Super Mario 2 was actually the first game I got that was mine, not shared with my brother. The characters and bosses were so cartoon-like (vastly superior to 8 bouts with the Koopa King). Sub-con really shined, and the idea of an inverted world where items and warp zones were hidden was simply brilliant! Super Mario 2 is a wonderful game... I just wish they'd make a sequel Mario in this world! I'd love to read about your nostalgia and appreciation for the game or if you know any other bits that I missed? Thanks!
Me too Mario 1 is my 1st then Mario 2!!! And Mario want to share with my brother but Mario too was all mine to myself and my brother I did not have to share with that card he was much too Busy with Mario one still. Which I beat trying to beat Mario 1
Shoot that's a genius idea to make a second Doki Doki panic AKA super Mario 2 because I never even would have thought of them making a sequel to it. Because they didn't even means to make it super Mario 2 in the first place it was kind of like a fluke so like I think it was a miracle and and that consideration if the flu happened again it would be a miracle and a sequel to super Mario 2 would be good actually I would think it would be a masterpiece especially this day and age and for the graphics to get a major overhaul in 4k and the sound effects and the music would be surprisingly good
This is top-tier content. Absolutely insane amount of efforts put into this from start to finish, with attention to detail put into even the smallest of gags. Seriously, I thought 300 hours for one of my video was a lot of work - i can't even imagine how many hours you put into research and dev, storyboarding, script writing, performances, and animations. Triple thumbs up!
7:25 A lot of Nintendo's early NES era decisions were responses to the Video Game Crash. The VCR-esque redesign of the Famicom, the pixel art boxes, the censorship, the draconian third party licensing program were them determined not to repeat Atari's mistakes. I wonder if the decision to not being Lost Levels over was at least another factor in that. A frustratingly hard sequel to Nintendo's flagship game might undone a lot of their hard work in bringing video games back from the brink. Similar to how Pac-Man and E.T were the 2600's undoing.
Here in Brazil, Mario 2 Lost Levels arrived even before Mario 2 USA, through piracy, we didn't really understand what it was, but we played to try to beat the difficulty. Great video, congratulations.
I am really impressed at all the work that went into this. I know how much effort it takes to make a special graphic for a three-second throaway gag, and this video is full of em! One thing I think people often fail to appreciate about the "real" Super Mario 2 (Lost Levels) is just how strange it is. The conventional take is just that it's "hard," which it is, but it's also very puzzle-like in a way no other Mario game is. Like, the levels aren't just things you suffer through, they're very precise things you can only get through by "solving" - hit these blocks in a specific order, bounce off these koopas the second the wind changes direction, etc. Everything is so precise, and super-linear. I found it an annoying game, but it's interesting because it represents a path the series did not take.
Hey! Thanks J.J.! That’s a very good take and great way of explaining it. FDS Mario 2 has its place in the series for sure. I think by the time westerners got to play it in All Stars we were weren’t able to see beyond those initial frustrations and how dated it seemed, but it’s an interesting play if you know what you’re doing. Also, thank you for recognizing the editing details. It's one of my favorite parts of the process but it's lost on a lot of people who don't edit.
@@NESComplex 5:51: If only we had the Romanized version of the title that says "Yume Kojo: DOKI DOKI PANIC!" with eyes on the "Kojo" part of the title looking like a face. It would look cool. 20:14: ua-cam.com/video/k2xiS2w6wcE/v-deo.html It's also possible that Doki Doki Panic was going to be a Mario game at first, as not only were there elements from SMB1 and Mario Bros. used in it (Coins, Starmen and Pow Blocks), but there is one enemy that was also in the Yume Kojo version that was not a Yume Kojo character to begin with: Spark from Donkey Kong Jr. There were two variants, red and blue. These Red Sparks would later be reintroduced in Super Mario World as Hotheads, with the small versions being called L'il Sparkies. In a related note to Sparks, there's another Mario connection in Zelda much like Wart in Link's Awakening: Sparks appeared in both Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.
6:35 Howard was right. Hope Nintendo thanked him for such an honest review of SMB2 in my opinion he saved the franchise and possibly influenced others like Zelda.
I couldn't agree more with how Mario 2 was handled. Doki Doki would have been too obscure to be a hit, and Mario 2 would have been a disaster for the US market. Combining them was a stroke of genius.
As learned from another channel (Retro Game Mechanics), there's a cool trick they used for the characters' eyes. The white is actually a separate sprite. The character sprite was already four colors, which is the max, so they made the eye pixels blank/transparent and laid it over a white rectangle sprite to give them a fifth color for eye whites.
Excellent video on the development, popularity, and legacy of the North American/world version of _Super Mario Bros. 2_ ! This game was a big part of my childhood, along with its cartoon adaption, _The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!_ , which had actually combined elements of _SMB1_ and _2_ . It's also insane that by the time the rest of the world got _SMB2_ , Japan got _SMB3_ just a mere two weeks later. Keep up the good work.
As a kid I was huge into Mario and Zelda, pestering my parents for an NES from the ages of 4-6 until my dad relented and I got one for my sixth birthday, roughly a year before SMB3 came out. I never owned Super Mario 2 but rented it dozens of times and always loved how strange it was in comparison to the other titles. Still recall in the Nintendo Power Mario Mania guide learning the whole Doki Doki Panic connection and my mind was blow. And playing Link's Awakening I immediately recognized Wart and thought it was the coolest little Easter Egg considering the dream setting of both titles.
Most "you didn't know this about that" videos have no new information for anyone even slightly familiar with the subject, but this one actually had a lot of things I didn't know about SMB2. Well done!
I rarely leave comments on UA-cam. I absolutely needed to just so you’re aware of how good your videos are. I love video games, born in the 80s and can’t get enough nostalgia as nes was so important for kids like us. Just know your videos are the best. Period. Thank you and I can’t wait to see more.
