The real sequel like it should be.
OVERVIEW

 

Initially unreleased in the United States because of the difficulty, we ended up with a hack of Doki Doki Panic instead for Super Mario Bros 2. I wouldn't really call this a sequel but more of an updated version of the first Mario Bros. but you know the story by now., Mushroom Kingdom was once a peaceful land where Princess Toadstool (Peach) rules over her subjects called Toads (Kinopios) with a gentle heart. As with all peaceful  settings there is always going to be an evil being to come around to take it all away. In this case, the evil King Koopa (Bowser) has kidnapped the princess in hopes of making him his unwilling bride. He then turns everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom to blocks. That is everyone except to recent outsiders named Mario Mario and Luigi Mario whom are better known as the Mario Bros. They mysteriously ended up in Mushroom Kingdom by getting sucked down the drain and now it's up to them to rescue everyone once more.

 

GRAPHICS - A+

 

The only changes is this game are basically the flooring in the overworld and the underworld as instead of stones, you are running across crushed rubble. I still applaud the excellent use of backgrounds and sprites used to create a level. As I've said before, from a programmer's standpoint you'll notice how everything is technically the same size regardless of if its a background tile, character or enemies because everything is drawn within a bounding box. Almost everything is drawn within a 16 x 16 bounding box. The only two notable exceptions are Big Mario and Bowser who are 16 (w) x 32 (h) and 32 x 32. Guess you can add fireballs (and to an extent, the firebar) as the flames are 8 x 8. A bonus at the ending of the game is that Princess Toadstool no longer looks like an ugly dog when you rescue her, she looks like an actual princess and says a wonderful poem at the end. The mushrooms have also been updated to look a little bit thinner. There is even a new item that actually serves as a power down instead of a powerup. It is a Poison Mushroom that turns big Mario into small Mario. If you were small Mario already, I'll play TAPS for you. Another added feature is the wind that occurs in some levels. Leaves will blow by you at various speeds to indicate the wind is blowing. You will also meet Red Piranha plants, Grey Koopas, Mushroom sinking platforms, and sometimes cloudy platforms.

 

SOUND - A

 

With Nintendo putting in some early elbow grease during this time, the sound is top of the line. The sound comes out immediately after certain actions are made such as when you gain a power-up or kill an enemy. Matter of fact, just about every sound that was produced in this game was used within everybody's imagination whenever they did or saw something fancy or stupid. On a personal note, the invincibility theme usually comes to mind when watching a football game during a play that results in touchdown from far away but I'll talk about music in the next section since it will give a small lesson.

  

MUSIC - A

 

The only thing that has changed as far as the music goes is that, at the end when you rescue Princess Toadstool (Peach), the ending theme gets an actual extension which makes the sound more full. You can hear the 16-bit version of the song on Super Mario All-Stars.

 

CONTROLS - A-

 

The controls were the only part of the first game that hurt it. There were times when you were in a tight situation and the control failed to respond to the press of the button and thus you ended up biting the dust. It didn't hurt too bad but a split second can determine the difference between life and death especially when trying to hop over pits and you end up running off into the abyss to your doom. This led to tremendous frustration when far into the game.

 

But guess what? The controls hurt even more in this game and it has everything to do with Mario and Luigi having different jumping abilities that serve as a differential separator between the two. Mario doesn't jump very high or far but the good part is that he can stop on the dime when he lands from a horizontal jump but Luigi, on the other hand, can jump long distances but unlike Mario he has no traction so when he lands from a horizontal jump, he will take a few extra steps before stopping and that can lead to him waltzing right into a pit or an enemy and that's not good.

 

REPLAYABILITY - A+

 

Replayability is surprisingly the selling factor for this game. You don't have to worry about begging for more for this game as this game gives you so much more than those eight levels. The blessing part about this game being on the Famicom Disk System is it saves your progress when you beat the game. Some people have a hard time beating the game without using a single warp zone but lo and behold, there is a special reward for beating all eight levels in one shot without using a warp zone. You get a free trip to World 9 where you pretty much play a bonus game of surviving 4 sub-levels that loop over and over this you die once. The extra stuff doesn't stop there folks. If you beat the game just once, you get a star on the title screen. Beat the game eight times (you'll have eight stars) then enter a code and you will get to play through worlds A-D. Some are even updated versions of previous worlds.

