Super Mario Bros 2 is actually a game called Doki Doki Panic. When Nintendo brought Doki to the United States, changes to the game were made and the Mario Characters and name was added. That being said, it was created by the same team at Nintendo and while it is a huge departure from other Mario games, it is a great game in its own right. Having the ability to choose between 4 different characters, each with different running speeds, jump heights and jump floatiness, and special abilities is unique-- and every level is beatable with everyone, although some characters have clear advantages in different levels. The game is not too difficult-- the only real difficulty is having to start from the beginning of the game when you run out of continues. There are warp zones; however, they are not as helpful as one would like, requiring players to sometimes beat a half dozen or more levels, some of them pretty difficult in order to return to where they have left off. This problem is only made worse by the knowledge that the Japanese version of the game had a save system which would allow one to pick up from wherever they left off.
The Good:
- A unique game featuring four characters with different abilities.
- Bosses at the end of each chapter which are different and memorable.
- Great music
The Bad:
- Having to start over from the beginning of the game and go through several tough levels in order to get back to where you were at, as the warp zones aren't in very good locations.
- Nothing in our version of the game to encourage the player to try different characters.