Editorials & Features from the Marioverse

Super Mario Bros. 2 Challenges in NES Remix 2

There are twelve Super Mario Bros. 2 challenges in NES Remix 2 for Wii U. Each of the twelve challenges are broken down into little stages; in the beginning they're pretty easy which I guess is to give players who didn't play Super Mario Bros 2 in the NES days a chance to get a feel for the games, and they get progressively more difficult.

Like many of the challenges in NES Remix 2, the average gamer can quite comfortably complete them without much of a struggle... the challenge part comes with trying to achieve the Rainbow star rating for beating the challenges in good time.

Our NES Remix 2: All Super Mario Bros 2 Challenges with rainbow star rating video

You can watch all the challenges in the video above, and I've put together a little guide to each challenge below with tips of how to achieve rainbow star rating in each one, as well as a record of my best times.

Challenge 1 - Super Mario Bros. 2 Combat Basics

Press B to pull up a vegetable

Kill three enemies using said vegetables, ignore the Shy Guy on the high hill, you cant hit him without losing time

Kill a bad guy, with a bad guy!

Kill three enemies with the POW Block, easy enough - Jump straight onto it and throw it, not a lot can go wrong, as you'd expect on the first Challenge.

My best time: 12.6 seconds

Challenge 2 - Mario Beanstalk Madness

Use the first two Ninji's (the little black jumping guys) as platforms to get to the next levels, make sure you don't get hit by anything until you get to the beanstalk - you can afford to take one hit here so just run straight through the enemy patrolling the left beanstalk and your done! It would have lost you a second or two to dodge it, and that might lose you your rainbow star rank. Sure there are probably much fancier more skilled ways of doing this, but I'm just so rough and rugged, y'know?

My best time: 20.9 seconds

Challenge 3 - Make no Eggceptions

The first part of this challenge, egg training! Time your jump to land on Birdo's egg and pick it up with B the same way you would a vegetable. Make no eggceptions here, if you miss any of the eggs theres a good chance it'll stop you achieving purple star time.

The second part is to then put this into practise, catch and throw these eggs at Birdo to bring "her" down

Only if you are eggstra good will you manage to achieve the purple star rank.... ok ok, I'll stop now.



My best time: 14 seconds

Challenge 4 - Theres a Starman, waiting in the sky

Go straight through the door and grab the nearest vegetable on the left for the quickest coin.

Quickly Mario! Squat like you never squatted nd jump to freedom

As Princess Toadstool weave carefully between the two Shy guys on the left hill to get the first Cherry then keep running right, grabbing the next two as you go, you may need to land carefully between the two enemies you are next to in order to get the star in the quickest time.

Finally, use invincible Luigi to bring down 6 enemies, this was the toughest part of this challenge until I worked out the "best" means of doing it - At the start run to the right (ignore the guy on your left at first) and kill three enemies, head back left (killing the guy you ignored at the start as you go) then with a well timed jump take out two Shy Guys in one hit on the hill. Done.



My best time: 16.8 seconds

Challenge 5 - Showdown with Mouser

Mario takes on Bowser in a one on one Bomb throwing battle to the death. Catch every bomb he throws and throw it straight back up onto Mousers platform; the platform isn't very big so the more you throw up there, the quicker he's going to die, and the less things you'll have blowing you up too.

My best time: 14.4 seconds

Challenge 6 - Swift exit drills, by Air, Land and Sea.

Use the flying carpet to reach the other side - the make or break of this level is how quickly you actually commandeer the carpet... I wait for him to get into position then jump to the left and then just fly low enough to avoid the Beezos and keep going. Failing to get on the carpet in good time at this bit will stop you getting purple star rank.

Throw Shy Guy off his vehicle and take it for yourself, jump carefully between the hedgehogs and get out of the door.

Carefully jump onto the first Birdo egg to get the best time in crossing the water.



My best time: 33.8 seconds

Challenge 7 - The Sandpit / Tryclydes lair

The digging part of this challenge can be a bit of a paint to do in purple star time, and I'd suggest you checked out the video, the short story is if you get the opportunity to kill enemies with the star do it - otherwise they'll be landing on your head repeatedly, and you cant even throw them away because of the way the sand is layered!

