Genre: Platformer
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1988
Basic Idea: She got the way to move me Cherry, she got the way to groove me some extra lives.
Review: When we first got this game, I was disappointed. At first I thought it was too difficult, but this was mainly because the game mechanics were so different from the first game in the series. With time, I began to get good at the game, but it took me years to really appreciate it. Reworking Doki Doki Panic is one of the best decisions Nintendo of America made for the console.
There are so many wonderful aspects of this platformer, it’s hard to tell where to start. Deciding which character you’ll go as before each level is a great idea. While any character can win any level, there are advantages to one over another depending on the level. Mario is all-around okay, Luigi is awkward but can jump super high, Toad is weak but quick and fast, and the Princess can float in the air for a few seconds. Not only is the terrain a factor in your decision, but also your desire to be able to pick up and throw vegetables and enemies with more speed as well as collect coins in the subworld. Ah yeah, the subworld, the place to get special mushroom energy and your best chance at extra lives.
I love that many levels have alternate paths through them. Some are quicker, but more dangerous. Some can only be accessed with certain characters. And I absolutely adore the bosses. Birdo is so pathetic it almost makes me sad to kill him. He appears several times, but has different powers each time. The stage bosses is where it’s at, though. Mouser, Fry Guy, and TriClyde are all excellent bosses that take patience and skill to defeat. What other games requires to build yourself a wall of defense before attacking the boss? And then you have the door near the end of the game that comes alive and tries to eat you. Classic.
The bosses aren’t the only enemies that deserve praise. Bob-omb was so cool he became the only enemy to make it into future Mario games. Nothing can beat the phantom, though. I literally got nervous every time I picked up a key. Finally getting to the locked door was a huge relief.
If all of these reasons weren’t enough to explain why this game is better than Super Mario Bros. 3, I present you with Wart, the final boss. He is hands down my favorite final boss on the NES. He never moves because he’s so fat but he’s deadly. He’s arrogant and relentless. Even today it usually takes me a few times to beat him.
I was also completely blown away by the game’s ending. Nearly every game I had won to that point had one screen congratulating me, often with misspelled words. The ending to Super Mario Bros. 2 is several minutes long, complete with rolling credits featuring the game characters. An incredibly satisfying game, through and through.
Death By Troggles 
Yeah, this game destroys 3, and the ending is a big part of that.
I played this a few weeks ago…I hadn’t played for years but I can still beat it without dying. I probably played through this about 50 times in college with the same five friends.
For whatever reason, I used Luigi 100% of the time. I suppose if you use the same character all the time, it makes it more likely to get through the game without dying. Learning one mechanic is a lot easier than learning four.
Luigi? Damn. I will often go through the game using him once on the level where his vertical can help you skip everything and that’s it. I could never get used to his jumping. I’m definitely a Toad guy. Short, controlled bursts. Especially in the ice world.
Every time I replay this game, it does occur to me that I’m only good with Luigi because I’ve got so much practice. That weird hangtime on his jumps takes some getting used to.
I wouldn’t know what the hell to do with Toad on the bosses. Just thinking about it fills me with dread.
I tend to use Mario for the boss battles, but yeah. He can’t throw nor jump very far so it takes perfect execution. The nice thing is that he dodge enemy fire so easily that even if you miss six times in a row, you’re still doing okay.
Toad picked up the blocks faster than any other character. He was lethal against bosses. You could murder a boss in almost no time.
Always Toad. Princess was good for certain levels, particularly the ones with falling logs. Luigi was good for skipping things quickly, and Mario was good for precisely nothing.
There are actually several enemies in this game that would appear in later Mario games, including Shy Guy, Snifit, Ninji, and Birdo.
Yeah, when I wrote that I think my brain didn’t go past SMB3