This review contains spoilers
Honestly this game is the weakest of the original Mario games, in comparison to any of the other games it's basically from a whole another game series, Because it is, this game is a reskin of a game called ''Doki Doki Panic'' from japan
For those who don't know, The original Super Mario bros 2 from Japan is actually Super Mario Bros Lost levels, Nintendo of America thought that the game was too hard and they reskinned Doki Doki Panic to look like a Mario game, slapped the Super Mario Bros 2 label on it and called it a day
Now the game isn't awful but it's not really Mario either, i like some things this game does very well but dislike many others
The good:
First, it looks better than mario 1, you can say that well yeah it's Mario 2, but Lost levels is Mario 2 and looks just like Mario 1 so props to this game for looking much nicer
I like the idea of being able to play as different characters
If it weren't for this game probably we wouldn't have gotten many memorable iconic characters and mechanics in the future, as an example Shy Guy, Birdo, picking up shells, going through doors, etc...
The music is actually great, catchy and fun to listen to as usual, some areas are locked to certain characters giving a nice amount of replayability for its' secrets,
There's a neat Mechanic of HP that is upgradeable through the levels, it's actually cool and i'd be interested to see what they could have done with this mechanic in other games
I liked that potion thing that made a door to another version of the world in the same place as you throw it, which by throwing in the right places you could get some HP ups and more
Picking up all the cherries spawns one of the classic stars, gives you some motivation to pick them up and it feels fun to collect all of the cherries and then zoom through the level
There's also crab boss, i think that's cool
Lastly the ending where it turns out everything was a dream was actually hilarious and a great explanation to why it was so different, found it funny and silly overall
The Bad:
The platforming feels alright but it's a step down from the original, you can't stomp on your enemies, you need to pick them up and throw them against another enemy or to their inevitable death
Some of the levels are annoying to get through or figure out, in some having to jump on top of birds to get you around endless voids as an example, or a really really terrible puzzle where you need to enter one of maaany pots while there are enemies coming out from some of them, and you have no way to tell which one you have to enter unless you check them out one by one
More than the rest of the games this one feels the most repetitive
Fighting Birdo a million times by throwing them their eggs back gets kinda boring, at least i was caught offguard by one time they threw fire instead, and there's like 2 or 3 more bosses that are slightly different versions of that but not much varies
Conclusion
There's a lot to like about the game tbh, and if it weren't labeled as a mainline mario game i think i'd be fine giving it a higher rating, But there are also so many things i simply didn't enjoy about it, 2.5/5 Is literally the best way to describe how it makes me feel, it's average as a game, though a very interesting history behind its' development
For those who don't know, The original Super Mario bros 2 from Japan is actually Super Mario Bros Lost levels, Nintendo of America thought that the game was too hard and they reskinned Doki Doki Panic to look like a Mario game, slapped the Super Mario Bros 2 label on it and called it a day
Now the game isn't awful but it's not really Mario either, i like some things this game does very well but dislike many others
The good:
First, it looks better than mario 1, you can say that well yeah it's Mario 2, but Lost levels is Mario 2 and looks just like Mario 1 so props to this game for looking much nicer
I like the idea of being able to play as different characters
If it weren't for this game probably we wouldn't have gotten many memorable iconic characters and mechanics in the future, as an example Shy Guy, Birdo, picking up shells, going through doors, etc...
The music is actually great, catchy and fun to listen to as usual, some areas are locked to certain characters giving a nice amount of replayability for its' secrets,
There's a neat Mechanic of HP that is upgradeable through the levels, it's actually cool and i'd be interested to see what they could have done with this mechanic in other games
I liked that potion thing that made a door to another version of the world in the same place as you throw it, which by throwing in the right places you could get some HP ups and more
Picking up all the cherries spawns one of the classic stars, gives you some motivation to pick them up and it feels fun to collect all of the cherries and then zoom through the level
There's also crab boss, i think that's cool
Lastly the ending where it turns out everything was a dream was actually hilarious and a great explanation to why it was so different, found it funny and silly overall
The Bad:
The platforming feels alright but it's a step down from the original, you can't stomp on your enemies, you need to pick them up and throw them against another enemy or to their inevitable death
Some of the levels are annoying to get through or figure out, in some having to jump on top of birds to get you around endless voids as an example, or a really really terrible puzzle where you need to enter one of maaany pots while there are enemies coming out from some of them, and you have no way to tell which one you have to enter unless you check them out one by one
More than the rest of the games this one feels the most repetitive
Fighting Birdo a million times by throwing them their eggs back gets kinda boring, at least i was caught offguard by one time they threw fire instead, and there's like 2 or 3 more bosses that are slightly different versions of that but not much varies
Conclusion
There's a lot to like about the game tbh, and if it weren't labeled as a mainline mario game i think i'd be fine giving it a higher rating, But there are also so many things i simply didn't enjoy about it, 2.5/5 Is literally the best way to describe how it makes me feel, it's average as a game, though a very interesting history behind its' development