Surely I can't be the only person that thought Mario 2 was challenging, but - dare I say it - easy once you get used to the game's mechanics, which are nothing more than SMB - albeit with a healthy injection of steroids?
The sense of challenge vs satisfaction you get when playing with Luigi - jumping so high you can't even see the character, with tailwinds propelling you 20 screens ahead, only to land on another trampoline, making another jump all the while maintaining your momentum is hard to surpass even today. At the end of the day, the game was fair to the player. Then again, I was 16 when this first came out, and my reflexes were somewhat sharper than they are today. Guess I'll have to download it and play it again!
Mario 2 is still probably my favorite of the 2D Marios. Yes, timing and memorization was key to passing the game, but that's what made it all the more enjoyable. Mario 2 is what a shmup would play like if shmups were platformers (nobody complains about the same timing and memorization mechanics with shmups!). And me? Me like shmups...