I grew up in a rural area in the 80s, so we had no access to gaming news. I never heard of games either I or my friends didn't have until I was probably 14 or 15. This was one I first saw at a neighbor's house, and then immediately told my mother I wanted it for Christmas
Even though "Super Mario Bros. 3" is a fantastic sequel for the NES, "Super Mario Bros. 2" will always be my favorite Mario game because of how unique its gameplay is when compared to all the other games in the series, and it's also not as long to play on a single setting while also being the first game to feature Luigi in his re-designed look that makes him different and more distinguishable from Mario (though, ironically, he still ended up looking like a palette swap of Mario in "Super Mario Bros. 3" as well as "Super Mario World").
Mario 3 & World were disappointing to me with generic Luigi looking like a green Mario. Fortunately, fan hacks made him taller and some added his higher jump.
@@elmarakovideo The version of "Super Mario World" that is playable in "Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World" for the SNES actually has Luigi redesigned in his skinnier look, BTW.
@@elmarakovideo I can understand that for sure, but at least Luigi also looks like himself in the Game Boy Advance version of the game in "Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2" while also having the same floaty jump that he had in SMB2.
Great trip down memory lane. I remember when I first got SMB2 for Christmas back in 1988. When I found out it was based on another game from Japan, I was confused. I looked into it and found limited information. Thanks for giving me some in-depth analysis. What’s amazing to me is how deep of a game this really is. Symbolism, hidden meanings that are significant for Japan and the west, animations, secrets…. This might be the best NES Mario game of them all.
As a kid, my family rented a NES a couple times before we finally got our own. I can't remember if SMB2 was the first Mario or Nintendo game I ever played, but it's the one we rented on those occasions. I also found it interesting that one of the GBA launch games was a port of SMB2, out of all the other Mario games they could have (and eventually did) port. It's like they knew there was something special about that one and it was time to revisit it.
I am so glad I found your channel way back when you had 500 subs. The amount of time and work that you put into your videos sir is mind boggling. Thankyou
Everything makes so much more sense now. It wasn't just a simple re-skin of a game. It added it's own flair to become the mutant fever dream of a game that it is. They made sure to acknowledge that with the end credits lol. Amazing video, my only complaint is prefacing everything with 'DIDJA KNOW THAT?!'
Wow, the editing here was top tier! The warp rooms location Counselor's Corner page of the Nintendo Power showing four videos of how to get them was incredibly cool xD
My first gaming years were spent watching my parents play Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, etc. When I scored Simon's Quest and Super Mario Bros. 2 at a flea market I was so confused!! But I look back loving all 4 of those games
Not only was the debug life counter visible in the commercial, but they also actually pressed Select at the part where they talk about Mario powering up - they’re small and standing in 1-1 where the potion is next to the vine, not in the potion door, yet they spontaneously grow.
You missed mentioning that in the prototype cart of Super Mario Bros 2, the underground theme is instead a remixed version of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros 1.
Great video! I can still remember renting SMB2 for the first time. It has been raining and I was so incredibly excited to play I ran from the garage and slipped and fell on the wooden steps on the deck on the back of my parents house. Tore up my left leg pretty badly but I didn't care too much as I had a whole weekend to play SMB2!
at a buffet, i personally sneak corndogs into the buffet so others can enjoy them. I hide 6 corndogs in my jacket pockets. it then, is a joy for me to see other patrons of the establishment eat my corndogs thinking they were part of the buff
One minor glitch you haven't mentioned - On World 1-2, you can - under certain conditions - spawn a weird collision detection bug ... and the key to unveiling it is ... well, the key. You pick it up, but keep holding down the B button. Then jump into the air to the left. If you throw the key at just the right time - and you maneuver correctly - the key should land on top of your head. And when it does, it reverts Mario into "ducking mode" until the key moves off of his head again. If the key is moving slowly enough, he'll wildly toggle between the Duck and Stand sprites for a few seconds. From what I can tell, the code temporarily transforms a falling object into a solid block, should it land on anything solid ... be it Mario or anything else. And with the key overlapping the top of Mario's head, he ducks automatically.
There was a neat glitch I stumbled upon as a kid when playing the NES version while facing the first Mouser. The glitch produced two Mousers at the same time; however, killing one would then kill the other (there is a delay in between the deaths). I was able to trigger it a few times and I am going to test it out on the Switch (there is a UA-cam video showing the double Mousers from the Switch NES version, but the person didn't know how he got it to happen). I seem to recall hanging out on the left side where you have to destroy the wall to enter the Mouser battle area. Hang out in the area so you only can see a sliver of Mouser anytime he moved to the left of his platform. Waiting for a bit, I would either soon see an increase in bombs or the second Mouser. I remember trying to replicate this on the SNES version quite a few times, but was unable to get a second Mouser to appear. I liked this little glitch as Mouser was my favorite of the mini-bosses.
Hey oh! It's finally here! This is by far my favorite Mario. I received it for Christmas along with Zelda II the year they came out. No chip shortage was going to stop my mom from getting them.
Steven Smith I so agree with you this is so my favorite game my favorite super Mario game not favorite game but my favorite super Mario game ever too.. Do you want to know what my favorite game is?? Stay tuned and watching my next video of me I may comment on my favorite video game here so I'm trying to prepare video like anything else that's where I study and do good research on the topic right a script and have good editing good production value just trying to make the best video as possible and that takes time as you all know!!!
Zelda 2 is a good Zelda game my second🥈 Favorite Zelda game but the super Nintendo version the legend of Zelda link to the past is my favorite Zelda game!!! But yet look on the bright side if you thinking Nintendo my favorite legend of zelda on on the OG original Nintendo entertainment VCR the legend of Zelda 2 is there 1 for sure.!! As Highlander says there can only be one
I remember the night i rented this. My parents got a few movies and watched them all back to back. We only had one TV back then and i was going out of my mind. All i could do was repeated look at the nintendo power with mario 2 on the cover. Finally i got to play and my parents told me i could only play for an hour cause it was so late. Best hour of my life.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it does take your mind off things. Thank you for always supporting my videos and always leaving kind comments. I really appreciate you! Hang in there!!!!
