Attempting to seriously review every game I've played #3:
This game certainly earns its reputation of being incredibly difficult, but I honestly don't hate it? Sure, it's very hard, and very troll-y, but I never really found unfair, at least no less fair than the first game. Playing this game immediately after exhausting SMB1 also helps, since this was always intended to be essentially just more levels for people who had played the original game to death. The trolls are mostly just funny to me, and none of them actually permanently screw you over. Continues are no longer locked behind an easter egg, and there's an easy spot to do the 1-up trick on the first screen of the first level, so you're never going to be pressed for lives.
The graphical changes are very welcome and I'd be hard pressed to find a single sprite from SMB1 I like more than 2. It's a shame they didn't make use of the Disk System's extra sound channel to expand upon the music from the first game, but the soundtrack is so iconic that I really couldn't imagine it being different.
Another criticism I've seen leveled against this game is the choice to lock the extra worlds behind beating the game 8 times, and I really don't feel like that's a problem. These games were built for replays, and I genuinely think that they get better when you play them like that. Replaying the original game dozens of times to unlock the RetroAchivements for it gave me a much stronger appreciation of it than I ever thought I'd have. Plus, they are extra worlds, they're meant as a neat bonus for players who've mastered the base game.
I can understand disliking this game, but as someone who really appreciates the higher difficulty and improved graphics, I honestly like this more than SMB1.
This game certainly earns its reputation of being incredibly difficult, but I honestly don't hate it? Sure, it's very hard, and very troll-y, but I never really found unfair, at least no less fair than the first game. Playing this game immediately after exhausting SMB1 also helps, since this was always intended to be essentially just more levels for people who had played the original game to death. The trolls are mostly just funny to me, and none of them actually permanently screw you over. Continues are no longer locked behind an easter egg, and there's an easy spot to do the 1-up trick on the first screen of the first level, so you're never going to be pressed for lives.
The graphical changes are very welcome and I'd be hard pressed to find a single sprite from SMB1 I like more than 2. It's a shame they didn't make use of the Disk System's extra sound channel to expand upon the music from the first game, but the soundtrack is so iconic that I really couldn't imagine it being different.
Another criticism I've seen leveled against this game is the choice to lock the extra worlds behind beating the game 8 times, and I really don't feel like that's a problem. These games were built for replays, and I genuinely think that they get better when you play them like that. Replaying the original game dozens of times to unlock the RetroAchivements for it gave me a much stronger appreciation of it than I ever thought I'd have. Plus, they are extra worlds, they're meant as a neat bonus for players who've mastered the base game.
I can understand disliking this game, but as someone who really appreciates the higher difficulty and improved graphics, I honestly like this more than SMB1.