Mario's Madness
A Guide by Benni Castellanos Ruiz. Following the great success which Super Mario Bros. was in America, Nintendo had to come up with a new game quick, they did in Japan though, using the impressive Famicom Disk System, an add on to play floppy-disk like games, yellow 3 inches floppies which helped make cheaper games for 3rd party companies and Nintendo itself.
That add-on never came to America but we got the power-glove, we know, its so bad. Anyhow, something had to be done, so they though on converting Super Mario Bros. 2 to the western market and fitting on a glorious gray cartridge but the study group gave their feedback… “It’s the same game”, “It is too hard.”, “Americans will never buy this game.”. At the time there was a huge event by Fuji TV called Yume Kojo, and Fuji TV thought of advertising it with a cheap Nintendo game as their Famicom and the Famicom disk system was huge in Japan.
Nintendo and Fuji TV developed together the game: Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic,
which translates to “Dream Factory: Ba-dum Panic!” based strongly on an scrapped
concept for a super Mario brothers game sequel, making a colorful adventure game
about an Arabian family and their trip into a dreamworld to save their little
ones. When I mention this is a dreamworld it is, creatures inside it are
colorful, unique and part of what could only be considered a dream. The
characters where great, Imajin, his sister Lina, Mama and Papa, all together
travelling through the dream world to save their little ones.
Did you notice how many times I used the word dream here? Well, Nintendo watched
the game and noticed how familiar it was, how it would give the player the
choice of four different characters to use, how some stuff would just work if
Imajin was replaced with Mario, so they did it. They take a hold of the game and
re-skinned it to create Super Mario Bros. 2: Mario’s madness. A game where you
take on the world of Sub-con to save it from the oppression of Wart, a
super-sized frog with the aid of our heroes.
The rest is videogame history, the game was a hit on America and it helped the
Super Mario universe grow adding Sniffit's, shy guys, shy aways and Birdo's into
it, Sub-con was now part of the Super Mario Bros. Canon and it helped define the
roles of the Super Mario Brothers and their companions even better.
The game was so popular and well received that it later was released by
Nintendo in 1992 as Super Mario Bros. USA. This game would have to be considered
Super Mario Bros. 4, but only in Japan, as it was released after Super Mario
Bros. 3 and would explain why is that all the standards are used in later games.
Video Walkthrough #1 - Mario
A Warpless run of Super Mario Bros 2 from start to finish, played as Mario. Includes ending and credits.
The Trip to Subcon
How to play
The game is completely, absolutely, totally and absurdly different to other
Mario games you’ve played.
The A button makes your character Jump. If you keep it pressed the character
will continue jumping
The B Button picks up stuff, throws stuff. By Stuff we means the little plants
on the ground (You will see a little piece of red grass moving, it means there
is “something” there, it can be a 1-up, a veggie, a big-veggie an enemy!
Anything! Also if you are moving while you keep B Pressed you may perform a
really swift B-dash.
Move with left or right. Up can be used to enter doors, Down can be used to
energize a move called the Power Squat Jump. The Power Squat Jump will make you
jump really high, no matter what character you are using.
Start well, starts the game and can be pressed to get a pause. Select helps you
select some options.
Video Walkthrough 2 - Luigi
A Warpless run of Super Mario Bros 2 from start to finish, played as Luigi. Includes ending and credits.
It’s all in the family
Playable
Characters
Four characters make it for a full family, this is the game where their
abilities were marked forever. To this day we still use the standards set here
for many of the Mario games.
Mario: Mario is the super balanced plumber of action, he doesn’t go that
slow, he doesn’t jump that high and he can pick up stuff fast but its not the
faster. Is great to learn how to play.
Luigi: He has a special slow landing, but his jump is the highest on the game. You can reach spots you would normally be unable to reach with any other character. He takes his time to pick up stuff and it’s a bit slow and slippery.
Toad: Toad goes so fast, even when he picks up something (which is quite
fast!) he will actually go faster than if he has nothing in his hands, he
doesn’t jump that high.
Princess Peach: She is the slowest, has a nice jump and takes her sweet
time to pick up stuff, is really slow. She however has a special move, she can
use her dress to hover in the air after jumping. Just press A after jumping and
you will float for a couple of seconds. This makes her able to reach places not
even Luigi can reach.
Subcon impressive creatures and world:
Gameplay facts
The world of Subcon has a lot of enemies and they are more resilent than those we met in the mushroom kingdom. The average enemy here is the Shy Guy, a guy on a red cloak with a mask, you will be seeing a lot of it. He can’t be defeated if you stomp on it.
Yup, you read well. You can stand on him and he will just carry you around, you,
however, have the chance to pick him up and he will move helplessly until you
throw him away to defeat another enemy or just to land and turn around and keep
on walking. Most enemies wont defeat you if you step on them, but some of them,
like the Sparkies (The round shiny ones) , the Pansers (those that looks like
fire flowers), the Porcupos (the ones who are like Porcupines), The Phanto (the
masks that follow you after grabbing keys) and bosses cant be step on.
Video Walkthrough #3 - Toad
A run of Super Mario Bros 2 from start to finish, played as Toad. makes use of Includes ending and credits.
