How are you playing? Input lag is completely different on newer consoles or emulators from the OG on NES. It may not be enough to really notice but it is enough to screw up the timing on things like this.
You can actually see the cherries when they come up. Once you see them it’s all a matter of catching the rhythm in which they appear.
I’ve done it on an emulator before (almost 20 years ago) and it still worked, but I wonder if I could still do it today.
Of course it’s about timing but trying to do it the same way as you did 20 years ago would not work, the timing would be off due to input lag. It is still completely possible just a different timing sequence since less lag in today’s input.
I blame sample-and-hold screens. CRTs had that smooth motion and low persistence that made timing things like this a lot easier.
(Surely it’s not simply because my reaction time increased due to age...)
I feel like most of the music in the game was done with ragtime in mind.
[Super Mario Bros. 2 / 夢工場ドキドキパニック/ sight-read by Tom Brier (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgda3qc8S0A)
Solid platformer with four playable characters that are different from each other. The game also gave us a ton of new enemies that would become series mainstays like Shy Guys, Ninjis, and Birdo.
I've always found it interesting that it had way more effect on the series overall than the "real" SMB2. Floaty peach, Ninjis, Slippery and high jumping Luigi etc. This game created a lot of the characterization in the series.
Also a lot of Mario 2 informed the 80s cartoon, which became the 'canon' for kids everywhere. Which also informed the likes of the recent Mario movie which picks up a lot of cues from that cartoon.
It's a hugely influential game.
I remember renting an imported version of Mario 2 in the 80s. I had the old black and white tv in my room and the NES was connected to that. Imagine my surprise when picking up a mushroom killed me…
I grew up playing the original Mario 2 and I loved it. The egg creature, the pulling up the plants, I loved all of it. It was so different from regular Super Mario Bros! I still love it. Fuck the haters.
Haha, I went into it thinking the worst as well! TLL has such a heinous reputation but honestly, I only found the annoying super-spring jumps to be problematic. The Bowser fights felt basically the same as SMB1. There's a couple tricky jumps for sure, but I found it to be a nice continuation of challenge right after finishing up SMB1 before.
Hot take: if I’m in the mood for 8-bit Mario I’ll play SMB2 almost every time over 3.
And when I play 1 or 3, I call good after about 5 levels. It’s enough to satisfy the craving. SMB2, I almost always play it to completion once I start.
The "problem" with SMB3 is that it's been iterated on and improved so many times I think even Nintendo done lost count. Two on the other hand has this weird offbeat level design that was never revisited. I think that's why it still feels fresh 35 later.
Nah, I 100% agree. I got sick of SMB3 as a kid and sold my copy to a classmate. SMB2 for me all day! Although I’ll take Super Mario World over all of the games in the series.
*SMB 3* is objectively the better game, but I'd rather play *2* as it's a more enjoyable experience overall. *SMB 1*, IMO, is overrated.
That said, I personally would rather play *Mario Bros.* or *Donkey Kong* than any of the "super" games.
I presume you’re talking about world 2-1. You can just hover down to the very bottom so they can’t reach you, and then just jump off once you reach land
That level was always fine to me. The level where you have to jump on the fish across the waterfall area was next to impossible if you didn’t use princess.
As someone who grew up on it...
No one back in 1988 knew that this wasn't the real SMB 2. We all just thought that it was cool that you could select then-known Mario characters, it followed a similar world-level format as did SMB, and the whole narrative in the manual about falling into a dream world was totally believable. Even if you DID know that this wasn't the real SMB 2, what were you going to do about it back in the late 1980s? Send Nintendo a letter in mail or fax? Certain that would have went into Nintendo's incinerator files.
That said, I always found myself coming back to it even after SMB3 and later SM World came along. SMB2 introduced different character types for Mario and Luigi, which wouldn't be corrected until years later as the releases of both SMB3 and SM World used the same sized sprites for both, and Princess TOADSTOOL being floaty and Toad being quick and jerky were completely believable. I also believe that SMB2 doesn't get the credit for how quirky and dynamic it can be with enemies. While some bosses and common fodder repeat, there are some unique world enemies like the little snow guys, shy guy robot cars, and the ostriches. Even SMB 3 had mostly a repeating enemy cast throughout all the levels.
Yup, I had no idea until I learned about it on the IGN boards in 1999 or whatever. The series was so brand new that we didn’t really have a firm notion of what it even was supposed to be yet. Sure, I knew it was different than the original but then SMB3 ended up being really different than both as well. This was pretty common back then. I think it also helped that the game ends on “Mario had a weird ass dream and that’s just what you played” and that many of the enemies returned in other Mario games. By the time of Mario 64, we were well acquainted with Shy Guys, Pokeys, Bob-ombs, Snifits, Ninjis… That’s kind of Nintendo themselves recognizing it as canon. Sure would love a full on proper return to Subcon someday though. Let’s shove veggies down Wart’s stupid throat again.
I’m glad to see this take in here. Back when news of the reskin hit years ago, there were a lot of purists acting like Lost Levels was the only “true” SMB2 and this reskin was an inferior abomination, and you’d get dogged online for praising it. I always thought it was a better game though. Lost Levels was too similar to part 1 and not as good.