 

OVERALL - A+

 

As you noticed, I started using the grading system for ratings. The reason that I have given the overall score of 9.7 is the reason I didn't give the first Super Mario Bros a 10. The controls can make or break you in this game and now it is more evident as Mario and Luigi having more different physics than each other. Other than that the game is flawless and is a real good gem to have if you can get your hands on it or its Lost Levels incarnation which is updated graphics into 16-bit mode.

  Graphics 10   Sound 10   Addictive 10   Depth 10   Story 10   Difficulty 10

The Princess has been kidnapped by King Koopa (again) and it's up to Mario and Luigi to save her (again). Not to be confused with the western Super Mario Bros. 2, this sequel to Super Mario Bros. is very much an expansion to the original, with many reused graphics and concepts, though new ones are also present.

Instead of offering a two-player mode as in the original, this game allows you to choose between a Mario mode and a Luigi mode, with each character handling differently. Mario has tighter ground control, while Luigi has greater jumping capabilities.

Power-ups remain the same: Super Mushrooms grow a brother from small to Super size, Fire Flowers give them the ability to throw fireballs at enemies, Starman makes a character temporarily invincible, and a 1-Up Mushroom will give one more life. New to this game is a power-down, a Poison Mushroom which will harm you as if it were an enemy.

The goal is still to survive from the left side of the level to the right, avoiding perils and bopping enemies along the way, progressing through a series of 8 worlds with 4 levels each. That is, unless a warp zone is found allowing areas to be skipped. There are new tricks that work for and against the player, though. Some piranha plants will come out of their pipe even if you're standing right next to them, and bloobers now appear outside of the water. Wind can be present to alter how jumps will behave. Some warp zones will actually take the player to an earlier level instead of to a later one.

Overall 9.1    Graphics 9    Sound 8.2    Addictive 8.7    Story 5.8    Depth 8.3    Difficulty 8.5

The Real Next Chapter to Mario Bros 1   SuperCrash64
Thread is getting old so i will get the mods to close it soon...
  Graphics 10   Sound 9   Addictive 10   Story 5   Depth 10   Difficulty 7
      Review Rating: 5/5     Submitted: 02-16-13     Updated: 02-22-13     Review Replies: 19

The True Heir To The Original Masterpiece!   sonicthehedgeho..
Super Mario Bros is best known as one of the most famous and recognizable games in the world as it i...
  Graphics 8   Sound 6   Addictive 8   Story 5   Depth 8   Difficulty 9
      Review Rating: 5/5     Submitted: 02-01-13     Updated: 02-02-13     Review Replies: 10

The real sequel like it should be.   Azul Fria
OVERVIEW Initially unreleased in the United States because of the difficulty, we ended up with ...
  Graphics 10   Sound 10   Addictive 10   Story 10   Depth 10   Difficulty 10
      Review Rating: 4.6/5     Submitted: 12-27-12     Review Replies: 4

True super Mario bros 2 review!   Stevie 764
That's right, the REAL super Mario bros 2 is here to be reviewed in this review! The thing is, al...
      Review Rating: 4.4/5     Submitted: 03-04-12     Updated: 05-28-12     Review Replies: 0

Super Mario Bros. 2 - The Lost Sequel   pacman1755
This game is what you would call a lost sequel. This game was created in Japan and stayed in Japan. ...
  Graphics 9   Sound 7   Addictive 9   Story 3   Depth 4   Difficulty 6
      Review Rating: 3.7/5     Submitted: 04-06-12     Review Replies: 3

