in the musical score!
Gameplay
and Controls: Perfect
The gameplay and controls are
right on as expected. Each
character has different abilities and you will master each character very
quickly.
Features:
Not much
The only real features are your
ability to choose who you want to start each level with and the slot
machine at the end of each level.
You also get two continues, when you die you can start over at the
beginning of whatever world you died on.
Fun?:
Absolutely
Although Super Mario Bros. 2 is
missing most of  the major elements that the rest of the
series has, it is still a very fun game.
There are lots of neat elements to this game, like getting to
choose a different character for each level and the slot machine. I also like some of the fun bad guys
like the egg-shooting birds and, of course, Wart the vegetable-hating end
guy.
Challenge:
Not much
Interestingly, the Japanese
version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is well known for being the hardest Super
Mario Bros. game. This is
interesting because the American version has to be one of the easiest to
beat. Except for 7-2 there is no
one level that is actually hard.
Plus, you will rack up extra lives with the slot machine and you
get two continues to top it off.
Of course you can challenge yourself by trying to beat the whole
game with one character or purposely choosing the worst character for
each level, but no matter what you do this game is very easy to beat.
Replay:
Definitely
So, you beat the game using warp
zones, now go and beat it straight through. Then try beating it using Luigi for
every single level.
2
Player: No
Surprisingly, no.
Online
Manual?: Yes
http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&egID=2249&lgID=981
Bottom
Line: This is a must-own
Super Mario Bros. 2 is a classic
game and a must-own for any real NES collection. I think that it is one of the 10 best
games released for the NES. SMB2
is the most unique title in the Super Mario trilogy and is a very fun
game. Ultimately, its low
difficulty level brings it down just a slight notch from the A+ status of
SMB1 and SMB3.
|