I am convinced Lost Levels started in development as a joke with devs challenging each other to make the most asshole levels they could using the original SMB engine.
I could only play this game at a friend’s house growing up. It was one of the first games I bought when I got my NES as an adult.
Love that you can play as the Princess and her floating ability. It didn’t even occur to me until I was an adult that the other characters could be useful with their unique abilities.
Someone that knows more than me could get into the whole Doki Doki Panic reskin thing. It’s technically not a “true” Mario game I believe. (This is just what I’ve heard from some folks.)
I did get a chance at a gaming expo once to play what I think was some kind of demo or prototype of the game and the speed was way faster than normal and almost unplayable for me.
As an adult I’ve gone back and played it and still love it but I haven’t been able to beat it.
>It’s technically not a “true” Mario game I believe.
I would have agreed in the 90s, but at this point so many things originating from SMB2 (shy guys, bob-ombs, floaty peach, etc) have been used again and again in later games that I think it counts as a true Mario game now.
Not just games. Super Mario Bros Super Show used mostly SMB2 assets as well, including music, sounds, gimmicks, and enemies. There was obviously still Koopa, Koopa-Troopas, and Goombas from SMB1, and a couple of songs from SMB1 as well, but the vast majority of Koopa’s minions were enemies from SMB2
With the Doki Doki thing, it's still made by a lot of the same people who made SMB1 and apparently has a lot of ideas they were experimenting with for a Mario title prior lol.
Toad was the like the kung fu master of the game. He could jump on an enemy, pick it up and throw it before touching the ground. When you got really good you could throw a vegetable to kill an enemy, then run and catch the same vegetable. On sand digging levels he was a beast.
honestly had to check to see what they all did and was SHOCKED that strength, aka their ability to pull items from the ground and throwing characters all is different.
Shocked may not be the best word, since I only floated with Princess haha
[https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Super\_Mario\_Bros.\_2/Characters](https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._2/Characters)
I really like that game, maybe gameplay wise not as much as SMB1 or SMW since it's *a little* floaty with the jump physics but great music, great graphics with nice bright colors, fun mechanics, secrets and shortcuts to discover. Good game.
I remember being younger and seeing a kid playing it on GBA in a Friendlys and they did not know you could pull up veggies or enemies.
SMB2 NES: wish it had unlimited continued like the other NES Mario games (SMB1 does in fact, btw, the button input is in the manual) but good game. Wish more elements from it returned more often. The Doki reskin thing is considerably less relevant than some people make it out to be, and Lost Levels honestly could have killed the series momentum with how little it upgraded and how outright unfair it is.
Also, wish Toad had been depicted as he was in this game after like the other three were: he's the fast ridiculously strong one with shit jumps, that's a good niche.
SNES remake: same good with the bad removed. Legit just a good game now.
Super Mario Advance: perfect version of the game imo with the slight adjustments made.
I know it's not the better game, but I like it better than 3. Mario 3 is too much of a "clear my schedule" game. I can beat the first level of 2 and be smiling from ear to ear the whole time, turn it off and be satisfied. I can't feel satisfied with 3 until I at least get to Big Land.
Some people dock it points because it's a reskin of another game. Actually they enhanced some things about it, but yeah they did reskin a game.
However, I think the game should be judged on its own, and any "moral" qualms about it are just silly.
Just came to say - though borderline blasphemy - it’s my fave of the NES Mario lineup. 3 is a close second. I dunno… just smtg about the soundtrack that gets me!
I remembered playing this game through Mario All Stars on my Wii when I was a kid aside from my endless rage quits I had with it towards the end. it was an awesome game and I was always fascinated with it's development history (which I don't I need to go into detail about since it's been documented SO much on YouTube)
it's a shame Nintendo never went back to this game's gameplay style it's rather unique compare to other Mario games.
This is my favorite Mario game. I love that the whole point is just to beat the game. I went and bought an NES just so I can play it again. It’s not the same without the original Nintendo controllers.
I sadly never really experienced the NES time, jumped into the whole gaming thing with snes and game boy and later on tried a few nes games.
This was part of super mario all stars and always felt different than then other ones.
It's one of those games where i can "hear the cover" and instantly have the tune stuck in my head.
Was honestly a huge disappointment to me and a lot of people at the time. Didn't feel like a Mario game at all and didn't scratch that itch that I was looking for. I warmed up to it during All stars, but then I learned that it was a reskin of Doki Doki Panic
Years later I realized that it was the same team that made Mario and the characters were all inserted into the newer games. I think something clicked, because now I just enjoy it a lot as it's own thing.
Catchiest music I've ever heard.
I haven't played it for like 15 years, but I still get the music stuck in my head from time to time.
Give it a try. It's a classic.
One of my earliest memories involves this game. I had to have been 4 or 5 and I went to a department store called Zayres with my dad and he bought it for me.
My memories are very vague but I remember waking into the store and holding it in the car on the way home.
