Review Information
Game Reviewed Super Mario Pandemonium 2, by ShyGuy182
Review Author Q-Nova
Created Apr 19 2019, 3:26 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview
This fangame always stuck out to me among the galaxy of Mario fangames, and one reason might be the fact that it's one of the first that you'll see if you were to order them from oldest to newest. Not that it IS one of the first, however though, since these old fangames were just being uploaded with seemingly no pattern to a new version of the site that went up long, long ago. In fact, looking at the dates the game's files were created, I'd say it was made in about early 2003.

I never played the original Super Mario Pandemonium, but I remember playing this sequel years ago, when I managed to get to the volcano level before I lost all of my lives. I played it again just recently and managed to get through all of what this game has to offer, which happens to be not so much overall. I suppose that should be expected, though, since Super Mario Pandemonium 2 happens to have the unfortunate label that is known as "Scrapped".
 
Pros +Some of the graphics look nice
+Good music
+Nice engine
+Levels aren't too bad
 
Cons -Only a couple levels
-Some jumps are really tight
-Saving appears to be non-existent
-I sometimes get stuck in those ? Blocks!
-The story can use some work
-Some typos
 
Impressions
Gameplay
7 / 10
Super Mario Pandemonium 2 pretty much plays just like most fangames made back in the early 2000s: You get to run, jump, and swing a hammer as Mario, who must get past linear sets of obstacles. The game does have the distinction of letting you ride on Yoshi at one time, although he can't use his tongue, nor can he allow you to use your hammer. So Yoshi, as a gameplay mechanic, pretty much exists to take away your hammer.

People often consider the prequel to be insanely difficult, perhaps enough to be compared to a kaizo SMW ROM hack, before the word "kaizo" was even used to describe such hacks. Thankfully, this game reduces the difficulty into a much more bearable amount. There's only two levels, with a couple bosses thrown into the mix. They aren't complicated, but they're not bad; there are even some memorable parts here and there. There are a few needlessly tight jumps, though, the first one of which I lost quite a handful of lives to (which is very early on, mind you).

The engine is certainly better than some fangames made back then, although there are still a few problems. There were a couple times where Mario got stuck inside a ? Block and can't get out, meaning that I HAVE TO RESTART FROM THE BEGINNING! Wait, there's an option to load my game in the menu, so my progress is saved, right? Well, apparently the author didn't bother to program saving before he decided to call it quits with this game, so that's a no. At least you can just forget about the ? Blocks, though, since they only contain coins that happen to have no worth at all.

There is a story that explains what the pandemonium exactly is, although you don't get a single clue about it until you get to meet Yoshi. Some guy known as Revol is causing trouble, and while he is never seen in person, he must look like Mario, since Yoshi thought Mario was the villain at first. Yeah, it's not very impressive, but who knows, maybe ShyGuy182 had plans to make it more interesting.
 
Graphics
7 / 10
The graphics are actually rather nice! I always liked seeing Ninja's classic Paper Mario sprites, and the Yoshi sprites are nice as well! To come think about it, I'd say the Yoshi sprites are actually what made this game stand out compared to other fangames. On occasion, you'll see some clashing, but it's nothing too bad. I thought the level intros looked kinda cool. One thing that I found to be questionable is that there are TWO different logos for the game! Was the author unable to decide which one he liked better, or was he trying to emphasize the "2" in the title? The world may never know, since ShyGuy182 hasn't been seen for years.
 
Sound
7 / 10
AW YEAH! DELFINO PLAZA REMIX!!! As someone who really likes Super Mario Sunshine, I was really surprised when I heard the remix in the first level! You get to hear MIDIs in this game, but it's a rather decent selection and none of them were bad for the ears, although some could use more work. The only song choice that seemed rather bizarre is the level intros, which, of all the melodies available out there, played the SMW death jingle. It's not like Mario is gonna die or anything (unless this is supposed to hint towards something to do with Revol)! The sounds are okay, just don't expect them to be very high-quality.
 
Replay
4 / 10
What do you get once you got through all of the content available? The game just suddenly quits itself, literally. There's not even a congratulations screen! Since Super Mario Pandemonium 2 was left incomplete, there isn't much to do to begin with. So replay value unfortunately gets a rather low score here.
 
Final Words
6 / 10
Super Mario Pandemonium 2 is off to a good start here. It's a shame that it had to be scrapped!

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