Super Mario Bros 2 NES Online: Not Doki Doki Panic
I wrote about Super Mario Bros 2 a month ago, left it for a bit then while intoxicated, deleted it. Not on purpose – I just clicked save when I highlighted the text and deleted. Very bright indeed. So, this write up are my thoughts on the Super Mario Bros 2 review as a tribute. Very much in the style of Tenacious D – a tribute to the greatest review in the world. That’s been deleted.
If you read my thoughts on the original Super Mario Bros (building links), you’ll note that Mario is my favourite person that begins with an ‘M’ other than family members such as mum. Not your mum or mom, but mine. Sure she has the same name as yours, maybe spelt differently, but her earth name is totally different. It also doesn’t begin with ‘M’. Mario does though.
Super Mario Bros 2 is the sequel to the first one. Like most sequels. This time round we gamers can play as one of four characters – and not just at the start of the game but anytime we die and start the level. Bonus. Even with all this choice, I still opt for Mario. Maybe it’s the familiarity or maybe because I look like him albeit I have a beard and don’t wear dungarees as I’m cool. It says it here in writing. Mario here is the safe bet – an all-rounder.
You have the aforementioned Mario, his brother Luigi who jumps high with a comical ‘treading air’ jump, Princess/Peach who floats a little and Toad. He’s a mushroom. We have additional characters but now (talking in the present, this game is actually 300 years old) we can pick things up such as power cubes, radishes and mushrooms.
I stubbornly have not confirmed that these are the correct terms other than the obvious mushrooms, but as this isn’t a thesis, it doesn’t need to be accurate. On that basis, I’m also going to say you can pick out corpses from the ground and throw at Goombas. Not true.
The pace is actually a little slower and arguably a little more forgiving than the first game. It’s also a little bit more colourful and there are now goodies at the end of each level if you collect some coins – extra lives help in this case. With these new features, why do I prefer the first one? Dunno. You can work that out if you like but there is something about this game that feels a little meh.
There isn’t anything wrong with it at all but as an older game, you need to perhaps have some sort of history with it. Super Mario Bros 2 was released when I were a lad. I was there man, I been there, seen it all. I wasn’t sold though and it wasn’t until the SNES came out and it was bundled in Super Mario Allstars. Now that’s a game. It’s not one game of course but as a package, it was the mutts.
I guess the equivalent is Super Mario Maker for the Wii U or what Super Mario Maker 2 will be when it’s launched. Into the sun. As part of a bundle though, you’re spoilt for choice and in this case, Super Mario Bros 2 was an afterthought for me as I was too busy playing the original and Super Mario World – I had the Allstars that had the latter added.
Every now and then when booting up(!?) NES Online, I play Super Mario Bros 2 for about 30 minutes or so. I want to give our relationship a try but there isn’t the spark there. It’s not Mario, it’s me. Or is it? Maybe I should pay more attention to it and listen more when telling me about its day but I tend to switch off.
As an NES Online title – it’s free! No, it’s not free as you’re paying for the membership but is it worth it? Of course, it is fool. But, like having a choice of four characters in Super Mario Bros 2 and then having the option to play Tetris 99 (I got to 5th place, don’t you know) or The Legend of Zelda, I’m going to play them. Or maybe Super Mario Bros 3 which made the tanuki cool again.