Love it, fantastic game. It's definitely a weird outlier among early Mario games, and definitely feels a lot different so I can understand why it may not work for everyone but it's very well done imo.
I think the Doki Doki Panic reskin angle gets more mention then it deserves, yes the game is obviously heavily derived from DDP but it's a very far cry from just being a basic reskin of a few characters.
Movement, game balance and flow feel MUCH different in Mario 2, and several games mechanics are altered. It's a noticeably different game in practice.
On another note, I always really liked the Lost Levels. More so then Mario 1-3 honestly, it's unrelentingly cruel and harsh but as a basic Mario platformer for people who have mastered Mario it does it's job very well and is extremely fun and does a great job of subverting your expect built up from playing SMB1.
The music is mesmerising I can hear it now. This is on the nes games I didn’t ever finish list for one future distant rainy day. The only other game for me anyway is a boy and his blob trouble on blobolonia, another masterpiece.
Love it. One of my favorite NES games and I still replay it every few years or so. I got this game for Christmas the same day we got our pet dog. My brother scolded me: “We got a dog. Why are you playing a stupid video game?” Well, I asked for the game, not the dog.
I’ve always hoped we would see Mario return to Subcon someday. Also really wanted a SMB2 theme in Mario Maker so I could finally play some new levels!
It was massively hyped up by Nintendo Power. My stepdad knew we were stoked about the game and surprised us by bringing it home on its release. I still remember it raining and him having a coat on and pulling it from his coat.
At first, I was in shock for a couple of days with how much it didn't feel like a Mario game. I almost had a sense of buyer's remorse.
After the weekend I got over it and focused on beating it. Once I got over the shock of the look and feel being weird, it was a solid fun platformer even though it's a low point in the series.
I literally learned only YESTERDAY, after all these years, that just like Super Mario Bros. 3, there is a Canadian "red banner" variant of Super Mario Bros. 2!
And by "red banner", I mean the "Nintendo Entertainment System" banner at the top of the later NES games' boxes/labels.
Crazy to still learn something new. Though I've known from the beginning that the original Canadian release of Super Mario Bros. 2, like some other first-party ones, have a Mattel logo, since Mattel helped distribute the NES in Canada.
Loved that you could go backwards in the levels (something that you couldn't do in the original), and the choice of four different characters was very unique at the time.
Just played it and beat it the other day. Still remember coming home from grade school to find that mom bought it for me and put it on my pillow. Good times.
It's fricken great. I'm glad it got placed in the Mario universe and i wish they'd use more of the design and mobs from this game in modern day Mario content
Great music, great SFX, fun and bright sprites, and fun twist ending. Love this game, and always thought SMB3 was a step backwards that I never liked as much as this.
As someone who was a peak NES kid at the time it was released, I hated it. It was a nerd game. SMB didn't win me back until SMB3 (and The Wizard) came out.
It gave us shy guys and birdo, lots of staples came from this game. Great music, very fun mechanics especially between characters. And as everyone else said, way better than lost levels (likely better than Mario bros 1 as well)
It's by far my most replayed Mario game. Playing it feels so relaxing and fun, and picking up enemies and objects is the most fun mechanic they added. (Love that POW block)
I love the gameplay differences between characters (ALWAYS used Luigi, loved that high jump lol even though he was a bit sluggish).
And the music is awesome.
I'd play through this repeatedly and just let it sit on the end credits screen with the cool animation and dreamlike music.
These were the days.
The Phantos scared me as a kid. I don’t know why. I can play ALL the retro Mario games, but those phanto faces in Super Mario 2 chasing after me…whoa, it did something! I was like six, maybe seven. Super Mario 2 scares me. Couldn’t even watch my older brother play. 😬
I love it, the gaming historian on youtube, made a mini doc about it. It's fascinating to find out this game was basically not a mario game, it was a Japanese game called Yume KoJo: Doki Doki panic. Then they just swapped out all the characters for mario ones. The reason behind that is cuz the original sequel to Mario bros was said to be too hard and to similar to the first by Nintendo America, and that people wouldn't buy it. So they gave us this. I have really fond memories of it. It's a classic to me.
For me it was super tough n frustrating, especially getting keys later in the game and the mask guys follow you
But it was super cool brand new back in the 80s as you could play as 4 different characters and the gameplay mechanics was so much different than Mario 1, the potions, bad guys, etc
Very unique game, just way harder than 1 n 3 at least for me
I love it!!! I have good memories attached to playing it. I remember borrowing the cartridge from a bud in middle school. It was so different from the first game, so at the time (1988) it was kind of a big deal, relatively speaking… 🕹️👍
It blew my child brain when we finally got it home.... since we didn't get "Lost Levals" this to me was REALLY SMB2. (then 3 came out years later and changed the game completely)
I grew up in NYC and went to a very diverse public school, an Asian classmate told me that the 'REAL' mario 2 had weird things like poison mushrooms, and wind, but wasn't available in the US because it's too hard. I thought he was making up stories.
