Super Mario Brothers 2
Platform: The Family Computer Disk System
Region: Japan
Media: Disk
Controller: NES Gamepad
Genre: Platformer
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1
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"YES!!! I'm at the final Bowser!! Now all I need to do is jump over this fire chain and-AUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

The year is 1986, in Japan. Your fans are bloodthirsty for a sequel to the wildly successful Super Mario Bros. It has been three years since Super Mario Bros. was released (in Japan.)

The good folks at Nintendo finally notice this, and Miyamoto starts work on his latest creation. A game with the exact same storyline as the original, only with improved graphics, new items and enemies, and five times as hard!!!!

THE MUSHROOM KINGDOM IS NO LONGER THE LAND OF MILK AND HONEY.......

This is classic Mario gameplay, folks. For those of you who have never played the original Super Mario Bros., you don't know what you're missing. It's the exact same concept as the original: maneuver your li'l on-screen Mario to the end of each level, where you will jump onto a flagpole and continue onto the next level. Getting there won't be easy, however: various enemies such as the walking mushroom Goomba and the somewhat awkward Koopas will try to stop you at every turn.

There are four levels in a world, eight worlds in all......but wait!!! If you can finish the game without dying (insane), you can unlock five additional worlds! At the end of each world, you will have a showdown with the King Koopa himself, known as Bowser. If you hustle your butt past Bowser before he jumpsbreathes fire on you, you can grab an axe that will cause Bowser to fall into the lava below. But it's not the real Bowser, it would seem, as instead of finding the Princess behind Bowser, you will find an annoying Mushroom Retainer who will tell you that ''Our Princess is in another castle.''

Now, for those of you who have already played Super Mario Bros., you ain't seen nothin' yet.

The first thing you will notice as you boot up the game for the first time is how easy it is to get a Game Over on level 1-1. I know I sure did. But knowing that you got a Game Over on the first level just makes you so frustrated that you go back and try again. You may get to level 3-1, and unexpectedly find a Warp Zone! You may jump for glee, only to find that it is one of the many 'Yer Screwed Zones' in the game, as you go all the way back to 1-1. The difficulty of this game is ridiculous. It's on par with such games as Battletoads, Contra III, and StarCraft. Funny thing is, this game was released years before any of those classics.

I SAID JUMP!!!! WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME!? *snap*

The controls are VERY simple: A to jump, B to run and throw fireballs, D-Pad to move and duck, and Start to pause.

However, I would reccomend buying a few extra controllers with this game; they are somewhat easy to break after getting that twentieth Game Over. Level design is, in fact, superior to the original Super Mario Bros. You'll actually have to solve puzzles (which pipe to take, how to get across that gigantic pit, etc.) in this game, something notably missing from pretty much every other 2D Super Mario game. You'll also have to pull off stunts that you never had to accomplish in the original, such as timing a jump so you bounce off a Paratroopa, thus landing safely on the other side of a crevasse. In another level, you'll have to find hidden blocks to get up to a walkway that stretches to the top of the screen. There are pits on the walkway that you must do a running jump over, but you can't see your position. The new items and enemies are welcome. The Super Spring lets you float above the screen for 10 seconds or so, and the Poison Mushrooms make you shrink instead of grow.

Thus, you have to see what kind of Mushroom is coming out of a block before you grab it. Flying Bloopers are there to annoy you in the platforming levels, and Red Piranha Plants move twice as fast as their green counterparts.

DOO DOO DUH D-D-DUH, DOO! *Mario enters pipe*

The graphics are slightly improved over Super Mario Bros. All the character sprites look the same, but the backgrounds are a bit more detailed than they used to be. Not much else to say here, other than that they look positively prehistoric today. The music and sound effects are also exactly the same as in the original. Not that I'm complaining. The main overworld theme is a timeless classic that never seems to get old. The underwater theme is a series of low and high notes, to simulate the swaying of a ship, I guess. The castle theme is an ominous, upbeat tune that really makes you grit your teeth after awhile. It almost seems to make you WANT to kill Bowser and take back the Princess. The Super Star theme has been used in every Super Mario game, and for good reason. I like to call it 'The Tune of Death.' However, the best song in this game is the Underground Theme. This simple song fits the atmosphere unbelievably well, and was the turning point in my desicion to give this game a 9 instead of an 8.

STRONG POINTS:

-Lots of fun
-Music is awesome
-Two-player mode
-Fans of Super Mario Bros. will be instantly at home with this
-New items and enemies are cool
-It's a Mario game, people. C'mon!

WEAK POINTS:

-Shelling out the money for extra controllers
-Obscene difficulty may turn off casual gamers
-Released in Japan only
-Same pathetic storyline

This game shouldn't be too hard to find on eBay or Funcoland. If you can find it, buy it. Phediuk out. 

Reviwer: Phediuk
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/fds/review/R38982.html
