Holds up well on replay, even better with a controller. The movement is not as good in comparison to other Mario games from the NES, which makes sense since 95% of this game is from a different IP, but outside of that, the non-japanese SMB2 is a pretty clever and fun evolution of the platforming genre.
The level design is pretty good and the colors are great, the music is catchy and atmospheric. There is a decent variety of settings, enemies and bosses, which makes progressing through this title much more interesting than SMB1.
There are plenty annoying and unfair sections, so I found myself either skipping parts of this game by using Luigi (game breaker) or by abusing some wall-glitches, and I guess that makes this game not as fun as others from the franchise.
I enjoyed the verticality of the game, and the new gimmicks it would often try out. Wasn't a fan of the life system, and that includes the cherries, the hearts and the coin system. The potion is a cool concept but it should have been used in better ways I think.
The bastard child of the NES Mario trilogy is a creative, aesthetically pleasing adventure that was responsible for a large amount of ideas that are still present within the franchise. The difficulty and clunkiness are annoying, but it's very charming from top to bottom.