MARIO REVIEWED: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Famicom)

In this series of posts that I'm doing because I literally cannot contain my excitement for Super Mario Galaxy 2, I'll be looking back at the games in the Mario franchise. I'm primarily going to be concentrating on games in the main series, but there might be a couple of detours along the way, too.

People constantly talk about Super Mario Galaxy 2 really being "Super Mario Galaxy 1.5," but that's so far from the truth when you compare it to the actual Super Mario 1.5. SMB2, or known as "The Lost Levels" over here, was the direct sequel to Super Mario Bros. that only saw release outside of Japan on the Super Mario All-Stars compilation in the early 90s, as well as the Virtual Console release and localization of the original Famicom game. That's the version I played and that I'll be talking about.

It's tough to find a lot of faults in this game, as it's essentially the exact same game as Super Mario Bros. with some minor tweaks. It uses the same graphics, the same music, the same "Our princess is in another castle!" storytelling mechanism. There's no new enemies, one new power-up (or in this case, a power-down, in the Poisoned Mushroom), and the ability to play through the entire game as Luigi (replete with high jumping, slip-sliding grip action).

There's one major, major difference between the two games, though, and the reason why the game stayed Japan-only for so long – namely, the game is hard as fuck. World 1-1 of SMB2 basically picks up where SMB left off, and only getting harder from there. Pixel-perfect jumps, utilization of the environment and the enemies to reach places, and death-defying leaps over gigantic chasms are par for the course in this game. For the real Mario enthusiast, this could be a boon – a way to prove your platforming prowess in one of the hardest games ever.

I think Nintendo of America made the right choice. Back in the 80s, that culture of punishing niche platforming hadn't really developed as much in North America as it probably had in Japan, and releasing SMB2 would have severely dampened the Mario brand (although some might argue that the localization of Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic – better known as the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2 – accomplished just that for a short amount of time. But more on that later).

I decided to try my luck playing the game first as Luigi, and unless you're really dedicated to discovering all of the little nuances to controlling his character, I'd say not to bother. It's great that he can jump so much higher than Mario, but his controls feel just a little loosey-goosey for my tastes. I found I was dying a lot with him, and on my subsequent playthrough as Mario, found the game just to be a lot tighter and better. Not easier, really – this game still will kick your ass to the curb and leave you crying and alone, but better.

I think this might be a good time to talk about Bowser, since I didn't in the last review. Holy crap, but did Bowser ever suck back in the day. I think out of all of Nintendo's characters, Bowser has gone through the biggest transition and development. Compare Bowser in, say, Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, where he's a sympathetic buffoon that you can't help but love, to his early appearances where he, uh, spits some fire. Jumping over his head and getting that axe is pretty dumb, even for the 80s. Luckily he got exponentially better with each subsequent release, and is now easily one of my favourite characters from the Mario universe.

This isn't a game I'd say is essential to play. The American releases have done just fine, and I'd only suggest playing through this one to test your mettle. It's really interesting to me to see the progression of sequels in Nintendo's franchises. Numerous people have complained that the sequelization of movies and games have really stifled creativity, and while I'd usually agree with that sentiment, Nintendo has been quite revelatory in taking familiar mechanics and applying them in really creative and interesting ways, and in new contexts, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Mario series. That being said, if Super Mario Bros. were being released today, SMB2 would probably just be DLC. It's a level pack, which is cool I guess, but not the sequel that the original game deserved.