TITLE
New Book on Super Mario Bros. 2, the “Black Sheep” of the Mario Bros. Franchise
AUTHOR
Ethan Gilsdorf [Interview]
Jon Irwin [Book Excerpt]
PUBLICATION
Geek Dad
YEAR
2014
ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt
Interview
FROM THE ARTICLE
Gilsdorf: You consider Super Mario Bros. 2 the “black sheep” of the Mario Bros franchise. Why?Irwin: In a way, Mario 2 (aka, SMB2) has been retconned out of its black sheep status. By including some of its characters and abilities in future games, Nintendo has gone back and bleached the wool, so to speak. But at the time, SMB2 was a wholly different experience than the ground-breaking original. You plucked turnips from the ground instead of pounding question blocks. You fought off strange plodding enemies with masks on their faces, called Shy Guys, instead of the Koopas and Goombas that would go on to be a series staple. You flew on magic carpets and dug into sandpits. Nothing carried over from the past game, and many of its features were never seen again in a Mario game. The biggest oddity, which is its greatest strength, was the ability to choose one of four characters — Mario, Luigi, the Princess, or Toad — to play through each level. (It took 25 years for Nintendo to give players that same level of choice in a Mario game when they brought back the same four characters in Super Mario 3D World on Wii U.) The game always felt different, odd. And as many came to realize, there was a very good reason for this.
COMPANIES MENTIONED
Nintendo
GAMES MENTIONED
Super Mario Bros. 2
PLATFORMS MENTIONED
Nintendo Entertainment System [NES]
EXCERPTED FROM
Boss Fight Books – Super Mario Bros. 2
SEE ALSO
How Nintendo Convinced The World To Buy A Weird Mario Game – Kotaku (2014)