Mario New World 2 is one of those weird little Flash games where someone mashed up Mario with a bunch of random classic characters—think Sonic or Pac-Man popping up in the levels. The controls are simple (left/right to move, up to jump, space to shoot), but the levels get surprisingly tricky after the first few. You start with 10 lives, which sounds like a lot until you hit those pixel-perfect jumps over lava pits.

First time I played, I didn’t realize some enemies take multiple hits, so I wasted half my lives spamming spacebar at a giant goomba. The physics feel a little floaty, like old-school Flash games tend to, but once you get used to it, there’s something satisfying about nailing a tough section. Just don’t expect Nintendo-level polish—this is more like a love letter to 2000s browser games.