I imagine its not tough to come by, I haven't tried hunting it down yet.
Decided to attempt a full clear of Super Mario All Stars. This includes 3 things I've yet to accomplish: Clearing both loops of SMB, clearing all worlds in Lost Levels, and clearing SMB2 without using warps.
SMB *8-4 and Lost Levels D-4 are completed. Now for the tough one. At least afterwards I get to play SMB3
I always wanted to full clear all four saves files for each game on my Super Mario All-Stars cart. But throughout the years that I've owned the game, it would periodically drop my saves.
Ziggy587 wrote:I always wanted to full clear all four saves files for each game on my Super Mario All-Stars cart. But throughout the years that I've owned the game, it would periodically drop my saves.
I thought about doing this as well. If it wasn't for SMB2 I think it would be pretty fun. Though, at least that one offers the right amount of characters for those save slots.
dunpeal2064 wrote:I imagine its not tough to come by, I haven't tried hunting it down yet.
Decided to attempt a full clear of Super Mario All Stars. This includes 3 things I've yet to accomplish: Clearing both loops of SMB, clearing all worlds in Lost Levels, and clearing SMB2 without using warps.
SMB *8-4 and Lost Levels D-4 are completed. Now for the tough one. At least afterwards I get to play SMB3
Yeah, the "Hard" or whatever its called mode that you get taken to when finishing SMB. I had never dove too deep into it, since I had assumed it just replaced Goombas with Buzzy Beetles. Playing through it, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it also increases enemy movement speed, spawns fire sticks in every location they are able to be spawned in, shrinks moving platform size, adds more Bloopers to each water section, and takes any stage that is an easier version of a later stage (1-3 and 5-3 for example), and makes it always be the harder version. Pretty neat, and definitely made for a fun run.
I did do Worlds 9, A, B, C, and D in Lost Levels.
Also just finished SMB2!
Really not sure how to feel about this game. It has a ton of cool ideas. Love the variety in characters, enemies, and bosses. Really love the amount of RNG, both in enemy behavior, and enemies that appear. There are some cool tricks in levels too, like riding enemies or projectiles.
On the other hand, it does some things I really hate. It isn't a Mario game (I know the story, but it still stands out sorely when packed with actual Mario games. I suppose this isn't as much the original game's fault though, to be fair). I never feel encouraged to actually use the primary mechanic of the game. Items in the ground are almost never interesting, and most enemies can just be bypassed more quickly and safely than actually trying to kill them. The potions are fucking dumb, holy shit do I hate these things. The only power up-esk item in the game is just god awful. I also really don't like the controls, and just the general flow of the game feels far inferior to not only Mario, but most solid platformers.
Glad to have checked it off the list, and enjoyed the good parts, but if this was on its own cart, I would have moved it out of the library quickly. It gets a pass for being packed in with 3 of the best Mario games, but I don't see myself returning to this one.
I'll take Super Mario 2 (USA) over Lost Levels any day!
It might not have started off as a Mario game, but it was still a first party Nintendo game (with contributions made by Shigeru Miyamoto, or at least his team - depends on which source you read on the net). Knowing the full story now, yeah, it totally sticks out. But it didn't back when, especially since a lot of NES sequels were vastly different from the first game. It's not exactly the black sheep of the series or as notorious as some other NES sequels (Castlevania II, Zelda II). And it was popular enough to get a release in Japan, which is kinda weird when you think about it.
Ziggy587 wrote:I'll take Super Mario 2 (USA) over Lost Levels any day!
Oh man, no way! Lost Levels is so damn good. A Masterclass in sequel-making and platforming level design.
I do appreciate the history of SMB2. For me personally though, it has no effect on my enjoyment of the game. SMB2 just feels like a third rate platformer. Its floaty, it lacks impact, and it doesn't have the sweet momentum of stuff like Mario, DKC, or Sonic. I like my platforming slick, quick, and meaty.
I'm not saying its awful, on the contrary it has elements that I actually think the better platformers would benefit from. But the things it does wrong outweigh those elements for me.
To me, Lost Levels feels like a expansion/hard-type ROM hack. If that's your preference, that's cool, but I'll take the delightful weirdness of SMB2 any day.
Funny to see that argument still made that SMB2 isn't a Mario game. Miyamoto said otherwise directly in an interview a few years back. It started as a Mario prototype as SMB2j (Lost Levels) was considered just a FDS pro thing so that original huge gap between that FDS game and 3 wasn't intended. We know the details of the Fuji TV/Doki Doki deal, he gave the run down of it in the interview. Either way it was a Mario sequel before it wasn't, and then because he wanted it as such, it was finally made one for the US, and due to the SMB3 arrival in Japan, it then ended up being a later release for them called SMB USA. He even went on to say that SMB2(USA) is his favorite of the SMB Mario games.
Hate on it if you like or not, but don't say it's not a Mario game, the creator would correct you otherwise.
Personally I love it. I actually was disappointed in SMB3 because the dumbed down the Mario sprite in that sequel. It lost the cartoony soft well made design that the old US TV cartoon had, and went with a more sterile beady black eyed looking sprite instead. SMB2 gave us all the mechanics that SMB3 inherited anyway with the pick up and throw stuff, and some characters got to return like Pokey. It's a shame they never re-explored the sub-con stuff as there's some good designs in there with that games bosses.
