Super Mario Bros. 2

Nintendo

Nintendo

Platformer

2600.00

Originally released on the FDS a few months after the system debuted, Super Mario Bros. 2 was designed to be a new challenge for veteran players of the first game. It re-uses many of its predecessor’s assets, to the point where it feels like a level expansion pack. Deemed far too difficult to be released outside of Japan, the United States and Europe would instead end up receiving a re-branded version of the game Doki Doki Panic as their Super Mario Bros 2. For the vast majority of English- speaking game players, nobody was the wiser until the release of Super Mario All-Stars for the SNES, which included the “real” Super Mario Bros. 2, now called The Lost Levels. So what's new here compared to the first game? Many background tiles are different – the brick floors are replaced with dirt, and floating platforms are made up of tiny mushrooms now. Peach and the mushroom power-ups have a different appearance. The music is identical, however. The largest changes come in the form of the difficulty being increased, not only in the level design but the enemies. Hammer Bros. will now march towards you relentlessly, instead of giving you time to avoid their attacks. Red Piranha Plants also live in the pipes, attack much quicker, and don’t hide even if you're standing on the pipe or nearby. Bloopers can be found outside of the water, too, and floating around in certain levels. Some blocks hide poisonous mushrooms, as well, and wind blows fiercely in some levels, pushing you around. The game even cruelly contains reverse warp zones that actually make you go back to a previous world! At least continues are infinite. The two-player mode is gone, but instead you can now choose to play as either Mario or Luigi. Luigi can jump much higher than Mario but has very poor traction, while Mario can’t jump as high but is easier to control. Lastly, there are more than eight worlds, with the ninth only being accessible if you beat the game without using a warp zone. Worlds A-D are accessible only after beating the game eight times and holding down A on the title screen. With these ridiculous requirements, only the very best players were able to beat World 9 and A-D. Some of the later ports of Super Mario Bros. 2 make some changes, so it’s still worthwhile to play the FDS original. Both Super Mario All- Stars for the SNES and Super Mario Bros. Deluxe for the Game Boy Color remove the unique background tiles, making them uniform with the first game. The GBC game also removes the wind and makes Luigi identical to Mario, plus it’s missing all of the hidden stages (9, and A-D)