The better Mega Man 8! No but seriously pretty much all my issues with 8 were fixed here! Bolts and the store are normal. You can buy all the power ups, half of them are permanently on and the other half are limited to equipping one at a time, which is kinda how I wanted MM8s system to work. The CDs are neat but I do miss the collectables being able to find the power ups in stages like MM7, made it feel like you're actually growing stronger as you explore the stages. Speaking of MM7 tho, this also fixed one of my issues with that game. In that game 2 collectables were hidden in spots underground that you need Rush to dig up with nothing indicating you need to do that, this is not a big deal tho since you can just buy the items later in the shop if you miss them. But this game now added an item that shows sparkles in the areas Rush needs to dig. There are things that substitute E-tanks but tbh it still kinda annoying they're not here.

Bass Playthrough: It was really neat to have another character to play as with a slightly different move set. I see a lot of people say Bass is easy mode and I can definitely see it, the double jump and 8 direction rapid fire makes platforming and enemies easier to get through, but at the same time I think he has his own draw backs. He has less support skills (no Beat, Eddie or the Auto Heal) and the King fight is made harder.

Team Sonic, Dark and Rose are pretty much the same with variable levels of difficulty, so I didn't really like having to go through mostly the same levels 3 times in a row with the only objective being "get to the end". Feel like the previous 2 mainline games did that better by giving characters exclusive levels. Team Chaotix however was a nice change of pace with the objective to complete a different mission each level. Kinda wish they did something like it to differentiate the other routes from each other, besides stage length and difficulty.
I like the idea of having stages where you combine their skills to get through the level but I also like characters having their own style of gameplay in their own stages like SA1/2. Ideally a nice mix would be neat imo. But I also don't really like how it streamlined each characters game play to be more of less the same with some minor differences. A problem I also had with SA2 but at least there it was only 2 teams and they were suppose to be each others foil so it made sense, but upping that to 4 teams that play very similarly felt a bit redundant. Knuckles and Rogue not being able to climb up walls and Sonic and Shadow not being able to spin dash is a bit of a shame. I also don't really see Amy as a "Speed" type character and I guess "Power" might have suited her better so she can smash things with her hammer, but at the same time idk what character they would make Speed for her team, Big I think only works as Power too.

Bigs umbrella floating animation is really cute tho^^

Mania Mode: I think this is a very good anniversary game that celebrates the Classic era and not just the main games but the 8bit ones too. But I'm not sure I would say it works as a successor to Sonic 3&K, since half of it is remastered stages from previous games. But never the less still a great reintroduction of the Classic era, and I hope to see more original games in this style in the future.

Knuckles: I don't think this lived up to his playthrough in S&K, since it's almost exactly the same as Sonic/Tails with a different intro and like 2 different bosses, rather then the full sequel 3&K was to the main playthrough. That being said tho the changes were neat to see and tbh I kinda wish the other characters like Tails going forward get playthroughs like this with some differences and bosses. Kinda sucks you can only do the true final boss as Knuckles in & Knuckles Mode which can only be done in No Save, but maybe I'll attempt that one day.

