Virtual Console Reviews

This is definetely worth DLing. I love this game.

I would only download this game mainly because I want collect the original mario games and put them on my wii, however this game I think must be one of the worst sequels to a top game in gaming history.

I remember my mate got it for Christmas 1990 and me, him and his sister were totally addicted. I still really enjoy the game to this day.

Yes, it's not a true Mario, but I love the exploration element and overall weirdness of the game. Also all the secrets in the game made it quite interesting too, especially the 'dark side' only warp zones.

Perhaps it would have been better to have started the Super Mario RPG series a console generation earlier?

I love this game. I remember as a little kid playing this game on all stars I loved it been able to chose different characters with different abilities, ( I think this is the first game where you can do that ) and the bosses are cool ( Birdo the egg throwing guy) and they get harder. The place I remember the most is the level with the flying carpet and being Peach.

They relised this on the GBA, so for me tios is a 'been there, done that' game, I will noyt be getting. I don't think we will see allstars, but I think (and hope) each seperate one has superior allstar graphics

AWESOME but Allstars would be gd even tho I already have it for the Snes

I've hesitated about downloading, but I probably will soon.

Super Mario Bros. 2 is one of my favourites games. I prefer over the impossible Lost Levels.

I don't see why some want Nintendo to release All-Stars as it was a cheap imitation of the original games. Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES is a whole lot better.

I for one am glad the US was given this instead of the Lost Levels. That game, IMO, plays like crap and is unbelievably hard besides. NOA made a smart decision here in not releasing it stateside.

The conversion from DDP to SMB2 was certainly an odd choice, but in retrospect look what it's added to the series:

- The ability to pick up objects, including turtle shells.
- The introduction of Bob-Ombs, Shyguys, and others.
- Mario and Luigi's separate personas and appearances.
- Peach's unique ability to float.
- Doors, including locked variations thereof.

I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting as well. Face it, if SMB2 hadn't been released in this form, then SMB3 and all future titles in the series wouldn't have been the same. Heck, certain games, such as Super Princess Peach wouldn't exist at all, at least not in the same format.

The Super Mario series has alot to thank SMB2 for...

"I don't think we will see allstars, but I think (and hope) each seperate one has superior allstar graphics"

Nope, SMB and SMB2 are the NES originals. They have none of the enhancements added in All-Stars.

"I don't see why some want Nintendo to release All-Stars as it was a cheap imitation of the original games."

On the contrary, there were many changes (some good, some bad, IMO) that were made to the games, in addition to the enhanced graphics and sound.

For one, SMB uses completely different jumping physics, which IMO is the worst change made as it completely ruins the feel of the original game. Lost Levels shares these changes, so I wonder if that's how it was in the original SMB2 (Japan).

All games also got save features. SMB2's "slot machine" sequence was changed (for the worse, IMO), however they also added the ability to reselect your character after you die. Also, the 2-player "Versus" mode they added to SMB3, which is basically an enhanced version of the original Mario Bros, is probably the best part of the game.

I think it would be a shame if they didn't release All-Stars on the VC. I for one would download it in a heartbeat.

"Also, the 2-player "Versus" mode they added to SMB3, which is basically an enhanced version of the original Mario Bros, is probably the best part of the game."

This was in the original NES version of SMB3 as well. I remember playing it against friends.

I'm very tempted to download this. It's always been the black sheep of the series, but I still played it when I knew no better so it's got the nostaglic charm to it. Plus I never got past the 3rd level (thats World1-3!) so I'd love to see where this goes.
Just a shame this says 1 player, else I'd have downloaded it on this rainy day and had a game against my sister. In due time I think...

all you people are saying this isnt a true mario game...

ISNT IT OBVIOUS?!

Mario watched Doki Doki panic 3 times on tv before he went to bed, then he had a dream about being in that world, and since Mario is the main character and he jumps doesnt that make it a Mario game? YES! yay mario!

Dudes, this is still my favorite Super Mario game, even if it isn't the best. When I was still a young whippersnapper owning nothing but a NES Mario/Duck Hunt set, Super Mario 2 was the stuff of legends! Me and my friends would go over the toy store and oogle the box art, dreaming of the day we'd scrape enough cash together to buy and play it.

Well, eventually I got it thanks to my brother, who promised to buy it for me if he could have my NES for a week. LONGEST... WEEK... EVER! At one point I was crying over the phone because I knew he was playing MY Mario 2 at his place on MY NES.

