> SMUSA, are you sure? Well, I'm hoping the Japanese get a New Super Mario Bros
> version of their SMB2 - I'll import that ;o)

It didn't add very much except for warp zones that take you back a level, and gaps in the ground that you can never jump over (yeah I know luigi jumps higher, but maybe I missed some secret vines?) There were bloopers that floated in the air for some reason, underground bullet bills and hammer bros, and other enemies where they didn't belong. It's cool to mix it up, but I think that game just made things challenging for the sake of players who already beat SMB.

SMBUSA has classic elements introduced into the Mario series, such as walking backwards (gasp), multi-level backgrounds you could jump on (such as the hills) ladders, doors, multi-scenario levels (you could go inside, outside, etc). It also brought in some classic enemies, such as Bob-Omb, Pokey, Spark, Shy Guy, Beezo, Sniff-It, Ninji, Phantos, Tweeter, Panser, and Cobrat. The pick up/throw mechanic was also probably the inspiration for holding/throwing shells. It had some classic levels of platforming as well. The style of the game was pretty good as well, and if combined with the game mechanics of other SMB games (stoping for some enemies, pick up/throw for others, an underwater level, other classic enemies, etc) it could end up pretty good. Yoshi's Island did a good job of it, the eat/spit thing is pretty much pick up/throw, and it also had Shy Guys and some others.

Maybe they don't have to base NSMB2 on SMBUSA directly but they can draw a lot more from it than the other games. It would be a good homage to a game that deserves it.

When I was a kid and I got SMB2 one christmas, it was an amazing game and had excellent graphics and was an instant favorite. Then I rented SMB3j months in advance of the american release and really dug it, and couldn't believe how far they had gone with the series. I remember when I beat the first world I thought it was the end of the game and was disappointed, but then I learned there were 8 worlds, holy shit, I needed to play it some more. Since I couldn't read japanese, I tried to go back and rent it again but I ended up with SMB2j. Holy fuck was I disappointed. I thought it was a pirate cart or something, it wasn't until emulation that I found out it was a real game. Ever since then I had a bad opinion of that game. I tried as much as I could to play it but it's just fucked up. It's challenging, but most of the time it just tricks you, so there is a lot of trial and error. It's not very fun, it's aneurysm-causing.