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Derpy Review #16: Mario, the lost levels (spoilers, obviously)

Micro: When it comes to the Italian Plumber's classic side scrolling adventures, there are usually two things people will say. One might be that the game is very neat with tons of fun and amazing level design with some memorable levels and gimmicks. And the other might be someone saying, "Wow, this feels exactly like the last Mario game I just with only one thing here or there that sticks out."

Shekra: Wishing you played this game first before you did the last review?

Micro: Kind of, but I was still planning to do the first game as its own review no matter what. Anyways, Mario 2, the lost level, a game that has a rather a weird way of entering the US and I think everywhere else outside of Japan.

Shekra: After the successful release of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo made Super Mario two and released about half a year later. However, Nintendo of America consider the game too difficult at the time to be release in the US and didn't want to release it in the US.

Micro: In to be honest, I live by a golden video game rule and that is: If the Japanese of all people are telling you that the game is too difficult, then it might be best to take their word and maybe just look at the game from a distant instead of be some dumbass in like Philadelphia that's going to take it as a personal insult and challenge and bust their nut with a hammer trying to play this game.

Shekra: Uh huh, well, that's not the only reason why Nintendo of America didn't want to release the game in the US. The other reason was that the game felt far too similar to the first and didn't want early series of games to related to frustration and staleness, which I think was something coming at the time in the early days of gaming development. So, to avoid this, Nintendo of America instead tweak a different game and released that as Mario two, something we will talk about again in the next review, but for now, let's focus on this one.

Micro: Lost levels didn't got out of Japan and to the US until about a good seven years later with the release of Super Mario All-stars, something we already mentioned in the last review with the first game, and to be honest, it should be safe to assume that for the next few games, we will be discussing the All-Star versions of the games as so far they seem to be better to play than the original NES games. I still will be playing the original and All-star version for these reviews, but figure I should let you all know that right now.

Shekra: Something we should mentioned, as well as should have mentioned in the last review, is who is in charge of developing the game. In the last game, Super Mario Bros was directed by the mythical man himself, Shigeru Miyamoto. This man is practically one of the man to thanks, as well as blame depending on your view on some, for a bunch of Nintendo games even to this day. Mario being a big on, but some series as well like Zelda and donkey kong. The man oozes creativity like you would not believe. However, Miyamoto is also in charge of Nintendo's R & D division as well as working on Zelda. As such, the person in charge of making this game was the assisant director of the first game, Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka made the game with the thought that Japanese gamers master the mechanics of the first game and thus wanted to make a more challenging game where the challenge picks up after the first game.

Micro: And Christ above, did he succeeded on making a challenging game to say the least. There's a reason why people say that this game is for Super players. As such let's go ahead and talk about game.

Shekra: Spoilers are abound!

Story:

Shekra: So what's the story of this one.

Micro: Bowser kidnaps Peach.

Shekra: .....That's honestly it, isn't it?

Micro: Yup, its the exact same thing as the first, I think looking up the manual of this game flat out repeats the same story. Only thing I can think of is that since this is a continuation of the first game, Bowser probably made Mario look the other way and took Peach like a dasterdly villian from an old cartoon.

Shekra: Ok then, well, good thing that isn't the focus of the review.

Micro: Yup, and let's hurry up and talk about the game play and explain why it will give you an ulcer as you scream to the void.

Game play:

Micro: Well, this is somewhat easy to discuss. Lost worlds handles almost exactly like Super Mario Bros, you have the same jump, run, power up as you ya, you wa, and you wa hoo yourself to victory. Even has the same enemies as the first game and Bowser practically being the only boss while the jackasses that are the hammer bros prove to be just as awful.

Shekra: Except not entirely true. You see, the game was tweaked to where the enemies have a bit of a more different pattern of how they work at times. Some enemies like Cheep Cheeps might either move in a straight path or might move up and down in swimming stages that might get a hit on you. Lakitu is still a jerk and that he'll toss spinies at you, including be in water levels, but is at a lower altitude so you can bop them easier. Goombas are still Goombas. Blooper can also float outside of water for some reason... I don't get it either.

Micro: And hammer bros will also now charge at you like Micheal Myers, have fun avoiding these pricks. But in all honestly, the biggest hurdle in this game isn't really the enemies, though its still a major factor, its the way the level is design. Good god, when Tezuka said he wanted to make a harder challenge, I think he went a bit overboard in the level designing department. Where to begin exactly?

Shekra: Well, we can start with some of the levels designing. Platforming in this game was design to be more difficult to the point you need some skills to make some good jumps or you'll be finding yourself get hit but enemies or fall into a pit very easily. Even the first level of the game might catch you off guard. Bottomless pits and lava will be more widespread and require some good jumping to avoid falling into one and land on the next platform, all while hoping there isn't an enemy or spinning fire obstacle ready to smack you at the mustache.