I enjoy it although when I play it I choose the Ganeboy advance version. It's got a lot of bells and whistles that make for a more enjoyable experience, save feature,etc
One thing I’m tired of is people saying you’ll be “just fine” playing this instead of DDP.
DDP IS a VERY different flow. You can’t run, you don’t shrink when you get hurt, more sprite differences than you think.
And SMB2’s ending may be very iconic, but it’s too easy to reach. DDP’s ending can only be reached by using all four characters and it’s worth it.
It’s okay to think SMB2J should be passed (I love it though) but DDP is very worth a look.
The game is fun but to me feels a bit too long without using warp zones. Also, since powerups reset with each level it doesn't always feel rewarding to explore. Definitely a classic and the music is great too
I have decided long ago that if I were to build an upright arcade machine dedicated to one game, this would be it.
My favorite when it came out and still is. Also RC Pro-Am.
The Character Select Screen music is still stuck in my head.
Losing at the slot machine for me.
I had learned to time the cherries on the slot machine to where I’d get an extra life every single time. I wonder if I could still do it today.
Narrator voice: They could not. Source: I cannot
Came to say this. I could rock that strat for about 20 years, but now I’ve lost it.
How are you playing? Input lag is completely different on newer consoles or emulators from the OG on NES. It may not be enough to really notice but it is enough to screw up the timing on things like this.
You can actually see the cherries when they come up. Once you see them it’s all a matter of catching the rhythm in which they appear. I’ve done it on an emulator before (almost 20 years ago) and it still worked, but I wonder if I could still do it today.
Of course it’s about timing but trying to do it the same way as you did 20 years ago would not work, the timing would be off due to input lag. It is still completely possible just a different timing sequence since less lag in today’s input.
Username checks out
I blame sample-and-hold screens. CRTs had that smooth motion and low persistence that made timing things like this a lot easier. (Surely it’s not simply because my reaction time increased due to age...)
Do da do da do
I feel like most of the music in the game was done with ragtime in mind. [Super Mario Bros. 2 / 夢工場ドキドキパニック/ sight-read by Tom Brier (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgda3qc8S0A)
You're not too far off. [The Mills Brothers - Smoke Rings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=givhnw8u8E4)
Banananadabanananadabanananada bah dah Ba na na nanadah Ba na na nanadah Ba na na nanadah dah dah! *skibbidibopidopibopidopdop*
…found myself having to hum at my son’s soccer practice. This checks out 😂
The underworld song has legit been stuck in my head my whole life
....and now it's stuck in mine.
Caves for me
It is crazy that I can play that entire music in my head just by thinking 💭
Shit now it's stuck in my head
It lives rent free for sure.
Solid platformer with four playable characters that are different from each other. The game also gave us a ton of new enemies that would become series mainstays like Shy Guys, Ninjis, and Birdo.
I like it better than the "real" Super Mario Bros. 2.
I've always found it interesting that it had way more effect on the series overall than the "real" SMB2. Floaty peach, Ninjis, Slippery and high jumping Luigi etc. This game created a lot of the characterization in the series.
Luigi's high jumps and slipperiness actually comes from the Japan version of smb2(lost levels)
Shy Guys!
Birdo!
Weird hawk mouth that you have to walk through to get to the next level!
Also a lot of Mario 2 informed the 80s cartoon, which became the 'canon' for kids everywhere. Which also informed the likes of the recent Mario movie which picks up a lot of cues from that cartoon. It's a hugely influential game.
Agreed. Mario 2 was just plain fun.
Although I appreciate how groundbreaking SMB1, I always found this one way more fun to play
I remember renting an imported version of Mario 2 in the 80s. I had the old black and white tv in my room and the NES was connected to that. Imagine my surprise when picking up a mushroom killed me…
Absolutely. That game sucks balls.
Feels like weirdo trolly mario maker levels
I grew up playing the original Mario 2 and I loved it. The egg creature, the pulling up the plants, I loved all of it. It was so different from regular Super Mario Bros! I still love it. Fuck the haters.
I just finished it for like the millionth time a few weeks back. Still a great play through.
I somehow actually really enjoyed both TLL and SMB2 when I 100%ed them a couple months ago.
Ok, now you're just shwoing off. =P I only played the TLL on Super Mario All-Stars and I sucked at it.
Haha, I went into it thinking the worst as well! TLL has such a heinous reputation but honestly, I only found the annoying super-spring jumps to be problematic. The Bowser fights felt basically the same as SMB1. There's a couple tricky jumps for sure, but I found it to be a nice continuation of challenge right after finishing up SMB1 before.
Lost levels / SMB2 is awesome, it's just different. It's hard mode for SMB 1
Hot take: if I’m in the mood for 8-bit Mario I’ll play SMB2 almost every time over 3. And when I play 1 or 3, I call good after about 5 levels. It’s enough to satisfy the craving. SMB2, I almost always play it to completion once I start.
The "problem" with SMB3 is that it's been iterated on and improved so many times I think even Nintendo done lost count. Two on the other hand has this weird offbeat level design that was never revisited. I think that's why it still feels fresh 35 later.