Smash Tryclyde up with big Mushroom Blocks. Careful not to get hit by his fire, because the pushback it gives will cost you valuable seconds and purple star rank.

My best time: 45.9 seconds

Challenge 8 - The Key to Success

Find the key (the arrow kinda tells you where you need to go to do that), grab the key and run for the hills - because the moment you touch it the "horrible face" that some of you might better know as "Phanto" will give chase.

In the second stage you start with the key, and have to ascend the sand pit until you get to the door at the top, don't stop running and jumping, remember you can take two hits if needed.

The third part of the challenge shows Princess Toadstool tasked with descending ice shelves while being pursued by a couple of Flurries (little snowball guys) and a complimentary Phanto. Grab the key and run, you'll need carefully timed jumps to get over the flurries because they will likely catch up with you. If you jump too high and end up going back up a shelf it'll ruin your star. See the video for this one.

My best time: 57.0 seconds

Challenge 9 - Conveyor Belts and Mushroom Blocks

Start running, and don't stop! Grab that first shy guy and throw him at his two compadres, keep running, jump over the Ninji's (I jumped over the first and under the second..) and then, remembering you can afford to take a hit, sprint to the finish, trying to avoid the fireballs where you can. Jump on the chain and get out of there!

The second part of this took me quite a few attempts. If you time your fall wrong you get killed, and if you think about it too long, you won't get rainbow star rank.

My best time: 35.7 seconds

Challenge 10 - GET TO THE GATE!!

Beat up Birdo and proceed through the gate.. straight forward

Beat up Blue Birdo avoiding its vicious fire attacks and enter the gate

Go through the gate... easy right? Until the gate tries to eat you that is. How to beat this efficiently? Try not to panic when it comes at you, and just make sure you dont miss - If you miss, PANIC!!!! You need to put all of these guys down pretty quick for rainbow star rank.

My best time: 56.6 seconds

Challenge 11

First stage is to climb the perilous looking beanstalk without taking damage. This looks worse than it is. You can pretty much just start climbing, don't hesitate and make it. Switch to the left stalk just before the Snifits.

climb the perilous looking beanstalk without taking damage. This looks worse than it is. You can pretty much just start climbing, don't hesitate and make it. Switch to the left stalk just before the Snifits. Stage 2 - Holding the P Block, descend down the stage as Princess Toadstool without being horribly impaled or falling down the waterfall.. or being mamed by an aggressive fish. You will need to watch the video to get a feel for the stage, but the gist of it is fall left, but not too left! fall right! but then quickly left! stay right for the final bit so you don't fall down to your demise or become fish food.. yeah anyway, about that video!

Final stage - Guide Mario through the icy, Beezo and Flurrie infested sky path (rather you than me Mario, rather you than me) and get through the door as quickly as possible. How're your reflexes? Amazing you say? OK, that's fortunate - Dodge those Beezo and don't stop running and the Rainbow star awaits you.

My best time: 56.3 seconds

Challenge 12 - Showdown with Wart

The first stage of this is easy. Like really easy, you have the catch two vegetables... one of which you dont even have to move to get!

The second stage is to feed Wart some of those nice vegetables that he's so fond of. You can only damage him when his mouth is open.. and when his mouth is open he is firing out bubbles which will deflect your vegetables, as such using the higher platforms to launch veg from doesn't seem a very efficient method of killing him, instead I use the lower platform at the foot of his pillow and throw veg into the lower part of his mouth from there. It's important that you are ready for each time he opens his mouth, so don't run too far away when his bubbles come for you - or you can kiss goodbye to that final SMB2 rainbow star rank.

My best time: 56.7 seconds

There you have it, you came, you saw, you conquered the 12 Super Mario Bros 2 challenges of NES Remix 2. Perhaps you should check out our guide to the 16 Super Mario Bros. 3 challenges in NES Remix 2.

The most difficult of the above challenges? I'd say it was actually number 12 for me, I really struggled to get the Rainbow star rating on Wart because he kept blocking my damned vegetables with his bubbles! What do you guys think?