(Part 3 of 5)
I think we can all safely agree that The Lost Levels is a bad, dummy game, and it should feel ashamed of itself, right? Right. Like I said, there is a reason why it was kept in Japan for seven years before being given to us. But, with that being said, if we never got The Lost Levels for a while, what game did we get instead? Well, for those of you who SOMEHOW don’t know this, we got a completely different game instead known as Doki Doki Panic, which was definitely a game that existed at one point. I dunno, I never played the original version, but either way, this game was taken and given a complete makeover, changing all the characters into Mario characters, as well as completely giving it a brand new title and box art so nobody would assume that this was anything more then just another Mario game. It managed to work, and thus, we were then given the PROPER version of Super Mario Bros. 2, if you ask me.
When compared to almost all other Mario games, this game is incredibly different from what you would expect. Sure, it is still a 2D platformer where you get coins, take warps, and beat up big slimy creatures, but it features a set of enemies completely different from the previous game, a bunch of bosses that would never appear in another game ever again, and a main gameplay mechanic that has also never really been seen in any other game after this. Sure, many could consider this to be weird, stupid, and sacreligious for a Mario game, but as any smart person would know, just because something is different, that doesn’t automatically make it bad. In the case of Super Mario Bros. 2, while it may be different, it is still a pretty good game, one that is still fun to revisit, and one that not many other games have been able to replicate. It may have its problems, but at least we can all agree that they aren’t quite on the same level as The Lost Levels, and that is all that one can ask for.
The story is pretty similar to the original game, but instead of saving a girl, you are saving an entire fictional kingdom, which I would say is a little more important, even if it is all a dream (if you didn’t know that at this point, then you should probably wake up as well), the graphics are pretty good, being an improvement over the original game, while also still having the same feel as those graphics, which works out pretty good, the music is pretty good, with the tracks not being as iconic or memorable as the original game, but the selection that we have here are still pretty good, and pretty nostalgic for me at least, the controls are pretty decent, being what you would expect, but also varied depending on the character that you do play as, with it all still working well in general, and the gameplay is pretty similar to the original game, but also different enough to where it feels like a fresh, new, and fun experience.
The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, or some random-ass Toad, take on a set of seven worlds, with each world containing 2-3 levels each, take out many enemies that stand in your way primarily by… throwing vegetables at them (I mean, hey, if I got hit in the face with a turnip at top speed, I’d probably get really hurt by it as well), gather plenty of cherries, stars, and mushrooms to help you out and increase your health throughout the game, and take on a set of unique and interesting bosses…. even though most of the time you will just be fighting Birdo, but hey, at least there are other ones there. In many ways, it is similar to the original, and in plenty of other ways, it isn’t, and again, while some may not like all of the changes this game implements, I found them to be pretty fun and unique changes, ones that benefit the game overall rather than taking away from it.
There is a lot of different sights to see in this game, not just in terms of the enemies and bosses that you will see, with a lot of them becoming main stays in the franchise to this day, but also all the different levels you will go through, having plenty of different locations and setpieces to make them stand out most of the time, such as with castles, caves, icy plains and even whales at one point. It isn’t really anything mind blowing, but compared to the last game, which just repeated the same four environments over and over again, it is pretty cool to see a lot of variety throughout the game. In addition to this, the game also allows for a lot of experimentation with the characters, as each one plays differently from each other. Obviously, the best of the bunch is Peach, who has a floating jump that she can use throughout the game, and trust me, for a game like this, having that kind of ability is a godsend, so that is why I primarily stick to her when I play through this game.
With this radical change in gameplay and style though does come with it some issues. For one thing, while I do admire a lot of the different ways you traverse through levels, some of the gimmicks that can be found in these levels can be needlessly frustrating and annoying. There is this one level where you have to ride on top of these albatross enemies in order to get to the next part of the screen, but not only do you have to dodge plenty of enemies while you are up here, but you also have to make sure to, at one point, jump on top of another albatross going in the opposite way, and then jump on another albatross going the right way just so that you can reach the top of the ledge. You may say that is fun and challenging, but I say it is tedious and irritating. In addition, while I don’t mind fighting her, you do fight Birdo WAY too much in this game. You fight her at the end of every level aside from the last levels of each world, and while there is always some change made to make the fight slightly different or more difficult, it doesn’t change the fact that you are basically doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Yeah, Mario games are known for generally being repetitive, but I feel like this one goes that liiiiiiiiitle bit too far.
