Real Super Mario Bros. 2 finally gets an official release

Splodge · Real Super Mario Bros. 2 finally gets an official release

Super Mario Bros. 2 was released today in Europe on the Wii's Virtual Console, as part of a series of Japanese-only releases. It seems Nintendo is finally willing to admit that this game exists to us Western fans. It's hard as hell but that makes it just that bit more rewarding when you actually finish a castle, and it's a thousand times better constructed than "Super Mario USA", which I've always hated (even before I knew the history).

Among the other games coming soon are Gradius III and Sin and Punishment (reviewed in Video Masters TV episode 6).

I know alot of you are against the whole concept of the Virtual Console. Personally I'm on the fence. I only really use it for N64 (which I can't emulate well) and NES (which is kind of cool to play on a console). Anyway, I figure with all the other free stuff I get from the internet I don't mind paying for a couple of great games. That way, I'm not a complete criminal, right?

KT Kore

I keep hearing about people who are against Virtual Console, I even heard John make little comments about it on VMTV, but I never heard any reasons why. The only thing I can think of is that it doesn't give you the same experience as playing the actual cartridges on their original consoles with the original controllers -- as well as that whole "gameplay suspension" thing which is somewhat like "save states" on a PC emulator, but not really. Other than that, I really like VC.

As for getting the real SMB2, I wish we could get that here in America. Sounds like it's a Europe-only thing for now. I've already played SMB2 on SNES when I was a kid when I bought Super Mario All-Stars and SMB2 was included on it as "The Lost Levels" (I had no idea I was playing the real SMB2 back then, though). But I've never played the original NES game. It was a damn hard game, but not so hard that they couldn't bring it over to the west. That was a lame move. US Super Mario 2 is one of my least favorite Mario games (though I still liked it). It would have been much better to play the real Mario 2 on NES.

John Gibson

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v179/leonki/smb2_cart.jpg

Get a load of this. How would you like to play Super Mario Bros 2 on the actual NES? I mean the real SMB2.

Check this site out. We may discuss it in the future.

http://www.nesreproductions.com/

miner2049er

I wasn't going to pick this up as I have it on SM Allstars and can also emulate on the same TV my Wii is hooked up to, but I couldn't resist.

I also said that about Mario Kart 64 though, and ended up buying that yesterday too.

I guess I like the convenience of not having to go and hunt down an Xbox controller to play them emulated.

launchpad25

What i like about the Virtual Console is that you don't have to blow into cartridges anymore to get the games going since their just emulated ROMs anyway. I do own 'SMB2' on the Virtual Console, and i can see why most Mario fans don't like it as much. It's slightly different from the traditional games mostly because it originated as a Japaneese game called 'Dokie Dokie Panic'. If the real 'SMB2' becomes available for the VC in the states, i'd gladly buy it, and give it a shot.

On a slightly related note, i sent Nintendo a letter a few months back asking them to make the arcade versions of 'Donkey Kong', 'Donkey Kong Jr.', 'Mario Bros.', and such available for the Virtual Console sometime in the future, but untill that happens, the only way Nintendo will ever make the original 'Donkey Kong' legally available is if they bring 'Donkey Kong 64' to the VC since it has the arcade cabinet in Donkey Kong's bedroom.

Splodge

Just a bit of an update.
I've been playing the game on and off for the last few weeks. I'm only at world 5 but so far, I'm really enjoying it.

Alot of reviews I've read have said that it's really hard.
This is true but the game isn't going to kill you with cheap tactics. The level construction is incredibly clever. It's not cruel hard - you won't die because of too many enemies on screen or impossible jumps. It's more of a puzzle - you have to die a few (hundred) times - so you can figure out the level and learn from your mistakes (similar to R-Type III). After I had played through world 4 a few (hundred) times, I was pretty much able to do the first 3 levels without losing a life or even getting hit at all (while running through them at top speed).

I'd definitely like to see a review of this on VMTV. Probably not a Play View though because there would probably be alot of bad language from Matt or John. Generally I don't curse alot but this game has a way of bringing it out of me.

KT Kore

Haha, yeah the game is pretty tough. I really loved the challenge. But it's not so hard that they had to give us some other game and call it Mario 2 instead of releasing the real one outside of Japan.

By the way, this game is now on Virtual Console here in America as well. It's 600 Wii Points instead of the usual 500.

Did you guys know that Mario 3 (at least in America) was watered down a bit to make it easier? In Japan, if you're powered up Mario and you get hit, you go right back to little Mario. But in the US version if you're powered up Mario and get hit, you go back to normal big Mario and then if you get hit again you go back to small Mario. tsk tsk