Super Rage-io Brothers   CrestedPeak9
Super Mario Brothers was the amazingly successful platformer from Nintendo that almost single-handed...
  Graphics 8   Sound 9   Addictive 5   Story 3   Depth 8   Difficulty 10
      Review Rating: 3/5     Submitted: 05-25-14     Review Replies: 1

Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan) review   IgorBird122
Here's another review by IB122, and this review is on Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan), this game was onl...
  Graphics 9   Sound 8   Addictive 10   Story 9   Depth 10   Difficulty 9
      Review Rating: 3/5     Submitted: 07-09-13     Updated: 07-09-13     Review Replies: 2

There are no submitted Guides for this Game

fetcher 06-24-15 - 06:12 AM
 I'm afraid to play this game!
ruanito 03-16-15 - 05:25 PM
 MESS emulator don't work for me. And you guys?
Nincompoco 03-09-15 - 10:55 PM
 Nintendo: doesn't want us thinking Mario=pain so we pathetic americans are given a bootleg. Capcom: they made megaman, one of the hardest long retro series and it was amazing hey, at least Mario became the big face of gaming by this point
Awesome5000 12-19-14 - 06:12 PM
 it was just a hack the whole time,a clone of another game ,i see
Awesome5000 12-19-14 - 06:11 PM
 so,that mario 2 that i played where you can pick the mushroom,princess ,luigi and mario wasnt the real mario bros 2 then
bestcoolawsomed.. 11-17-14 - 03:13 PM
 Super Mario Bros 2:(aka) The Lost Levels.
www.megamanzero 11-13-14 - 08:37 AM
 ANGRY VIDEO GAME NERD: good games ;)
ARedLetterDay 09-05-14 - 05:11 PM
 MysteryMan007, they didn't say we were too stupid, Nintendo of America didn't want the series to be known for frustration so they cancelled the American release and instead made an entirely new title.
MysteryMan007 09-05-14 - 04:33 PM
 The Americans among us should find motivation to beat this game because I once read somewhere that during the original release, Japan literally said we were too stupid for this game. This game may be hard but so what, beat it and prove them wrong.
retro_lover 08-16-14 - 02:20 PM
 I did not make it far in this version but if its like the super nintendo version to get to world 9 you cant warp worlds
Francis T Lopaz 04-13-14 - 02:32 AM
 In case you want A through D levels, you need to beat the game eight times before you can play A through D.
Francis T Lopaz 04-13-14 - 02:31 AM
 Now that I figured to get Worlds A through D, I will tell you how. Hold the X key then press Enter or Return. Now that I beat the entire SMB2 Japan, I can finally retire this game I played.
jerryaberry 08-23-13 - 12:20 PM
 holtr: Yeah that was pretty hilarious.
willygh 07-23-13 - 11:42 AM
 hello
willygh 07-04-13 - 06:45 PM
 how do you get to world 9?
iN008 06-30-13 - 06:37 PM
 Too "hard" for international gamers.... apparently.
Spicy 04-14-13 - 09:04 AM
 this sucks
theironhide 04-14-13 - 01:11 AM
 stop with those mario games as game of the day alreaddy
Johnny Wesley 03-16-13 - 09:09 AM
 This game is Very Hard, but this game is the real Super Mario Bros. 2
holtr 01-11-13 - 10:09 AM
 GAMECENTER CX bring me here. you all should watch, how Arino cant beat this game in that awesome show. its japan and on youtube are subtitles.ok? i like it much
Bluey5 11-19-12 - 03:23 PM
 This game is pretty awesome, but it is WAY to hard. I can manage to get through it though. I would only recommend this game for the patient. After all, it is for people who've mastered Super Mario Bros. Awesome game, and it's my first time playing it too
Jack6651 10-20-12 - 08:53 PM
 The real smb2
The Video GameG.. 09-17-12 - 09:10 PM
 I played this on the all-stars version at my mom's
minco9000 07-27-12 - 10:14 AM
 hmmmmmm it kinda fun just not funer than the first SMB :P
minco9000 07-27-12 - 10:07 AM
 hmmmmmm it kinda fun just not funer than the first SMB :P