Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA) Review

                 (Originally posted on June, 2014)

                                         

(1988, NES)

Spending many nights sleeping under vegetable and shy-guy patterned bedsheets, I was all about Super Mario Brothers 2 growing up, especially since it was the very first game I beat. That accomplishment didn't come easy, as when I first rented SMB2 from the super market, just figuring out how to get past the beginning of the second stage was beyond imagination. I was early in my video game playing career and limited to sliding down pipes, shooting at ducks and jumping up and down on the Power Pad. Nintendo knew how to drill the importance of yanking at sprouts and hurling enemies at one another, but I would never think of pulling the Pidgit off his magic carpet so that I could fly it myself! I had to ask around the neighborhood to figure that one out. Not being especially skillful and only able to beat the game with the Princess and her floating ability, decades later it was finally time to man up and revisit the NES original, relying on no one but Mario.

Super Mario Brothers 2 is very rarely anyone's favorite Mario and arguably not even a "true" part of the series, yet the game was remarkably important to young NES players in the 80s. The likes of Zelda, Metroid and Kid Icarus were a bit too daunting at the time (and still challenging to this day!), so it was up to SMB2 to gently introduce more complex game design. In a world friendly enough for kids, you have prominent vertical scrolling, massive building interiors, unlockable doors, rudimentary vehicles, bonus games and possibly one's first glimpse of "survival horror" as the terrifying Phanto would stalk who ever dared pick up his key.  Indeed, this very strange SMB semi-sequel was a huge step in what videogames could offer...

I won't bother covering the history of the game's development/repackaging, but suffice to say it's radically different than the preceding Super Mario Brothers and everything else in the series...you even start out the game by falling from a door in the sky! Moments later you're scaling hills and jumping between bright, lipstick-red logs which flow down well animated waterfalls; all of this a lot more lively than the comparatively static stages of the first Super Mario Brothers. Entering the pyramids was one of my earliest memories of being astonished by what can be done in a game. I can dig away ALL that dirt?! (and I did!) . All across the game you made your way through highly varied worlds and entered buildings which were practically levels onto themselves. At the time, how wondrous it was to enter a door to a huge warehouse, scale your way up (learning to stack  mushroom blocks for a boost), then with the key (and Phanto on your tail), carefully make leaps of faith towards the bottom, where you're given a split second to land in a safe spot among the enemies and spike beds. To top things off, you're also pitted against bosses that were truly unique, requiring entirely different approaches to defeat. Why hasn't the bomb-hurling Mouser appeared in another game yet??

Last playing SMB2 in the form of it's loving remake which launched the Game Boy Advance, I hadn't touched the NES version in decades. While the large levels and personality of the sprites are still pretty impressive, the color palette was always too all over the place and aggressive, bordering on tacky. I was never a fan of Nintendo's re-imaginings of Super Mario Brothers and Super Mario Bros 3, which swapped out the eternally enduring personality of the originals for highly colorful but uninspired new sprites and tiles. 2 is the exception, as I definitely prefer the pleasant, more uniform colors on the SNES and especially the GBA version, which moved towards a well fitting, otherworldly pastel style.

Like the original SMB, there aren't too many musical tracks, but they're so well memorable and iconic you never feel you're at a lack. The main theme during the outdoor stages isn't one song endlessly repeating, it's a general aural embodiment of the game that can't possibly get old. The supporting tracks are just as memorable with a catchy, almost "tap-dancing" like sound to the character select screen and remarkably clear drums in the mesmeric building interior theme that subdues the otherwise constant tension. The boss music is the weakest, trying just a bit too hard to create a panic and coming off overly loud and annoying than anything else. Even though the keys indicate overwhelming doom, the bass in the final showdown with Wart constantly lingers with an energizing and encouraging force. Perhaps it's in there to tell you to not to get too nervous, as this might just all be a dream? The credits theme is one of the more underrated Mario tracks in the series, giving me shivers as a child with it's unnerving sense of a conclusion still shrouded in activity and mystery. Typical of the game's theme of weird surprises, pausing removes the keyboard channel, allowing you to listen to a groovier version with just the bass and drums.

Super Mario Bros 2 never feels like a design feat so impressive that one could admire, study and be left in awe by, like the two games it's sandwiched between, but is still a very enjoyable, essential part of the NES library. The game already cemented it's legacy by sending so many cool baddies to later games in the series, but I really would love a true sequel one day, which both the first scans of Super Mario Advance and earliest looks at Super Mario 3D World seemed to hint at. Who knows if an all new return to Sub-Con will happen, but until then, I can always go back to the GBA version for a new challenge. This may be the first game I beat, but I've yet to force-feed Wart his veggies with the powerful but aerially limited Toad or high-flying yet slippery-footed Luigi.