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Review : Famicom Mini Series Vol. 21: Super Mario Bros. 2 for Gameboy Advance

This week Nintendo released the US version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES on the Wii Virtual Console. However this game isn't the real original Super Mario Bros. 2 and this past weekend I found a copy of Famicom Mini Series Vol. 21: Super Mario Bros. 2 for Gameboy Advance at Pink Godzilla Games.

Now the original sequel to Super Mario Bros. was a new game using the same engine and most of the same graphics as the first game but with much more difficult level design and a few game play changes. It was published on the Famicom Disk System in 1986 and technically could have been brought over to the US on a cartridge for the NES. Many other Famicom Disk System games were released in the US as cartridges such as Kid Icarus, Metroid and Legend of Zelda 2 : Links Adventure. However then Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln did not like the game because of it's increased difficulty, overall similarities to the original Super Mario Bros. or perhaps he just sucked at it. So he ordered Nintendo of America to translate the some what vaguely Mario like Doki Doki Panic and call it Super Mario Bros. 2 in the US and they redid the main characters in Doki Doki Panic with Mario and friends. That is the main reason why the US Super Mario Bros. 2 bears so little resemblance to any other Mario game. Nintendo later went on to sell the Mario version of Doki Doki Panic in Japan along side the original but called it Super Mario USA.

Now the original Super Mario Bros. 2 was included in the 16-bit remake in Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo and it was referred to as Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. Now this version not only included 16-bit remade graphics but it was made considerably easier by adding extra power ups and 1-Ups all over the place. It was also included on the Gameboy Color game Super Mario Bros. Deluxe but it had the difficulty cranked down like the Super Nintendo version.

Fast forward years to when Nintendo was releasing many of the original Famicom hits for the Gameboy Advance in their Famicom Mini collection. Some of them came out in the US as the NES Classic Series. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in the third wave of Famicom Mini games. This version is based on the Famicom Disk System game and it even has the mascot Disk-Kun (Mr Disk) on it's yellow cartridge and retro stylized box. Normally I don't pay much attention to the boxes of games but the Famicom Mini collection boxes are just plain cool. Pink Godzilla was selling it for $60 and it was cheaper than me getting a working Famicom Disk System and the disk version. It's also nice and portable and looks good on my Nintendo DS Lite. I've seen it sold online here and here for around $30 and even as high as $80 here.

So at first glance you pick it up and assume that your just going to dominate this game since it looks like Super Mario Bros. and you've been dominating that game since the mid 80s. Your in for a shock. This game is hard, hard, hard and the levels are peppered with next to impossible jumps, lots of jumping turtles and even the goombas can kill you easier. Even the normally underwater squids appear flying through the air after Mario and Luigi as you try to jump through platform to platform. The power ups are scarce and hard to find and generally there is a lot of falling to your death. It's fun since it is still Mario but only a super hard core "I hate children" game Otaku only version of Mario. For years I was a little miffed at Nintendo of America for keeping this game from me but now that I've gotten to play it I can sort of see where they were coming from. In this game you can select either play through the game as Mario or Liuegi. Luigi can jump higher but has less foot traction and ends up falling to his death just as much as Mario. I have actually been tempted to quote the Angry Video Game Nerd in this review and I't leave it up to you to imagine what he would have to say about this game. I don't know what we would still think about the Mario games if we were frustrated by this game as kids back in the 80s. Would we be bitter and hold it against Mario or would the thousands of times falling to your death or being bitten by Koopas make us into tougher gamers?

The Super Mario All-Stars version of this game was cleaned up and watered down while the famicom Mini version is just as hardcore as the Famicom Disk System version. The graphics are a little bit stretched to fit the Gameboy advance screen but it still looks fine. if you are a hard core Nintendo freak than you probably owe it to yourself to get the one Super Mario Bros. game that Nintendo thought you were not hardcore enough to handle so they kept it from you for many years. The disk package had a tag on it that read "For Super Players" and that is who it is for. Are you a Super Player? Do you think you can handle the Super Mario Bros. game that Nintendo of America though that you couldn't handle as a Kid? Well do ya? Then you should track down a copy of Famicom Mini Series Vol. 21: Super Mario Bros. 2 for Gameboy Advance and find out.

Jake at July 3, 2007 Reviews

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Posted by: Anonymous at January 7, 2008 4:06 PM

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