It's really a testament to your skill that babby's first did you know gaming trivia fact was such fertile ground for this video. Things I already knew (Dream Factory was a japanese expo) are contextualized incredibly well, and details I wasn't close to (music/graphical changes) are itemized quickly and extremely legibly. That's all before you dive in further then I've ever seen anyone go with entirely new information. These videos feel like documentation, you know? I mean that as the highest praise I could give - Why turn to any other source when this guy crammed an encyclopedia into half an hour, and even made it fun to watch?
The ultimate plot twist of Super Mario Bros. 2 is that the version America got actually started as the originally planned sequel. Almost as big as a plot twist of learning the songs in Sonic 3's PC port were initially the intended songs.
I thought not another SMB2 video , I already know everything about it's origin. But I was wrong , I learned a lot of New things . Awesome video !! This is the best NES channel on UA-cam .
I appreciate that! I hesitated to even do Mario 2 for that reason, but it means a lot to me and I had to. I’m just happy I was able to find bits of information I hadn’t seen elsewhere. And ways for presenting it that we’re a bit different. So thanks for writing that… it assures me that the video stood apart to some degree
@@NESComplex Your SMB2 video and all your other NES videos stand apart from the others on youtube. I got an NES when it first came out in 1985 and I LIVED the whole NES Experience. Your videos are the only ones that capture and take me back to that time period....which was the best time period, growing up in the 80's.
Your channel is my favorite source for NES content. Your declassified videos are excellent. I hope to see Adventure Island 1-2-3, Kid Icarus, Mega Man 1-2-3, and Double Dragon 1-2 videos. Thank you!
This video was great. I just wanted to show some appreciation for a couple things specific to this video. First the sheer amount of information that was gathered compiled and displayed in this video was staggering informative and entertaining to take in. I got to learn so many interesting and new things I never knew had anything to do with this series and I can only imagine how long it took to compile all of this data and make sense of it. Next the way this video is put together clipped edited and presented his incredible. This is some of the best editing I've seen on UA-cam especially from one person. The quality that this video brings to the table for retro gamers is amazing and greatly appreciated. Lastly the amount of work that it must have taken to do something like this must have been monumental. The sheer effort that was needed to make this video into something that makes sense and is easy to understand is a gift on its own. I can't imagine trying to find all of this on my own and learn about these things by myself without the help of this channel. Finally if it wasn't already obvious I just wanted to express great amounts of gratitude from myself and like-minded individuals. This channel is incredible and it's a pleasure to watch and we are all very spoiled be able to partake in something basically for free. The amount of love and passion that goes into this type of content can never be replaced and it's certainly not easy to duplicate. Thank you again for all of the time and effort you put into this there are a lot of people out there that deeply appreciate this. This brings a great amount of motivation to continue collecting retro games and enjoying them with others.
I LOVED SMB2 as a child. It still holds up today. I wish Nintendo wouldn’t act like it doesn’t exist. It felt like a Mario game, but also had so many little awesome differences that made it very different. A classic for me.
What a masterpiece. Not just the game, but this video. One of your best yet! The tone, the jokes, the history. This is already my favorite UA-cam video of 2022. Keep doing what you’re doing boss. This is one I’ll be sharing with everyone I know.
After I took my kids to see the Mario movie, I told them, how awesome would it be if the next movie was the plot of the American Mario 2? I have always wanted a Mario 2 movie!
When this game came out I remember the news talking about this game. People were driving thousands of miles to get a copy and having to come back home empty handed. Dick hole nintendo was always doing the whole shortages thing. Anyways for the Christmas season, everyone wanted it but it was sold out everywhere. Christmas Day I got it from my parents. Turns out they ordered it from the Sears or jc penny catalog. Person they talked to said they had a ton on hand but no one really knew to buy it there. And without the internet only a select few were fortunate to get it during that time when it was sold out everywhere. One of the few good childhood memories I have.
(SMB2) One of my favorite theme songs to whistle to this day. 😁 Seriously enjoying the heck outta these videos man. You're doin a ridiculously good job on these.
33 years of playing this game, and never once did I ever notice the title theme was a remix of the water stages from the first game. I can't believe I never caught that lol
Your videos keep on amazing me. You highlighted so many jaw dropping moments here. I love this series, and especially your fun editing is always entertaining! Wonderful work!
Oh, yes! What a way to cap off a looong day and make it better! Thank you for all the hard work you put into these awesome videos! I'm gonna enjoy this!
@@NESComplex I love how you expounded upon Doki Doki. I knew some of the base elements of the story, but your deep dives are always very satisfying and enlightening.
I just want to know how it is you don't already have 100k+ subscribers. Your content is some of the best-researched and most thoughtfully put-together dives into these classic games.
There is a great shortcut in one of the levels using Luigi. You high jump onto one of the flying enemies, and then you run in the same direction it’s flying, and you can skip most of a level. I don’t member which one that is, but I remember doing it a lot as a kid.
Ive played Mario 2 for over 30 years... Today is the day that I finally connected the opening theme to the water level from Mario 1. Im genuinely blown away.
Wow Chris this was simply jaw dropping amazing! Thank you for giving us such an in depth look into my favorite Mario game of all time! Never new all those secrets and glitches too. I’ll have to replay it again just to try those. Thanks for all you do.
