While Super Mario Bros. 2 has many of the same NES-related failures as its predecessor, it has a great deal of unique mechanics that set it apart from even modern-day installments in the series, giving players a reason to come back to this fun, well-crafted platformer.
While it may be little more than a reskin of an existing game, this serves it well, in a way, as it has a whole new wealth of options when it comes to movement and combat, distinguishing itself from the series' norms while still staying within the theme of a Mario game. It still plays exactly like Mario, with satisfying jumping and creatively intuitive platforming, but the newly-introduced grabbing mechanic reinvigorated the franchise's gameplay in a big way.
I think this is an underrated game, and is worth playing for any fan of good platformers. I love the game's catchy music, its distinct worlds and environments, and its addicting platforming. I do wish that they had done away with the shoddy save system, but it's much more forgiving in this game. You should only game-over once or twice before you get the hang of things, and by then you can have fun cruising through the rest of the game.
There are still a few drawbacks. I feel that the power-up system is incredibly confusing in this game, and it should have been modified to fit more within the Mario theme. Bland, repetitive health buffs aren't nearly as fun as the Fire Flower from the previous game, or the wealth of fun power-ups in the sequel. The gameplay is fun, so it's somewhat forgivable, but lacking power-ups and having to play with largely the same abilities for the entire game can cause challenges to feel repetitive, with one set way to approach most situations.
Overall, I enjoyed this game. I wish it could have kept the typical Mario power-up system, and removed full-game restarts, but I can say with certainty that it's a solid platformer nonetheless and has aged impressively for being built for NES hardware.
While it may be little more than a reskin of an existing game, this serves it well, in a way, as it has a whole new wealth of options when it comes to movement and combat, distinguishing itself from the series' norms while still staying within the theme of a Mario game. It still plays exactly like Mario, with satisfying jumping and creatively intuitive platforming, but the newly-introduced grabbing mechanic reinvigorated the franchise's gameplay in a big way.
I think this is an underrated game, and is worth playing for any fan of good platformers. I love the game's catchy music, its distinct worlds and environments, and its addicting platforming. I do wish that they had done away with the shoddy save system, but it's much more forgiving in this game. You should only game-over once or twice before you get the hang of things, and by then you can have fun cruising through the rest of the game.
There are still a few drawbacks. I feel that the power-up system is incredibly confusing in this game, and it should have been modified to fit more within the Mario theme. Bland, repetitive health buffs aren't nearly as fun as the Fire Flower from the previous game, or the wealth of fun power-ups in the sequel. The gameplay is fun, so it's somewhat forgivable, but lacking power-ups and having to play with largely the same abilities for the entire game can cause challenges to feel repetitive, with one set way to approach most situations.
Overall, I enjoyed this game. I wish it could have kept the typical Mario power-up system, and removed full-game restarts, but I can say with certainty that it's a solid platformer nonetheless and has aged impressively for being built for NES hardware.