Let's All Play Rebirth #3 - Super Mario Bros. 2

No need to (Doki Doki) panic, Let's All Play is back!



This time, we're playing the red headed stepchild of the classic NES Mario game - Super Mario Bros. 2. First released in 1988, it's actually a reskin of Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic whereas the Japanese market enjoyed what we know as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. The reason for the West not receiving the Japanese SMB2 is due to its infamous difficulty - hence we received a gentler experience.

Due to this, Super Mario Bros. 2 is an altogether different beast from your usual Mario fare. Rather than jumping on enemies to defeat them, Mario and the gang lob enemies at one another or pluck turnips from the ground to fell their foes. Goombas, Koopas and Bowser are nowhere to be seen - instead, Mario battles Shy Guys, Snifits and... brrrr, Birdo.

It's not just Mario though - you've got the choice of playing as Luigi, Princess Peach (née Toadstool) and Toad, each with their own unique ability. It's a weird one, but it'll be an interesting journey.

You can pick it up through the Wii, Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console services. Let's all play!

Sign me up! Having said that, I'm away from my Wii U - on which I will be playing it - until Monday. Don't y'all be finishing the game before me!

I'll likely not be starting until the weekend - got it downloaded and ready to go on my 3DS!

WOOP WOOP!

Despite not originally being an official Mario game, this had more Miyamoto involvement than the Japanese sequel and has had a greater impact on the future series.

Let's do this!

BEST* 2D MARIO EVER! YASS!







*my favourite

Drunkalilly wrote:

Despite not originally being an official Mario game, this had more Miyamoto involvement than the Japanese sequel

Ah, seriously? That's a neat tidbit.

One thing I like seeing with these threads is bits of trivia like that popping up - it's not just a chance to play the game and chat about our experiences but a little history thread about the game too.

As if to prove how long it'll take me to get through this, on my first attempt this morning I ran out of lives on 2-1. 2-1! The shame of it.

Back in the day we had the packed-in Super Mario Bros. 1 and bought SMB3 on the same day but never got SMB2. In fact, I didn't own it until it came out on the Wii VC in 2007 (and then again on the Wii Super Mario All-Stars). It's so different from the others... I tell you what, though, I've long wanted to play Doki Doki Panic. The Japanese got this as Super Mario Bros. 2 USA, after all - I see no reason why DDP couldn't have come the other way.

I think the difference with Doki Doki Panic coming here is that we'd be receiving a stripped back game, wouldn't we? I was under the impression SMB2 added a few things to Doki Doki Panic.

I had a bash at this tonight, and well, it's tougher than I remember! I ran out of lives on 1-3, but I'm going to chalk that up to Toad being miserable to play as compared to the others.

I can believe that DDP is stripped back compared to SMB2, but that won't stop my curiosity! I think of it as kind of a historical document - a stepping stone on the way to SMB2 itself.

Today's playthrough: beaten by the fire-breathing boss of 2-3. I thought I was safe behind/beneath my mushroom block, but no.

Today's attempt: 3-1. Got past the boss of 2-3 only to lose my final two lives in exactly the same way: trying to throw a mushroom block on a fire-spitting flower.

If I ever put down Monster Hunter, I'll have a stab.

I had started, but I've decided I'm going on an All-Toad Run. It means missing out on some lovely lovely shortcuts mind.

That "mode of transportation" in your spoiler box there Zero is one of the highlights of this game. The whole game is a bit like this - a bit "all over the place" but that makes it endearing!
I've only had time to get to 1-3 so far (i.e. 10 minutes), but you can tell it wasn't directly designed like Shigsy and the Zuke would make a Super Mario Bros. game. The first level includes pretty much all of the objects you can interact with (your shells, bombs, POWs and what not) but they're not placed in a situation where they'd be useful - it's a row of "here's this, here's this" and so on. It's still lovable though.

Once I'd stopped trying to stomp the logs (not a euphemism) I did manage to take the "sneaky shortcut" in 1-1 as Toad where you miss the cave bit (although, of course, that's probably less useful than the proper shortcut). I realised I've played the first couple of levels so many times, I think I'm some kind of MLG hot-shot! I tried to "carpet hop" in 1-2 (i.e. if you jump and land near the edge of pidgey's magic carpet, it re-aligns itself to be directly underneath you - you can actually get to the top of the hill and miss the cave section here as well). But I failed and fell down a hole instead.

Phanto is still scary.

Drunkalilly wrote:

If I ever put down Monster Hunter, I'll have a stab.

THIS.

I'll try to find some time for it soon though even if it's like 10 mins or so a day.

I found another 5 minutes to play through 1-3 now.

Another weird "Miyamoto wouldn't have done that" bit::

Yeah, I totally agree with the comments about odd design choices. SMB1 and SMB3 never feel properly unfair like a lot of NES games, but I think SMB2 can be a bit shonky at points with some its design decisions. The door potion malarkey confuses me as well - are you meant to just use them where you find them or is there a point to holding off and plonking down a door later in the level?