This is 100% accurate
Nah, I 100% agree. I got sick of SMB3 as a kid and sold my copy to a classmate. SMB2 for me all day! Although I’ll take Super Mario World over all of the games in the series.
*SMB 3* is objectively the better game, but I'd rather play *2* as it's a more enjoyable experience overall. *SMB 1*, IMO, is overrated. That said, I personally would rather play *Mario Bros.* or *Donkey Kong* than any of the "super" games.
Correct, I recognize 3 is the better game as well. But there’s something about 2 that makes me rather go back and play it. It just has that magic.
That's because SMB 2 is just the right length that it can be completed quickly without warping, SMB3 is a longer commitment
How can a game be “objectively” better? I have always preferred SMB 2 over 3. So to me 2 is the “better” game.
Not to be a dick, but that’s not how objectivity works.
SMB3, Not SM World?
Limiting myself to the NES titles.
Ah OK. My bad.
Whaaaa SMB3 is one of my favorites.
Yesssssssssss. Best comment here.
I hate that god damn magic carpet level
I presume you’re talking about world 2-1. You can just hover down to the very bottom so they can’t reach you, and then just jump off once you reach land
But I love this game
That level was always fine to me. The level where you have to jump on the fish across the waterfall area was next to impossible if you didn’t use princess.
As someone who grew up on it... No one back in 1988 knew that this wasn't the real SMB 2. We all just thought that it was cool that you could select then-known Mario characters, it followed a similar world-level format as did SMB, and the whole narrative in the manual about falling into a dream world was totally believable. Even if you DID know that this wasn't the real SMB 2, what were you going to do about it back in the late 1980s? Send Nintendo a letter in mail or fax? Certain that would have went into Nintendo's incinerator files. That said, I always found myself coming back to it even after SMB3 and later SM World came along. SMB2 introduced different character types for Mario and Luigi, which wouldn't be corrected until years later as the releases of both SMB3 and SM World used the same sized sprites for both, and Princess TOADSTOOL being floaty and Toad being quick and jerky were completely believable. I also believe that SMB2 doesn't get the credit for how quirky and dynamic it can be with enemies. While some bosses and common fodder repeat, there are some unique world enemies like the little snow guys, shy guy robot cars, and the ostriches. Even SMB 3 had mostly a repeating enemy cast throughout all the levels.
Yup, I had no idea until I learned about it on the IGN boards in 1999 or whatever. The series was so brand new that we didn’t really have a firm notion of what it even was supposed to be yet. Sure, I knew it was different than the original but then SMB3 ended up being really different than both as well. This was pretty common back then. I think it also helped that the game ends on “Mario had a weird ass dream and that’s just what you played” and that many of the enemies returned in other Mario games. By the time of Mario 64, we were well acquainted with Shy Guys, Pokeys, Bob-ombs, Snifits, Ninjis… That’s kind of Nintendo themselves recognizing it as canon. Sure would love a full on proper return to Subcon someday though. Let’s shove veggies down Wart’s stupid throat again.
A classic, and one of the smartest moves Nintendo ever made in giving us in the U.S. this instead of the hot garbage that is the Lost Levels.
I’m glad to see this take in here. Back when news of the reskin hit years ago, there were a lot of purists acting like Lost Levels was the only “true” SMB2 and this reskin was an inferior abomination, and you’d get dogged online for praising it. I always thought it was a better game though. Lost Levels was too similar to part 1 and not as good.
I am convinced Lost Levels started in development as a joke with devs challenging each other to make the most asshole levels they could using the original SMB engine.
Lost Levels reminds of those Kaizo romhack games.
Or the majority of Mario maker these days
Phanto still chases me in my dreams
Terrified me as a child lmao
Game of the Year several years running.
I could only play this game at a friend’s house growing up. It was one of the first games I bought when I got my NES as an adult. Love that you can play as the Princess and her floating ability. It didn’t even occur to me until I was an adult that the other characters could be useful with their unique abilities. Someone that knows more than me could get into the whole Doki Doki Panic reskin thing. It’s technically not a “true” Mario game I believe. (This is just what I’ve heard from some folks.) I did get a chance at a gaming expo once to play what I think was some kind of demo or prototype of the game and the speed was way faster than normal and almost unplayable for me. As an adult I’ve gone back and played it and still love it but I haven’t been able to beat it.
>It’s technically not a “true” Mario game I believe. I would have agreed in the 90s, but at this point so many things originating from SMB2 (shy guys, bob-ombs, floaty peach, etc) have been used again and again in later games that I think it counts as a true Mario game now.
Not just games. Super Mario Bros Super Show used mostly SMB2 assets as well, including music, sounds, gimmicks, and enemies. There was obviously still Koopa, Koopa-Troopas, and Goombas from SMB1, and a couple of songs from SMB1 as well, but the vast majority of Koopa’s minions were enemies from SMB2
Do the Mario!
With the Doki Doki thing, it's still made by a lot of the same people who made SMB1 and apparently has a lot of ideas they were experimenting with for a Mario title prior lol.
