Super Mario Brothers 2 (NES game review)

So, for days I’ve been working on this game review. One day was just figuring out what I wanted to review, now that I’ve already done my favorite game. (See my review on the game Crystalis) Once I had a general consensus on what people wanted to see, I had to actually replay the game, something I have not done in YEARS. I gave it a new chance with a blank slate. No judgment until I had finished the game.

Oh my GOD. I had forgotten how much I cannot stand this game! Before the lynch mob comes out for me daring to talk trash about a Mario game (apparently a cardinal sin in the gaming world), let me explain.

The game itself is not only incredibly difficult, but it has no Mario feel to it. It really doesn’t. It’s a HUGE leap, both graphically and story-wise, from the first Mario game, and doesn’t even flow with the THIRD game. The way you destroy enemies is completely different from almost all of the other old-school Mario games. In the other games, you stomp your enemies. You jump on them and squish them, or you use fire flowers, raccoon feathers/leaves/whatever (Yeah I never got that one either.), frog suits, tanooki suits (which is the raccoon suit with the added feature of temporarily turning to stone), and hammer suits, to power yourself up and get rid of them with the various suit effects. There were NO fire flowers, all that was in SMB2 was Stars, and you didn’t jump on your enemies to kill them. You threw vegetables at them. Vegetables. Freaking turnips and junk like that.

 

Ugh.

Many enemies were flat out repeats of each other (Ostro TONS of times, Mouser twice, a three headed creature twice). In SMB3, you got a different Koopa Kid with every world. In SMB1, you fought the same enemy multiple times, but he was always guarding the useless toad up until the last castle. But this game’s bosses were completely outside the norm of the original SMB games. (No, I have not read the book insert for the backstory as to where this game was supposed to take place. I have a reason for that)

However, there’s a very good reason it doesn’t feel like SMB. It originally WASN’T SMB at ALL. Originally, this game was called Doki Doki Panic, and was released in Japan under that title. Japan’s SMB2 was similar to SMB1, with a few additional things, like new mushrooms, including the toxic mushroom. However, that game was deemed to be too hard for American audiences, hence, we got Doki Doki Panic with a new set of sprites. In fact, even the powers of the four main characters were exactly the same. All they did was change some of the things that got thrown, and the sprites of the four main characters. They even kept the most of the same music! How lazy can you get?!

I’ve actually played Doki Doki Panic, and because it’s not SMB, it’s GOOD. It’s a fun, challenging game! It had no business being marketed as a Super Mario game at ALL! It would have done fairly well in the US all by itself, but to make a quick buck, they slapped the title of SMB2 on it. Way to make a quick cash-in Nintendo.

Now, the REAL SMB2… We’ve actually seen it in the US. It was released on the SNES in the game Super Mario All Stars. And, while it is a PAIN to beat…it’s a HELL of a game. There’s new features, such as the wind gusts that can knock you off ledges, and the aforementioned poisoned mushrooms. It’s meant to be a game you play once you master the original SMB, and it fully succeeds! The music makes you feel right at home while you play, and the graphics are JUST enough of an upgrade to make you feel like it’s shiny and new.

So, the final score? Well, since I want to review and score the real SMB2 and not Doki Doki Panic… I’ll be giving what we know as ‘the lost levels’ a score.

Story/Plot:  4 /5 stars. Eh, the story is a lot of the same stuff from SMB1, but that’s what makes it great! It’s what fans wanted, not a game with sprites replaced renamed into SMB2. The story is simple… save the princess. It’s what we loved in SMB1, and it’s perfectly fine for SMB2.

Gameplay: 5 /5 stars. Fluid, familiar, and smooth, again, it’s what we wanted initially. It’s the real deal, and a lot of work went into it, and you can tell. It’s got new features that SMB1 didn’t have, and it feels like a Mario game SHOULD feel. You stomp or shoot fireballs at enemies. None of that turnip-tossing junk.

Music: 5 /5 stars. It’s classic Mario music at its finest. Enough said.

Graphics: 4 /5 stars. While it IS an improvement, it’s not a huge one, but it’s not detrimental to the gameplay. I think that has more to do with the fact that it was ready for release well before Doki Doki was, thus it didn’t have quite the graphical upgrade that it could have had.

Overall: Overall, I give it 18 out of 20 stars. If you’ve never played the real SMB2, you need to do it. It’s worth the hours you’ll spend trying to beat it, believe me. It’s fun and addicting, and makes you want to keep trying. You WANT to save the princess, just like before. And saving the princess is always so much fun!