Encore Mode: Honestly I wasn't sure about this mode when I first started, it's suppose to be a sequel but other then the intro and ending it doesn't really present that way, the rest of the bosses and cutscenes are exactly the same. With Knuckles playthrough in 3&K even tho most of the bosses were the same at least they had the little detail that you are fighting a robot Eggman to show it took place after. That being said, as I played more of it I really grew to like the remixed stages and character switch mechanic. It really feels like this is how the multiple characters should have been handled in Chaotix. I do think it was a missed opportunity to collect the Super Emeralds instead of the normal Chaos Emeralds again.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is a game that gets more flack than it deserves. It has an incredibly interesting story of starting as this very bare bones potential Mario 2, only for Fuji TV to ask Nintendo to help promote their "Dream Factory" festival thing in the 80's, where Nintendo used their base Mario game but now with the mascots given by Fuji for the festival.
The festival was focused around children of the future, as the children of the 80's would be adults when the new millennium came, and hence, our future. Fuji decided it would be best to represent this all with a multi-cultural dream factory theme thing (I don't know either, guess you had to be there to really get it). The mascots to best represent this worldly theme was settled with an "Arabian Nights" inspired family. This festival was apparently a really big deal as Fuji was advertising this EVERY WHERE !!! (Can't really blame them... I mean they do own a massive TV station.)
But! After all this, they still needed a Mario 2 in Japan. I mean, he's the most popular game character since... well, since Mario! So Nintendo did the good honest thing and slapped together something more similar to the original game with some extra challenge and sent it out. That should keep 'em busy.
Though for Western fans this wasn't a problem. What the hell is Dream Factory? No one in the West could give less of a shit about some festival they can't participate in. But you know what the West loved? You won't believe it, but it's that same guy in Japan. All the kids will not shut. up. about Mario. So what did Nintendo do? They just finished their base game, with now added elements inspired by the Dream Factory, as hey, why not? The levels are already finished, aren't they? Mario is already in this crazy world fighting with turtles and saving princesses. Putting him in a dream environment with some desert themes and elements shouldn't be THAT out of place. Anyways, that other Mario game we made too hardcore for Western audiences.
And now we have the beautiful creature that is Super Mario Bros. 2 - or as they call it in Japan: Super Mario USA. Cause believe it or not, people in Japan were upset they didn't get the Mario version of Doki Doki Panic. Friends in Japan told me that most people (or maybe my friend circle is a little funny, wouldn't be the first time) actually prefer Super Mario USA to what they got as Super Mario Bros. 2. I mean, it's not too hard to envision. There must have been a big enough rumble within the Japanese fanbase for Nintendo to put an effort into having the Western game on the Famicom.
And now this is where I argue my main thesis to you. What is that? My thesis? Yes, this whole time my argument I want to make to you is how Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the best Mario games EVER made and why it deserves that title. Yes, the so called "re-skin" of Doki Doki Panic that people in the West received. Oh, woe is us. We're so dumb that instead of getting the insane not-fun Mario 1 on crack sequel to Mario Bros. we got a game much closer to Miyamoto's original vision of Mario Bros. 2, with crazy fun bosses, new action techniques, and beautiful graphics, boo hoo.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is an amazing follow-up to the first Mario Bros, a game that often came packaged with your new Nintendo Entertainment System. Three years later, we get its sequel, and Holy. Crap.
This shit rocks.
First thing you probably notice is ~graphics~, because holy shit that screen gives ya some color now. Not only are the environments insanely more varied and fun to figure out, but they were challenging. Like honest to God challenging. Something you want in an NES game. Something that frustrates you at first, but once learning its patterns, is easily now wrapped around your finger. Just compare these two maps. Partial to just me, I also enjoy the art style change they go with in SMB2 and how it's a bit more chibi, with a dark indigo color to outline the characters now too (oh my, how Osomatsu ).
I guess you can say there's controversy on the change from jumping on enemies to throwing them, which at the time I can imagine wasn't the biggest deal. Sequels to old video games experimented with the formula all the time. Just look at Zelda II and hell, even the original Super Mario Bros. and how much it differs from its original arcade game. I personally liked the change, but in the end, I guess most people didn't as moving forward it became secured as a staple for Mario to stomp. Don't get me wrong though, the game was definitely still influential with us continuing to see Birdo, Shy Guys, and Luigi's famous high jump in future Mario series games.
If you're still on the edge of what to think about Super Mario Bros. 2, I like to note that Miyamoto states it is his favorite Mario game. Not his favorite Nintendo game, but his favorite Mario game, further settling on if we should even see Super Mario Bros. 2 as a true Mario game, when it's "just a re-skin". Clearly, you can see the love that was put into it. Mario or not. 真実は、嘘偽りのないこと、本当のことを意味する。
Nighty night, Mario