Micro: Not to mention is that this game has springs that are just as awful as the first game, but now you better know and understand how springs work or else you will plummet into the abyss like a sack of potatoes. And why stop there when we can also talk about two extra bells and whistle the game brought to the table. One of the things the game also has is gust of wind that you will encounter in some levels. These gust of winds will push you constantly and you better hope you know you can measure you jump or you might over shoot your jump in fall right into a piranha plant's mouth or into another pit. And to top it off, you also need to jump on springs and use the gust of winds to move to another platform that is far away while you can't even see Mario as he flew straight to the stratosphere and falling down like a dope and possibly into another pit. Better hope you know the one up trick in this game cause you're going to need it as getting one hundred coins and a 1-up mushroom for an extra life is going to be a pain in the koopa ass.

Shekra: Oh, and while we are talking about mushrooms, we should talk about Micro's favorite type of mushroom he had the fun to encounter, and that is the poison mushroom.

Micro: Way to remind me of those damn things, Shekra.

Shekra: Inside some blocks are poison mushrooms, they looks similar to the super mushroom in the NES, though thankfully had a different look in the All-stars version, however, if you touch this mushroom, you will actually lose healthy and if you are small Mario, then you immediately die if you touch these things.

Micro: Ugh, the poison mushrooms aren't bad in all honestly, they won't chase you like they do in a far later Mario game, but do keep a close eye on which mushroom you encounter in this game or you might lose a life if you aren't careful. However, that's not the only that might drive you up the wall as this game sometimes likes to use invisible blocks. Word from the wise, if you think you are in a dead end, jump around and you might find a block hidden somewhere that you can use as a platform. On top of that, and this might be one of the more dick-ish thing I seen in a Mario game and that is that warp pipes are back, and yes, they can allow you to skip ahead of the game, but, now there are some pipes that will force you back to previous worlds. I miraculously didn't encounter these pipes when I played the NES and All-Star version of this game, and the only reason I know they exist is because we tried to look up some interesting facts about this game to talk about. Tezuka, by any chance you were the guy that thought of Kaizo Mario, cause that might explain a lot.

Shekra: That being said, the game more or less plays the same as the first game, just with it being immediately more challenging right off the bat due it continuing from the first game. That includes the ending as well.

Micro: Well, kind of.

Ending:

Micro: Ending of this game does play out the same, you ya, you wa, and you wa hoo yourself to victory, send Bowser into another lava pit and rescue Peach once again. However, she then tells you to try a harder challenge and continue. This just leads to four more worlds in the game, worlds A-D. These worlds play the same as the beginning of the game, just much more challenging. Blaze through these levels, and probably best to not take a warp pipe, and make it to Peach again, who I think she literally got kidnapped again as she is in a cage in the end as well.

Shekra: Seriously, she gets kidnap again in the same game?

Micro: Guess so, though let's be honestly, not like this will be the only time something like this will happen. But yeah, that's pretty much the game.

Conclusion:

Shekra: So, what did you think of the game? You're not going to say its the most difficult game you played are you,

Micro: Hell no, we both know I played significantly harder game than this one. That being said, the game is difficult and I can't tell if its for the right or wrong reason. Tezuka said he wanted to make the game more challenging and he defiantly did a great job at it. However, some of the previous problems I had in the first game still exist in this one. The springs still handle like ass and the series of bottomless pits in this game is somewhat ridiculous to me, but at the same time the game does some things that made things a bit more interesting, besides the annoying poison mushroom and warp pipes sending you to previous levels. For starters, something we didn't mentioned, mainly because I forgot about this, is that in the first game, if you get a game over, you restart at the beginning of the world. However, for this game, if you get a game over, you restart at the beginning of the level, from what I read of course. So at least the game is somewhat forgiving in that sense.

Shekra: Still, the game defiantly a difficulty curve to deal with for anyone that thought it was a good idea to start with this game first before the first game. Some mechanics still feels stiff here and there, mainly the springs and somewhat the swimming stages that are similar to the previous game, but that's more have to do with the technicalities than anything else.

Micro: With that said, would I recommend playing lost world? Eh, it wouldn't hurt to try it out, especially if you have a Switch and a Nintendo membership. You'll get your ass handed on a silver platter on some levels, but at least the game isn't that long to beat to be honest... unless you're terrible at platform games, in which case, why are you playing a Mario game again?

Shekra: With some discussion, we both agree to give the game a silver star rank. Game might be difficult on some places, but at least you'll have a challenge.

Micro: That being said, we're not out of the woods yet of Mario sequel as we still have to talk about the sequel America got instead of what Japan got. Next review, we will be talking about Mario two USA, or Doki Doki Panic for those that know this game.

Shekra: I'm curious as to how this game plays. But until then, we both hope you have a good day.

Micro & Shekra: Bye.

