Depending on time of day/ year/ season/ the phase of the moon and any position the planets orbiting around the sun I’ll either say Super Mario 2 or 3 is my favorite game of all time.
They’re both 2D Mario platformers originating on the NES. I had them both in my collection, and played them the most back in those days.
Being chronologically first Super Mario Bros 2 was the first one I had, and I remember it being awesome from the start. The first noticeable difference from the first game is that the graphics are improved to a higher degree. You can make out the features on Mario, or the three other playable characters. I thought that was the coolest thing, not only could you play as the titular character Mario, or his brother Luigi, but the Princess and Toad as well. This was when I referred to the Princess as her name, not “Peach”, as her name when Mario 64 rolled around, and I thought there was only one Toad. That line of thinking wouldn’t explain all the different Toadstools in the castles of Super Mario 1, but I didn’t, and still don’t mind you, really think of the lore of Super Mario Bros.
The fact that there were four distinct characters, with the same basic abilities, but different stats for each was enough to make the game feel more diverse. It made certain characters do better on different levels, but it never made finishing the level impossible. For example if you wanted to use the Princess in the desert level, you could, despite her have the slowest possible pick-up animation, making all that dirt digging even more laborious, but still I have done just that more than once, for the hell of it. As far as I can remember there is only one spot where you need a specific character, Luigi, in a specific spot in the game. I think it’s world 5-3, you need the green man’s higher than everyone’s super jump to get to the warp pipe, it’s not a very dire situation if you miss that. Personally I either used Mario or Toad the most, but I’ve also finished the game by only using one character with each one as well.
Mario 3’s graphic style was more of an improvement on Super Mario 1, because the two games had a similar setting, the Mushroom Kingdom, as opposed to being in a different World altogether in Mario 2. Although they went back and had only two playable characters, Mario and Luigi, and they were just a palette swap for one another, with no unique abilities between them. However Nintendo did bring back the ability for a two player take turns mode. It even threw in a not so hidden version of the arcade original you could kind of play between stages with another person.
Fundamentally both games operated the same way, majority of the time you’re going right and jumping from platform to platform to get to the end of the stage. Mario 2 being the odd one out as it usually is, when you jump on enemies, they don’t die and you can ride on their heads or pick them up over yours. The third game had the jump on it to kill it technique, and had a sort of pick things up mechanic, the lowly goomba would flatten if you jumped on him, or hurt you if you ran into him. But the koopa’s shell could be picked up and carried after thwacking him on his head, as well as certain kinds of special blocks found in the environment.
Power-ups are certainly an entertaining and interesting point of any Mario game, and while Super Mario 2 lacked the number that number three had, I didn’t feel like anything was missing. There was the Super Mushroom, kind of, you started it as the bigger version of whichever character you chose, and if you were down to one hit point left you shrank. Then all you would have to do is find the hind mushroom when you found a potion to go into that weird other world. Also there’s the ever important staple Starman pick-up of you collect five cherries.
Mario 3 went crazy with all the different suit powers-ups you could get. The first stage on the first level gave you a Leaf rather quickly, turning Mario into a Racoon that can fly. A fantastic idea, although I never understood why a racoon could fly in the first place, I just went with it. And there are many more suits such as the Frog and Tanooki suit. The frog suit made sense because it made you swim faster and hop along the ground, but being born in the United States I never got why the Tanooki suit existed, because besides being able to turn into a statue, there wasn’t much difference between Tanooki Mario and Racoon Mario. Then years after I read what a Tanooki was and I got even more confused as to why Nintendo chose that, it’s not like thy were going to have Mario run around with giant exposed testicles anyway.
There was the return of Fire Mario shooting fireballs, but my favorite suit by far is the rarest in the game, the hammer brother suit. It’s really overpowered, throwing hammers willy-nilly being able to take out enemies you could never do before, like Boos and Thwomps. I found it really fun, and when I got a Game Genie after years of playing this game already, I put in more time with the code that just let you be Hammer Mario the entire game.
While the sequel to Super Mario Bros. had some items you could find in the various levels, like the POW blocks, the third installment had an inventory system with a few items you could use on the overworld of each level. The music box for instance put the Hammer Bros to sleep so you could sneak past, and the cloud item made it so you could pass right over that difficult stage you’re having trouble with. Both of those items made getting round much easier.
However, you can’t talk about Mario power-ups and items without mentioning the greatest pick-up of all time, Kuribo’s Shoe. Found only on world five stage three of Super Mario 3. And you only have two chances to get it on the stage, sad thing is when the level is over, you have to give up the shoe. Until then feel free to walk all over the foes in.
Bosses are another major split between the two. The third Mario game’s bosses all have the same mechanics, whether it’s the sub-boss Boom-Boom, or koopa kid end of world encounter, jump on their head thrice to win, except the final Bowser battle. In Mario 2, there is a difference between fighting Birdo and Mouser. Of course you could try doing the same thing, but you would be very ineffective.
So really, either game would be a blast to pick up and play if you haven’t. Though I am pretty sure everyone I know has at least dabbled in one of the two if not both at least once.
Nonetheless, these games have a minute detail in common depending on where you fall in your opinions might choose one over the other. That is, neither of these games actually exist. I mean of course they actually physically exist, but the worlds, characters, and conflicts they portray are fictional. Super Mario 2 firstly, is nothing more than a dream (or nightmare) poor Mario is having. Even the credit role has Mario snoozing away as the four heroes stand triumphantly after defeating Wart by feeding him vegetables.
Super Mario Bros 3 is a stage play. Turning the game on the first thing that happens is a red curtain opens up and a light unveils the title screen, and if you look at all of Mario’s “costume changes” Super Mario 3 is a pretty big production.
I suppose, if I really had to make a choice between the two games I’d pick Super Mario 3. Today, I don’t know about tomorrow though.
theastroknot 