Super Mario Bros. 2

The wait for Kid Icarus: Uprising is now over, though my love of Amazon means my copy won't arrive until Tuesday . That, coupled with the fact that Kingdom Hearts 3D is out next week in Japan -thus my self-imposed information blackout comes into effect to strictly English trailers and previews- means I can really use Uprising to distract me from my wait and dazzle me with that simple-but-deep Sakurai gameplay. That, and Together Mode looks ace.

Now onto an interesting classic:

I spy with my little eye a place where Mario's hat goes.

This Super Mario Bros. 2 is the version most of us are aware of. It definitely looks more of a sequel than the original SMB2 does. This version is a reskinned version of the Japanese game Doki Doki Panic and repurposed for international audiences after Nintendo of America deemed the original sequel, further referred to by its common title The Lost Levels, too difficult. In hindsight, it was prolly for the best; it became successful enough and integrated itself so easily into the barely-established Mario canon that it's now considered a classic, if a black sheep, of the main Mario series. Fans worried that the original SMB2 wouldn't make it out of Japan (if there were that many fans who knew of this change existed back in '88) had nothing to fear come '94. Nintendo released spruced-up port collection Super Mario All-Stars for the Super NES which included all four main NES Mario games: Super Mario Bros. 1-3 plus The Lost Levels as a bonus, making the 4-in-1 collection quite the steal.

The plot isn't the typical "Save Princess Toadstool!" spool that the series is now known to spin in main titles. SMB2 has Mario discovering Subcon, the world of dreams, whilst on a picnic with friends, summoned the Subcon themselves, protectors of dreams, to defeat the vile Wart, the toad-like enemy who has captured the Nightmare Machine. This allows the game to play fundamentally different than the original Super Mario Bros. The player gets to control not only Mario, but his brother Luigi, the Princess Toadstool and her attendant Toad. Each character plays differently to each other and players are free to change characters every level and when they lose a life. Mario is the balanced everyman (a role he still plays today), Luigi jumps higher at the cost of traction, Toadstool is weaker but can float for a brief amount of time to make jumps easier, and Toad is the strongest and fastest to make up for his short stature and lack of decent jumping ability.

In order from tall/slow to short/fast.

The core gameplay has also changed. While still a platformer, segmented vertical sections have been added along with the usual "go to the right" gameplay. The game now allows players to travel freely from right to left instead of 'locking' them out like the original SMB did along with the time limit. SMB2 adds a Heart system for the possibility of extending a character's health to more than two hits and the addition of doors allow for stage changes during levels and smaller sections for heart- and coin-grabbing opportunities.

The main change is in how enemies are defeated. When jumped upon, enemies aren't immediately defeated. Instead, a grabbing and throwing mechanic has been implemented. The foe can be grabbed at varying speeds based on the chosen character and must be thrown off a cliff or into another enemy, defeating one, two or multiple enemies at once. Vegetables have been included to help aid in vanquishing foes, seen in-game as talks of grass. Sometimes power-ups and items can be acquires as well as coins and hearts.

PHANTO WILL EAT YOUR SOUL.

Otherwise, you'd be hard-pressed to guess this wasn't originally a Mario game, as it introduced so many additions that are now series mainstays: Shy Guys, Bob-ombs, Spinies, Birdo, Desert World, Ice World, they all started here. Aside from taking place in an Arabian-themed world, the art direction matches the Mario series seamlessly enough that it's an enjoyable romp through the not-Mushroom Kingdom. It would tide fans over for a year until The Wizard debuted to show off the infamous Power Glove (it's so bad!) and to tide fans over for the inevitable Super Mario Bros. 3.

I personally found SMB2 quite charming, if a bit at odds with the slightly-flighty jumping physics. I've died countless times misjudging distances coming from SMB's tight physics that it's slightly jarring when I play them back-to-back, but I know this is a personally quirk of mine and not the game's fault. Toad and Peach get most of my VIP votes; nothing wrong with the Mario Brothers, I just prefer Toad's insane speed and Princess Twinkletoes in this sequel.

Goodbye! So long! Until we meet again!

As far as ranking goes, I'd definitely recommend it with a soft disclaimer regarding its black sheep status. I'd still recommend the original if I had to choose one, though you'd be doing yourself a major disservice to miss out on a quite charming journey through Subcon.

Main Series
1. Super Mario Bros.
2. Super Mario Bros. 2

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Trivia: I return next time with a game I've only beaten twice; the first time at age 10 and second when I was 21.

Ciao!