Forums > Submission Feedback > JoeTheDestroyer's Super Mario Bros. 2 review

This is possibly my favorite SMB game. Not the best SMB, but my personal favorite.

I really never thought it was hard, but that was because I somehow mastered the timing for the 1-UP slot machine at the end of each level and could get 2-UPs and 5-UPs at will (weird for me, as I usually suck at things like that in games). I guess it's hard for too many games to be hard when you have 50 extra lives on tap. Which I tended to be pushing after 3-1 because that's the one with the ledge with about 10 plants. Use Toad, drop both of the level's potions there and wind up with a slot machine bonanza at the end.

I guess I did struggle with the game initially, but I mainly remember how easy things got when I had lives to burn and didn't care about dying a time or two experimenting with different tactics to get through the more difficult areas. Or in the case of that one level in the sixth world, just skipping it by doing the "constantly jump under the pyramid or whatever" trick where you basically bypass about everything.

I need to play that game again, but now that I KNOW my timing on the slot machines is gone, it likely will be a lot tougher and I'll be eating these words.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Eating those words, overdrive, like Wart eating veggies! SMB2 is one of the more difficult ones in the series for a lot of gamers, certainly harder than the first one. Getting through Wart's castle is quite the challenge. I tended to warp through most of the game whenever I beat it.

"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

I always regarded SMB2 as pretty brutal. The only version I actually finished was on GBA, thanks to saves.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Joe, did you ever play Super Mario Bros. 2 on the SNES via Super Mario All-Stars compilation? That version had saves as well.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own."
-- Adam Savage

Yeah, never got completely into All-Stars version though. I didn't have time when I finally picked it up.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

I often wonder if they switched up the slot machine timing for the All-Stars port. I rented that once a number of years ago and struggled to get 1-UPs that way, but wasn't sure if the timing was different or if I'd just lost my skill because it'd been a few years since I'd played the original NES version.

I'm not afraid to die because I am invincible
Viva la muerte, that's my goddamn principle

Now I feel proud! I did actually beat the original NES version, without saves. And I did it without warps, too! Quite the slog fest!

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."