And to top this tiresome memoire off, once I had both NES and game in my mitts I finished it just before my mother hauled my butt of to the church of her choice. The ending music haunted me the entire service, making me hum the tune continually so loud that my mother kept shoving me to make me pipe down.

Ah, good times, good times...

Would anyone have enjoyed this game as much if it kept the Arabian characters? I know it would have passed me by unnoticed if it didn't have the Mario license.

'Twas my favorite Mario game back in the day. Thought they are unlikely to make All-Stars avalible, Nintendo should really consider releasing an enhanced remake of SMB2 for the Virtual Console -- since new graphics add a great deal of atmosphere to it.

I loved this one, mainly for the cool atmosphere in Subcon, multiple characters, and all the interesting new bosses/minibosses. But I think the "grabbing" mechanic could've been improved upon like it was in the Wario games for GB, and the dungeons get really repetitive after a few worlds.
It's also easier than SMB/SMB3.

I'm not sure if I'll play this for a while, I tried to do a 'complete in one go' the other night, but ran out of lives/continues on the final boss!

It's an excellent game in any case though. It doesn't meet the dizzying heights of Mario's other platformers, but the game is very playable, and with a few exceptions (I hate that level with all those ostro birds!), top notch level design. Plus, it has a very catchy overworld theme!

This game is excellent, all the haters clearly are missing something. Its gorgeous (for a nes game) introduced regulars such as shy guys, and is just original excellent fun. The little portal doors you make, escaping the floating masks, riding a magic carpet, pure gold.

Ill download this if I cant find the GBA version I had when the GBA first came out. Otherwise its not worth it to buy again with worse graphics. Although in my opinion it's the worst mario game ive played its still really good.

First, I want to mention that this is a Mario game. It's not more or less a Mario game than any other Mario game. Steve and Barry get the point straight!

Second, Super Mario All-Stars would be a nice present from Nintendo if you download them all:
Super Mario Bros. / Super Mario Bros. 2 / Super Mario Bros. 3 (coming soon) / Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels (coming soon)
Then you will be given the option to download Super Mario All-Stars for free. That would be nice but the hopes fly away before I stop this sentence.

"Birdo makes her first appearance in this game..." Actually Birdo makes HIS first appearance in this game. According to the instruction manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is a guy who dresses like a girl.

Talk about pushing the boundaries! Nintendo must have been the first to introduce a transexual dinosaur in a videogame!

I really enjoyed playing this game. I always use to love stealing birdo's bow off his head, that was fun. I hated the frog boss who shot bubbles at you, he was annoying.

A decent game, but it's still just a rip-off of Doki Doki Panic.

I've always understood that the same people who made Doki Doki Panic were the same people who made the Mario series. Anyways, this is a great game that I spent a lot of time in my youth playing and I for one will probably end up downloading today.

love this game. will dl it once I get the cash. can't have a Nintendo system without this sweet game!

Haha, Birdo is a transvestite? I didn't know that. I gotta download this now... =)

Oh come on now. How can you give this anything less than 5? Even if it started out as another game, the concepts are just so original and unique that it belongs along side the others. The only thing I gotta say is that the bosses are a little easy, but skiing along on the ice hopping from one flying fork-dude to another is just fun. Plus it has whales!

This has to be said: If the virtual console is good for anything, it would be to bring the Japanese SMB2 to the states. We're all ready for it, and I personally don't want to play it as The Lost Levels... This is the whole point of online distribution, to allow unconventional marketing habits to be corrected. Who's with me?

Although I do own a NES, I've never actually played the NES version of this game, only the All Stars version. Well, I recently dloaded the original Super Mario Bros. (my NES is broken and I never beat the game on the NES, only All stars) and MAN is it different or what? I'm probably going to buy this game because of how different the graphics are from the All Stars version.

You'll always find people to argue this game, just as people have argued Zelda II, but this is my favorite Mario for the NES. Great graphics, music, and just pure fun. I really like the fact there is no clock and the fact you can get up to four "life points" per level, which really givers this Mario a different feel. All in all a definite game to not miss.

I agree with Wolf- we need the OG SMB2 from Japan released on the Virtual Console. Playing it as Lost Levels on SNES doesn't give us the classic experience (I'm not partial to the steel drum version of the soundtrack). I want the 8 bit quality sounds and graphics! But what would it be titled since Super Mario Bros. 2 is already listed?

Oh yeah, love the US version of SMB2 also- I still think it should get 5 stars.

