Mario Madness! I like Super Mario Bros. 2, although its reappraisal in recent years is understandable. I do wonder what would’ve happened if the original Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka The Lost Levels) would’ve been released here instead. Would Mario’s brand have taken a hit from players who bought what is essentially a really difficult expansion of the original game? Whatever the case, the version we got sold like hotcakes and was really hard to find for a while, due to the alleged chip shortage of the late 1980s.
At the very least we got a localization of Doki Doki Panic. It’s a quality game in its own right, hampered by the fact it got sandwiched in between two instant classics in SMB 1 and 3.
Yeah, Nintendo made the right call to localize Doki Doki Panic for sure. SMB2/Lost Levels was a mistake, even in Japan, I think. Not to say people didn’t like it all, but it made little to no impact compared to the first one.
All that said, I think SMB3 would have been huge no matter what.
Like so many sequels to Nintendo titles back then, the second iteration was where developers decided to push the envelope and try new things. Zelda 2, Simon's Quest and this game immediately come to mind. I appreciate the effort and the out of the box thinking, but I agree that Super Mario Bros 2 is a far cry from 1 and 3. It can't be denied the impact it had on future games though. Its characters got a ton of love in the newest film so it hasn't been forgotten that's for sure.
Oh yeah, SMB2’s impact is pretty amazing. Tons of great characters in here. I’m still glad it exists, and I’m certainly thankful that we got this instead of Lost Levels. What a shame that would have been.
I loved this game so much as a kid and I don't know why. The ability to pull up turnips was such a cool thing. I recently went back and played this game again a few days ago and omg, I rage quit by like the 3rd stage and I'm like how did I beat this as a kid??? Did I lose my touch?! lol
I was exposed to SMB2 via the All Stars collection on SNES - and that was after playing SMW (which continues to be the definitive Mario experience for me).
Strangely enough, playing SMB2 remains a much more vivid memory than SMB3.
The original game was obviously a phenomenon, and I've played it in various iterations for the past 30+ years, but for some reason SMB2 left a deeper impact than the third entry. Maybe that's because 1 and 3 share so much DNA that SMB2 stands apart; maybe it's the unique enemies that were introduced and then forgotten for years afterwards; maybe it was the art style (I was never hugely impressed by the look of SMB3).
I'd never say that SMB2 was a better game than SMB3, but it definitely deserves its place in the story of Mario.
Coincidentally, I saw the new movie last night and got a chuckle out of seeing Wart and Birdo tucked away behind secret wall. It was nice to see SMB2 getting its moment on the big screen.
That is interesting. As great as SMB3 was, maybe it just expanded the Mario world in ways that felt expected, vs SMB2 which was this hard right turn into surreal madness, seemingly out of nowhere. I think as far as fun, trippy vibes go, SMB2 wins hands down compared to 1 and 3.
I will say that if I had to choose between SMB1 or SMB2 on the All-Stars collection, it’s 2 all the way. I really hate how SMB1 looks and controls on the All-Stars collection.
It seems that I'm in the minority who think this is the best game in the original trilogy. I loved being able to play different characters with their own behavior. Not to mention that Luigi's my favorite character form the franchise. I'm glad that he's maintained that same slippery walking jump in games afterwards. I enjoyed the sheer amount of power-ups in SMB3 but I remember being so disappointed that Luigi was just a pallete-swapped Mario (even if he got his own look in later releases, he still didn't keep his jump). I'm glad that so many other elements of this game made it into subsequent games like all the characters you mentioned, but I do wish Wart made other appearances. I'm glad he appears in the new movie though!
If I'm not mistaken, I think Luigi gets his trademark jump back in Super Mario 3D World. His SMB2 jump is definitely what I remember as a kid and why I played with him. Jumping so high felt amazing.
There were a ton of original nes games that were too hard for me to complete at the time, including the original smb1, so I give smb2 as being one of the first that I was able to work at to beat the final boss, with the assistance of Nintendo Power magazine of course. I think the mechanics were very rewarding and not nearly as punishing as world 8 in the original with the crazy jumps and hammer brother faceoffs. So fond memories, I think it was a great idea to reskin it for us Americans.
Growing up this was my TV-based Mario game (I played a lot of 6 Golden Coins too). It wasn’t that SMB2 was my favorite game, but the same-ness of SMB1 didn’t keep my attention as well as the exploration, puzzle solving, story telling, or visual differences of games that came later, and I was probably the only house that had an NES but not SMB3, so 2 was my big-screen Mario game until we got Mario 64 (we also never had a Super Nintendo).
I didn’t think much of the drastic differences between SMB1 and 2 at the time, probably because almost every video game back then had so much “weird” stuff in it; Mushrooms make you big? Turtles and [whatever the heck Goomba are] as enemies? Flowers give you the ability to spit/throw fire balls? SMB2 was just the next batch of weird stuff.
