Showing posts with label Super Mario All-Stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super Mario All-Stars. Show all posts

Thursday, April 10, 2025

SMB2: Hittin' Up The Slots...

Mario Develops a Serious Gambling Addiction!


A memorable part of Super Mario Bros. 2 is the slot machine aka. "Bonus Chance".

The minigame appears between levels, allowing the player to win Extra Lives.

A collection of notes & screenshots transformed into a relatively deep dive of this Super Mario Bros. 2 minigame, with a separate page for each version of the game:

SMB2: Bonus Chance (Original NES)
SMB2: Bonus Chance (SNES All-Star)


There are slight variations between the original (1988) and Super Mario All-Stars (1993) versions.

Slot icons are also livened up in Super Mario All-Stars (making Mario feel like he's in Vegas).
Prizes are also more generous in the updated version.



Risking life and limb - For a chance at a few extra lives!

Carry the Magic Potion to places where tufts of grass can be found.
Pull the grass to get rewarded with tokens to play the minigame.
Hit the terminal with a fistfull of coins to better your odds of making out like a bandit.


Each coin gathered during the level is worth a pull at the machine.
With some luck, several coins can net you a few lives.


Hit up the machine with a pile of change and walk away with more lives than a cat.


Surprisingly fun and addictive. As you memorize the locations to gather potential coins, learn better timing and memorize the prizes, the odds can only shift in your favor.

It's a combination of skill and luck, but it still helps to know the stakes.

Full Pages:

SMB2: Bonus Chance (Original NES)
SMB2: Bonus Chance (SNES All-Star)



Sunday, April 6, 2025

Two Much Fun...

Refusing to Get a Life


SMB2 (All-Stars Version)

Attempting another playthu of oldschool classic Super Mario Bros. 2.
(A feat I haven't accomplished since the 1990s)
















SMB2 (NES)


Bouncing back and forth between the original SMB2 (1988) and the Super Mario All-Stars version (1993).

The original game offered just 2 lives to start.














SMB2 (All-Stars Version)

Of course the Super Mario All-Stars version is more forgiving to make it more fun.
Five lives to start the game with, plus the ability to select a new character if you die.
Each level can become a bit of a team effort as each character utilizes their strengths.













Had a decent run on the slot machine...
Those extra lives quickly depleted by a fortress maze full of "Sparks".

Still, managed to push further into this game than I have in decades.
Certainly don't remember the game being this challenging - Or maybe I was just a hell of a lot more patient.

SMB2 is a tad different than its' Mario brethren...
Gotta re-train a few compulsive Mario habits.

Can no longer squash enemies as if they were Goombas - Instead, it's best to throw vegetables at them (or throw baddies at each other).






Looking back at the game now, elements like climbing the side-by-side length of chains has a Donkey Kong Junior feel...















Other parts of Super Mario Bros. 2 may even feel like precursors to Donkey Kong Country...















Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Can't Rush Perfection...

Mario is Missing!

Little Miss Dark manages to usurp Super Mario!
How can this be?

Possibly because of an unplanned side-project, the Perfect Dark N64 Blog which quietly debuted last year.
perfectdarkn64.blogspot.com

Much of the content is not to be taken seriously - But many of the cheat codes, unlockables, secrets and walkthru pages have been restored.


STAR CHARTS
" Because The Best   Video Games Came Out Last Century! "


GameSystem
Released
1Perfect DarkN642000
2Super Mario Bros. 3NES1990
3GoldenEye 007 N641997
4Donkey Kong Country 2SNES1995
5Super Mario All-StarsSNES1993

Despite the enduring popularity of Super Mario Bros 3, the NES classic gets bumped down one spot as Agent 007 hides in the basement shadows.





Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Mario Clouds Everything...

Super Mario Bros. 3

"Wars Not Make One Great..."

With Super Mario Bros. 3 maintaining the pole position, James Bond wrestles with the Planet of the Apes.

The Force is also strong with young Skywalker. Keep trying to warn everyone that the kid grows up to be Darth Vader, but no one seems to listen...











STAR CHARTS
Arbitrarily Assigning Replay Value! 


GameSystem
Released
1Super Mario Bros. 3NES1990
2Donkey Kong Country 3SNES1996
3GoldenEye 007 N641997
4Super Mario All-StarsSNES1993
5Star Wars Episode I: RacerN641999


Wednesday, May 15, 2024

White Mushroom House (World 7-2)

SMB3: Magical Cursing... 

Super Mario Bros 3


Unlocking the White Mushroom House by collecting 46 coins in World 7-2. A special Toad House will appear on the map, awarding Mario with a P-Wing.

Not sure if I had ever performed this trick in Super Mario Bros 3.
Was hoping to do it on the original NES version.

