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Most of the bosses in the NES Mario games just aren’t particularly imposing. Sure, there was Koopa (or his imitators or whatever) in the first game, but those fireballs moved so slooowly, and all you had to do was get behind him. The Koopa in the third game don’t do much better, and are generally the easiest of whichever level they inhabit. This is not a problem that SMB2 is burdened with.
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| A mouse? Who throws bombs?? WHILE WEARING SUNGLASSES!?!? Hell, yeah! |
With some moderate exceptions, most of Super Mario Bros 3 is pretty easy, especially if you’ve accumulated extra lives in the many easy ways the game gives you. Anyone who was able to win either of the first two games no doubt walked through this one with ease. That is until they got to World 8.
Continue reading 15. Here Comes The Sun And I Say It’s Not Right
Prior to the internet, glitches in games (that could be repeated) were insanely popular. It felt like you had a special secret that few people had: breaking a game programmed by gods. Of course, I learned about glitches from Nintendo Power. Still, breaking a game could often be more fun than trying to win it outright. And there’s nothing more fun than trying to enter Super Mario Bros’ minus world, if your idea of fun is trying to make awkward jumps forty-eight times in a row while the clock of death is winding down.
The most annoying world in Super Mario Bros. 3 is hands-down world three. Plumbers apparently are terrible swimmers, and navigating underwater is only marginally less frustrating than killing off all four ninja turtles in two minutes. The designers felt a frog suit would be a nice bone to toss at gamers, but it’s barely an improvement underwater, and a nightmare when back on land.
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Super Mario Brothers 2 introduced a lot of cool, quirky gameplay aspects to the series, but one of my personal favorites was the idea the jumping onto an enemy’s back might not immediately kill said enemy. The idea of riding on an enemy over an otherwise deadly obstacle opened the game’s level design up to all sorts of interesting possibilities. My favorite of which is today’s moment.
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| All aboard! |
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“I hate that fish. He just gulps you and you’re dead. Fucking bullshit.”
– Some eloquent YouTube Commenter
You get messily devoured a couple of times the first time you encounter him. After all, he’s one of the very few enemies that can kill Mario no matter how powered up he is. He feeds on your complacency. He doesn’t care that you have a raccoon tail or a fire flower (well, technically, he might care a bit about that). You’re just swimming along, and suddenly – GULP – you’re back to the world map. You’re just bait to him.
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| Exhibit A: Mario about to be reduced to chum |
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We open our countdown with an unexpected moment.
Throughout Super Mario Brother 2, you’ve digging up turnips, carrots, and parsnips. With the exception of the odd potion bottle, these are things you might expect to be planted within the soil. You fling these tubers at enemies to knock them out. Everything is working as God intended it.
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| Pictured: Something you might expect to find sprouting from the soil. |
Death By Troggles 