“NOT A BAD GAME, JUST NOTHING I WANTED”
I’ll be honest, I’ve never really given Super Mario Bros. 2 a fair shake. I tried Super Mario Advance and the Mario All Stars version of SMB2 but wrote it off as uninteresting. “This isn’t the real Super Mario Bros. 2, after all,” I told myself.
I’ve never played Super Mario Bros. 2 front to back until now.
The first half of this game is actually pretty good! I think if you can handle that it’s not 1:1 mechanically with the first game you’ll have a good time with it. There was even a point during my playthrough where I considered myself a Super Mario Bros. 2 truther. I mean, my God, I really enjoyed my first hour with it. Maybe Dunkey was right all along.
But then I, uh… quit having fun, I guess?
I started this game in February and played fervently, blasting through the first few worlds with relative ease. And then I just started coming back less and less. Playing through the game at a snail’s pace, piecemeal. Maybe finished a few levels every once in a while. Some days I could only stomach one level at a time. I almost didn’t play at all in April.
Admittedly I think a lot of my displeasure stems from the fact that I am not good at most retro games. And as much as I try to steer clear of abusing save states to progress, I was saving almost every other screen in this one. A lot of the later levels’ tricks and traps were major mood killers.
And like, not to put too fine of a point on it, I feel as though I’m just an outlier at this point? Are we all playing with save states on here or are we really just raw dogging these games without safety nets? Or are we playing the updated All Stars / Advance versions and logging it as the NES one?
This game is absurdly hard. I couldn’t imagine trying to get through all this in one go, even with warp zones.
Sometimes the game just gives you a hit point (heart) back, but there’s no way to get an extra hit point (mushroom) without finding a magic potion first, and even then you have to guess where the mushroom will appear. It’s a pretty unfair guessing game. Also, I think I only won the post-level slot machine for extra lives a few times. It’s maybe the least generous slot machine minigame I’ve played in a long while, and that sucks cause those extra lives would have definitely come in handy later. Instead I was just loading save states constantly.
I don’t know. I’m sorry this is such a negative review. I just didn’t feel great playing this one and I don’t think it’s one I’d come back to anytime soon.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never really given Super Mario Bros. 2 a fair shake. I tried Super Mario Advance and the Mario All Stars version of SMB2 but wrote it off as uninteresting. “This isn’t the real Super Mario Bros. 2, after all,” I told myself.
I’ve never played Super Mario Bros. 2 front to back until now.
The first half of this game is actually pretty good! I think if you can handle that it’s not 1:1 mechanically with the first game you’ll have a good time with it. There was even a point during my playthrough where I considered myself a Super Mario Bros. 2 truther. I mean, my God, I really enjoyed my first hour with it. Maybe Dunkey was right all along.
But then I, uh… quit having fun, I guess?
I started this game in February and played fervently, blasting through the first few worlds with relative ease. And then I just started coming back less and less. Playing through the game at a snail’s pace, piecemeal. Maybe finished a few levels every once in a while. Some days I could only stomach one level at a time. I almost didn’t play at all in April.
Admittedly I think a lot of my displeasure stems from the fact that I am not good at most retro games. And as much as I try to steer clear of abusing save states to progress, I was saving almost every other screen in this one. A lot of the later levels’ tricks and traps were major mood killers.
And like, not to put too fine of a point on it, I feel as though I’m just an outlier at this point? Are we all playing with save states on here or are we really just raw dogging these games without safety nets? Or are we playing the updated All Stars / Advance versions and logging it as the NES one?
This game is absurdly hard. I couldn’t imagine trying to get through all this in one go, even with warp zones.
Sometimes the game just gives you a hit point (heart) back, but there’s no way to get an extra hit point (mushroom) without finding a magic potion first, and even then you have to guess where the mushroom will appear. It’s a pretty unfair guessing game. Also, I think I only won the post-level slot machine for extra lives a few times. It’s maybe the least generous slot machine minigame I’ve played in a long while, and that sucks cause those extra lives would have definitely come in handy later. Instead I was just loading save states constantly.
I don’t know. I’m sorry this is such a negative review. I just didn’t feel great playing this one and I don’t think it’s one I’d come back to anytime soon.
Toad been sweeping since 1988
Improves on the first in terms of level and enemy variety. Boss variety is an issue though, as you’ll fight the same birdo boss 10+ times.
Great platforming for the time. More colourful and pretty that it’s predecessor.
Hated the way you couldn’t jump on things to kill them though.
Great platforming for the time. More colourful and pretty that it’s predecessor.
Hated the way you couldn’t jump on things to kill them though.
This review contains spoilers
A good game. Don't know that much about it but I heard there are doors where you could warp to other worlds with. It's fun to play.
More ambitious compared to the first game, pretty neat.
What an odd specimen of a title. It started life as "Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic" in Japan. Then it got brought to the US rebranded as a sequel to the iconic Super Mario Bros., and then it got sent back to Japan as Super Mario USA.
Evidently, it's a very different game than its "prequel". Almost no power-ups, you can pick up enemies and throw them, you fight Wart instead of Bowser at the end.
This is also the first time you can play as Princess Toadstool (Peach) or Toad. Each of them also control slightly different, which is a neat touch. The controls in general are fairly polished, they feel a bit less stiff than Super Mario Bros. No complaints here.
The presentation is pretty nice for an NES title. Vibrant colors, lively sprites, the game doesn't have too much music but what's there is great.
The gameplay is the biggest complaint I have with it. Specifically the level design. It starts off well-designed, but as you go on, some parts seem to be intentionally designed to waste your time. Like the vertical castle-esque areas that make you fall all the way down if you mess up too much. Or that one level with the ridiculous amount of jars you have to scour. Enemy placement gets very unfair sometime near the midpoint. I'm looking at you World 4, with your Beezo swarms and snow golem things.
The ending is also very disappointing, making your entire adventure null and void. Even in a story-light game such as this.
Overall, Super Mario Bros 2. is a perfectly fine game, but it's not one I'd go back to often.
Evidently, it's a very different game than its "prequel". Almost no power-ups, you can pick up enemies and throw them, you fight Wart instead of Bowser at the end.
This is also the first time you can play as Princess Toadstool (Peach) or Toad. Each of them also control slightly different, which is a neat touch. The controls in general are fairly polished, they feel a bit less stiff than Super Mario Bros. No complaints here.
The presentation is pretty nice for an NES title. Vibrant colors, lively sprites, the game doesn't have too much music but what's there is great.
The gameplay is the biggest complaint I have with it. Specifically the level design. It starts off well-designed, but as you go on, some parts seem to be intentionally designed to waste your time. Like the vertical castle-esque areas that make you fall all the way down if you mess up too much. Or that one level with the ridiculous amount of jars you have to scour. Enemy placement gets very unfair sometime near the midpoint. I'm looking at you World 4, with your Beezo swarms and snow golem things.
The ending is also very disappointing, making your entire adventure null and void. Even in a story-light game such as this.
Overall, Super Mario Bros 2. is a perfectly fine game, but it's not one I'd go back to often.
DiD YoU KnOW ThIS GaME Is A ReSKin of DOkI DoKI PAnIC?
Reskin of another game let’s gooo