"E" for everyone: Contrary to popular belief, Super Mario Bros. 2 isn't a sequel to the original. Instead, it's actually a stand alone game, based on a Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic (roughly Mad Mad Panic in English). It is basically this same core game, but with Mario and his friends replacing the original characters. This game was released in 1988, so the graphics are of course outdated. Which mean the violence is in turn outdated. Violence-wise this game is extremely mild, and involves Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach picking up enemies and throwing them off screen. So in other words, compared to today's games it's not really an issue worth mentioning.

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Content-wise: Content-wise this game is perfectly suitable for kids 6-, and technically, kids in this age group could play early parts of this game. But, I don't quite think it will keep their attention for long, and I'll explain why in the next category.

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Difficulty-wise: Like I said, this isn't a true Super Mario game, and because of this, it really makes it the weakest gameplay-wise of the bunch. At the opening screen you have the choice to pick from one of four characters. The first character is Mario, and he has the most balanced jumping, running, and power abilities. Luigi is weaker than Mario but can jump the highest out of all four characters. Princess Peach is the weakest out of all character, but can float in the air for a considerable time, and the last character, Toad, is the fastest.

The overall gameplay consists of side-scrolling levels, where the objective is to reach the exit door and go onto the next level. However, many of these doors are locked, and the doors to the keys are often blocked by puzzles. While looking for the exit, you come across many enemies, and unlike the previous Mario games, you can't damage enemies by jumping on them (in fact if you try you'll just stand on them). Instead, you have to pick them up and throw them, which is also the key to many of the puzzles throughout the game.

After a few levels you face a boss, which involves the boss shooting large eggs out of its mouth at you, and you then grabbing them in midair and throwing them at it. This is pretty much the core gameplay, and after a couple of levels it gets really difficult. Add this, and the fact kids 7+ will probably lose interest (and patience) in a few minutes, I think kids 10+ are more suited to the challenge this game brings.

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Fun for: Although kids and adults alike could play this game, it's honestly not very fun, and gets pretty old fast. This goes for any age group. If I had a "Not fun for" category, I'd put this in it. But I don't, so I really don't have much more to say for this category other than that.

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Closing comment: As you can tell, I don't like this game very much. It's kind of the black sheep of the Super Mario series, and really just isn't that fun to play. Content-wise, it is appropriate for all ages, but as I said, it won't appeal to many kids nowadays. Difficulty-wise, I'd recommend this game for ages 10+--but anyone who is going to get this game on virtual console is probably one of the very few people who like and remember this game from when the were younger. So, in other words, there are far better game choices on Virtual Console for kids than this anyway (I recommend Super Mario World).