Mario 2's kind of like the odd duck of the series, a well made game that improves over its predecessor in several ways, but also kinda obvious that it wasn't originally a Mario game.
It kinda brings to mind one of the scrapped Mario 1 concepts, where Mario was originally meant to wield a gun of some sorts. That made its way into Mario 1 with the fire flower, but that's an optional powerup. Mario 2 on the other hand, makes projectile aiming its main draw, chucking shit at enemies and bosses and picking the right angles to do it from.
It's genuinely surprising just how well all of this comes together into a satisfying package. It's simple to grasp, fast-paced all throughout, and with more refined controls to boot. There's more mid-air control this time which is essential for this type of game, and a total of 4 playable characters to choose from, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Honestly though, not sure why you would ever pick Mario and Toad, when Luigi has a high jump and Peach can float. They're way more broken as characters, while Mario and Toad seem like challenges to impose on yourself.
Levels are also much more exploration-oriented with a small touch of puzzles. Still relatively linear and intuitive to traverse, but sending you in all sorts of directions and not just to the right all the time. The removal of a timer is much appreciated, letting you take your time to uncover some of the more hidden pathways.
There are some complaints. I still wish there were more 1-ups around. There's a roulette minigame that seems to want to answer this problem, but it is too difficult to line up the slots, and I have no idea if there's a trick to it. I wish the game didn't use epilepsy lights everytime a bomb-omb exploded, even if I may not be photosensitive myself. And I wish Phanto would get off my fucking case. When he starts chasing you around as you pick up keys, I've found him pretty difficult to predict. The times where I thought I needed to jump, or duck under, did not work out for me 70% of the time as he proceeded to swerve in a way I couldn't anticipate. He's a pretty aggressive douche, I don't like him and I want him out of my house.
There are some gripes I have with the game's difficulty, and I tend to not look forward to certain rooms. But, I think there's more here to enjoy than there isn't. It's a classic, to be sure. But is it a "real" Mario game, though? I think that's up to debate, I kinda consider it like a weird little spinoff, but one that's still memorable and worth beating at least once.
It kinda brings to mind one of the scrapped Mario 1 concepts, where Mario was originally meant to wield a gun of some sorts. That made its way into Mario 1 with the fire flower, but that's an optional powerup. Mario 2 on the other hand, makes projectile aiming its main draw, chucking shit at enemies and bosses and picking the right angles to do it from.
It's genuinely surprising just how well all of this comes together into a satisfying package. It's simple to grasp, fast-paced all throughout, and with more refined controls to boot. There's more mid-air control this time which is essential for this type of game, and a total of 4 playable characters to choose from, with their own strengths and weaknesses. Honestly though, not sure why you would ever pick Mario and Toad, when Luigi has a high jump and Peach can float. They're way more broken as characters, while Mario and Toad seem like challenges to impose on yourself.
Levels are also much more exploration-oriented with a small touch of puzzles. Still relatively linear and intuitive to traverse, but sending you in all sorts of directions and not just to the right all the time. The removal of a timer is much appreciated, letting you take your time to uncover some of the more hidden pathways.
There are some complaints. I still wish there were more 1-ups around. There's a roulette minigame that seems to want to answer this problem, but it is too difficult to line up the slots, and I have no idea if there's a trick to it. I wish the game didn't use epilepsy lights everytime a bomb-omb exploded, even if I may not be photosensitive myself. And I wish Phanto would get off my fucking case. When he starts chasing you around as you pick up keys, I've found him pretty difficult to predict. The times where I thought I needed to jump, or duck under, did not work out for me 70% of the time as he proceeded to swerve in a way I couldn't anticipate. He's a pretty aggressive douche, I don't like him and I want him out of my house.
There are some gripes I have with the game's difficulty, and I tend to not look forward to certain rooms. But, I think there's more here to enjoy than there isn't. It's a classic, to be sure. But is it a "real" Mario game, though? I think that's up to debate, I kinda consider it like a weird little spinoff, but one that's still memorable and worth beating at least once.