But to me it was weird stuff that came in a package much more developed than SMB1. The animations for characters were more detailed and lively. The colors were more vibrant. The level design was way more varied and it felt like I was making progress instead of just going through more difficult iterations of the same. The pacing encouraged exploration and introduced puzzle solving into the mix - finding where the keys were and where to use them, testing what doors led to what, and throwing potions all over the place to see where there might be secrets on “the other side”.
And then there was the MUSIC. These songs are burned into my brain, intrinsically tied to “Mario” for me. They do a great job adding to the character of the levels and amping up the intensity when you enter a room with boss battle.
While the game is the outlier of the Mario series, it provided countless hours of fun and imagination for me. I haven’t played it in a very, very long time, and I don’t doubt it would easily fall below the other Mario games in terms of polish and “Mario” feel. But as you’ve pointed out in some of your other articles, we played what we had back then, and we liked it (even if we didn’t always like it, haha). This was that game for me and I always crack a smile when I hear music from it.
Thanks for this comment, Chip. I love reading personal testimonies of people's experiences with games. The things we play as kids always have the biggest impact. And I do agree, SMB2 really expanded on the limited SMB1 style.
Really enjoyed the bird(o)’s eye view on this. I remember the letdown! Comin’ from SMB. It occurred to me that maybe Nintendo double-dipped on Doki Doki so they could really make SMB3 quality.
Thank you, sir. I suppose that’s what happens when you turn another mostly unrelated game into a Mario game.
By the time I got the NES, both Mario 1 and 2 were out, so I knew no world without them both. 3 came out shortly after, and there was no going back from there.
I agree, slot machines are definitely an older generation thing. I do regret not trying mechanical slot machines when I had the chance, though. I have no interest in playing those dumb flat-screen things.
The vibes (including Phanto’s pursuit) do a lot of the heavy lifting here. Without them, the platforming is pretty underwhelming.
Mario Madness! I like Super Mario Bros. 2, although its reappraisal in recent years is understandable. I do wonder what would’ve happened if the original Super Mario Bros. 2 (aka The Lost Levels) would’ve been released here instead. Would Mario’s brand have taken a hit from players who bought what is essentially a really difficult expansion of the original game? Whatever the case, the version we got sold like hotcakes and was really hard to find for a while, due to the alleged chip shortage of the late 1980s.
At the very least we got a localization of Doki Doki Panic. It’s a quality game in its own right, hampered by the fact it got sandwiched in between two instant classics in SMB 1 and 3.
Yeah, Nintendo made the right call to localize Doki Doki Panic for sure. SMB2/Lost Levels was a mistake, even in Japan, I think. Not to say people didn’t like it all, but it made little to no impact compared to the first one.
All that said, I think SMB3 would have been huge no matter what.
I think Mario Odyssey took that title over. Not many people seem to talk about how surreal or odd it is.
Like so many sequels to Nintendo titles back then, the second iteration was where developers decided to push the envelope and try new things. Zelda 2, Simon's Quest and this game immediately come to mind. I appreciate the effort and the out of the box thinking, but I agree that Super Mario Bros 2 is a far cry from 1 and 3. It can't be denied the impact it had on future games though. Its characters got a ton of love in the newest film so it hasn't been forgotten that's for sure.
Oh yeah, SMB2’s impact is pretty amazing. Tons of great characters in here. I’m still glad it exists, and I’m certainly thankful that we got this instead of Lost Levels. What a shame that would have been.
I loved this game so much as a kid and I don't know why. The ability to pull up turnips was such a cool thing. I recently went back and played this game again a few days ago and omg, I rage quit by like the 3rd stage and I'm like how did I beat this as a kid??? Did I lose my touch?! lol
Lol, I had that happen on the Donkey Kong Country games recently. Beat them with ease as a kid, now the platforming is more difficult to me.
The joys of aging!
It's wild. Like WHAT HAPPENED lol.
I was exposed to SMB2 via the All Stars collection on SNES - and that was after playing SMW (which continues to be the definitive Mario experience for me).
Strangely enough, playing SMB2 remains a much more vivid memory than SMB3.
The original game was obviously a phenomenon, and I've played it in various iterations for the past 30+ years, but for some reason SMB2 left a deeper impact than the third entry. Maybe that's because 1 and 3 share so much DNA that SMB2 stands apart; maybe it's the unique enemies that were introduced and then forgotten for years afterwards; maybe it was the art style (I was never hugely impressed by the look of SMB3).
I'd never say that SMB2 was a better game than SMB3, but it definitely deserves its place in the story of Mario.
