the 'black sheep' of mario series

This was most definitely the 'black sheep' of the Super Mario Bros. series, and most likely because it never was intended to be a true Super Mario Bros. sequel. It was released in Japan under a different name, but the real #2 of the series was too complicated and hard to release in North America, so this game was just relabeled as SMB 2.

The differences are astonishing. Rather than typical Mario going to save princess, you can choose to start any level as either Mario, Luigi, Princess, or Toad. Also, jumping on enemies does nothing - you just stand there and go for a ride. Button pressing a button and you flip the enemy upside down, carry then, and throw then into other enemies. There's also a bunch of vegetables that you can uproot, carry, and throw at your enemies.

This game has a big love-it-or-hate-it persona. Though SMB 3 is my favorite of the series, I still have very favorable feelings to this one, mostly because of the very different gameplay, and use of 4 different characters each with different skills.

8/10