Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Super Mario Bros. 2

top 10 mario games in context

1. Super Mario 64

--Metroid

--Zelda II Adventure of Link

2. Super Mario Sunshine

3. Super Mario Bros. 3

--Kid Icarus

--Super Metroid

4. New Super Luigi Bros. U

5. Super Mario Bros.

--Mega Man

--Castlevania

6. New Super Mario Bros. U

--Castlevania III

7. Super Mario World 2 Yoshi's Island

--Super Castlevania

--Castlevania II

--Mega Man 2

8. Super Mario Bros. 2

9. Super Mario World

--Mega Man 3

--Milon's Secret Castle

10. Super Mario Galaxy

When a video goes while I do a Spelunky daily challenge, I usually let the Spelunky music play. But not this day!!

I'd put Galaxy 2 over this as number three, but just barely.

Good stuff, Alex.

Third best? How does that work, it's behind (in no particular order) Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World.

i think all game journalists are bad at platformers

Wait, there were people who didn't like Super Mario Bros. 2?

I beat this game with Toad. Although it was not the best choice.

Easily in my top 3 Mario games. Mine probably go something like: SMW, SMB2, SMLand2 (gasp!)

It was really fun backseat playing "Alex, what are you doing!" haha, when you missed stuff or did things the hard way.

When I have to put a city on some online profiles, I put "Subcon"

THIS IS NOT A GOOD MARIO GAME!

Yoshi's Island

the rest.

This was hella fun to watch! I've never made it anywhere near that far in this game. I think I would always warp to a later more difficult area and get annihilated.

The coin total is in hex. lol

Alex you did a good job! :3

Yeah, the Super Mario Land games are too often overlooked. I love them, and the music is goddamn amazing.

Don't know about that third best Mario claim, but that level 1 music is definitely the best Mario track.

Alex you did a really good job of playing this game!

I have a 25 year history of seeing this game and thinking huh... this is a weird thing. Every single time that same reaction. I expect I should have at some point come to terms with it, but no.

Never did own a copy. Or rent it, i don't think. My sole experience with it was short sessions over at the houses of friends of friends who had parents who had enough money to buy the weird games in addition to the staples.

SMB 2 the third best Mario game? He's a list of better Mario games than SMB 2.......

1.) Every SMB game that is not SMB 2

2.) SMB 2.

It was okay until Alex got to the puzzle segments. Watching him jump while holding the bomb to blow up the wall rather than simply dropping it made me cringe. There's a really funny moment about 41 minutes in where he reaches a point where his maximum jump isn't high enough. He says nothing in the game could make him jump that high right before killing the NPC who just stands there and jumps. He then jumps over two more guys who are just standing there jumping.

Hopefully the next one has more facts and history, this one was lacking in comparison to the wresting games.

Goddamn you, Alex Navarro. I saw like five minutes of this video and ran to get my 3DS and buy it on the Virtual Console. Now instead of watching the rest of the video I'm playing Super Mario Bros. 2. Which means I'm going to sleep super late because there's no way I'm not watching the rest of this video before bedtime. I just gotta finish this game for the 100th time first. Goddamn you, Alex Navarro.

Great show! Great Mario game!

@alex: I feel exactly the same way about Mario 64. I'm relatively nostalgic about it, but every time I try to go back to it... ugh. In comparison especially, Galaxy 1 & 2 are the omniscient God of 3D platforming.

Also, I feel like nobody mentions this, but Doki Doki Panic was end result of a scrapped prototype for a sequel to Super Mario Bros. So in a way, it was destined to become Super Mario Bros. 2 from the beginning.

HEY ALEX, YOU DID A GREAT JOB PLAYING THIS GAME.

...Alex is Brad at video games.

I remember as a little kid being so sad about this game, just like Link 2 it broke my heart.

I love Alex video content

I still can't stand this game. Always felt inferior to SMB1,3, World

i remember playing this in Mario all-stars at like age 6-7 area. I remember it being so much harder back then, but Alex is right, Princess is the choice.

Birdo is the wordo.

Another great video, Alex!

I've always found the shitty controls for this game to be the main thing that holds this game back for me. It's an addictive game, though, and the ability to use multiple characters was pretty crazy back in the day.

I can't agree with that. The Galaxy games are great, but too linear in comparison to Mario 64. Also the whole going upside-down thing is very confusing and off-putting to the younger players I've tried to give it to.

EDIT: I love Mario 2 but it only made 13th on the crazy list I made. Its a great game but there's just so much competition in the Mario franchise.

You can always tell who the scrub SMB2 players are by who picks the princess the most.

Great EB by Alex!

So what I learned watching this video is that while I didn't really touch SMB 2 until it came out in the All-Stars collection for SNES, I became kind of obsessed with it and played it A LOT. That said, there are still some levels where I have no goddamn clue where the "right" spot to drop that potion is.

Awesome! I started to think Alex forgot about doing this.

What do all those cherries even do?

@hassun: Once you get enough cherries then an invincibility star spawns, IIRC

Lord Gamblor makes an appearance at ~29 minutes.

Love that boss music.

Only scrubs pick Princess Toadstool for every level.

Alex, you did a great job showing off this game and you aren't the worst SMB2 player of all time and definitely aren't a dickhead! Good job! :)

I don't know if this is my third favorite Mario, but I still like it pretty well. The game being way crazy and different goes a long way for me. I think one of the Galaxy games would be in my 3rd place spot (World and SMB3 are definitely top two, though).

@Alex Navarro please keep doing these - one of the better site features.

@alex Have you given any thought into maybe running these games through a filter that'd make them look a little bit more like they would have being played on a CRT? There are a few solid ones out there and Tested.com did an article on em a while back. The ones I've used in the past are a bit extreme in that they also try to fake the curvature of a screen but even just the scan lines would bring out a more authentic look. It doesn't change how the game plays at all but it does provide something. Here's an example of what Mario All Stars looks like through the ones I used to use.

I always liked Super Mario Bros 2 because it was so weird. 1 and 3 are great too of course. I think I had the most fun with 2 though. By the SNES I was more or less done with Mario stuff.

I know... it' a great one.

wow. i've only ever played the All Stars version of this game. they definitely did a fair bit of work on this game for that. for instance i'm like 99% sure you can throw bombs down ladders.

anyways, this game is great. i play as the princess all the way through.

thanks for doing this video, Alex! please keep doing these videos, Alex!

I think we can all agree despite everyone's different stances on SMB2 that birds are not people.

Encyclopedia Bombastica is a great show to watch. Please keep these coming.

I wasn't going to watch this, but I think I will just to work out how Alex can compress 5 games (World, 3, 64, Galaxy, and Galaxy2) into two places in a top 3.

I firmly believe the first Super Mario is the best Mario.