Where to start. This game just bothers me in the worst way. As a sequel to the first Super Mario Bros, it fails. The game play is way different and the style is totally different. I think it was an attempt at a radical change to the game that didn't seem to hold as Mario Bros 3 seems to follow a more familiar gaming style to the original. Making it a far better sequel to the original, making Mario Bros 2 weird and awkward by comparison, making me wonder why so many people like it. Now I know you can fly in SMB3 and you can "float" in SMB2 but its not the same... and flying is far better.
Apart from its outward appearance and the characters Mario and Luigi. It bears little resemblance to the original SMB. It introduces 2 new player characters Toad and Peach, both with a seemingly "special" ability, with toad being fast, and peach floating BRIEFLY. Also they make Luigi so clumsy and impossible to use, constantly flailing his legs around as you jump from platform to platform.http://arcadecow.com/game/12604/Super-Mario-Brothers-2.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHsJfo9Rxxs
This game has elements that both make no sense and drive me insane. Each character you pick plays radically different than the others so you have to pick one then get good with him, then you need to float so you gotta pick princess, then you need to be fast so get toad. Why so much difference in the players?!?! Why more players at all. They go right back to just Mario and Luigi in SMB3. And right back to the theme of Mario and Luigi playing the exact same way. It just doesn't make any sense, even in "nintendo" logic. In my mind the true sequel is SMB3
One of the strangest things about the old NES was the number 2 sequels. Lots of games suffered from the affliction such as Legend of Zelda 2: Links Adventure, Castlvania2 Simons Quest, Final Fantasy2 (nes not Snes), and Super Mario Brothers2. It is almost as if they allowed the game designers to smoke crack during production.
ReplyDeleteSMB2 has an actual reason to be different. During its production a rush job was placed on a different game called Doki Doki panic which was a promotion in junction with the anime of the same name. Since Doki Doki panic needed to be produced quickly they decided to rob the SMB2 production. What ended up as the Japanese SMB2 is a game that plays identically to the first with a sprinkling of extras that hardly set it apart.
Later on, in America, we were treated with a re-skinned Doki Doki panic with Mario characters and while it was not perfect it surely beat out the other option. It takes a different path that introduced the first real boss battles unlike the run-and-duck routine of the first. It allowed you to fly on carpets and the princess could hover—not to mention whatever Luigi was doing mid air. If all the characters played the same why chose anyone other than Mario? Not to mention you could go backwards in any given level which was also a first.
It’s not the worst…
Casey
Oh, Eddie did toad touch you on your no-no area?
ReplyDeleteThe so called Lost Levels(smb2 Japan) were a hard play-through, but still would have been a better sequel than a re-skinned japanamation trailer in game form. Pretty bad when its an insult to the intelligence of even an 8 year old to think it(SMB2US/Doki-Doki panic) was related to SMB.
ReplyDelete@Casey: I find your last comment difficult to masturbate to.