Whoo hoo! I remember playing SMB2 when I was a kid... sure, all you guys talk about "black sheep" when playing or DL'ing SMB2, but who cares? Anyway, SMB2 (without its game timer; I'm surprised you guys hadn't noticed that!) is a really fantastic game. It has all the varities (spelling?; some good, some bad) it has to offer. Whether or not you have it in your old NES console or GBA, I still recommend downloading this game for the Wii (in case you guys and gals don't have it). Who knows?

I really doubt All Stars will come out on the VC.

On another note, I do think we should get the Japanese Super Mario 2. Since they got OUR Super Mario 2 and it was called Super Mario USA over there, maybe they could call it... Super Mario Japan? Yeah, they'll probably just call it the Lost Levels and call it a day. I also hope they release the NES version and not the SNES All Stars version of it also...

And Super Mario Bros. 2 deserves 5 stars. EXCELLENT game.

I'll surely DL this masterpiece, my favorite of the original 3 Mario games for the NES, why? The excellent music, excellent gameplay, excellent EVERYTHING! All points are worth it for this one.

Much better than I remember it being, and definitely one of the better games available for VC.

This was a staple of my childhood... Brings back tooo too many sweet summer memories... But anyways, it was one of my favorite Mario games if not the most favorable one of mine... It was different then the rest and maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much.. The graphics are just awesome, the whole color scheme kinda reminds me of BONKS adventure.. The thing I never understood was.... what the hell were the warp doors, it was so strange... Find some magic potion smash it and if your lucky you may have smashed it in the right area to enter the "blue and black" world and find a mushroom... It was fun throwing the eggs at that yoshi looking thing.... Maybe Ill be able to beat it, so far..Nope damn whales.

"According to the instruction manual for Super Mario Bros. 2, Birdo is a guy who dresses like a girl."

Wait...aren't Yoshi and Birdo, like, together or something? I'll never lookat Yoshi the same way again....

pit 42 which yoshi maybe it is the pink yoshi or something

I love this game. Who cares if it's different from the first?
Birdo is clearly a girl, because in Mario Strikers for the Wii, sometimes she does pageant poses. But the Birdo thing is another story. Bottomline, This is a Great sequel!
Challenge rating:4.0
Fun rating:8.0
SFX/Music rating:7.5
Gameplay rating:8.5
Graphics rating:7.0
Overall rating:4 stars

To tell the truth, I wanted to download this game even if I had it on All-stars.

This game is okay but doesnt compare to the 1st. Does anyone know when the 3rd game will be released?

Zelda 2, Castlevania 2, and Mario Bros. 2 all have the same thing in common: all three show people stupidly fear change.

Wow, I never commented on this? I love this game, and I think it is better than the first and third (gasp!), even though it is just a sprite swap, basically a mod of Doki Doki Panic! It isn't as good as The Lost Levels, but they both earn 5 stars in my opinion, and are tough to compare anyway. It is like Zelda 2, as Maxx said, far different from the others, but it is still just fantastic. SM World is the best scroller for your money, though. But, in spite of all of this, it should be on the top of anyone's wish list. Download it... NOW! -Clayfrd

listen up N00B_PWN3R, SMB2 is NOT a rip off of DDP it is merely an altered game redesigned for the western market, unlike the many games that don't get released because they are of an eastern taste ( see the VC games that have just been released in Japan only). In hindsight I think that this would be considered racist in todays world (not releasing it over here because it is not to specific races tastes).

The game itself was good, if not a little annoying in places (all mentioned above)......JUST BRING ON SMB3

SMB2 in my opinion is still in the same league as SMB1 and SMB3. My childhood was spent playing all three of these games and I therefore respect all three of them equally. I can see how SMB2 is ultimately considered the "black sheep" of the Super Mario franchise, but it's still a classic.

It's different and it's very good, without its uniqueness it wouldn't be the same experience. Proof is, the original Japanese Super Mario 2, aka Lost Levels is certainly less popular than this.

such an anomaly, but so rad, and gave us so much Mario mythology.

I don't know what I was talking about before, saying been there done that, when I got the game the week it came out. I just noticed that this is like the only mario game that when you jump on an enemy, it doesn't get hurt. The game is all right, It's worthy of 4 stars

Okay, wow. I went a little crazy when I called Mario 2 the best of the original trilogy. Sorry. HOWEVER, I still stand by my 5 star rating. I said my earlier comment after playing SMB2 a LOT. Now I went back and played SMB3 (again), and it blew my mind (again). Having said all that, I feel bad for never having beaten the first four (if you count lost levels) Marios. I have, however, found all 96 exits in SMW, and I have found all 120 stars in SMS and SM64. I have not gotten 121 stars in Galaxy, but I have gotten 120 with Mario. Regardless, I feel something missing. I have gotten to world 7-1 in Super Mario 2. World 8-2 in Super Mario 1, World 8-1 in Lost Levels, and World 3-2 in Super Mario 3 (keep in mind I have played it the least of the three). Some natural force doesn't want me to beat these games! Maybe with the suspend feature I can cheat, err... legitimately beat these classics. Some day.