Hey man i was a student of yours in honors history like 5 years ago. While talking to my dad about middle school i remembered you had a yt channel. wanted to drop a comment saying how cool it is that your channel blew up and i hope you’re able to keep doing what you love
This is one of the absolute BEST Nintendo channels on Earth! 👍🏻👍🏻 I wish Netflix would pick this up and make this a series. They carried “High Score”, but that series was too short for me. I want more episodes of video gaming history.
feels good to see my name at 31:12! i’ll be honest, mario 2 was my least favorite mario as a kid, mainly because i never owned/played it until way after mario 3 came out (possibly even after the snes came out), but as i got older and played it more it grew on me quite a bit. absolutely love and enjoy the videos. can’t wait for the next one (hint, hint)!
i don’t have many friends/family/coworkers who care too much about retro games or nostalgia in general, but for those few that do, i have sent them this video
HOLY FUCK. OVER 30 YEARS AFTER DISCOVERING IT AS A KID YOU FIGURED THAT STAR MUSIC GLITCH. I thought it was impossible to do it on a non-crt screen since every time I tried to do it on an emulator, it would never continue the song . The timing, I thought, was so precise it could never be done easily but fucking hell you did it . It was because I thought the way to do it was to get the star first and then enter the door so the star music would end on the moment you get kicked out of the otherworld as the star music ended. THANK YOU. I can now show my friends that moment so they know I wasn't crazy.
This game helped me through when my parents were separating in the early 90s, they did get back together, it sure did help me through that rough patch. Great video!
I was one of the first in our school to acquire this game, and of course, I played it obsessively until I beat it. As I recall, it took a weekend. When I showed up at school, there was a kid who refused to believe I had beaten King Wart and he kept quizzing me about 'What color is his cape?' and 'Does he wear an amulet?' Apparently, he hadn't discovered how easy Wart was to beat by just walking under his platform with a vegetable and hitting him from below, where he couldn't get you with the bubbles/balls he sprayed.
I ferment when this game launched and picking it up at Toys R Us (getting a game from there was always a fun event, you'd get the tag, go pay and BEG your parents to go to the pickup window to get the game itself... It was seriously just an awesome, awesome thing). That being said Super Mario Bros 2 was incredibly weird for a Mario game but still a lot of fun being able to play as various characters. Loved it at the time. My son bought me an NES classic 5 or 6 years ago, whenever it came out, he actually waited in line for a few hours to get it because he's awesome and knew I'd lose my sh*t for it. Lose my sh*t, I did. To this day I still fire it up at least once a week to dive into childhood nostalgia. Great video! It's kind of insane how much went into games even back then.
This is still my favorite NES Mario game. Yes, I like it more that Mario 3! I live that it’s so different and strange. I hope that they bring back Wart as a boss sometime. (I love this series btw!)
Super Mario 2 was actually the first game I got that was mine, not shared with my brother. The characters and bosses were so cartoon-like (vastly superior to 8 bouts with the Koopa King). Sub-con really shined, and the idea of an inverted world where items and warp zones were hidden was simply brilliant! Super Mario 2 is a wonderful game... I just wish they'd make a sequel Mario in this world! I'd love to read about your nostalgia and appreciation for the game or if you know any other bits that I missed? Thanks!
Great video! Thank you for all the hard work :)
Me too Mario 1 is my 1st then Mario 2!!! And Mario want to share with my brother but Mario too was all mine to myself and my brother I did not have to share with that card he was much too Busy with Mario one still. Which I beat trying to beat Mario 1
Shoot that's a genius idea to make a second Doki Doki panic AKA super Mario 2 because I never even would have thought of them making a sequel to it. Because they didn't even means to make it super Mario 2 in the first place it was kind of like a fluke so like I think it was a miracle and and that consideration if the flu happened again it would be a miracle and a sequel to super Mario 2 would be good actually I would think it would be a masterpiece especially this day and age and for the graphics to get a major overhaul in 4k and the sound effects and the music would be surprisingly good
@@erygion very true hard work!!!
Top notch video as always. Well worth the wait my friend.
This is top-tier content. Absolutely insane amount of efforts put into this from start to finish, with attention to detail put into even the smallest of gags. Seriously, I thought 300 hours for one of my video was a lot of work - i can't even imagine how many hours you put into research and dev, storyboarding, script writing, performances, and animations. Triple thumbs up!
I can tell you are a serious editor too. You understand the work
Thank you for going about this topic
7:25 A lot of Nintendo's early NES era decisions were responses to the Video Game Crash. The VCR-esque redesign of the Famicom, the pixel art boxes, the censorship, the draconian third party licensing program were them determined not to repeat Atari's mistakes.
I wonder if the decision to not being Lost Levels over was at least another factor in that. A frustratingly hard sequel to Nintendo's flagship game might undone a lot of their hard work in bringing video games back from the brink. Similar to how Pac-Man and E.T were the 2600's undoing.
smb2 is honestly underrated and under appreciated when it comes to discussions about the original games
Here in Brazil, Mario 2 Lost Levels arrived even before Mario 2 USA, through piracy, we didn't really understand what it was, but we played to try to beat the difficulty. Great video, congratulations.
It’s wild how every episode of this series I ALWAYS learn something new, even about games I’ve studied ad nauseum. Great work as always.
I am really impressed at all the work that went into this. I know how much effort it takes to make a special graphic for a three-second throaway gag, and this video is full of em!
One thing I think people often fail to appreciate about the "real" Super Mario 2 (Lost Levels) is just how strange it is. The conventional take is just that it's "hard," which it is, but it's also very puzzle-like in a way no other Mario game is. Like, the levels aren't just things you suffer through, they're very precise things you can only get through by "solving" - hit these blocks in a specific order, bounce off these koopas the second the wind changes direction, etc. Everything is so precise, and super-linear. I found it an annoying game, but it's interesting because it represents a path the series did not take.
Hey! Thanks J.J.! That’s a very good take and great way of explaining it. FDS Mario 2 has its place in the series for sure. I think by the time westerners got to play it in All Stars we were weren’t able to see beyond those initial frustrations and how dated it seemed, but it’s an interesting play if you know what you’re doing.
Also, thank you for recognizing the editing details. It's one of my favorite parts of the process but it's lost on a lot of people who don't edit.