Description

Derpy Review #16: Mario, the lost levels (spoilers, obviously)

Micro: When it comes to the Italian Plumber's classic side scrolling adventures, there are usually two things people will say. One might be that the game is very neat with tons of fun and amazing level design with some memorable levels and gimmicks. And the other might be someone saying, "Wow, this feels exactly like the last Mario game I just with only one thing here or there that sticks out."

Shekra: Wishing you played this game first before you did the last review?

Micro: Kind of, but I was still planning to do the first game as its own review no matter what. Anyways, Mario 2, the lost level, a game that has a rather a weird way of entering the US and I think everywhere else outside of Japan.

Shekra: After the successful release of Super Mario Bros, Nintendo made Super Mario two and released about half a year later. However, Nintendo of America consider the game too difficult at the time to be release in the US and didn't want to release it in the US.

Micro: In to be honest, I live by a golden video game rule and that is: If the Japanese of all people are telling you that the game is too difficult, then it might be best to take their word and maybe just look at the game from a distant instead of be some dumbass in like Philadelphia that's going to take it as a personal insult and challenge and bust their nut with a hammer trying to play this game.

Shekra: Uh huh, well, that's not the only reason why Nintendo of America didn't want to release the game in the US. The other reason was that the game felt far too similar to the first and didn't want early series of games to related to frustration and staleness, which I think was something coming at the time in the early days of gaming development. So, to avoid this, Nintendo of America instead tweak a different game and released that as Mario two, something we will talk about again in the next review, but for now, let's focus on this one.

Micro: Lost levels didn't got out of Japan and to the US until about a good seven years later with the release of Super Mario All-stars, something we already mentioned in the last review with the first game, and to be honest, it should be safe to assume that for the next few games, we will be discussing the All-Star versions of the games as so far they seem to be better to play than the original NES games. I still will be playing the original and All-star version for these reviews, but figure I should let you all know that right now.

Shekra: Something we should mentioned, as well as should have mentioned in the last review, is who is in charge of developing the game. In the last game, Super Mario Bros was directed by the mythical man himself, Shigeru Miyamoto. This man is practically one of the man to thanks, as well as blame depending on your view on some, for a bunch of Nintendo games even to this day. Mario being a big on, but some series as well like Zelda and donkey kong. The man oozes creativity like you would not believe. However, Miyamoto is also in charge of Nintendo's R & D division as well as working on Zelda. As such, the person in charge of making this game was the assisant director of the first game, Takashi Tezuka. Tezuka made the game with the thought that Japanese gamers master the mechanics of the first game and thus wanted to make a more challenging game where the challenge picks up after the first game.

Micro: And Christ above, did he succeeded on making a challenging game to say the least. There's a reason why people say that this game is for Super players. As such let's go ahead and talk about game.

Shekra: Spoilers are abound!

Story:

Shekra: So what's the story of this one.

Micro: Bowser kidnaps Peach.

Shekra: .....That's honestly it, isn't it?

Micro: Yup, its the exact same thing as the first, I think looking up the manual of this game flat out repeats the same story. Only thing I can think of is that since this is a continuation of the first game, Bowser probably made Mario look the other way and took Peach like a dasterdly villian from an old cartoon.

Shekra: Ok then, well, good thing that isn't the focus of the review.

Micro: Yup, and let's hurry up and talk about the game play and explain why it will give you an ulcer as you scream to the void.

Game play:

Micro: Well, this is somewhat easy to discuss. Lost worlds handles almost exactly like Super Mario Bros, you have the same jump, run, power up as you ya, you wa, and you wa hoo yourself to victory. Even has the same enemies as the first game and Bowser practically being the only boss while the jackasses that are the hammer bros prove to be just as awful.

Shekra: Except not entirely true. You see, the game was tweaked to where the enemies have a bit of a more different pattern of how they work at times. Some enemies like Cheep Cheeps might either move in a straight path or might move up and down in swimming stages that might get a hit on you. Lakitu is still a jerk and that he'll toss spinies at you, including be in water levels, but is at a lower altitude so you can bop them easier. Goombas are still Goombas. Blooper can also float outside of water for some reason... I don't get it either.

Micro: And hammer bros will also now charge at you like Micheal Myers, have fun avoiding these pricks. But in all honestly, the biggest hurdle in this game isn't really the enemies, though its still a major factor, its the way the level is design. Good god, when Tezuka said he wanted to make a harder challenge, I think he went a bit overboard in the level designing department. Where to begin exactly?

Shekra: Well, we can start with some of the levels designing. Platforming in this game was design to be more difficult to the point you need some skills to make some good jumps or you'll be finding yourself get hit but enemies or fall into a pit very easily. Even the first level of the game might catch you off guard. Bottomless pits and lava will be more widespread and require some good jumping to avoid falling into one and land on the next platform, all while hoping there isn't an enemy or spinning fire obstacle ready to smack you at the mustache.

