// Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

The Mario Marathon continues with Super Mario Bros. 2. I plan on playing through 3, Super Mario Bros. World, then pivoting to a new series.

JUST SO YOU KNOW.

Enjoy the review.

Love you.

// Doki Doki Mario Club

If you’re aware of how Mario 2 came about already, you can skip this section. But for those of you who are unaware, it’s kind of interesting.

Unlike Super Mario Bros. – which I joked was based on a movie – this one is actually based on another game. And by, “based on,” I do mean it is just literally another game.

You see, the fellas over in Japan quickly released a sequel to the original Mario and called it Super Mario Bros 2. It was a similar game to the original, only much more difficult. Like horrifically difficult. When Nintendo of America saw it, they said, “there’s no way these baby-ass North Americans will be able to play this game.” So they didn’t bring it over. 

It would eventually be released in North America as The Lost Levels when it was included in Super Mario All-Stars, a compilation on the Super Nintendo.

What they eventually decided on was to convert an existing Japanese game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic into a Mario sequel for North America. I won’t rehash the whole saga here because it’s well documented all over the place, but Doki Doki Panic was already a complete and released video game.

They put some work into Mario-ifying it up. The four Doki Doki protagonists were replaced with Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Peach. Koji Kondo cranked out some new tunes. They threw in some POW blocks and warp pipes and whatnot. Before you knew it, Doki Doki Panic had been given the Mario Landlord Special and was shipped.

This explains why the game is filled with many things that aren’t typically associated with the Mario franchise. The whole thing has a generic Arabian theme going on. You can’t jump on dude’s heads to kill them, you need to pick up enemies or pull vegetables from the ground and throw them. 

After it was so successful, they actually re-re-released it in Japan under the title Super Mario USA.

If you want to learn more about this whole process, I recommend you watch the Gaming Historian video on the subject.

// What Do You Mean I Can’t Jump On Their Heads?

Picture this: You fire up Super Mario Bros. 2. You pop into level 1-1. You excitedly see the first villain and jump on their head. Instead of dispensing death, now you are just standing on their head.

Super Mario Bros. 2 employs an all-new primary verb. Jumping is out the window. Now throwing is all the rage.

At least when it comes to dispatching your foes.

Once you find yourself sat upon the noggin of some poor Shy Guy or Ninji, you can press B to hoist them up! What you do with them at that point is up to you. You can chuck ‘em off the edge into some lava or into another enemy to take them both out.

The levels of Super Mario Bros. 2 are also full of vegetables planted in the ground. You can pluck these via the same method and throw them at the baddies as well.

Quite different from the classic Mario experience.

I didn’t hate the throwing, but I also didn’t prefer it. I think if they had added the throwing mechanics as an, “as well as,” as opposed to an, “instead of,” it would be ideal.

Obviously that would have been impossible given the game’s history, but I can’t help but wonder.

// More Mechanics

The new mechanics go further than just attacking. I think that overall, th ethrowing is actually used in very original and fun ways.

Some blocks you can move and stack to reach higher jumps, or clear a new path. Some enemies – like Bob-Ombs – explode when you throw them.

One of my favourite additions are the magic potions. Occasionally, you will pull one up instead of a vegetable. When you put it down, you’d open up a door there which would take you to an inverted world with valuable coins and mushrooms. Where you decided to put the door in the level would offer you different benefits. Sometimes carrying it with you for a bit would land you a better location.

This game also introduced the different handling for the different characters. Luigi gains his signature higher jump (this was also in The Lost Levels), as well as Peach’s iconic floating ability. Toad is also there.

// We Relish Being Different

Super Mario Bros. 2 is different from the series in many ways, but that’s not a bad thing.

In some ways it’s different in a it’s-just-kinda-funny-and-weird way. Like the absence of Bowser. He’s replaced with a rotund frog named Wart. The previously-mentioned Arabian theme is unusual for the series. But don’t worry, the game ends with a cutscene to illustrate that it was all in Mario’s dreams the whole time.

Alternatively, a lot of the new stuff introduced by Doki Doki Panic became Mario mainstays. Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, Ninjis, Snifits, Pokeys, and even Birdo were all originally from this game. It’s hard to imagine the Mario series today without all of those guys in the cast.

Super Mario Bros. 2 also introduced a lot more verticality in the level design. Some levels are almost entirely vertical.

The game also has a fun collection of bosses that are a nice breath of fresh air compared to fighting Birdo over and over again when you find one. Most of them more-or-less boil down to picking up projectiles they’ve thrown at you and tossing them back, but they get creative with it.

I like all of these new, funky things. I’m glad much of it continued to live on through future Mario games.

// Some Mid Mechanics

A different game comes with different mechanics of course, not all of which I thought were successful. While the platforming has some great moments, I think some of the Doki Doki additions were cumbersome.

The areas where you have to dig through sand felt awkward.

As I mentioned earlier, you’ll be seeing Birdo a lot. These fights consist of Birdo shooting an egg at you, you jumping on the egg, picking it up, and throwing it back. This happens a handful of times. While it’s not egregious, it did get old.

More often than with SMB1, I was up against something and thought, “eh, I’m not all that into this bit.”

// Conclusion

All in all, I enjoyed my time with Mario 2.

It’s the strange middle child of the NES Mario trilogy, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Even if I had some moment-to-moment disappointments with the mechanics, it’s by no means a bad game. It’s without a doubt worth your time to try it.

I’ve seen many a hot take online while reading about this game from people claiming they like it more than Mario 1 or 3. You never know, you might just be one of those people!

Super Mario Bros. 2 undoubtedly earns its place – albeit as an oddball – among the Mario Pantheon.