@@NESComplex 5:51: If only we had the Romanized version of the title that says "Yume Kojo: DOKI DOKI PANIC!" with eyes on the "Kojo" part of the title looking like a face. It would look cool.
20:14: ua-cam.com/video/k2xiS2w6wcE/v-deo.html
It's also possible that Doki Doki Panic was going to be a Mario game at first, as not only were there elements from SMB1 and Mario Bros. used in it (Coins, Starmen and Pow Blocks), but there is one enemy that was also in the Yume Kojo version that was not a Yume Kojo character to begin with: Spark from Donkey Kong Jr. There were two variants, red and blue. These Red Sparks would later be reintroduced in Super Mario World as Hotheads, with the small versions being called L'il Sparkies.
In a related note to Sparks, there's another Mario connection in Zelda much like Wart in Link's Awakening: Sparks appeared in both Link to the Past and Link's Awakening.
6:35 Howard was right. Hope Nintendo thanked him for such an honest review of SMB2 in my opinion he saved the franchise and possibly influenced others like Zelda.
Also really like your videos and think you deserve a whole lot more subscribers! Thanks for this new in-depth video :)
I couldn't agree more with how Mario 2 was handled. Doki Doki would have been too obscure to be a hit, and Mario 2 would have been a disaster for the US market. Combining them was a stroke of genius.
As learned from another channel (Retro Game Mechanics), there's a cool trick they used for the characters' eyes. The white is actually a separate sprite. The character sprite was already four colors, which is the max, so they made the eye pixels blank/transparent and laid it over a white rectangle sprite to give them a fifth color for eye whites.
Right! I was aware of that… but trimmed it out. it’s why you can see through the eyes when entering doors. Thank you for pointing that out here.
Excellent video on the development, popularity, and legacy of the North American/world version of _Super Mario Bros. 2_ ! This game was a big part of my childhood, along with its cartoon adaption, _The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!_ , which had actually combined elements of _SMB1_ and _2_ . It's also insane that by the time the rest of the world got _SMB2_ , Japan got _SMB3_ just a mere two weeks later. Keep up the good work.
Declassified is turning into one of the greatest retro series to ever exist! Great job as always man
As a kid I was huge into Mario and Zelda, pestering my parents for an NES from the ages of 4-6 until my dad relented and I got one for my sixth birthday, roughly a year before SMB3 came out. I never owned Super Mario 2 but rented it dozens of times and always loved how strange it was in comparison to the other titles. Still recall in the Nintendo Power Mario Mania guide learning the whole Doki Doki Panic connection and my mind was blow. And playing Link's Awakening I immediately recognized Wart and thought it was the coolest little Easter Egg considering the dream setting of both titles.
Most "you didn't know this about that" videos have no new information for anyone even slightly familiar with the subject, but this one actually had a lot of things I didn't know about SMB2. Well done!
I rarely leave comments on UA-cam. I absolutely needed to just so you’re aware of how good your videos are. I love video games, born in the 80s and can’t get enough nostalgia as nes was so important for kids like us. Just know your videos are the best. Period. Thank you and I can’t wait to see more.
I am honored that you’d leave a comment then. Thank you! Cheers to 80s kids 🍻
I grew up in a rural area in the 80s, so we had no access to gaming news. I never heard of games either I or my friends didn't have until I was probably 14 or 15. This was one I first saw at a neighbor's house, and then immediately told my mother I wanted it for Christmas
Even though "Super Mario Bros. 3" is a fantastic sequel for the NES, "Super Mario Bros. 2" will always be my favorite Mario game because of how unique its gameplay is when compared to all the other games in the series, and it's also not as long to play on a single setting while also being the first game to feature Luigi in his re-designed look that makes him different and more distinguishable from Mario (though, ironically, he still ended up looking like a palette swap of Mario in "Super Mario Bros. 3" as well as "Super Mario World").
It has a special place to me too. I love Mario 3 but Mario 2 is particularly nostalgic to me!
Mario 3 & World were disappointing to me with generic Luigi looking like a green Mario. Fortunately, fan hacks made him taller and some added his higher jump.
@@elmarakovideo The version of "Super Mario World" that is playable in "Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World" for the SNES actually has Luigi redesigned in his skinnier look, BTW.
@@sonicmario64 I wish I knew about that in 1994. You had to buy an SNES Console bundle to play as Tall Luigi in World.
@@elmarakovideo I can understand that for sure, but at least Luigi also looks like himself in the Game Boy Advance version of the game in "Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2" while also having the same floaty jump that he had in SMB2.
This is the definitive video about SMB2. All the knowledge I didn't know I wanted is here.
GTV did a tremendous video awhile back about the Yume Kojo festival that really goes deep regarding the event itself.
It’s very good. I even linked it in the description.
Great trip down memory lane. I remember when I first got SMB2 for Christmas back in 1988. When I found out it was based on another game from Japan, I was confused. I looked into it and found limited information. Thanks for giving me some in-depth analysis.
What’s amazing to me is how deep of a game this really is. Symbolism, hidden meanings that are significant for Japan and the west, animations, secrets…. This might be the best NES Mario game of them all.
It always amazes me too. They put so much into each game!!
Nice! My best friend got this game in '89 and we played it a TON! It was so different and interesting.
@@creagandubh4411 I loved this game and still do to this day. And the NES version is my preferred version to play.
This YT-channel has become one of my favorites as of late. Always excited for a new video and this one didn't disappoint. Thanks for the content. 👍
As a kid, my family rented a NES a couple times before we finally got our own. I can't remember if SMB2 was the first Mario or Nintendo game I ever played, but it's the one we rented on those occasions.
I also found it interesting that one of the GBA launch games was a port of SMB2, out of all the other Mario games they could have (and eventually did) port. It's like they knew there was something special about that one and it was time to revisit it.
I am so glad I found your channel way back when you had 500 subs.