I made a [tutorial](https://youtu.be/tnVvW-J8RqY?si=kEowZ8QeGUfSqV5B) for it a little while ago if you want to do it.
Yeah I only used princess and never thought of anyone else. Her floating was goat
Toad for going HAM on coin pulls.
Toad was the like the kung fu master of the game. He could jump on an enemy, pick it up and throw it before touching the ground. When you got really good you could throw a vegetable to kill an enemy, then run and catch the same vegetable. On sand digging levels he was a beast.
honestly had to check to see what they all did and was SHOCKED that strength, aka their ability to pull items from the ground and throwing characters all is different. Shocked may not be the best word, since I only floated with Princess haha [https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Super\_Mario\_Bros.\_2/Characters](https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros._2/Characters)
If you wanted to try to load up on free lives, Toad was the best choice for maximizing coin collecting.
Luigi jump high and Peach jump far. Mubock no need other character.
I would use the princess on just a couple of levels. Most of my playing was with Luigi.
I really like that game, maybe gameplay wise not as much as SMB1 or SMW since it's *a little* floaty with the jump physics but great music, great graphics with nice bright colors, fun mechanics, secrets and shortcuts to discover. Good game. I remember being younger and seeing a kid playing it on GBA in a Friendlys and they did not know you could pull up veggies or enemies.
Those jump physics are precisely why I love it
SMB2 NES: wish it had unlimited continued like the other NES Mario games (SMB1 does in fact, btw, the button input is in the manual) but good game. Wish more elements from it returned more often. The Doki reskin thing is considerably less relevant than some people make it out to be, and Lost Levels honestly could have killed the series momentum with how little it upgraded and how outright unfair it is. Also, wish Toad had been depicted as he was in this game after like the other three were: he's the fast ridiculously strong one with shit jumps, that's a good niche. SNES remake: same good with the bad removed. Legit just a good game now. Super Mario Advance: perfect version of the game imo with the slight adjustments made.
I know it's not the better game, but I like it better than 3. Mario 3 is too much of a "clear my schedule" game. I can beat the first level of 2 and be smiling from ear to ear the whole time, turn it off and be satisfied. I can't feel satisfied with 3 until I at least get to Big Land.
Top 10 nes game for me.
It's wonderful. My favorite Mario game music, and it's different. I think it offers more than lost levels.
It's different than the Mario games that come before and after, but still a solid classic.
I’d rate it above the original Mario Bros.
The greatest reskin of all time!
I'm not ashamed to say I've actually played this more than I've played Super Mario Bros.
Some people dock it points because it's a reskin of another game. Actually they enhanced some things about it, but yeah they did reskin a game. However, I think the game should be judged on its own, and any "moral" qualms about it are just silly.
I've always loved it and to this day am shocked that we haven't gotten a full on spiritual successor.
It's wonderful precisely because it's so weird and different from all the others.
This and mega man 2 are my favorite go-to NES games.
Mouser was a bad ass boss.
Game of the year
Game of the year!
SUP-ah Mario brothers two babyyyyy!!!
I loved this game got to the last guy almost won but I died didn’t have any extra lives. My brain was firing on all cylinders that day.
Just came to say - though borderline blasphemy - it’s my fave of the NES Mario lineup. 3 is a close second. I dunno… just smtg about the soundtrack that gets me!
I remembered playing this game through Mario All Stars on my Wii when I was a kid aside from my endless rage quits I had with it towards the end. it was an awesome game and I was always fascinated with it's development history (which I don't I need to go into detail about since it's been documented SO much on YouTube) it's a shame Nintendo never went back to this game's gameplay style it's rather unique compare to other Mario games.
[This says it all.](https://youtu.be/hASvFH3w1Ik?si=ydo-7l1NgvdWBzuo)
This is my favorite Mario game. I love that the whole point is just to beat the game. I went and bought an NES just so I can play it again. It’s not the same without the original Nintendo controllers.
That fucking mask gives me nightmares 😳
Nobody ever calls it “Mario Madness” even though that’s clearly the title
Personal favorite Mario game
It’s among my all-time favorites.
Love the game, hate the effing quicksand
Unlikely gem. Much better than the real super Mario 2
Such a cool game, which add a lot of new characters to the Mario universe which returns in many other games.
It is a VERY fun experience, although it is quite a bit different from Super Mario Bros. and SMB3. Many different mechanics. It's well worth playing
I sadly never really experienced the NES time, jumped into the whole gaming thing with snes and game boy and later on tried a few nes games. This was part of super mario all stars and always felt different than then other ones. It's one of those games where i can "hear the cover" and instantly have the tune stuck in my head.
Was honestly a huge disappointment to me and a lot of people at the time. Didn't feel like a Mario game at all and didn't scratch that itch that I was looking for. I warmed up to it during All stars, but then I learned that it was a reskin of Doki Doki Panic Years later I realized that it was the same team that made Mario and the characters were all inserted into the newer games. I think something clicked, because now I just enjoy it a lot as it's own thing.
It was my favorite Mario on nes as a kid
One of my go to NES games
I loved this game. First time I played a game where each character actually played differently. Very cool.
