My Top 100: #13 – Super Mario Bros. 2

 

It could have been the look on Mario’s face on the cover, zooming through the air, ready to take on all enemies with nothing but a turnip in his hand.  It could have been the TV commercial, which had real life sets and props made to look like the game.  It could have even been the Nintendo Fun Club News issue that gave hints about its development, or even the cover story on that first issue of Nintendo Power.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see any of those things until the game was released, and didn’t even know those magazines even existed.

My sister worked at the convenience store around the corner from our house, and she had heard through the grapevine that it was coming soon.  Even then, she thought it would be a great surprise to have me wait until I actually saw Super Mario Bros. 2 on the shelf, with my own eyes, to see that it was even a thing…  and you know what?  It was awesome, and totally unexpected.  The best non-Christmas-or-birthday surprise of all time.  OF ALL TIME.

She must have called dibs on that first copy, because we excitedly walked back home to play it.  What could we expect, though?  I had no idea what to think, just because I wasn’t sure if the idea was to experience more of the same, or change the mechanics altogether.  The idea of a video game sequel was a new one to me, so I was cautiously optimistic.

The differences were quite obvious, right off the bat.  The overworld theme was completely different, you could play as any of four characters (one of them being the Princess – whhaaaaattt), and jumping on enemies did absolutely nothing.  You could pick them up and throw them by pressing B, or simply ride on them for a while, which brought quite a change in strategy.  Time it right, and you could even take out a few enemies at once with a well-placed turnip or POW block.

None of the baddies from the first Super Mario Bros. were around this time.  Instead of Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Bullet Bills, we had ShyGuys, Ninjis, and Bob-Omb’s running after us.  Instead of the “dragon” Bowser, we got a frog named Wart who hated vegetables – he was definitely my kind of bad guy!  A few times while eating supper, my parents were subjected to the excuse “I can’t eat vegetables, or else I’ll die like Wart!”

To end a level, there was no flagpole to jump on.  You walked into the gaping mouth of a hawk, and was rewarded with a casino-like slot game to earn extra lives.  Makes sense, right?  Whoo, logic!

Secret doors, alternate routes, and hard-to-reach areas encouraged exploration.  Bringing potions much further away than where you found them usually rewarded you with a health bonus, extra coins, or perhaps even a warp zone.  Every boss required a different strategy, even when they came around for a second battle.

To top it all off, the game ends, and it’s all just a dream!  I mean, yeah, anyone who knew SubCon was an abbreviation of “subconscious” would have been able to figure it out, but I was about five years old.  Even though I “read” the story in the instruction manual, my English wasn’t all that good yet.  The idea of what SubCon was supposed to mean was completely lost on me.  Needless to say, the end of the game was quite a surprise!

The game was just so weird, so different, so colourful and quirky that I couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

 

 

The one thing I think about when I remember my days with SMB2 is that it was my mom’s favourite game to watch.  I made her sit through a TON of gaming when I was little.  I don’t know what it was in particular that made her like this particular game more than any other, but she would always tell me that it was her favourite.  More than any other Mario game, or anything else I played back in the day.

I’m also reminded of that first weekend I rented it, playing on my NES-dedicated TV in the basement.  This was the day after, because we had gone to the store to rent it not long before my bed time rolled around.  On my first real playthrough, I had managed to get to the second level.  At the very end of the stage was a pyramid with a door, so I went in, and saw this.

 

 

This was quite obviously a dead end…  what was I supposed to do?  Was there something back outside of the pyramid that I needed to accomplish in order to clear the path?  I looked and looked, and nothing was glaringly obvious to me…  I even got Mom to come downstairs and help me out, and she couldn’t figure it out, either.

I looked for clues for about a half-hour before lunch time finally rolled around.  I turned it off in frustration, and headed up for chicken nuggets and fries, with a side of plum sauce for dipping…  now, I don’t know for sure if that’s what I had for lunch that day, but that was my favourite thing to eat.  Chances are pretty good that that’s what I had.

In any case, it was during lunch that it dawned on me; of all the things I had tried, pressing the B button was not one of them.  You pressed B to pick up and throw plants or enemies, so why didn’t I try doing that with the sand??  The thought hit me like a ton of bricks, and I immediately felt kinda dumb.  Sure enough, after I was done eating, I went back downstairs, tried it, and that did the trick.

Damn.  Of all the things we tried that day, we didn’t try pressing a button less than a centimetre away.  Brutal.

Mom and I still have a good laugh about that today, actually.  So it’s not all bad, right?