Power Ups:
This game has a lot of power ups, I’ll cover them all on this list:
Veggies: Little red brushes of grass on the ground hold vegetables on
them, turnips, carrots, onions, and more, there are two types of them, the huge
ones and the small ones.
Mushroom: Notice how this game has a health bar on the left. This item
will increase your current hit points by one, there are two on each level so
look after them, they can only be found on the SubSpace.
Magic Potion: The Magic potion can be plucked from the ground and will
create a magic door once thrown to the ground, this door will lead to the
subspace and will let you get all the items that you find them, after some
seconds, the door will take you back to the normal space.
Coin: Coins can be plucked from the ground on the subspace. They will
help you at the roulette at the end of the level.
Cherry: The cherries are scattered through some levels and can be
collected, after you take five, a Starman will come from the bottom of the
screen.
Starman: After you grab 5 cherries, the Starman will appear and if you
grab it, it will make you invincible for some seconds.
Small Heart: After you’ve lost some lives you can pick small hearts to
regain it. If you have one life and pick up a small heart you will grow to super
form again.
Stop Watch: After you pick up 4 big veggies the fifth will be a Stop
watch, there will be a clock ticking sound and enemies will stay still until the
time is up.
Pow Block: Pick up the Pow Block, coming right from Mario Bros. it still
has the same function, throw it to the ground and the whole screen will shake,
defeating most enemies on the screen.
Crystal Ball: The Crystall ball is held by most of the mini-bosses on the
game, after defeating them and picking it up, the door to the next level will
open.
Birdo Egg: Birdo shoots eggs; it’s the only way to defeat him!
Mushroom Block: This are really helpful, they can be used to defeat
certain enemies but can help you to go to higher places, stack them and make
stairsets. They are just that practical.
Keys: There are some doors that have a keyhole in them, there is a Key
(guarded by a Phanto) somewhere in that level, find it but beware, Phanto will
follow you.
The warp Pipes are changed here by vases, quite colorful vases and fill up the
same function. There are warp zones hidden on the game but you need to access
them through special vases and they are only accessible from the subspace.
Video Walkthrough #4 - Princess Toadstool
A Warpless run of Super Mario Bros
2 from start to finish, played as Princess Toadstool. Includes ending and credits.
The levels
Simple
design, tricky places
The seven worlds are composed of 3 levels each, in exception of level 7 which
has 2 worlds only. There are interesting Bosses and I’ll give you the strategy
to defeat them here:
World 1 Boss: Mouser
Mouser is really hard for a world 1
boss. He throws bombs at you and they explode after some seconds. Grab them from
the ground or make sure they land on top of you to throw them at him so he is
defeated. Apart from the fact the bombs explode really fast he is quite easy to
defeat, make sure to time your bombs because he wont get damaged unless the bomb
explodes onto him.
World 2 Boss: Tryclyde
This three-headed serpent is quite
hard to defeat, it spits fireballs on groups of seven so take it up. You make
create a wall with the mushroom blocks to avoid the fire while you pick them up.
Pick up the block and throw it when is not spitting fire, it will be defeated
with 5 hits.
World 3 Boss: Mouser, Encore
Mouser again, use the same strategy
but make sure to defeat the sparky before defeating him so is easier.
World 4 Boss: Fryguy
Fryguy is such an annoying boss, but keep calmed and defeat him, you will have to grab on the mushroom blocks and go above to let them fall into him steadily. After some hits he will be turned into smaller fryguys who die with one hit.
World 5 Boss: Clawgrip
He can be hard to defeat, so keep
sharp. Wait for the stones he throws at you to become slower and pick them up,
throwing them back to him. If you are off time you will be hit by him, 5 hits
and he is a goner.
World 6 Boss: Tryclyde Encore:
The encore is hard because of the
pits surrounding Tryclyde, make sure to make a wall to avoid his fireballs and
you will defeat him easily.
World 7 boss: Wart
Take toad for this last fight, its easier with him. The device on his Lair is a vegetable dispenser, it will randomly toss vegetables so grab them and wait for wart to open his mouth to attack, throw veggies into his mouth and he will be defeated!
There are 4 warps on this game. Any character can access them…
World 1-3: At the end of the world there is a vase, right before it there
is a group of grass and on of them hold a potion. Pick it up, throw it nearby
and be warped to World 4.
World 3-1: There is a huge waterfall at the start of the world, jump
down…yeah, jump down, stay in the center and you will find a door at the bottom,
there is a potion among the grass get it, go to the right and find the vase, you
will be warped to World 5
World 4-2: The whales! There is a vase in between two whales on world
4-2, there is a potion before, and there is another one at the start of the
level. Jump carefully to the lonely island and get into the warp from the
subspace, you will go to world 6.
World 5-3: Start the world and you will see a lonely jar. If you are
Luigi you may just get the potion and jump up. If you aren’t there are albatross
on this level, get a potion and travel steadily nearby it, get into the subspace
so you can get to world 7.
The Fastest way to finish the game is to play all levels with toad. Follow this
order:
1-1, 1-2, 1-3 –warp-> 4-1, 4-2 –warp-> 6-1,6-2, 6-3, 7-1, 7-2
That’s it! You’ve defeated wart and saved Sub-con… was it all a dream? Maybe
from the dream factory? Who knows, get ready for Mario’s next adventure which
may happen again on the Mushroom Kingdom!