The amount of time and work that you put into your videos sir is mind boggling. Thankyou
Wow!!!! That was a loooong time ago.... it was all Is It Fun? back then. Thanks for sticking with me
Everything makes so much more sense now. It wasn't just a simple re-skin of a game. It added it's own flair to become the mutant fever dream of a game that it is. They made sure to acknowledge that with the end credits lol. Amazing video, my only complaint is prefacing everything with 'DIDJA KNOW THAT?!'
Born in ‘84, and I gotta tell you your work is tremendous brother.
Wow, the editing here was top tier! The warp rooms location Counselor's Corner page of the Nintendo Power showing four videos of how to get them was incredibly cool xD
So glad you noticed that! I had fun with that but sometimes I’m not sure if it’s worth it… your comment proves that it is!
My first gaming years were spent watching my parents play Super Mario Bros. and Castlevania, etc. When I scored Simon's Quest and Super Mario Bros. 2 at a flea market I was so confused!! But I look back loving all 4 of those games
Not only was the debug life counter visible in the commercial, but they also actually pressed Select at the part where they talk about Mario powering up - they’re small and standing in 1-1 where the potion is next to the vine, not in the potion door, yet they spontaneously grow.
I saw that too, just tried to trim the script as much as possible. Also love the pronunciation of Mario in the commercial
You missed mentioning that in the prototype cart of Super Mario Bros 2, the underground theme is instead a remixed version of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros 1.
Still the best mario game, and still the best video game song ever! C'mon Nintendo, bring Wart back!
@Thomas Drish same here!
My mind is blown knowing the opening theme at the title screen is the water music from SMB1.......holy hell! Well played sir!
I remember getting this game for Christmas and had so much fun playing over the years and even to this day 😃
Great video! I can still remember renting SMB2 for the first time. It has been raining and I was so incredibly excited to play I ran from the garage and slipped and fell on the wooden steps on the deck on the back of my parents house. Tore up my left leg pretty badly but I didn't care too much as I had a whole weekend to play SMB2!
at a buffet, i personally sneak corndogs into the buffet so others can enjoy them. I hide 6 corndogs in my jacket pockets. it then, is a joy for me to see other patrons of the establishment eat my corndogs thinking they were part of the buff
Hey Napoleon... give me some tots
@@NESComplex Wahahahaha yessss!!!!!
One minor glitch you haven't mentioned - On World 1-2, you can - under certain conditions - spawn a weird collision detection bug ... and the key to unveiling it is ... well, the key. You pick it up, but keep holding down the B button. Then jump into the air to the left. If you throw the key at just the right time - and you maneuver correctly - the key should land on top of your head. And when it does, it reverts Mario into "ducking mode" until the key moves off of his head again. If the key is moving slowly enough, he'll wildly toggle between the Duck and Stand sprites for a few seconds. From what I can tell, the code temporarily transforms a falling object into a solid block, should it land on anything solid ... be it Mario or anything else. And with the key overlapping the top of Mario's head, he ducks automatically.
There was a neat glitch I stumbled upon as a kid when playing the NES version while facing the first Mouser. The glitch produced two Mousers at the same time; however, killing one would then kill the other (there is a delay in between the deaths). I was able to trigger it a few times and I am going to test it out on the Switch (there is a UA-cam video showing the double Mousers from the Switch NES version, but the person didn't know how he got it to happen). I seem to recall hanging out on the left side where you have to destroy the wall to enter the Mouser battle area. Hang out in the area so you only can see a sliver of Mouser anytime he moved to the left of his platform. Waiting for a bit, I would either soon see an increase in bombs or the second Mouser. I remember trying to replicate this on the SNES version quite a few times, but was unable to get a second Mouser to appear. I liked this little glitch as Mouser was my favorite of the mini-bosses.
May I just say. The player selection accenting the beats of the music in the beginning. Well done.
Hey oh! It's finally here! This is by far my favorite Mario. I received it for Christmas along with Zelda II the year they came out. No chip shortage was going to stop my mom from getting them.
You averted the chip shortage!!! Your mom is a legend!
Steven Smith I so agree with you this is so my favorite game my favorite super Mario game not favorite game but my favorite super Mario game ever too..
Do you want to know what my favorite game is?? Stay tuned and watching my next video of me I may comment on my favorite video game here so I'm trying to prepare video like anything else that's where I study and do good research on the topic right a script and have good editing good production value just trying to make the best video as possible and that takes time as you all know!!!
Zelda 2 is a good Zelda game my second🥈
Favorite Zelda game but the super Nintendo version the legend of Zelda link to the past is my favorite Zelda game!!! But yet look on the bright side if you thinking Nintendo my favorite legend of zelda on on the OG original Nintendo entertainment VCR the legend of Zelda 2 is there 1 for sure.!!
As Highlander says there can only be one
That was slick how you timed the onscreen movements with the smb2 music in the beginning.
I remember the night i rented this. My parents got a few movies and watched them all back to back. We only had one TV back then and i was going out of my mind. All i could do was repeated look at the nintendo power with mario 2 on the cover. Finally i got to play and my parents told me i could only play for an hour cause it was so late. Best hour of my life.
Good work, thank you. The ending music of this game is one of the best in my opinion.
What a pleasant surprise, these are the best video game related videos on UA-cam.
Thank means a lot! Thank you!
I can't explain to you how much this video is needed as a distraction right now. Things have been rough. Thank you so much.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it does take your mind off things. Thank you for always supporting my videos and always leaving kind comments. I really appreciate you! Hang in there!!!!
@@NESComplex Thank you very much. Already looking forward to the next one. This video was awesome as usual.
@@Wheels8504 i hear you! This world ain't easy.