And now for somthing completly different. It could have been a disaster...it wasn't get it folks!

I like SMB3 more.

This game was just weird when it came out, for obvious reasons but still... 3*

This game is excellent. I don't care if it's wierd or different. It's the bees knees!

accidentally downloaded this today. i was checking the space it would take up and whoops. wrong button!

A lot of my friends didnt like the 2nd mario bros. but i did its actually my favorite i just loved pick up my enimys and throwing them off the edge

i first played thisby getting the GBA version, which was good but it broke. so i decided to play the game it was meant to be played by downloading the original version, which i did and it felt even better (Not sure how). worth a download if you're a Mario fan.

The worst one in my opinion. The first one is great, but this one fales to give me that "Mario Feeling" whatever that is. However, the third one is amazing...go figure.

I still can't understand how Nintendo came up with SMB2--real name Doki Doki Panic, but I enjoy the classic action at times when I am bored of other games. I wonder why we didn't see any other mario games of this type?

Call it the "Black Sheep" or "DDP Rip-Off" or what have you, just remember this: It is confirmed, once you've completely beaten the game, that this was the only platform game in the Mario canon that never really happened - Mario made it all up in a dream.

I have all of the Mario platformers: SMB 123, SMW+Allstars combo, and SM64 on cartridge; SMB2j on GBA import; SMS and Galaxy on disc. As of now, Super Mario Brothers 2 is the only one of those I can't yet play on my Wii.

Seems like I've got one more download I need to do.

This is a good platformer and a solid SMB-game. I must say that I was a little surprised when I first played it back in the day. But as the first shock settled I must say that I enjoyed it and I still do.

When I sold my NES all those years ago, I soon after feared I wouldn't be able to play SMB2 in all it's NES glory ever again. It was my first ever game, so you can imagine my delight at finding out about the Virtual Console. Yay Nintendo!

Great game, it's no SMB 3, but a fine video game nonetheless. Download and enjoy!

@Stardust
Do you have Super Mario Land 1,2, and 3? I have all of the others, and I'm getting Land 1,2, and 3 soon. I don't think SM allstars counts, but I am a fellow collector, and I'm getting that one too.
@calc-nerd
Doki Doki Panic is not its real name. Its real name is SMB2, but it IS Doki Doki Panic. That is, Nintendo simply did a sprite swap and renamed it. Doki Doki Panic the original only released in Japan, so there was no conflict. NOA's rationale for this was that SMB2 the real version was to hard for western audiences.
@Everyone else
Woo! I beat it! Only one more Mario game to beat, SMB3, until I've beaten all of the home console platform mario games, save for the sadistic SMB2J. Sure, I used warps, but, to my credit, I found them all by myself. Anyway. It's fantastic.

I wish someone liked this game as much as I do. This is not my favorite Mario game, but it's better than the original (in retrospect). Plus it was different from every other installment, and even though some say that the formula failed and that's why they never came back to it, the truth is it was an Americanized version that separated itself from every other title. I love this game..... too bad I haven't downloaded it yet.

I really don't care for this game. I'm aware of why Lost Levels was not used as SMB2 outside of Japan, but I'm confused as to why Nintendo used a modded version of Doki Doki Panic instead. Why not just make another game? In my opinion this game compare to true Mario games.

they did make another game - it was a sequel to super mario bros. 2 and would have used up a lot of people and time to design such an epic game. so they wouldn't have had the people or time to design a brand new super mario bros. 2 for america.

I didn't like this version. The music, and graphics are bad and it didn't feel like a Mario game at all! That's why Super Mario Advance for the GBA was 10 times better (even though it was the remake).

@Dazza: If this was Doki Doki Panic instead of Super Mario Bros. 2, would you still rate this 4 stars?

The whole Doki Doki thing is starting to get a bit old now, people need to get over it. OK so this game started out life as something else, it isn't the first time that this has happened.

We didn't award this 4 stars just because its a Mario game, but because it is a really great game in its own right.

I love this game. Of course, I've played it so many times, I won't get it. This game was probably not what most people expected, but still gives a new concept in the Mario Series, and I think that's why SMB3 was a hit. And for people who haven't played this, should buy this now.