Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

Hot take: Super Mario Bros. 2, the oddball of the NES trilogy, is easily one of the best Mario games ever made. EAS-I-LY. It was released at a time when sequels didn’t feel “obliged” to repeat the whole thing, as shown by titles like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link or Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. Things weren’t so simple with SMB2, though. There was a “traditional” sequel, which was essentially Super Mario Bros. all over again, just way harder. Thankfully, the West found it to be too hard, and as a result Nintendo tried another approach – it adapted a Famicom Disc System game known as Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic. The main characters were swapped with Mario & Co. but the rest of this new, wacky world was left pretty much intact, with the result being drastically different than what was expected from a sequel to Super Mario Bros. – but still one of the best experiences on the console.

Oh, to be a gamer kid in the ’80s! The whole package was part of the fun, not just the game itself. In the case of the NES, and especially Nintendo-crafted games, the manuals were so good that most would read them again and again just to enjoy the colourful imagery. The manual of Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of the best in the vast library of the NES, and it offers a somewhat more “detailed” explanation of what is going on, as opposed to the tiny in-game and text-only intro.

What is going on here, then? Well, without getting too deep into it, Mario was dreaming of a strange world and the door that led to that place. After waking up, he takes his bro, Princess Toadstool, and mushroom-dude Toad (one of them, at least), and goes out for a walk, only to find the exact same entrance to the weird realm that he saw before. As expected, they all go in, and thus begins one of the weirdest adventures in the history of Super Mario.

This is one of the most beautiful 8-bit titles, with its vibrant palette and excellent use of eye-catching colour. Even more importantly, this new realm that the adventure takes place in has a strong otherworldly atmosphere. It’s not a dreamworld just in concept, but feels like one, whereas in many modern Mario adventures each world looks and feels more like a theme park like ‘Snow World,’ ‘Forest World,’ and so on. Oh, sure, this features themed chapters as well, but there’s a certain amount of weirdness here that hits differently.

Yes, there’s some kind of a Snow World and Dark World here as well, but they aren’t as simple as they are in, say, Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World. There’s a subtle dreamlike vibe to it all that’s hard to describe. As this isn’t the Mushroom Kingdom, you won’t see Koopas or Goombas, or any of the enemies Mario confronted in his previous mission, including the big bad, Bowser, but it’s not hard to understand why the new critters have become part of the franchise’s “mythos” (most of them, at least) with some like the Shy Guys becoming iconic members of the family.

All creatures are simple, like NES foes tend to be, and follow simple movement or attack patterns, but they are smartly placed, offering a different kind of challenge in each of the many areas you’ll visit. Don’t expect much stomping here, though. You attack foes by throwing vegetables (and more) that you grab from the ground, or, even better, you attack by grabbing the enemies themselves and throwing them at each other. Or you can step on a Shy Guy and let it take you for a relaxing ride.

The level design is generally superb, but plays a very different ball game from SMB. Unlike the latter’s focus on speed and arcade-like action, SMB2 takes it easy and lets one explore at their own pace. It’s no metroidvania – you just have a couple of alternative paths and secrets, compared to most platformers where you just go from left to right. That said, players are advised to search under every nook and cranny, and generally experiment with finding the correct solution for the occasion. That brings the conversation to the biggest difference between the first game and this: the team.

There are four characters to pick from at the beginning of each stage, and they vastly change it all. Oh, sure, they all use the same control scheme, but they have vastly different stats. While Mario is the “balanced” character (and excellent for beginners), Toad is super-fast and strong, but can’t really jump that high, with Luigi being the exact opposite, as he struggles to pull vegetables out of the ground, although his leaps are phenomenal. As for Toadstool, she is not that fast, but can float for a handful of seconds, which, make no mistake, is super useful.

That’s not all that’s new in Super Mario Bros. 2. There are some new power-ups, and some of the classic ones have returned – but with a twist. In order to grow into the “super” form, for example, one still needs to eat a mushroom, but that is now hidden in a dark, parallel dimension that you access through a door, which in turn needs a potion to be thrown into the ground to create it. At first you just throw it where you found it, but later on you need to search around a bit and find the correct spot.

Generally, SMB2 has great replay value. Not only is the level design aimed towards trying out different approaches to the problems you’ll face, but the chosen character greatly affects how each level can be experienced, with some being able to skip whole segments or explore areas that the rest cannot – mainly Luigi and Toadstool, to be honest; get ready to forget about Mario altogether in this Mario game.

As a final note, apart from looking good, Super Mario Bros. sounds great, too, with Koji Kondo’s compositions being some of the best ever. It’s hard listening to the main “overworld” theme and not smiling – internally at least. Yes, there are only a handful of tunes that play again and again, but, oh god, they are fantastic.

…But hey, none of it matters. After all, it was all just a dream *loud Italian snoring sounds*.