Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Super Mario Bros. 2

SPEAK TO ME, BIRDO!

Drop a turnip on it!

Nintendo needs to make a real 2D Mario game again.

I hate this game....that's all I have to say.

Better Mario Games in No Particular Order:

• Mario 64
• Mario Galaxy
• Mario Galaxy 2
• Super Mario Bros
• Super Mario Bros 3

The music.

Random shy guy death. He died from nothing? WTF was that???

Had to read the description twice, brain kept leaving the word "up" out of the sentence. Sorry, I'll show myself out now.

Whoa, 3rd best? I don't know about that.

Also I remember when Alex talked about doing a video for this game on a Bombin' the A.M. at least like 2-4 months ago, and then it never materialized. I was sure he had just abandoned the idea.

If you have a discussion about the 3 best Mario games and they aren't SMB3, SMW and SM64 (in any order) you're wrong.

Alex is wrong.

And i like SMB2 just fine. Not top 3 material though.

@pr1mus: Super Mario 64 is the lie we tell ourselves to make the world seem okay. It's a good enough Mario game, but benefits HEAVILY from being the first 3D Mario. The Galaxy games run laps around that thing.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is my favorite Mario game. :)

Man, Alex is the one that's keeping Bombastica alive. Keep it up Alex, we love you!

We never thought anything weird of it when it came out, because we didn't know better. It was a Mario game to us, it's still a Mario game, took a great leap beyond what the first one was and we loved and continue to love it. Aged damn well.

Thank you Alex, as someone who feels older every day in the world of gaming I greatly appreciate it.

@alex: You speak crazy! SM64 is one of those rare early 3D games from that era that i can still pick up today and play after not playing it for years at a time and find that it still controls and feels great.

Sudden Shy Guy Death Syndrome (SSGDS) is a very serious problem that occurs in 1 out of 10 Shy Guys yearly. Alex is here to spread awareness about this unfortunate (and sadly poorly understood) problem plaguing the Mushroom Kingdom.

Am I too young to appreciate 2D Mario? I LOVE Mario 64, I grew up playing it and played it again recently.

However when I try to play SMB3 or world... They are just boring. I feel like you maybe need a dose of nostalgia to like them?

There is no such thing as too young to appreciate 2D Mario.

Reminds me of this XKCD strip

hey Alex you did a pretty good job at showing off this game. You're too hard on yourself man, who seriously remembers the potion locations in a 30+? year old game?

@masterrain: Nope. As someone that also grew up playing 64 and would say its easily my favorite, I still think 3 and World are AMAZING and rival 64.

Hey @alex, aren't good at getting shot in the face, but you are much better at this game than I am. Birdo always gave me trouble and don't even get me started on how many lives I've lost to the hydra.

Did You Know Gaming has a really good breakdown answering the whole "wait, so why did Nintendo just reskin some game" thing. The short answer is "they sorta did and they sorta didn't." Skip ahead to 3:30 in on this vid.

Also? Alex is right. I will grant you that World is amazing. And I understand why people would say SMB3 is the best. But SMB2 is still the champion in my heart.

Hey @alex, you did a great job of showcasing this game!

Wait, Alex doesn't know why they reskinned Doki Doki Panic? It's because The Lost Levels was considered too hard for US audiences, so they needed a quick SMB2 for the US market. I knew that when I was in middle school.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/7743616848/alex-navarro-to-do-encyclopedia-bombasitcas-everyday-all-year-long

Indeed, he is the best SMB2 player of all time!

The best Mario game!

I don't have a ranked list of Mario games but if I did, this would be damn near the bottom.

That said, watching @alex (expertly) play this crap is super entertaining.

I'm guessing it's:

1. Super Mario World
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Super Mario Bros. 2

I'd probably replace SMB2 with Super Mario 64. Not a fan of the whole Galaxy thing where you're going around planets. I mean, literally around the planet you're on. Kinda gives me a headache.

Favourite thing about this game is the bird exits.

You did a great job showcasing that game Alex. Thanks a lot.

Keep up the good work!

I had the SNES version of this game

A few points:

1 - I didn't once scream at my computer, and I think it's because you were at least self-aware the whole time.

2 - I'm always surprised by how many people dislike Luigi. He was my favourite character in this game, and the sheer height of his jump makes all kinds of skips and shortcuts possible.

3 - The best time to play as Toad is in the early stages, where he can grab coins like nobody's business.

4 - I don't know that Nintendo has ever given a definitive answer, but it's widely believed that Birdo is transgendered, having been born a male but self-identifying as female… and I'm able to effortlessly pull this information off the top of my head while not being able to remember the birthdays of any of my loved ones. Please don't judge me too harshly.

I don't remember fondly, sorry I don't remember it fondly. I hated this game a lot when I was a kid

Alex is crazy. Luigi is THE character to play as in Super Mario 2.

arguing about what mario game is best is such a waste of time when all the mario games range from pretty great to fantastic, I mean you really can't loose with your choice.

Nintendo could really use another Super Mario Brothers 2; not a sequel to that, but just another big, strange shakeup of the franchise. Every Mario game released within the last few years all look like they came off the same exact factory belt.

Also, I will defend Mario 64 over Galaxy for its fantastic focus on exploration. Galaxy didn't let you miss anything, while you could miss entire levels if you didn't search hard enough in 64. I loved and still love the world and level design of 64.

Great video though, Alex, I do remember enjoying this when I first played it as part of the All Stars package.

Thanks Alex!

Alex is on the money, this game is great! It stands as one of the more unique Mario games due to it's enemy types and mechanics, and man, that music.

Not to expect much from Nintendo these days, but a Mario 2 successor these days would be a welcome change of pace.

This brought back fond memories of my childhood when all was innocent and this Doki Doki Panic was unknown. I let the ending music play for like 2 hours the first time I beat the game. It was a beautiful moment at the time. In hind's sight: what a dumb ending, but still amazing music.

It's really difficult to rank my favorite Mario games. All I can say definitively is that Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3 and Mario 64 are all very special games to me. Never owned a SNES so can't say much about any Mario games on it.

I didn't like Mario Bros 2 back in the day as much as I like it now. It's kind of grown on me over the years. If it comes down to it though Super Mario Bros 3 is my favorite Mario game of that era.

Awesome! And well played, @alex

Personally always loved this one over the original SMB. Peach or bust.

My guess, based on nothing fan speculation, is that they'd most likely hedge their bets, and any significant shakeup will be treated more as a spin-off series until they have some idea whether or not people like it.

I had forgotten how awesome the music was in this game. It has a great ragtime sound.

SMB2's definitely my third favorite Mario game, after 3D World and SMB3.

Wart is criminally underused. He and Stanley the Bugman need to show up in something new, and not just as a cameo or a Smash Bros. trophy/sticker.

I didn't like SMB2 that much when it first came out--probably because I was 5 and was terrible at it--but after playing it more and getting better at it as I got older, I soon came to love it. Might be my 2nd favorite Mario game behind Super Mario World. I have to say though, I got used to playing with Luigi and only ever used him.

Cherry in the first slot guarantees at least a 1up, regardless of what's in the middle and right slots.