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| STRANGE MARIO BROS 2 |
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|(c)2000 Acmlm         |
 
---1. What is "Strange Mario Bros 2"?---

 "Strange Mario Bros 2" is, simply, a hack of Super Mario Bros 2.

The levels are totally different, and there are new graphics and text.

---2. Installation---

 All you need, except the IPS patch itself, is:

- A IPS patcher (like Snestool)
- A NES emulator (try Nesticle)
- An unchanged ROM of Super Mario Bros 2 (if you don't have it, find it)
- A computer good enough to run any NES game with a emulator (look at the emulator's minimum requirements)

 To install it, use the IPS patcher and follow the instructions to apply the patch on the ROM.

---3. Story---

 Here's the new story in Strange Mario Bros 2:

"About 12 years after Mario's Subcon quest, somebody has built a super machine that transformed Subcon and made it bigger. What more, the evil Wart has returned ... Mario must come back into Subcon, but he will notice a lot of unfamiliar things ... Wart will get his revenge with 20 all-new levels ..."

---4. Current progress---

 Actually (on June 12, 2000), all levels up to 2-3 are done.

6 of the 20 levels have been done. That's 60 areas on a maximum of 210 areas.
3614 graphic tiles (on a total of 8192, some of which are unused) have been changed so far. Although it's only 44%, it has a very visible effect on the game.

Many colors have changed. That's also what makes the levels seem so different than before.

---5. Hints---

 The levels have been totally made from scratch, which means you shouldn't be able to find anything from the original levels ...

 The new levels will also be harder. World 1 won't be too hard but after that you'll have to be a good player, otherwise you won't get very far.

 Even if you know the original levels very well, you will get many surprises. Nothing is like before!

 If it becomes too hard, don't be frustrated. If you don't like challenges, play the regular Super Mario Bros 2, it's the easiest one.

---6. Levels---

World 1:
1-1: The first level. Still not hard, unless you try to go through it with the key found at the beginning. You'll get several fun surprises, especially if you play it for the first time!
1-2: You'll get even more surprises in this level. Look for multiple falling mushroom boxes, pipes in pipes, a whole lot of POW blocks, several little mushrooms and, once again, many Phantos going after you. Just like in 1-1, there are two ways out of this level.
1-3: This level has two ways, once again, but not two ends. There's an hidden (and hard to get) warp zone, some places with a lot of blocks and others with a lot of bob-ombs. The Mouser boss room is also something you'll remember.

World 2:
2-1: Thought 1-3 was hard? Think again. And it's barely even getting hard. There's a great key challenge in this level (which fortunately isn't necessary to get to 2-2), and the pyramid part is spiky. The boss room is also the hardest so far. Once again, several surprises await you in this level ...
2-2: There you'll find stopwatches used in a new innovative way, as well as turtle shells being finally useful. The two mushrooms are not so easy to find, and you'll experience rope climbing. Also, the whale spouts made their appearance, right there in the desert.
2-3: You'll travel a lot in this one ... you start in the underground, you go outside, then to the sky, then you fall down back to the underground to beat the Triclyde. Try to solve the 1st mushroom puzzle ... The Triclyde room, of course, can be hard ... it depends on how well you play.

I'm now going to start editing World 3 ...

---7. Disclaimer---

 Like anybody else, I should put it although it just seems boring and repetitive:

"I am not affiliated in any way with Nintendo, and the hacking project doesn't involve any money (I'm not getting paid, etc.). I'm doing Strange Mario Bros 2 for my own fun, and also yours."
"I am not distributing ROMs, don't ask me for any of them. Search for them instead, like I had to do."

---8. Special Thanks---

- To myself (Acmlm), first, for making the level editor I used for doing the level hacking ...
- To BMF54123 (mostly), DarKnight13 and Chickencha, for finding useful information about data in SMB2!
- To X-4000, for doing SMB2 Challenge and making Challenge Games (http://smb3c.darkmazda.com), which helped me keeping interest in ROM hacking!
- To X-4000, DarKnight13, SpoonyBard, Chickencha (and maybe a few more) for starting SMB2 level hacks before I did. That's what got me tempted ...
- To WhooHooD'oh for several good suggestions for boss rooms, or just challenging rooms. I might use some of them ...
- To SnowBro, the author of Tile Layer and Hexposure, the other programs I used for doing more than just levels.
- To OverClocked, for hosting my site!
- To my own imagination, which resulted in me doing this great hack!

- To my Internet access, without which I couldn't do much online.
- To whoever bought my computer.
- To whatever else that deserves thanks but isn't mentioned here.

---9. Other---

The homepage for this hack is located at http://acmlm.overclocked.org/SMB2/strmbro2.html. You can find my other hacks (and a message board) at Acmlm's ROM Hack Domain (http://acmlm.overclocked.org)

If you have comments, suggestions, or any questions, you can go to this site,
or you can contact me at acmlm_jf32@hotmail.com.