To
appreciate Super Mario 2 you first need to know the story behind it. It’s
vastly different from any other Mario game on the market. SMB2 wasn’t
actually designed as a Mario game, it was originally released in Japan under
the name Dream Factory: Dokidoki Panic. While the Japanese public was plunging away (no pun intended) at SMB 2...
Nintendo thought it was too difficult for the USA’s taste. They purchased the rights to Dream Factory and Mario-fied it, replacing the existing main characters with Mario, Luigi, Princess and Toad. Just look at the vast (read: minimal) difference between Doki Doki and our Mario 2...
The resulting game became what we know as SMB2.
The original Japanese SMB2 (the one Nintendo thought was too hard for the US) was eventually (10 years later) released stateside as SMB: The Lost Levels. Strangely enough, around that same time, our SMB2 was released in Japan as Super Mario USA.
Back to what we know as SMB2…Mario can’t throw fireballs, there are no flagpoles to slide down, the Princess and Toad are not in distress and Bowser isn’t even in the game. With all of the above understood, here is a review of the game, try to be open-minded and don’t read it as a review of a Mario sequel or prequel. You may enjoy it more if you aren’t loaded down with expectations.
SMB2
is one sorry game. While I appreciate the freshness of the game I simply
fail to enjoy playing it. The story consists of Mario falling asleep and
having a dream. You are then thrown into a dream world called Sub-Con where
the evil villain Wart has captured the Subcons in an attempt to steal their
powers and rule the Sub-Con world. On your journey you embark upon millions
of these stupid…actually, that doesn’t matter. What you need to know is that
you run around a painfully uninteresting world, pick veggies as you run by
them and throw them at your various enemies. One hit is typically all they
need to go down. Before each level and after each death, you can choose the
character you wish to be, each having their own strengths and weaknesses.
You fight bosses ranging from giant frogs to big egg throwing birds until
you find your way to the main villain, Wart, a giant toad. I'd have to say
that one of the worst things about the game is getting into position to pick
something up and throw it. While the items you can throw are plentiful, the
fact that you are so very restricted by having to go to a specific spot to
pick them up really defeats the purpose of the free roaming environment. You
can roam all day but your only strategy throughout the game is to run to the
throwing item, pick it up, run away, jump and throw it at the bad guy…over
and over and over again. Once you defeat Wart, the final boss, you then
receive a kick-to-the-teeth of an ending where (SPOILER) Mario wakes up and
it all turns out to be a dream, I guess clearing up the vast difference
between this Mario installment and the one before it. In conclusion, this
isn’t the game you want to sit in front of the TV and play, buy it for the
GBA because its just the kind of “adventure NOW” that’s so popular on the
GBA. Although I'd say it’s a far cry from an “adventure”.Most sincere quote of the game; “ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…” -Mario