Yes, there are times where the design isn't great - but I did appreciate the introduction to the baddy I call 'Chaseface', who comes to life and follows you when you're holding a key. I actually really like him, and wish he'd been in more games - dodging his terrifying swoops is a fun challenge.

Anyway, during today's playthrough - for I have been working all week, and concentrating free time on Majora's Mask - I decided to avoid the first world warp. I also broke and decided to use save states.

I've barely had a chance to play this too! I've been hunting monsters, but I shall jump back into this soon.

Ah, that's awesome, Zero - Phanto is now Chaseface from now on!

Now I'm on World 3, I'm glad this game was made when it was, and by Nintendo. Any other developer would have to come up with a plot for 3-1: "Right, so you've got to climb up adjacent to a large waterfall, grab a magic carpet, so you can reach a vine in the sky, to enter a magical cloudworld, but only for 20 seconds and then there's a castle up there. The next level won't feature any of this." Actually, that's the kid of individual thinking that makes Super Mario 3D World excellent, but in that, they'd still have to come up with a snazzy title for that.
Then I couldn't remember how to do 3-3 and died.

I'm a couple of levels further on. Not brave enough for Jimbob's All-Toad Run, I'm plumping for All-Mario. I'm normally Princess at all times, coward that I am.

Blasted through it all yesterday. It's hard to believe there are just twenty levels, although I suppose they are far larger and more distinct than the 32 in SMB1. I found Wart far easier than I have in the past - maybe Princess isn't the optimal character for him after all. In any case, I've come to a new appreciation of the game as a big progression from the original and a fun experiment in its own right.

How are all of y'all getting on?

I think I'd rather be Peach when fighting Wart - the floatiness definitely helps aiming the vegetables. However, I'm sticking with Toad, and hoping the quick grab and throw will outweigh the fact he can't jump for shit.

Oh right - yeah:
I started again after my failure, but this time made a point of getting as many coins as possible - I also seem to have got the hang of the fruit machine, and ended up with about 30 lives by the end of world 2. The plan is to bludgeon my way through this. I've got past world 3 no probs. now - I get to swim with the world 4 whales! And we start getting the random shit again:
"Right, the next part of the level is above the previous section. So I'm just going to put the beanstalk in to allow the-"
"NO A PLANT WITH A SPACE ROCKET IN IT"
"I'm sorry?"
I've still been good and not warped. I forgot about the sneaky Birdo puzzle on 4-3. The free-form tower structure's cool as well - probably designed to get round limitations, but you don't really see anything like it elsewhere in the Marios. Missing the ability to use Luigi to skip half the level though...
And I've just struggled through world 5. This isn't Toad town - you need to be able to jump in night-time-land. If you don't approach the waterfall logs at full pelt, the first one goes out of sync, and Toad basically can't make the jump. No it's not because I'm bad at the game. Shh. The fish are bloody worse though. This world is a massive difficulty spike. 5-2's even more unfair - having to jump between the hoopstars is a nightmare. 5-3 however is really cool - the giant tree. I'm dead chuffed that, although this is the world I remember the least (thanks, warp zones) I managed to get through Fry Guy, and Clawgrip's poo throwing, in one go.
Right, last two worlds.

I was all like "yeah I'mma totes play this" then I was all like "oh no, I thought I have it but I don't" then I was all like "wait I've got some money on my account from when I bought Monster Hunter" so this is on my 3DS.

I played the first level, and this has aged really well!

Done!

In world 6-1, I remembered which pot it was! But died loads. I also nearly knackered the game - while escaping from ChaseFace, I threw the key down into the pit after the pots (pot pit) and followed it. This manoeuvre initiated a keepy-uppy with the key on Toad's head, thus slowing the game down to a crawl. Luckily it rolled off my head, otherwise that would've been it. 6-2 is unique as well - the underground flying on an Albatoss level - but it's another one Toad can't really do. I remembered the shortcut in 6-3, but, now I'm older and crapper, that was a bad idea - I didn't pick up any power-ups for Triclyde. Even with the Triclyde Attritional Wall (which I think I learned about on Super Mario Challenge), I carked it loads.

World 7-1 went alright, but the last level's an absolute arsehole. It's like the Great Palace from Zelda II; a complete "Fuck you". There's even a bit where you have to luck one of two plants, both down a narrow gap, one of which is a Bob-Omb that explodes without the time to discard it. So I fought my way to the end, and Rugby Phased* through Wart.

Wart. Mate. If you don't like vegetables... don't have a vegetable dispenser in your Throne Room. Duh! Videogames, am I right!              

*Originally Dark Souls-ed, but not everything is Dark Souls.


Right. So. The Ending.

THEORY:

The game itself? Yeah, s'alright. 7.5/9.2.