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Reviewing the Real Super Mario Brothers 2

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the cue-the-music dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When Mario Brothers 2 for the NES came out in the U.S. in 1988, many people were surprised at how different than the original Mario Brothers it was. The second Mario Brothers title that U.S. audiences know was never designed to be a Mario title at all. Instead, it's a game called Doki Doki Panic that's been modified with Mario sprites. Here's a review of the original Super Mario Brothers 2 as designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released only in Japan. Nintendo felt that the poison mushrooms, blowing wind, and warps that took you backwards made it too difficult for North American audiences."

9 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. This is news? by Joehonkie · · Score: 5, Informative

    I think most of us knew this ages ago. The "real" Super Mario Bros. 2 has been available in collections since the SNES era.

    1. Re:This is news? by ThisNukes4u · · Score: 4, Informative

      To further clarify, it was available in the U.S. on the SNES game "Super Mario All-Stars" in the sub-game "Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels".

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      thisnukes4u.net
  2. Re:Read about what you can never play by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 5, Funny

    the same reason that geeks look at porn...

  3. US SMB2, Canon or not canon? by Whyte+Panther · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I've always found it odd that even though the US SMB2 wasn't considered canon, some parts of it have managed to make their way into the real Mario world anyway, Birdo, Shyguys, the fact that Luigi can jump higher than Mario, Princess Peach floating...

    1. Re:US SMB2, Canon or not canon? by _xeno_ · · Score: 4, Informative

      Luigi jumped higher in the Japanese SMB2 ("The Lost Levels"). If you look at the title screen you'll notice that you have two options: Mario Game and Luigi Game. There was no two-player.

      Mario runs faster than Luigi but doesn't jump as high. Luigi jumps higher than Mario but doesn't run as fast. Both characters would "slide" a little when they stopped running - Mario stopped faster than Luigi.

      So the jumping thing is canon from the Japanese SMB2, not the American SMB2.

      However, Shyguys have appeared in the various Super Mario RPGs (along with other US SMB2 enemies) so it would seem that it's canon-ish, at the very least.

      The Wikipedia article on The Lost Levels lists a bunch of gameplay features and comparisons from The Lost Levels. It's worth noting that The Lost Levels version of SMB2 is actually quite a bit easier than the original SMB2 - the Wikipedia article lists why. (In The Lost Levels, you have The ability to save and trestart at any level, so if you find a backwards warpzone you can easily restart the level you started from. The poison mushrooms were changed to be vibrant purple, looking nothing like normal mushrooms. There are other minor changes to enemy AI that makes the game easier as well.)

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      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
  4. Nitpick by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Super Mario All-Stars" for the SNES contains this game, retitled "The Lost Levels." The Japanese version of All-Stars, called "Super Mario Collection," contains this game as "Super Mario Bros. 2" and the American Mario 2 as "Super Mario USA."

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    Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
  5. Links Ahoy! by kisrael · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Mushroom Kingdom is the best site I've seen for the Marioverse... they have a very good Doki Doki and SMB2 comparison.

    Nintendo had a few oddball "2"s... I'm one of those oddball gamers who preders Legend of Zelda 2 to the original, I really dig SMB2 (it was the first game that made me think 'wow, THIS is a VIDEOGAME???', it looked that good).... and the way that Starfox 2 was never released is a serious tragedy, it really was poised to take the series in some interesting directions, N64 is just pedestrian eye-candy in comparison...

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    SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
  6. Interesting fact about Mario... by casualsax3 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The only reason Mario ended up with a mustache was because programmers needed some sort of feature to show that he had a mouth.

  7. I, for one, think it's "conversation" worthy. by gameforge · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It may not be bleeding edge news, but original NES titles like this are worth talking about and appreciating. Shigeru Miyamoto is, IMO, one of the most brilliant game designers ever... obviously, right? I don't remember where I read/heard this, but one of his game design "virtues" is eliminating everything between the player and the game; i.e., there's no controller in your hand, no TV, no console... just you and a game. Some games today do this well; with such sophisticated 3D graphics and surround sound, it seems like it should be easy. But the NES has only a few colors and rinky-dink sound, it's hardly accurate in any regard (simulation or otherwise). But Miyamoto and Nintendo accomplished this virtue amazingly well; they still do as far as I'm concerned. And no, I'm not a Nintendo fanboy, the last Nintendo product I bought was a SNES.

    Nintendo in and of itself isn't like any other game company, and I think they're particularly interesting. They're over 100 years old... have been in everything from playing cards, to a taxi service at one point, and minute rice... and are still one of the big three game console manufacturers (the oldest one that remained successful, I might add). To rant a little... this is why when people talk about "gee, Nintendo's all washed up, Sony and MS have way better hardware", you've got to be kidding me - they're not going anywhere! And hardware isn't everything; but "fun" is almost everything. Their game console might drop in and out of popularity, or the state of the art; but it's not like MS is going to come out with the Xbox 720 and Nintendo will just fold up and go home.

    (to rant a little more ;) Even without an article at all, old game history like this is a lot of fun to talk about, IMO. If you don't think it's interesting, or you already know everything there is to know about classic video games, you don't have to read the article or post a reply.

    Hooray for fun games and game history!