Overall, despite some annoying levels and an overabundance of Birdo, this is still a pretty solid sequel to the original Mario, even if it was never originally intended to be the sequel to that game, and it is one that I am happy to revisit whenever I decide to do so. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Mario, because even if the game may be different from almost every other Mario game, it still carries the same level of charm, creativity, and fun that most of the other games have, which is really all one can ask for from this series. And before we end off this review, here is a fun fact: this game was actually rereleased in Japan under the title Super Mario Bros. USA, which is cool and all… except for the fact that it is just Doki Doki Panic again, so they basically coaxed people into buying the same game again for full price. Hm……. sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Remake #5
I think we can all safely agree that The Lost Levels is a bad, dummy game, and it should feel ashamed of itself, right? Right. Like I said, there is a reason why it was kept in Japan for seven years before being given to us. But, with that being said, if we never got The Lost Levels for a while, what game did we get instead? Well, for those of you who SOMEHOW don’t know this, we got a completely different game instead known as Doki Doki Panic, which was definitely a game that existed at one point. I dunno, I never played the original version, but either way, this game was taken and given a complete makeover, changing all the characters into Mario characters, as well as completely giving it a brand new title and box art so nobody would assume that this was anything more then just another Mario game. It managed to work, and thus, we were then given the PROPER version of Super Mario Bros. 2, if you ask me.
When compared to almost all other Mario games, this game is incredibly different from what you would expect. Sure, it is still a 2D platformer where you get coins, take warps, and beat up big slimy creatures, but it features a set of enemies completely different from the previous game, a bunch of bosses that would never appear in another game ever again, and a main gameplay mechanic that has also never really been seen in any other game after this. Sure, many could consider this to be weird, stupid, and sacreligious for a Mario game, but as any smart person would know, just because something is different, that doesn’t automatically make it bad. In the case of Super Mario Bros. 2, while it may be different, it is still a pretty good game, one that is still fun to revisit, and one that not many other games have been able to replicate. It may have its problems, but at least we can all agree that they aren’t quite on the same level as The Lost Levels, and that is all that one can ask for.
The story is pretty similar to the original game, but instead of saving a girl, you are saving an entire fictional kingdom, which I would say is a little more important, even if it is all a dream (if you didn’t know that at this point, then you should probably wake up as well), the graphics are pretty good, being an improvement over the original game, while also still having the same feel as those graphics, which works out pretty good, the music is pretty good, with the tracks not being as iconic or memorable as the original game, but the selection that we have here are still pretty good, and pretty nostalgic for me at least, the controls are pretty decent, being what you would expect, but also varied depending on the character that you do play as, with it all still working well in general, and the gameplay is pretty similar to the original game, but also different enough to where it feels like a fresh, new, and fun experience.
The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, or some random-ass Toad, take on a set of seven worlds, with each world containing 2-3 levels each, take out many enemies that stand in your way primarily by… throwing vegetables at them (I mean, hey, if I got hit in the face with a turnip at top speed, I’d probably get really hurt by it as well), gather plenty of cherries, stars, and mushrooms to help you out and increase your health throughout the game, and take on a set of unique and interesting bosses…. even though most of the time you will just be fighting Birdo, but hey, at least there are other ones there. In many ways, it is similar to the original, and in plenty of other ways, it isn’t, and again, while some may not like all of the changes this game implements, I found them to be pretty fun and unique changes, ones that benefit the game overall rather than taking away from it.
There is a lot of different sights to see in this game, not just in terms of the enemies and bosses that you will see, with a lot of them becoming main stays in the franchise to this day, but also all the different levels you will go through, having plenty of different locations and setpieces to make them stand out most of the time, such as with castles, caves, icy plains and even whales at one point. It isn’t really anything mind blowing, but compared to the last game, which just repeated the same four environments over and over again, it is pretty cool to see a lot of variety throughout the game. In addition to this, the game also allows for a lot of experimentation with the characters, as each one plays differently from each other. Obviously, the best of the bunch is Peach, who has a floating jump that she can use throughout the game, and trust me, for a game like this, having that kind of ability is a godsend, so that is why I primarily stick to her when I play through this game.
With this radical change in gameplay and style though does come with it some issues. For one thing, while I do admire a lot of the different ways you traverse through levels, some of the gimmicks that can be found in these levels can be needlessly frustrating and annoying. There is this one level where you have to ride on top of these albatross enemies in order to get to the next part of the screen, but not only do you have to dodge plenty of enemies while you are up here, but you also have to make sure to, at one point, jump on top of another albatross going in the opposite way, and then jump on another albatross going the right way just so that you can reach the top of the ledge. You may say that is fun and challenging, but I say it is tedious and irritating. In addition, while I don’t mind fighting her, you do fight Birdo WAY too much in this game. You fight her at the end of every level aside from the last levels of each world, and while there is always some change made to make the fight slightly different or more difficult, it doesn’t change the fact that you are basically doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Yeah, Mario games are known for generally being repetitive, but I feel like this one goes that liiiiiiiiitle bit too far.
Overall, despite some annoying levels and an overabundance of Birdo, this is still a pretty solid sequel to the original Mario, even if it was never originally intended to be the sequel to that game, and it is one that I am happy to revisit whenever I decide to do so. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Mario, because even if the game may be different from almost every other Mario game, it still carries the same level of charm, creativity, and fun that most of the other games have, which is really all one can ask for from this series. And before we end off this review, here is a fun fact: this game was actually rereleased in Japan under the title Super Mario Bros. USA, which is cool and all… except for the fact that it is just Doki Doki Panic again, so they basically coaxed people into buying the same game again for full price. Hm……. sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
Remake #5