It's really a testament to your skill that babby's first did you know gaming trivia fact was such fertile ground for this video. Things I already knew (Dream Factory was a japanese expo) are contextualized incredibly well, and details I wasn't close to (music/graphical changes) are itemized quickly and extremely legibly. That's all before you dive in further then I've ever seen anyone go with entirely new information. These videos feel like documentation, you know? I mean that as the highest praise I could give - Why turn to any other source when this guy crammed an encyclopedia into half an hour, and even made it fun to watch?
Thank you not only for the kind words, but for acknowledging the effort I put in. It really means a lot (not empty words there). Thank you
The ultimate plot twist of Super Mario Bros. 2 is that the version America got actually started as the originally planned sequel.
Almost as big as a plot twist of learning the songs in Sonic 3's PC port were initially the intended songs.
I thought not another SMB2 video , I already know everything about it's origin. But I was wrong , I learned a lot of New things . Awesome video !! This is the best NES channel on UA-cam .
I appreciate that! I hesitated to even do Mario 2 for that reason, but it means a lot to me and I had to. I’m just happy I was able to find bits of information I hadn’t seen elsewhere. And ways for presenting it that we’re a bit different. So thanks for writing that… it assures me that the video stood apart to some degree
@@NESComplex Your SMB2 video and all your other NES videos stand apart from the others on youtube. I got an NES when it first came out in 1985 and I LIVED the whole NES Experience. Your videos are the only ones that capture and take me back to that time period....which was the best time period, growing up in the 80's.
Your channel is my favorite source for NES content. Your declassified videos are excellent. I hope to see Adventure Island 1-2-3, Kid Icarus, Mega Man 1-2-3, and Double Dragon 1-2 videos. Thank you!
I never knew that so much work went into making Doki Doki Panic into a Mario game. Makes me love it even more than i already do. ❤
I always thought 'Mucho' was a reference to lucha libre because the mask shares a similar style.
This video was great.
I just wanted to show some appreciation for a couple things specific to this video.
First the sheer amount of information that was gathered compiled and displayed in this video was staggering informative and entertaining to take in. I got to learn so many interesting and new things I never knew had anything to do with this series and I can only imagine how long it took to compile all of this data and make sense of it.
Next the way this video is put together clipped edited and presented his incredible. This is some of the best editing I've seen on UA-cam especially from one person. The quality that this video brings to the table for retro gamers is amazing and greatly appreciated.
Lastly the amount of work that it must have taken to do something like this must have been monumental. The sheer effort that was needed to make this video into something that makes sense and is easy to understand is a gift on its own. I can't imagine trying to find all of this on my own and learn about these things by myself without the help of this channel.
Finally if it wasn't already obvious I just wanted to express great amounts of gratitude from myself and like-minded individuals. This channel is incredible and it's a pleasure to watch and we are all very spoiled be able to partake in something basically for free. The amount of love and passion that goes into this type of content can never be replaced and it's certainly not easy to duplicate. Thank you again for all of the time and effort you put into this there are a lot of people out there that deeply appreciate this.
This brings a great amount of motivation to continue collecting retro games and enjoying them with others.
I LOVED SMB2 as a child. It still holds up today. I wish Nintendo wouldn’t act like it doesn’t exist. It felt like a Mario game, but also had so many little awesome differences that made it very different. A classic for me.
Nintendo reference the game more than you think
What a masterpiece. Not just the game, but this video. One of your best yet! The tone, the jokes, the history. This is already my favorite UA-cam video of 2022.
Keep doing what you’re doing boss. This is one I’ll be sharing with everyone I know.
Hey I really like your series and realised you haven't uploaded anything for a while, is something in the works? Hopefully... really enjoy your work!
This may be my favorite video on this channel! Brilliant.......just brilliant
So glad they kept the cave theme. It's amazingly memorable.
I agree!! The remixed underground theme feels kinda slow
Totally got butterflies in my stomach watching the guy put in Zelda 2 and Mario 2 into the same bag. MAGIC🧐🧐🧐🤔🤔🤔🤔😃😃😃😃🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Hell ya! New NESComplex! You are one of my top retro game channels!
Awesome video! I started my NES collection last year after NES Addict gifted me a top loader. I just picked up SMB2 a few months ago.
10 year old Me was excited when super Mario 2 came out, Having a subscription to Nintendo Power definitely helped back in the day before the internet.
After I took my kids to see the Mario movie, I told them, how awesome would it be if the next movie was the plot of the American Mario 2? I have always wanted a Mario 2 movie!
A triumph! Videos like these are the true gems of UA-cam and how wonderful the Internet can be.
When this game came out I remember the news talking about this game. People were driving thousands of miles to get a copy and having to come back home empty handed. Dick hole nintendo was always doing the whole shortages thing. Anyways for the Christmas season, everyone wanted it but it was sold out everywhere. Christmas Day I got it from my parents. Turns out they ordered it from the Sears or jc penny catalog. Person they talked to said they had a ton on hand but no one really knew to buy it there. And without the internet only a select few were fortunate to get it during that time when it was sold out everywhere. One of the few good childhood memories I have.
This is my favorite Mario game on nes. Sooo many memories with this one.
(SMB2) One of my favorite theme songs to whistle to this day. 😁 Seriously enjoying the heck outta these videos man. You're doin a ridiculously good job on these.
33 years of playing this game, and never once did I ever notice the title theme was a remix of the water stages from the first game. I can't believe I never caught that lol
Dude me either. I seriously can't believe I never noticed that.
Dude me either. I seriously can't believe I never noticed that.
I wish they would revisit subcon. Mario 2 was such a treat when it was released.
I wonder what they'd do with Sub-space these days... imagine a 3d subcon
Would love to see a sequel with these elements again
Your videos keep on amazing me. You highlighted so many jaw dropping moments here. I love this series, and especially your fun editing is always entertaining! Wonderful work!
I would like to see a "Declassified" video about Mother 1, involving development, hidden lore, other media and stuff
I bought this game when it came out with all the money I saved up between Christmas and birthday. Loved it and still love it.
I remember playing this in my friend's laundry room on a black and white TV. I didn't even know Mario 2 existed then.