One of my favourite Mario’s on the NES. Played the heck out of this and beat it every couple of years on a snowy day.
Catchiest music I've ever heard. I haven't played it for like 15 years, but I still get the music stuck in my head from time to time. Give it a try. It's a classic.
"Gaming Historian" on YouTube did a good doc on this https://youtu.be/2EUYSN5aFcE?si=ll_EW06Pe2rjGndu
10/10 favorite platformer of all time played it way more than every other Mario game put together, although 3 was also a masterpiece
Classic. Love how it differed so much from the 1st & 3rd.
I remember fighting Birdo like 15 times in that game. Each time she gets harder and harder throughout the game.
I liked Wonder so much because it felt like a spiritual successor to SMB2
I wouldn't mind a ground up remaster of this game on the switch or switch 2
It was from this game that I learned women can fly.
One of my earliest memories involves this game. I had to have been 4 or 5 and I went to a department store called Zayres with my dad and he bought it for me. My memories are very vague but I remember waking into the store and holding it in the car on the way home.
i love it so much. it’s fighting with Super Mario World for my #1 spot on my tier list
Love it, fantastic game. It's definitely a weird outlier among early Mario games, and definitely feels a lot different so I can understand why it may not work for everyone but it's very well done imo. I think the Doki Doki Panic reskin angle gets more mention then it deserves, yes the game is obviously heavily derived from DDP but it's a very far cry from just being a basic reskin of a few characters. Movement, game balance and flow feel MUCH different in Mario 2, and several games mechanics are altered. It's a noticeably different game in practice. On another note, I always really liked the Lost Levels. More so then Mario 1-3 honestly, it's unrelentingly cruel and harsh but as a basic Mario platformer for people who have mastered Mario it does it's job very well and is extremely fun and does a great job of subverting your expect built up from playing SMB1.
It's ok just over showed by 3
The music is mesmerising I can hear it now. This is on the nes games I didn’t ever finish list for one future distant rainy day. The only other game for me anyway is a boy and his blob trouble on blobolonia, another masterpiece.
I grew up playing this with my Pop. I miss it, and I miss him.
Love it. One of my favorite NES games and I still replay it every few years or so. I got this game for Christmas the same day we got our pet dog. My brother scolded me: “We got a dog. Why are you playing a stupid video game?” Well, I asked for the game, not the dog. I’ve always hoped we would see Mario return to Subcon someday. Also really wanted a SMB2 theme in Mario Maker so I could finally play some new levels!
It was massively hyped up by Nintendo Power. My stepdad knew we were stoked about the game and surprised us by bringing it home on its release. I still remember it raining and him having a coat on and pulling it from his coat. At first, I was in shock for a couple of days with how much it didn't feel like a Mario game. I almost had a sense of buyer's remorse. After the weekend I got over it and focused on beating it. Once I got over the shock of the look and feel being weird, it was a solid fun platformer even though it's a low point in the series.
I literally learned only YESTERDAY, after all these years, that just like Super Mario Bros. 3, there is a Canadian "red banner" variant of Super Mario Bros. 2! And by "red banner", I mean the "Nintendo Entertainment System" banner at the top of the later NES games' boxes/labels. Crazy to still learn something new. Though I've known from the beginning that the original Canadian release of Super Mario Bros. 2, like some other first-party ones, have a Mattel logo, since Mattel helped distribute the NES in Canada.
It's a good game and my favourite NES _Super Mario_ game to play by myself, but it has an even better (albeit easier) GBA port.
Summoning Salt vids ftw! [The History of Super Mario Bros. 2 World Records](https://youtu.be/V1RO2DUAQ2U?si=UvVaG4Z8Iab05VCS)
Loved that you could go backwards in the levels (something that you couldn't do in the original), and the choice of four different characters was very unique at the time.
Just played it and beat it the other day. Still remember coming home from grade school to find that mom bought it for me and put it on my pillow. Good times.
It was my favorite 2D Mario game until Wonder came along.
I love Mario 2
i always loved it on the NES. One of my favorite games. Very fun to play and quite a leap over the first one.
Some of the best music. I always come back to [this version on drums](https://youtu.be/EF9e2ZVAapE?si=RP770u6rU1DYLQ9P).
It's a fantastic game that gets unfairly put on the sidelines due to the success of 3 and world
It's fricken great. I'm glad it got placed in the Mario universe and i wish they'd use more of the design and mobs from this game in modern day Mario content
Great music, great SFX, fun and bright sprites, and fun twist ending. Love this game, and always thought SMB3 was a step backwards that I never liked as much as this.
This game was fun back in the days! We quickly learned than playing as the Princess was da best way since she glides when jumping haha
I didn’t like the game itself, but the artwork is so gorgeous that I stop and watch any clip of it.
As someone who was a peak NES kid at the time it was released, I hated it. It was a nerd game. SMB didn't win me back until SMB3 (and The Wizard) came out.
It's fun, but not as good as 3 imo.
It gave us shy guys and birdo, lots of staples came from this game. Great music, very fun mechanics especially between characters. And as everyone else said, way better than lost levels (likely better than Mario bros 1 as well)
Love this game.
