Don't get me wrong, I think Super Mario Bros. 3 is a swell game--more than swell, actually--but if I was forced at gunpoint--hey, it could happen--to choose between it and the game that we in the Western world know as Super Mario Bros. 2 (in Japan they call it Super Mario Bros. USA, in case you haven't heard), I would, with just a smidge of hesitation, go with the latter.
Other things I love about this rather awesome (in my opinion, of course) Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic re-imagining:
* For the first and only time in a mainline Mario game, you can choose to play as Peach and Toad as well as Mario and Luigi. (I almost always go with Peach, by the way. What a shocker, right?)
* Any and all of the aforementioned characters can pluck stuff--turnips and other veggies, mainly--from the ground and throw it at the game's many enemies.
* It introduced a number of inventive and imaginative characters--including Birdo, Bob-omb, Shy Guy and Snifit--into the Mario canon.
There are many additional reasons to love this, er, dreamy platformer, of course, but those mentioned above are the ones that keep me coming back to it time and time again (often at the expense of its predecessor and successor).
9 comments:
You make a good argument, sir. However, being that it started as something OTHER than a Mario game, it is disqualified in my selection process. I'd still go with Mario 3, though, even if it hadn't...
Well, I went into this knowing that no one would agree with me, Justin, so I'm not hurt by your betrayal :)
Like I said, though, I love SMB 3, too -- and the original SMB, for that matter. I just like SMB 2 a bit more.
LOL Betrayal. I dunno if I'd go that far. I'm torn between thinking that it's a super fun Mario game with questionable roots and thinking that I would love it a whole lot more if it weren't a Mario Game. But if it hadn't become a Mario game, we'd never have seen it over here most likely. And if we had, I'll bet no one would have played it.
If nothing else, it gave us such wonders as Ninji, Toad's name, and Birdo.
RE: the game's questionable roots -- some believe it was intended to be SMB 2 all along. Now, that hasn't been substantiated, but it does make sense in a few ways (the 'original' version includes many Mario items, it was made by Miyamoto, etc.).
Regardless, I think the fact that they ended up considering it worthy of being transformed into a Mario game speaks volumes about it.
Also, you're probably right that few would have played it had it been brought over as is. Which would have been a terrible shame.
I've played the game that SMB 2 was based on, by the way, and while it's a pretty great game in that state, I think it's even better as a Mario game :)
Shy Guys are my favorite characters from the Mario universe! <3 And yeah, Peach is the way to go in SMB2. The flying really helps with the more difficult jumps.
My favourite Mario-game of the old ones is the "true" SMB2, the japanese one later called "Lost Levels" on SNES. Because it has the cool graphics I love from SMB1 and is more of a challenge to clear flawless than 1 and 3. Okay, 3 is kind of hard on world 8 but.. Lost Levels is hard almost from the beginning. Yaay! :)
Wow, you're hardcore, Starfighter! I really have to go back and play some of the real SMB 2 again. I haven't played it in a loooooooong time.
I think it's mostly about the fact that I memorized the other games and therefore it gets a bit too easy with them. But yeah, I like a challenge, no doubt. :)
It's a brilliant game that doesn't get nearly enough attention, for sure! The Lost Levels was an AMAZING game.
And Bryan, I had no idea Miyamoto created SMB2, although it makes sense, I guess. I suppose that makes it legit in my book.
Yep, he was producer. I think he also headed up its transition into SMB2, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
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