Coincidentally, I saw the new movie last night and got a chuckle out of seeing Wart and Birdo tucked away behind secret wall. It was nice to see SMB2 getting its moment on the big screen.
That is interesting. As great as SMB3 was, maybe it just expanded the Mario world in ways that felt expected, vs SMB2 which was this hard right turn into surreal madness, seemingly out of nowhere. I think as far as fun, trippy vibes go, SMB2 wins hands down compared to 1 and 3.
I will say that if I had to choose between SMB1 or SMB2 on the All-Stars collection, it’s 2 all the way. I really hate how SMB1 looks and controls on the All-Stars collection.
It seems that I'm in the minority who think this is the best game in the original trilogy. I loved being able to play different characters with their own behavior. Not to mention that Luigi's my favorite character form the franchise. I'm glad that he's maintained that same slippery walking jump in games afterwards. I enjoyed the sheer amount of power-ups in SMB3 but I remember being so disappointed that Luigi was just a pallete-swapped Mario (even if he got his own look in later releases, he still didn't keep his jump). I'm glad that so many other elements of this game made it into subsequent games like all the characters you mentioned, but I do wish Wart made other appearances. I'm glad he appears in the new movie though!
If I'm not mistaken, I think Luigi gets his trademark jump back in Super Mario 3D World. His SMB2 jump is definitely what I remember as a kid and why I played with him. Jumping so high felt amazing.
Everyone loved the princess because of her float but Luigi could jump even further if he's running. I thought that made him even better
Super Mario Bros 2 is a boring gameplay experience, and levels that are excruciatingly long. That's my review in one sentence.
There were a ton of original nes games that were too hard for me to complete at the time, including the original smb1, so I give smb2 as being one of the first that I was able to work at to beat the final boss, with the assistance of Nintendo Power magazine of course. I think the mechanics were very rewarding and not nearly as punishing as world 8 in the original with the crazy jumps and hammer brother faceoffs. So fond memories, I think it was a great idea to reskin it for us Americans.
SMB2 is definitely an easier game to tackle than the first - or SMB3 for that matter.
I enjoyed the game but less than SMB1 and SMB3 as stated. Such a weird mario game.
Growing up this was my TV-based Mario game (I played a lot of 6 Golden Coins too). It wasn’t that SMB2 was my favorite game, but the same-ness of SMB1 didn’t keep my attention as well as the exploration, puzzle solving, story telling, or visual differences of games that came later, and I was probably the only house that had an NES but not SMB3, so 2 was my big-screen Mario game until we got Mario 64 (we also never had a Super Nintendo).
I didn’t think much of the drastic differences between SMB1 and 2 at the time, probably because almost every video game back then had so much “weird” stuff in it; Mushrooms make you big? Turtles and [whatever the heck Goomba are] as enemies? Flowers give you the ability to spit/throw fire balls? SMB2 was just the next batch of weird stuff.
But to me it was weird stuff that came in a package much more developed than SMB1. The animations for characters were more detailed and lively. The colors were more vibrant. The level design was way more varied and it felt like I was making progress instead of just going through more difficult iterations of the same. The pacing encouraged exploration and introduced puzzle solving into the mix - finding where the keys were and where to use them, testing what doors led to what, and throwing potions all over the place to see where there might be secrets on “the other side”.
And then there was the MUSIC. These songs are burned into my brain, intrinsically tied to “Mario” for me. They do a great job adding to the character of the levels and amping up the intensity when you enter a room with boss battle.
While the game is the outlier of the Mario series, it provided countless hours of fun and imagination for me. I haven’t played it in a very, very long time, and I don’t doubt it would easily fall below the other Mario games in terms of polish and “Mario” feel. But as you’ve pointed out in some of your other articles, we played what we had back then, and we liked it (even if we didn’t always like it, haha). This was that game for me and I always crack a smile when I hear music from it.
Thanks for this comment, Chip. I love reading personal testimonies of people's experiences with games. The things we play as kids always have the biggest impact. And I do agree, SMB2 really expanded on the limited SMB1 style.
Really enjoyed the bird(o)’s eye view on this. I remember the letdown! Comin’ from SMB. It occurred to me that maybe Nintendo double-dipped on Doki Doki so they could really make SMB3 quality.
Thank you, sir. I suppose that’s what happens when you turn another mostly unrelated game into a Mario game.
By the time I got the NES, both Mario 1 and 2 were out, so I knew no world without them both. 3 came out shortly after, and there was no going back from there.
I agree, slot machines are definitely an older generation thing. I do regret not trying mechanical slot machines when I had the chance, though. I have no interest in playing those dumb flat-screen things.
The vibes (including Phanto’s pursuit) do a lot of the heavy lifting here. Without them, the platforming is pretty underwhelming.