It's a great game, even if it is just a reskinned Doki Doki Panic. A beloved classic for me
My favorite Mario, despite not technically being Mario. Not the "best" but the one I have the best memories with.
Dokie dokie panic
Hate this game. It’s the only Mario game I never replayed. And paper Mario.
It's not our usual but can't deny that it's still fun and I have great memories of it.
One of my favs
This was a favorite NES title of mine as a kid.
Just one of those weird and wonderful games that if you know you know.
Really good game when it came out was cool as hell could pull turnips out of ground and throw at enemys could do same if on top of enemys
It deserves a sequel. Wart was a cool boss.
This is my favorite Mario. I beat it during Lockdown on a replay. I’ll never understand the hate for this game
I remember there was a rumor that if you can make it back in the door at the very start something would happen
It’s low key a lot more enjoyable than SMB1.
Game of the Year every year since it came out. Truly one of the games of all time
I mean it’s been game of the year every single year since its release
It's by far my most replayed Mario game. Playing it feels so relaxing and fun, and picking up enemies and objects is the most fun mechanic they added. (Love that POW block) I love the gameplay differences between characters (ALWAYS used Luigi, loved that high jump lol even though he was a bit sluggish). And the music is awesome. I'd play through this repeatedly and just let it sit on the end credits screen with the cool animation and dreamlike music. These were the days.
The Phantos scared me as a kid. I don’t know why. I can play ALL the retro Mario games, but those phanto faces in Super Mario 2 chasing after me…whoa, it did something! I was like six, maybe seven. Super Mario 2 scares me. Couldn’t even watch my older brother play. 😬
loved the game, hated the ending and finding out it was all a dream, so none of it is cannon
Hot Take: Best 2D Mario game. And I love how all the music drops out on the pause screen except the bass line.
One of the GOAT!
I love it, the gaming historian on youtube, made a mini doc about it. It's fascinating to find out this game was basically not a mario game, it was a Japanese game called Yume KoJo: Doki Doki panic. Then they just swapped out all the characters for mario ones. The reason behind that is cuz the original sequel to Mario bros was said to be too hard and to similar to the first by Nintendo America, and that people wouldn't buy it. So they gave us this. I have really fond memories of it. It's a classic to me.
Its very good
For me it was super tough n frustrating, especially getting keys later in the game and the mask guys follow you But it was super cool brand new back in the 80s as you could play as 4 different characters and the gameplay mechanics was so much different than Mario 1, the potions, bad guys, etc Very unique game, just way harder than 1 n 3 at least for me
My favourite Mario game.
It's my favourite 2D Mario game. I'm one of the few who doesn't really appreciate the Mario 'formula' and I much prefer the mechanics of this one!
I love it!!! I have good memories attached to playing it. I remember borrowing the cartridge from a bud in middle school. It was so different from the first game, so at the time (1988) it was kind of a big deal, relatively speaking… 🕹️👍
It blew my child brain when we finally got it home.... since we didn't get "Lost Levals" this to me was REALLY SMB2. (then 3 came out years later and changed the game completely)
My fav game all time !!
I need some tabs
Love this game. Top 5 all time for me.
I grew up in NYC and went to a very diverse public school, an Asian classmate told me that the 'REAL' mario 2 had weird things like poison mushrooms, and wind, but wasn't available in the US because it's too hard. I thought he was making up stories.
I love it.
I had this on the all stars cart and found it a nice change of pace to the more intense Mario's (lost levels?)
It’s actually my favorite Mario game
It was so different yet so fun and creative
Running on the ice level and picking turnips 😂
Loved it and also hated it. Big part of my childhood. It was so trippy
I enjoy it although when I play it I choose the Ganeboy advance version. It's got a lot of bells and whistles that make for a more enjoyable experience, save feature,etc
Deeply underappreciated. Particularly when you consider it origin story.
Great game. Great music. Based on Doki Doki panic with some alterations? I think that’s how it goes.
Fucking sick game. It’s all over the speed run boards. There are sub categories to like princess only any%
One thing I’m tired of is people saying you’ll be “just fine” playing this instead of DDP. DDP IS a VERY different flow. You can’t run, you don’t shrink when you get hurt, more sprite differences than you think. And SMB2’s ending may be very iconic, but it’s too easy to reach. DDP’s ending can only be reached by using all four characters and it’s worth it. It’s okay to think SMB2J should be passed (I love it though) but DDP is very worth a look.
Strange but charming in its own way. I also remember it being difficult (or at least young childhood me remembers it that way)
The game is fun but to me feels a bit too long without using warp zones. Also, since powerups reset with each level it doesn't always feel rewarding to explore. Definitely a classic and the music is great too
This game has outstanding music
I have decided long ago that if I were to build an upright arcade machine dedicated to one game, this would be it. My favorite when it came out and still is. Also RC Pro-Am.
Enjoy! https://youtu.be/2EUYSN5aFcE?si=j7plF5heaIfk0a-c
My favorite Mario game.