Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)

Today on Super Adventures, my Mario Marathon Month continues with a tale of two Super Mario Bros. 2s.

Back on the Famicom and NES in the late 80s there was a bit of a trend for sequels to be radically different to the original. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link added RPG elements and swapped genres to become a platformer, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest evolved into more of an open world RPG with NPCs and a day/night cycle, Final Fantasy II encouraged players to beat up their own team-mates to level up skills etc. But Super Mario Bros. 2 managed to be both more of the same and a reinvention of the formula at the same time, by cheating and being two separate games:

The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 (AKA. Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels in the West) is the next step on from Super Mario Bros. and arcade game VS. Super Mario Bros., with even more challenging levels and a badge on the box saying "For super players" to make sure that regular players realise that it's going to kick their ass.

The American Super Mario Bros. 2 (AKA. Super Mario USA in Japan) is a localisation of an entirely unrelated platformer, repurposed as a replacement Mario sequel due to the Japanese Mario 2's dated visuals and punishing difficulty level making it more likely to scare players away from the unproven NES than win the undying love that the Famicom was currently enjoying in Japan.

At least that's how I think it goes. I'll give each an hour or two and see how they play.

007 Games Part 1: James Bond, A View to a Kill, Goldfinger

Super AiG's Guide to Every (Old) James Bond Game Ever, Volume 1

This is what happens when I have Photoshop open when I'm bored.

It's another Super Adventures special event! Every day for the next week I'll be going through the first 10 years of the Bond game series, from James Bond 007 to The Duel, and hopefully everything in between. So if for whatever reason you don't like reading about James Bond, or looking at crap screenshots from ancient Atari and Commodore systems, I'll apologise now. Sorry about that.

Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchū (NES)

Ganbare Goemon! Karakuri Dōchū Aka. Mystical Ninja. This is the second of the Goemon games, and the first to be released on home consoles. Or so wikipedia claims.

This title screen hangs around for exactly three seconds before the game goes into demo mode, and I can certainly understand why they wouldn't want players to get a good look at it. It wouldn't be a finalist in a 'greatest NES title screens' tournament for sure.

The Goonies (NES)

Today I'm playing Konami's adaptation of the Goonies, on the NES.

I have to admit, I've never seen the movie this is based on. All I know about the film is that it's got a pirate ship in it, and is a bit like Indiana Jones, except with teenagers. Or maybe it's not, I dunno.

Mr. Goemon (Arcade)

This is the very first Goemon/Mystical Ninja video game ever made, starring a real life Japanese folk hero who was executed for an attempted assassination attempt by being boiled alive along with his young son. Sounds like a fun story to make a game out of.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Master System)

This was the first of the Alex Kidd games, and apparently the best selling game on the Sega Master System. Possibly because it actually came built into a lot of Master Systems.

My console came with Sonic the Hedgehog though, and I know virtual nothing about this game.

Vampire Killer (MSX2)

Apparently this was made about the same time as the original Famicom/NES Castlevania game, and was actually the first of the series to get a release in Europe.

Castlevania (NES)

Like The Legend of Zelda, this is a genuine NES classic that I've somehow managed to avoid playing until now. Or maybe I just always got killed by the first boss, I forget.

Batman (ZX Spectrum)

It took five minutes to load this, so I hope you appreciate the incredible sacrifices I make.

I have no idea why Batman is carrying a shield though. We're supposed to be collecting pieces of the broken Batmobile, so I suppose it could be a hubcap.

Ghosts 'N Goblins (C64)

Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts publicly humiliated me, now I'm going after the first game in the series for revenge.

This is the first Commodore 64 game I've ever played by the way, so I'm not sure what to expect from it.

The Legend of Zelda (NES)

Yeah I have played this before, a while ago now, but I haven't seriously played it. I walked a couple of screens, got killed by monsters, and turned it off.