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."
Super Mario All Stars (Score:3, Interesting)
US SMB2, Canon or not canon? (Score:5, Interesting)
Interesting fact about Mario... (Score:5, Interesting)
Too difficult? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Popularity of SMB (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't agree with that statement. Look at movies - there are two primary ways to get an R rating: sex and violence. The more explosions you add to a movie, the higher your box office draw. The more skin you show, the more adults will flock to your movie. Neither of these add anything to the plot or content of a movie, but without them it's harder for a movie to attact an audience.
Then you have movies like Seven, Silence of the Lambs, and other classics. These movies are built almost entirely around violence, and not of an immature kind either.
Violence is a part of everyone's life. Even in our relatively sheltered 21st century lives, it's a day to day fact - if not in person (and at some point it IS in person for most people), then by proxy. It's also a mature subject, in that you try to shelter the young from it as best you can - and in that it takes an adult to understand it as a story mechanism and not the central focus.
I also don't agree about most violent games having violence purely because of poor gameplay. I haven't seen many truly bad violent games, except for those copying far superior violent games. Grand Theft Auto required violence for it's storyline to work at all, yet the same gameplay worked well for Simpson's Hit and Run (a far less violent game). First Person Shooters require violence, and the greatest of them all have been some of the most violent games ever to exist. Also, like movies, fiction-based follow-the-story games have usually been at their best when the plot was "mature" - simply because sex and violence are visceral. Just ask Shakespeare. Virtually all of the major classics of literature have involved shock of one sort or another, even when that shock isn't as gaudy as less talented hands make it.
In other words, there is nothing intrinsically immature about violence. Glorifying it as something it's not is a sign of an immature mind that has neither truly experienced nor understands violence, but accepting it as a reality, and something that gives fictional events and experiences a deeper sense of reality, is a sign of maturity. Whether that person abhors it and avoids it wherever possible, or whether that person can sit back and enjoy a good tragedy without the "cool" factor, both are signs of maturity, not immaturity.
(Imagine Hamlet without the murder, vice, insanity, incest, and blood? Or Henry V, or Julius Ceasar, or Macbeth)
Re:US SMB2, Canon or not canon? (Score:3, Interesting)
Bob-ombs also appeared in Super Mario World, along with Ninjis in Bowser's castle, and Pidgets (as replacements for Bullet Bill after you beat the Special world.)
Yeah, I'm way too into this.
Re:Popularity of SMB (Score:2, Interesting)
Be careful with the word "immature" here, it carries a negative connotation that I don't believe you intend (and you're wrong if you did intend it). And "mature" games, very often, are presented in a juvenile, sensationalistic way, while games that don't seek to play up their blood-and-sex content are free to have a more mature subject matter. Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, to give recent examples, are games have have almost a storybook presentation but are far from immature.
Anyway I think the phenomenon you bring up isn't all that surprising. Games that seek to shock or titilate tend to age rather ungracefully, since newer games that seek to do the same are, overall, better for having better graphics, while the older games are quickly superceded in the areas that were their primary selling point.
He Made The Right Decision (Score:3, Interesting)
While the Japanese SMB2 had some interesting new features -- wind/weather, bad powerups -- it lacked the whimsy and mystery that SMB2 provided. It was really just more of the same.
That being said, I know of lots of people who would've loved to have "more of the same". I knew people that played SMB1 inside and out and would've definately bought the Japanese version had it been available. I think *both* versions should've been sold here.
Re:US SMB2, Canon or not canon? (Score:1, Interesting)
The original SMB was fun at the time, probably mainly because I was still in the phase where it was important for me to be as good as the older kids at the pizza place. I guess in my mind I thought playing til I got it right was how to be cool/earn respect. Yeah, they got me good with that bandwagon. Unfortunately, the original game isn't fun for me as an adult. It requires way too many perfectly timed jumps, and I've grown accustomed to having more control in games. I've grown to hate the side scroll "take what they give you and play it til you get it right" mentality. I like being able to go back and explore. I have more fun when I play the game at my pace.
p.s. SMB3 was a lot more fun than SMB: the Tanooki and Frog suits were awesome, and also liked the overview map, but there's something about SMB2.
Re:Meh, what a worthless review (Score:3, Interesting)
Why write this crappy article? Well, the E3 registration deadline is less than 2 weeks away. Maybe he's one review away from scoring a press pass. Hmm...
Oh look, he wrote an article about how to get into E3 last year [about.com].
bort.