More of the sameSuper Boy is a good example of what happens when people without a conscience see something that's popular - they plagiarize it and try to make it big by pretending to be the popular thing. To be fair, though, copyright laws in Korea weren't as fleshed out as they were in other countries at the time this game was made - digital software legally couldn't be copyrighted at all in Korea! In other words, what they did was wrong, but technically not illegal. Does that really matter, though? Not really. What matters is if Super Boy 2 is actually a decent game, or even a slight improvement over its predecessor.
The graphics are completely unchanged. Every single asset here can also be found in the original Super Boy, which reeks of laziness. Even the game they were trying to copy, the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, bothered to change some of the graphics as well as adding in new mechanics, and it was criticized as being too similar to the original. The SMS version has slightly darker colors than the MSX version, but it otherwise looks exactly the same.
The sound is also the same as in the original Super Boy, which really makes this look like a rushed cash-in on something that wasn't a cash cow in the first place. Considering that the sound in the first Super Boy game wasn't that hot to begin with, it's not any better when you're listening to it in a slightly different game. There's still only two music tracks, and the sound effects aren't all that great, either.
The gameplay is also very similar. You just run to the right, jumping over things and stomping on enemies while hitting bricks for coins and power-ups. Does that sound familiar at all? If it doesn't, then there's something very wrong, because it's only a brief description of one of the most famous games ever made! Super Boy looks similar on first glance, but all you have to do is play it to see exactly what's wrong with the picture.
The physics haven't been improved in the slightest. Super Boy still slides around and floats in mid-air like a feather whenever he jumps, although he falls like a stone if you drop off a ledge instead of jumping. The awkward physics make it difficult to jump precisely, since Super Boy drops like a rock as soon as you let go of the jump button. Don't even think of trying to use the run button, either - unless you're using it to jump over a huge gap, you might as well consider yourself dead as soon as you touch it. If you try to run, you'll slip and slid so much that you'll end up either falling into a pit or hitting an enemy.
Because this game's based off of the same engine as the original Super Boy, all of the glitches that the original game had are still present, such as the horrible screen tearing whenever the screen scrolls and the ability to jump in mid-air right after landing on an enemy. There is a bizarre bug that I can't believe wasn't found - if you push the start button, the game resets to the title screen. Why is that even in the game? Isn't Start usually the button that pauses the game? I have to believe this is a debugging feature that was accidentally left in or something, because it doesn't seem intentional at all.
As you might expect, all of the other flaws that the original Super Boy had are still present. All of the enemies die in one hit, which means there's no shell-kicking or anything like that. The coin boxes are completely random, and will almost always only give out coins, which makes them a waste of time in most circumstances. The level design is really bad, and the enemy placement is even worse, which results in many cheap deaths. The game still doesn't actually have a definitive ending, and there still aren't any continues to help you through the 16 difficult levels this game has to offer. All of this and more was in the original game, which just proves that this was a rush job.
I still have trouble telling if it's supposed to be the second half of Super Boy 1 or if it's supposed to be Zemina's answer to the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. It has 16 levels just like the first game, which would make sense if they were trying to make a second half to Super Boy to match the original Super Mario Bros.'s 32 levels, but the level designs seem to be attempting to copy the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 in several ways. Will this mystery ever be solved? Probably not, because nobody cares enough about Super Boy to figure it out.
To sum things up, it's basically the exact same game as the first with different levels. None of the bugs were fixed, nothing was improved, and there's overall no good reason to play it. To add insult to injury, the SMS version is exactly the same as the MSX version, all the way down to the choppy scrolling that looked horrible but was necessary on the MSX. Why would you not take advantage of more powerful hardware? This reeks of laziness in every possible aspect, and it's the biggest waste of time I've ever reviewed. Please stay away from this one.
*All of a sudden, Super Boy bursts through the window*
Super Boy: Hey, are you talking bad about my games again?
Joy: Are you serious right now? Didn't we already do this years ago?
Super Boy: I know-a, but I can't resist doing the same thing again and again!
Joy: That explains a lot, actually.
*Suddenly, Mario jumps through the broken window*
Mario : I finally found-a you! You know where you're-a going, right? They're gonna send-a you to Copyright Jail!
Super Boy: Not if I can beat you up first!
Joy: Come on, not again...
-end-
Final Rating: 3 pointless sequels out of 10
Graphics
4 Sound
3 Addictive
1 Depth
3 Difficulty
10
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