Micro: Not to mention is that this game has springs that are just as awful as the first game, but now you better know and understand how springs work or else you will plummet into the abyss like a sack of potatoes. And why stop there when we can also talk about two extra bells and whistle the game brought to the table. One of the things the game also has is gust of wind that you will encounter in some levels. These gust of winds will push you constantly and you better hope you know you can measure you jump or you might over shoot your jump in fall right into a piranha plant's mouth or into another pit. And to top it off, you also need to jump on springs and use the gust of winds to move to another platform that is far away while you can't even see Mario as he flew straight to the stratosphere and falling down like a dope and possibly into another pit. Better hope you know the one up trick in this game cause you're going to need it as getting one hundred coins and a 1-up mushroom for an extra life is going to be a pain in the koopa ass.

Shekra: Oh, and while we are talking about mushrooms, we should talk about Micro's favorite type of mushroom he had the fun to encounter, and that is the poison mushroom.

Micro: Way to remind me of those damn things, Shekra.

Shekra: Inside some blocks are poison mushrooms, they looks similar to the super mushroom in the NES, though thankfully had a different look in the All-stars version, however, if you touch this mushroom, you will actually lose healthy and if you are small Mario, then you immediately die if you touch these things.

Micro: Ugh, the poison mushrooms aren't bad in all honestly, they won't chase you like they do in a far later Mario game, but do keep a close eye on which mushroom you encounter in this game or you might lose a life if you aren't careful. However, that's not the only that might drive you up the wall as this game sometimes likes to use invisible blocks. Word from the wise, if you think you are in a dead end, jump around and you might find a block hidden somewhere that you can use as a platform. On top of that, and this might be one of the more dick-ish thing I seen in a Mario game and that is that warp pipes are back, and yes, they can allow you to skip ahead of the game, but, now there are some pipes that will force you back to previous worlds. I miraculously didn't encounter these pipes when I played the NES and All-Star version of this game, and the only reason I know they exist is because we tried to look up some interesting facts about this game to talk about. Tezuka, by any chance you were the guy that thought of Kaizo Mario, cause that might explain a lot.

Shekra: That being said, the game more or less plays the same as the first game, just with it being immediately more challenging right off the bat due it continuing from the first game. That includes the ending as well.

Micro: Well, kind of.

Ending:

Micro: Ending of this game does play out the same, you ya, you wa, and you wa hoo yourself to victory, send Bowser into another lava pit and rescue Peach once again. However, she then tells you to try a harder challenge and continue. This just leads to four more worlds in the game, worlds A-D. These worlds play the same as the beginning of the game, just much more challenging. Blaze through these levels, and probably best to not take a warp pipe, and make it to Peach again, who I think she literally got kidnapped again as she is in a cage in the end as well.

Shekra: Seriously, she gets kidnap again in the same game?

Micro: Guess so, though let's be honestly, not like this will be the only time something like this will happen. But yeah, that's pretty much the game.

Conclusion:

Shekra: So, what did you think of the game? You're not going to say its the most difficult game you played are you,

Micro: Hell no, we both know I played significantly harder game than this one. That being said, the game is difficult and I can't tell if its for the right or wrong reason. Tezuka said he wanted to make the game more challenging and he defiantly did a great job at it. However, some of the previous problems I had in the first game still exist in this one. The springs still handle like ass and the series of bottomless pits in this game is somewhat ridiculous to me, but at the same time the game does some things that made things a bit more interesting, besides the annoying poison mushroom and warp pipes sending you to previous levels. For starters, something we didn't mentioned, mainly because I forgot about this, is that in the first game, if you get a game over, you restart at the beginning of the world. However, for this game, if you get a game over, you restart at the beginning of the level, from what I read of course. So at least the game is somewhat forgiving in that sense.

Shekra: Still, the game defiantly a difficulty curve to deal with for anyone that thought it was a good idea to start with this game first before the first game. Some mechanics still feels stiff here and there, mainly the springs and somewhat the swimming stages that are similar to the previous game, but that's more have to do with the technicalities than anything else.

Micro: With that said, would I recommend playing lost world? Eh, it wouldn't hurt to try it out, especially if you have a Switch and a Nintendo membership. You'll get your ass handed on a silver platter on some levels, but at least the game isn't that long to beat to be honest... unless you're terrible at platform games, in which case, why are you playing a Mario game again?

Shekra: With some discussion, we both agree to give the game a silver star rank. Game might be difficult on some places, but at least you'll have a challenge.

Micro: That being said, we're not out of the woods yet of Mario sequel as we still have to talk about the sequel America got instead of what Japan got. Next review, we will be talking about Mario two USA, or Doki Doki Panic for those that know this game.

Shekra: I'm curious as to how this game plays. But until then, we both hope you have a good day.

Micro & Shekra: Bye.