Oh, yes! What a way to cap off a looong day and make it better! Thank you for all the hard work you put into these awesome videos! I'm gonna enjoy this!
Thanks... there's so much here. I tried to do a little different take on the Doki Doki story... it can't be avoided
@@NESComplex I love how you expounded upon Doki Doki. I knew some of the base elements of the story, but your deep dives are always very satisfying and enlightening.
I just want to know how it is you don't already have 100k+ subscribers. Your content is some of the best-researched and most thoughtfully put-together dives into these classic games.
Thank you! I’m sure I’ll get there eventually. Ira not my main drive though. I just like making videos that others enjoy and that I’m proud of
Waiting for SMB2 and Zelda 2 was so exciting. Such a magical time.
I remember buying Mario 2 and seeing Zelda 2 on the rack… I didn’t get it until much later
This is almost my favorite Mario game just behind Mario Galaxy.
Imagine a 3d Mario in subcon
This was one of my favorite NES games.
There is a great shortcut in one of the levels using Luigi. You high jump onto one of the flying enemies, and then you run in the same direction it’s flying, and you can skip most of a level. I don’t member which one that is, but I remember doing it a lot as a kid.
Nice, a new episode of one of my favorite UA-cam-Series. Greetings from Germany, keep up the good work!
This is such a great channel. I'm in my mid 40's, so I grew up on all these games
Thanks Chris! We grew up at the same time!
Ive played Mario 2 for over 30 years... Today is the day that I finally connected the opening theme to the water level from Mario 1. Im genuinely blown away.
Wow Chris this was simply jaw dropping amazing! Thank you for giving us such an in depth look into my favorite Mario game of all time! Never new all those secrets and glitches too. I’ll have to replay it again just to try those. Thanks for all you do.
Hey man i was a student of yours in honors history like 5 years ago. While talking to my dad about middle school i remembered you had a yt channel. wanted to drop a comment saying how cool it is that your channel blew up and i hope you’re able to keep doing what you love
This is one of the absolute BEST Nintendo channels on Earth! 👍🏻👍🏻
I wish Netflix would pick this up and make this a series. They carried “High Score”, but that series was too short for me. I want more episodes of video gaming history.
Top-notch content! This channel has become one of my favorites on UA-cam.
Absolutely Loved this game when I was a small child!
feels good to see my name at 31:12! i’ll be honest, mario 2 was my least favorite mario as a kid, mainly because i never owned/played it until way after mario 3 came out (possibly even after the snes came out), but as i got older and played it more it grew on me quite a bit. absolutely love and enjoy the videos. can’t wait for the next one (hint, hint)!
i don’t have many friends/family/coworkers who care too much about retro games or nostalgia in general, but for those few that do, i have sent them this video
Mario 2 is the best part 3 and 4 are overrated.
12:37 That song in the commercial is so slamming. I wish I had a full length instrumental of it.
The synchronisation between the montage and the music at the beginning was awesome
You do great stuff. Thanks for all you do to entertain us 80's kids!
HOLY FUCK. OVER 30 YEARS AFTER DISCOVERING IT AS A KID YOU FIGURED THAT STAR MUSIC GLITCH. I thought it was impossible to do it on a non-crt screen since every time I tried to do it on an emulator, it would never continue the song . The timing, I thought, was so precise it could never be done easily but fucking hell you did it .
It was because I thought the way to do it was to get the star first and then enter the door so the star music would end on the moment you get kicked out of the otherworld as the star music ended.
THANK YOU. I can now show my friends that moment so they know I wasn't crazy.
To be fair I read how to do it, but I rewrote how to do it in a way I hope helps people recreate it
This was an excellent watch. Thank you. Definitely worth recommending on the next occasion.
This game helped me through when my parents were separating in the early 90s, they did get back together, it sure did help me through that rough patch.
Great video!
These videos are always worth wait. So well done! Mario 2 was one of my favorite games on the NES and the music is burned into my brain.
These are some of my favorite videos. Good choice of game my dude.
I was one of the first in our school to acquire this game, and of course, I played it obsessively until I beat it. As I recall, it took a weekend. When I showed up at school, there was a kid who refused to believe I had beaten King Wart and he kept quizzing me about 'What color is his cape?' and 'Does he wear an amulet?' Apparently, he hadn't discovered how easy Wart was to beat by just walking under his platform with a vegetable and hitting him from below, where he couldn't get you with the bubbles/balls he sprayed.
I ferment when this game launched and picking it up at Toys R Us (getting a game from there was always a fun event, you'd get the tag, go pay and BEG your parents to go to the pickup window to get the game itself... It was seriously just an awesome, awesome thing).
That being said Super Mario Bros 2 was incredibly weird for a Mario game but still a lot of fun being able to play as various characters. Loved it at the time.
My son bought me an NES classic 5 or 6 years ago, whenever it came out, he actually waited in line for a few hours to get it because he's awesome and knew I'd lose my sh*t for it. Lose my sh*t, I did. To this day I still fire it up at least once a week to dive into childhood nostalgia.
Great video! It's kind of insane how much went into games even back then.
Hell yeah! I've been waiting for this one. Good show sir. Good show.
Thanks!
This series is one of the best out there. Fantastic work.
Thanks Sheriff. Your word is authoritative
Respect his authoritaye!
I'm.Always happy to see a new video from you ! Anyone reading this , blessings to you , have a great day
Blessings received! Thanks
Something else that they had in the merchandising blitz was a cake pan. I still have one.
This is still my favorite NES Mario game. Yes, I like it more that Mario 3! I live that it’s so different and strange. I hope that they bring back Wart as a boss sometime. (I love this series btw!)
Thanks Corey! I agree. I want a new 3D Mario in Subcon. Give me veggies, shyguys, potions, subspace, mouser, triclyde, etc. all in Switch 3D!
@@NESComplex agree! That would be amazing!