Requires some precision moves, and the controls are so brutally unforgiving that I just could not get Frog Mario to navigate properly.

Definitely recall this challenging "obstacle course".
Most of the stages in the World 7 Pipe Maze are a bit tricky.

Some advance preparation is also needed, because Mario needs the speed of the Frog Suit.

There are Frog Suits found later on in World 7 - But this is just the second stage of World 7, so Mario needs to have collected one during his travels (obtained in World 2 or World 3).


World 7-2 has a stash of coins and bricks below the level itself, accessed via pipe. Only Frog Mario is fast enough to retrieve all of the brick-turned coins before the time runs out.

Hop to it!


A precision jump over this block proved to be considerably difficult.
Made it through a couple times, but missed a coin or two - So it doesn't count!
Will eventually go back and try again... Someday.




Determined to succeed, attempted it on the Super Mario All-Stars version.

Got it almost instantly. Even though it's the same game (and I'm using the SAME physical controller), the controls are a bit more forgiving, allowing me to better maneuver Frog Mario.

46 coins to collect, although there's no need to count.
Pretty much located in the same area, in three "blocks".


This late in the game, we can definitely expect a challenge.
It's practically deserving of its' own walkthru...



World 7-2

(46 coins to unlock the White Mushroom House)


Pest Control

Frog Mario grabs an Ice Block and tosses it at the little Nipper plant guarding a pipe to the underwater coin chamber.




Being a Frog

Must be careful not to accidentally smash any bricks in the underground area...
Even busting a single block will prevent Mario from getting the necessary coin count.

The easy 18 coins should be collected before hitting the "P-Switch".

Returning to the water, with precision swimming.
Collecting the time-sensitive block-turned coins quickly and efficiently.
The task needs to be performing without wasting a stroke.


After a failed attempt, I'd go back and swim the course a few more times anyway, just to nail down the timing.

A Quick Swim


This narrow gap is another snag. Mario swims very fast in his Frog Suit.
But one wrong move into a block or wall, and he just won't have enough seconds on the clock to grab all the coins.



Move it, Froggy!


Swimming straight up and hopping out of the water to grab the near coins, followed by delicate hops to the far corner.


Even missing one or two coins just won't cut it.
Gotta obtain every last one of them.



Musical Interlude


After leaving the water area, Mario gets trapped in a pit with a Koopa. Gotta punch out just enough invisible Note Blocks to make a bridge. Back underground again, returning back up to cross relatively safely...



Piranha Plants Hungry for BBQ Frog Legs


A quick maze of Venus Fire Traps awaits Mario.
Try to keep the high ground, jumping for the highest pipes, immediately as the creature goes back into its' home.


Make it down this pipe...
No more enemies to deal with!


At the end of the "maze", the exit pipe is the only one leading into the ground.





Special Mushroom House, here we come!



Our reward is a P-Wing...
But in reality, it's the satisfaction of pulling off the stunt.

In the Super Mario All-Stars version, the "White Mushroom House" is actually blue.




Extra Credit Assignment:

World 7-3

"I Am Invincible!"

The next stage of Pipe Maze is World 7-3, which offers unlimited Invincibility - The only catch is Mario must race to the next question block while still Invincible (otherwise the item box will contain one lousy coin instead).

Collect a Starman at the beginning of the level, and race towards the goal.

The subsequent blocks will contain a Starman if Mario is still Invincible.






Despite Frog Mario's incredible jumping ability, a few areas pose a challenge.
A few awkward jumps with the Frog Suit.




Lakitu also shows up midway - All the more reason to be Invincible!

While Frog Mario can jump incredibly high, sometimes getting him to land exactly where you want can be difficult - Therein lies the challenge.



The course itself was designed for Super Mario or Raccoon Mario...



Essentially "bridging the gap" between the two levels by making it all the way through 7-3 with the Frog Suit.

It's not easy being green...




Decided to do attempt it just because the following level (7-4) is a water stage, best suited for Frog Mario...

Considering the White Mushroom House was unlocked in the previous level (7-2) with the Frog Suit, it seemed like a fun challenge to try and keep it on during the interim level.





Thursday, May 9, 2024

Land, Sea and Air...

Super Mario Bros 3 - Game Ending Screens

Upon completing Super Mario Bros. 3, the player is treated to a few quick graphics representing each level (which was pretty big stuff at the time).

In a few images captured from the All-Stars version, couldn't help but notice that the world names have been changed slightly... The "updated" names actually seem to match the official Strategy Guide.

Super Mario Bros 3
(Super Mario All-Stars Version)


"SKY WORLD" becomes "THE SKY"
World 5 Map, The Sky World








"PIPE WORLD" becomes "PIPE MAZE".





World 8 Map - Practically on King Koopa's Doorstep.


"DARK WORLD" becomes "CASTLE OF KOOPA"