Reviewing the Real Super Mario Brothers 2 127
An anonymous reader writes "When Mario Brothers 2 for the NES came out in the U.S. in 1988, many people were surprised at how different than the original Mario Brothers it was. The second Mario Brothers title that U.S. audiences know was never designed to be a Mario title at all. Instead, it's a game called Doki Doki Panic that's been modified with Mario sprites. Here's a review of the original Super Mario Brothers 2 as designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and released only in Japan. Nintendo felt that the poison mushrooms, blowing wind, and warps that took you backwards made it too difficult for North American audiences."
This is news? (Score:5, Informative)
Current Events (Score:2, Informative)
Re:This is news? (Score:5, Informative)
Nitpick (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Meh, what a worthless review (Score:3, Informative)
Re:US SMB2, Canon or not canon? (Score:5, Informative)
Luigi jumped higher in the Japanese SMB2 ("The Lost Levels"). If you look at the title screen [about.com] you'll notice that you have two options: Mario Game and Luigi Game. There was no two-player.
Mario runs faster than Luigi but doesn't jump as high. Luigi jumps higher than Mario but doesn't run as fast. Both characters would "slide" a little when they stopped running - Mario stopped faster than Luigi.
So the jumping thing is canon from the Japanese SMB2, not the American SMB2.
However, Shyguys have appeared in the various Super Mario RPGs (along with other US SMB2 enemies) so it would seem that it's canon-ish, at the very least.
The Wikipedia article on The Lost Levels [wikipedia.org] lists a bunch of gameplay features and comparisons from The Lost Levels. It's worth noting that The Lost Levels version of SMB2 is actually quite a bit easier than the original SMB2 - the Wikipedia article lists why. (In The Lost Levels, you have The ability to save and trestart at any level, so if you find a backwards warpzone you can easily restart the level you started from. The poison mushrooms were changed to be vibrant purple, looking nothing like normal mushrooms. There are other minor changes to enemy AI that makes the game easier as well.)
Re:This is news? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Bob-ombs (Score:2, Informative)
Interestingly, Birdo apparently used to be a transvestite.