Growing up I always assumed Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America was the official sequel. I mean, why wouldn’t I? I was too young to follow video game news, and so I assumed that was that. Then Super Mario All Stars was released with a curious title on the selection screen. Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels it was called, but it was far too difficult for me to make any real progress in. I later learned that this was actually the sequel to the first one. It has been re-released several times but today I’m taking a look at the Famicom Disk System version (the original). Is it worth playing?
There’s no story here. You’re Mario and out to save Princess Toadstool from Bowser. That’s it. You get a title screen before being thrown into the action. What’s nice is the fact that you can choose between Mario and Luigi, and this time they are functionally different (I’ll get to that later). Super Mario Bros. 2 is a side scrolling platform game very much in vein with the first release. It’s so similar that most of the graphics have been re-used and there are very few new gameplay elements.
The game is a side scroller where gameplay revolves around platforming. Most foes are dispatched by jumping on their head, in typical fashion, and levels are full of pits and floating blocks you can destroy by jumping into them from below. Typical stuff, and nothing that should be new to any Mario fan. There are no new power-ups here. You have the super mushroom, fire flower, and super star. The only thing that has been added is a poison mushroom. This is off-colored and comes out of blocks just like the regular one, but it hurts you. Super Mario Bros. 2 introduces this to you in the first level and you learn about it by dying straight away.
Speaking of dying, you’ll be doing a lot of it. Like the poison mushroom new concepts are not explained and instead you’ll have to figure it out via trial and error. The new red colored piranha plants emerge from their pipes even when you’re right near them. Hammer brothers approach you straight away instead of waiting for Mario to approach. Bloopers can now fly instead of just swimming. In this sense your knowledge of the original Super Mario Bros works against you here. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with these differences because they’re commonplace and in most of the levels. It’s all trial and error, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.
A new emphasis is secret blocks. They were in the original game, sure, but now they’re significantly more prevalent. What’s more is the fact that you’ll frequently need to find them in order to progress. You’ll find yourself constantly jumping at random to find them which is annoying. Sure, as you become more familiar with the game you’ll memorize their locations but in the beginning it’s kind of repetitive and annoying. The timer returns, and works against you harder than before because of the new emphasis on secrets. It makes Super Mario Bros. 2 very unfriendly for new gamers.
There’s no two ways about it. This game is hard. It’s more difficult than just about any Contra title, and it rivals Ninja Gaiden in frustration. That’s saying a lot because those games are legendary for their impossible difficulty. The second stage of this game is more difficult than the final one in the last game (which was already not a cakewalk). Enemy placement is the big offender, and that along with wide gaps that require a lot of precision are the kiss of doom. There are some areas where I can’t figure out how to progress without taking a hit. You have to have a super mushroom at least or you’ll end up losing a life. The game is insane, and bear in mind you’ll have to constantly be on the lookout for secret blocks or else you’ll get stuck fast.
It’s no wonder that this is often considered the ‘lost’ Mario game even aside from the fact that it was not released outside of Japan. Miyamoto was not directly involved in designing this one (he was busy with the Legend of Zelda) and it really shows. This game just isn’t as inventive as the original, and it relies too much on the concepts introduced there. Super Mario Bros 2 kind of lacks its own identity to be honest. It feels like an expansion of the original game, and introduces the fewest new ideas and concepts of any other sequel in this series. It’s only claim to fame is that it gave us ‘slippery’ Luigi for the first time. He can jump higher, but he’s more floaty. The option to play as the two different characters is pretty cool and easily the most important part of this game.
Super Mario Bros. 2 is an okay looking game. I cut the original some slack because it was the first in the series, but I don’t give the same concessions here. There are a few upgrades, such as the use of additional colors, but for the most part from screenshots it’s almost indistinguishable. That’s a little disappointing given the fact that this was a release for add-on hardware. Not nearly enough has been changed in my opinion, but the game still looks decent enough. The same goes for the soundtrack. The music is entirely recycled, and in this case there’s no enhancements. It’s an iconic soundtrack, but it’s borrowed in its entirety.
You can go through life without playing this one and I won’t consider you any less of a Mario fan. The level design is more difficult but not in any sort of intelligent way. The developers just decided to throw enemies at you in awkward places with small platforms. That’s it. Super Mario Bros. 2 is based entirely on trial and error, and no matter how good you are at the classic Mario design you’ll still die frequently as you grasp where things are. It’s okay, but not great by any means.
