So, following the utter disaster that was the Lost Levels, here we are with the Mario Bros 2 that the US and other territories received - Super Mario Bros 2: Mario Madness. With Nintendo deciding they can't release the Lost Levels due to it's difficulty, and it's copy and paste of the original's assets, that meant when it came to releasing the long-awaited sequel of Super Mario Bros to other countries, they opted for...another route - taking a non-localised game, change out the sprites and assets, and release it as the sequel.

So that's how what was originally a Japanese game called Doki-Doki Panic became Super Mario Bros 2: Mario Madness. Developed by the same dev team as the first Mario game and Lost Levels, and supposedly a Mario test game that focused on vertical platforming, compared to the original's horizontal platforming, this was the sequel to the original Mario that most everyone got, and even the game that Miyamoto vastly prefers compared to the original Mario Bros 2.

I actually have some history with this game, as one of my first Mario games was actually Super Mario Advance, which was a GBA remake of this game, with new voice lines, a level screen, new sprites, and various improvements and enhancements. But still, despite the Advance series being on the GBA Online service, I decided to stick with All-Stars for this. I never got particularly far in the original Advance, but this time, I wanted to do the whole thing.

So now that I've finished the entire game, what do I think?

It's fine. It's good. Nothing super stellar, but it's good.

It's good enough. If I had my choice, I'd definitely take Mario Madness over the original Mario game, and definitely over Lost Levels. Despite being a different game in essence, there's a lot of charm to be found in how different everything is in this game compared to the original Mario. It's got that same kind of surreal charm that something like Mario Sunshine has. In a series like Mario that has become so well known for it's famous iconography and level tropes - Mario Madness has such a different vibe to it by virtue of being a different game altogether readapted to Mario. Wart, Mouser, Birdo, Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, etc. It's fun to see how so many different Mario characters got their start in a game that is so unlike the other games.

Furthermore, how it informs so much of the series is what I like as well. This is the originator of Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad being the main playable group of the series, and how they play so differently from each other. Luigi's slippery traction, but his high jump. Peach's gliding, and Toad's high speed - all originates from this game, and would go on to later inform later games. 

Of course, I'd be remiss to not talk about just how differently the game plays compared to the rest of the series. A game where jumping on enemies won't defeat enemies, and instead, you need to throw vegetables, POW blocks, and other enemies to take down anyone that tries to knock you down. Not to mention the more exploratively nature of this game, where you'll need to go left, right, up, and down, going through various doors in order to find your way to the end of the level. This game even has the big change of having a health bar, and no power ups, other than the star. 

But I do like the different ways this allows for new level design. From having to jump on flying enemies to fly out over large gaps in the stage, to needing to go down pots and jars to find keys and avoid a phantom mask that is out for your blood as soon as you nab a key. Even finding mushrooms to increase your health for a given level is a fun twist where you use a potion to create a special door that brings you to a flipped version of the world. 

The bosses also reflect this new design - with each boss having their own patterns, and the aim of the game being an actual fight where you need to toss vegetables at the boss to take them down, compared to the more straightforward fights of the original Mario Bros where all you had to do was jump over Bowser and grab the axe to cut down the bridge he's on. It does mean certain fights are pathetically easy - especially Wart, which is bad given he's the main villain of the game - but still, it's a appreciated effort. 

Granted, I wouldn't say it's all good. The game does end up getting repetitive by the time you start getting to the end of the game, and the sheer amount of repeat Birdo fights on top of that gets really grating by the end. But still, for what it is, Mario Madness is a fun time, and despite it's odd origins, I think it more than earns it's place within the Mario franchise. Definitely more so than Lost Levels, that's for certain.