Today’s Virtual Console lineup is led by Super Mario Bros. 2, the quirky 1988 sequel to the NES launch title that diverged wildly from the original’s play mechanics. At the time, and even today, there are too many people who complain that we didn’t get the “real” Super Mario Bros. 2.
Ignoring, of course, that this is a far superior game. Whereas the “real” Super Mario Bros. 2, eventually released here as The Lost Levels, was more of an expansion pack, Super Mario Bros. 2 was a vast adventure with a non-linear design remarkable for a mid-cycle NES title. And for $5, you can’t go wrong with this on Virtual Console.
This is not to say, of course, that I don’t want Nintendo to release the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 on the US Virtual Console. Quite to the contrary, I think it’s one of the most appropriate Japan-only games that could be released on the platform right now. Maybe they could go in and hack the ROM so the title screen displays the US name? Or maybe they could just leave it as-is, just making the game’s content very clear on the download screen.
Other releases today include Ecco: The Tides of Time for Genesis and Dragon Spirit for TurboGrafx.