Just a random (almost 35 years too late) question because I’ve been replaying SMB2 on the Switch.
It seems like she’s just objectively better in every way. I don’t get why I would pick the others.
Oh man, I love Super Mario Bros 2! It’s one of my favorite games of all time.
So, each character actually has very different stats.
Luigi and Princess have obvious special jumping abilities. I think Luigi can actually jump a little farther… But both of them have significantly shorter jumps and run more slowly when carrying a vegetable, and both pick up vegetables quite slowly (especially the princess). This can be extremely detrimental on sand stages that require a lot of fast digging to get away from enemies, or picking up a block to throw at a boss before he attacks.
Toad is the opposite. He can pick up vegetables and run with them blazingly fast, and can run and jump as high (higher?) while carrying them.
Mario is balanced all-around.
It’s all explained in the instruction manual with some cute drawings. Each character is really quite balanced in my opinion.
Oh wow, I had no idea. I didn’t even own the manual back in the day because I played it on Mario All Stars on the SNES.
Where were you with this info in the mid 1990s?
Lol!
I was wrong, there’s THREE PAGES in the manual on the subject! 😅
https://www.digitpress.com/library/manuals/nes/Super Mario Bros 2.pdf
Huh, transgender Birdette is in there too.
I thought this comment was a joke. lol
For anyone else out of the loop, here’s a screenshot from the linked manual above:
(also, apparently his name is supposed to be Birdo, but it was misprinted in the manual as “Ostro”. Ostros are the big flamingo looking things)
I feel like the version we had definitely had its name printed as Birdo and not Ostro. I have always called that thing Birdo.
The name is also shown in the cast roll at the end of the game, so you might remember it from there. :)
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Man, I miss manuals like this.
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The strengths/weaknesses are ingrained in my brain from studying that manual. I thought it was common knowledge.
The reason to has actually been removed.
In the US version of Mario 2, all you have to do is make it to the end with any character to win. In the Japanese Doki Doki Panic on which it is based, you actually need to get to the end with all 4 characters before you’ve beaten the game.
The different characters do have strengths and weaknesses: differences in run speed, item pickup speed, and jump mechanics (and Toad actually runs faster when he’s holding an item) but you are correct in that for purposes simply amounting to no more than getting through each level to the end, using Peach/Toadstool is the easiest.
Oh man, this would have been brutal and fun!
I think you could recreate that experience a bit of you go after the retroachevments for the game (e.g. fan made achievements enforced via emulator). I think they require you beat the game 5 times, one for each character and once with a split group. Also, no damage runs and such. Difficult stuff.
e.g. means ‘for example.’ I think you were looking for i.e. (which means ‘in other words’ or ‘to be specific’).
I think of them as “example given” and “in essence” which is close enough to remind me which to use.
I think it was Famicom disk system so you could save your game?
Doki doki panic is a great game and you should play it. Feels nostalgic, even if you’ve only ever played super Mario Bros 2.
I assume I’ll need to locate a rom?
Wait, I have a famicom. I bet I could find a cartridge.
The Steven He Asian difficulty is real?
Emotional damage
Peach is a slow runner and it takes her a long time to pick up an object.
That’s always been my feeling too. I think Mario can run faster, and Luigi can jump a little higher, but Peach just controls better. Who knows what kind of maniac would choose Toad.
Toad can dig / lift the fastest, and gets a huge run speed boost when carrying enemies, making him the speed runner’s choice in many levels.
Toad pulls roots faster, and he’s my favorite
Thanks for the root-cause analysis.
Glad to have found you.
Hi! I am a toadstool maniac. Ama.
I’ll start:
Who hurt you?
You know that ghost that chases you when you look away from them? That guy.
But seriously, toad’s special power is how fast he can dig and throw. Toad is max DPS. Toad is OP.
Ok, I just tried playing as toad. I think you’ve recruited me.
Toad seems terrible!
I always played him for his speed and throwing and carrying ability like others have said.
I only used Peach on levels where floating was really helpful and I didn’t have to throw anything at a boss.
I pick Toad quite a lot. He’s a fast little goober.
Peach is slow as hell. Toad all day baybee
There’s a warp zone you can only reach with Luigi, IIRC (but it’s been a long time). So for one level, at least, he’s better if you want to skip ahead.
TIL this game has warp zones
Yeah, they’re pipes / jars / whatever. You have to find a potion, throw it so the pipe is available when you go through the door, and then go down the pipe.
Yep, world 5-3. I dimly remember being able to Luigi superjump onto the birds in 7-1 and short-circuit a bunch of that level.
If you want an overly objective answer, speedrunners use different characters for different levels because they’re faster in different ways, and I don’t think Peach is used often. As a casual player IDK lol I always just played as Peach
Maybe I should watch some speed runs. The others just feel terrible to use, and I can’t fathom how they would be better.
You’re playing on Switch so I guess that’s the same as the NES release? Here’s the current world record for all levels
https://www.twitch.tv/coolkid/v/948465227?sr=a
https://www.speedrun.com/smb2?h=All_Levels&x=l9kv002g
Here’s a run from a GamesDoneQuick event which means the commentary will probably explain more than usual
Oh and here are the number of levels played by each character from the end of that GDQ run lol
The world record is 1, 5, 13, and 1
This is cool to see. At least everyone got played once, haha.
And also Luigi > Mario, finally
Speedruns can be a lot of fun to watch - the better you know the game, the more fun it can be. Some runs get freaky, but a lot of games have glitchless categories or some kind of ruleset that doesn’t break the game too badly. A lot of glitches are fascinating, too.
I always loved playing as toadstool. You can’t dig any faster than the toad!
Peach was basically my only character ever, but occasionally I would use Toad for the Ice level with all the whales since he could jump between the bees easily.
Playing as Peach in Mario 2 was the OG “Funky Mode.”
Because you’re my 5 year old god daughter who always wants to play as “Uwiigi”.
My 1 y/o tries to say “peach” and does the little arm raise when I select her.
Based
This is an excellent question and I await the responses to see if anyone used other characters.
Peach was the character I used the most for sure.
I always played her back in the day too, but I remember trying the others out.
It would’ve made a lot more sense if they were greyed out when you died with them or something, so that you’d have to pick the others.
Peach’s jump is OP. I loved SMB2.
The answer is that you wouldn’t. Because she can float. SHE CAN FLOAT.
Luigi can jump really high, so I like playing as Luigi as well.
Buh-da buh-da buh-da buh-da da-buh
aeiou
