Bonjour
et bienvenue sur jeux vidéo Avis de ToriJ. Last year for
Thanksgaming Month I decided to pit two of the greatest
platformers of all time against each other, and this year I intend to
continue the tradition with Super Mario Bros. and Sonic
the Hedgehog 2!
Mario 2 originally hit
our shelves in October 1988, and Sonic 2 would come out four years
later. This time around both games would give us the ability to play
more than one character; Mario offering us Luigi, Princess Peach,
and Toad, while Sonic gave us Tails as a secondary character. This
time around Mario would only be single player, while Sonic became
multiplayer. Interesting how their roles reversed since their last
installments.
Not only do you have your
choice of character, but each character has their own stats to take
into consideration. Mario is the most balanced of the four
characters, and is naturally the best for beginners. Luigi has the
highest jump than anyone else in the game, Peach can float for a
brief amount of time, and Toad may as well be a tanker. His power
and speed stats are at max with his primary drawback being not able
to jump for shit.
Luigi's jumping works as
a double edged sword. Apparently, there IS such a thing as too high
for Mario games. When you're facing Birdo, Luigi will jump right
over the eggs and take longer coming back down. Toad can barely jump
over them at all, and Peach may be able to float like a butterfly,
but she's the weakest of all of them.
At least the
whole screen is covered this time.
Sonic goes
for an old school multiplayer experience made complete with a split
screen. I can understand if this can be nauseating. Especially in a
game where SPEED is the primary factor. Keep the barf bag close by.
Sonic and
Tails races to the finish in this 2 player mode. I have to hand it to
Tails, it takes serious balls to challenge someone like Sonic to a
race. Sonic play style is the same from the first game, but
everything is a lot more smoother mechanics wise, and the
difficulty's received a much needed downgrade. Tails is pretty
similar to Sonic, only he spins his tail to pick up speed so he
isn't as fast as Sonic. There are no boss fights in multiplayer, it's
just a race to the finish. I'm kind of disappointed because I would
have liked a co-op mode like how it's done in single player, but I
can't complain too much.
The worlds
in both games has been cut down since the last installment. Mario
only has three levels per world, while Sonic has two. How do the games make up for these cuts? Mario does it by
being harder! While Sonic's difficulty went down a peg, Mario's
noticeably went up a notch. I had problems just on level two and
three of the first world.
Mario has
Birdo who appears as a
miniboss in each world leading up to the main enemy. Sonic just has
the one boss in Dr. Robotnik that appears near the end of each zone.
Mario introduces a whole cast of new enemies, some of them becoming
iconic like Shy Guy, while Sonic mostly has the same ones, and if
they're different they were so forgettable in the first game that I
can't tell them apart. What Sonic 2 does introduces that stick with
you is Tails, and he's a great supporting character. Jumping, and
flying around on screen while you're going through the stages. I
just can't imagine Sonic running around without Tails anymore.
If
at any time Mario feels vastly different than its predecessor, that's
mainly because the game wasn't originally a Mario game. It was
turned into one later on because Nintendo felt the real Super Mario
Bros. 2 (later named the Lost Levels) would be too outdated by the
time it would come out to America, so this is what we got instead,
and boy, am I glad. Mario 2 is a huge step up from the first game in
gameplay and level design.
While
it doesn't have the trademark mushroom and fireflower, it does offer
you hearts that makes each character bigger like they would be with
the mushroom. You can jump on enemies, pick them up and then throw
them across the air. There are boxes with Pow
on it that helps take out multiple enemies at once, the star and
turtle shell makes a return and there's no annoying time limit so
you can take as much time as you want. You can even backtrack.
The
backdrops in this game are gorgeous, and the music is just as
memorable as the first game. Being able to switch between characters
before the start of each level is a great addition, and even provide
a level of strategy as you consider the strengths of each individual
character in the game.
Best
stage ever!
Sonic
2 gives you the option to play as Sonic or Tails, and you can have
Tails accompany Sonic as seen above. The stages are fun and
creative, even introducing a Casino stage where you can fly around
like a pinball. The visuals are slightly improved from the last game,
and the music is still pleasing to listen to, but I still don't
think it has anything on Mario's soundtrack.
While
Mario switches it up a lot in its sequel, Sonic is more or less the
same with a few additions, and if future games in the franchise are
any indication, that's a GOOD thing. Sonic still has most of the
same power upgrades, as well as the objective of rescuing animals
from Dr. Robotnik.
At
the end of the day, I have to give the victory to Super Mario Bros.
2. The game just has more characters, newer features, enemies, and
still manages to feel like Mario despite not even being a Mario game
originally.
Winner:
Mario
It's interesting to me that you mentioned the swap in multiplayer modes between the two games with the sequels, because, as I stopped and thought about it, I realized there was another shift that occurred. See, Sonic 2's levels are a lot more like SMB1's, in philosophy not design, with more straightways to run along and momentum preservation, while the Mario 2 is much more platform intensive, like the first Sonic game was compared to the second. Wonder how that happened. :/
ReplyDeleteGood point. I completely missed that. That's a funny coincidence.
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