Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Super Mario Bros. 2, which it is known as in Japan, is a Mario game that closely resembles the original Super Mario Bros. It is now known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, and is not to be confused with the European and American Super Mario Bros. 2.

This game was released in Japan for the Famicom Disk System as Super Mario Bros. 2. It was basically Super Mario Bros. with different levels and a few minor features (for instance, graphics were changed), but it was a lot more challenging than the original. Nintendo Of America deemed this game too challenging and too much like the original to do well in Europe and America, so they took an unpopular Japanese game called Doki Doki Panic and, by editing various sprites, effectively turned it into a Mario game, which was released as Super Mario Bros. 2 in the western world.

The first time the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Europe and America was with Super Mario All-Stars, for the Super Nintendo. They called this game Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, as it was the first time it was made available to players.

Differences and Additional Features
Although Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was, for the most part, a faithful sequel, there were some significant changes and additions.


 * The background graphics were different.
 * Poison Mushrooms were introduced. Eating one of these was equivalent to a collision with an enemy (except that the mushroom would disappear, whereas the enemy would not).
 * Bloopers were often out of water. They behaved normally, but could be stomped on for 1000 points.
 * Koopa Troopas were found in the water in levels such as World 3-1, and while they walked slower than normal they could not be defeated, unless the player had a fire flower or starman.
 * After a certain point, all Piranha Plants in the game were red. Red plants pull in and out more frequently than their green brethren. Also, they would come out of their pipe even if Mario was standing next to it, unlike the green ones. They would hide, however, if Mario was directly on top of them.
 * There were Piranha Plants, both green and red, in upside-down pipes. These would pull in and out more frequently than the normal version, and they would pull out even if Mario was directly under them.
 * Some Hammer Bros. behaved differently from normal. They would continuously walk forward, throwing Hammers. They would occasionally jump. If Mario passed them, they would turn around and stop moving, apart from jumps and hammer throws.
 * Green Jumping Boards were introduced. These will make Mario bounce so high, he will disappear from view for about ten seconds.
 * A strong wind will blow in certain parts of some levels. It will blow Mario forward, making the landing of jumps difficult, but it is necessary to make some of the larger jumps.
 * A "fake" Bowser was placed in the middle of two castles. He had slightly darker coloration, and was not on a bridge over lava. Mario simply had to run past him. In the Super Mario All-Stars version, encountering this enemy would cue unique music, not heard anywhere else in the game.
 * Vines sometimes now lead to a Warp Zone or even to the Flagpole, instead of just leading to Coin Heavens.
 * Some Warp Zones will warp Mario to a previous world.
 * There is no two-player mode. The player can instead be Mario or Luigi. Mario is normal. Luigi jumps 1 block higher than Mario, but has significantly worse traction.
 * Sometimes, Luigi can jump over the flagpole, and sometimes doing so can lead to a Warp Zone.
 * If the player beats the game without warping, they will be whisked off to World 9. World 9 has almost every enemy in the game appearing underwater, including the flagpole and castle at the end of the level. Completion of World 9 will lead to worlds A through D, four very challenging modes.

Reception in America
The Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 was intended to be a game for expert gamers that had mastered the original SMB and were looking for a new challenge. At the time video game sequels were still something of a new idea, and today a sequel is not always presumed to offer greater challenge than the original game it follows.

In the book Game Over by David Sheff the author quotes then-Nintendo of America CEO Howard Lincoln relating his considerable frustration over SMB2, describing it as an irritatingly challenging game with many "cheap" gimmicks that add excessive difficulty (such as changing winds that can easily ruin precise jumps). Believing the game would not sell well in America due to this, the decision to ignore the original SMB2 in favor of a new, special American SMB2 based on the considerably simpler Famicom game Doki Doki Panic was made.

All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
This game, another Super Mario Bros. remake, used many graphics from Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.

Super Mario All-Stars
The Super Mario All-Stars version of this game had a few differences from the original. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels did not have the same graphics as each other to begin with. For instance, the ground is covered by blocks in most of the levels of the original, whereas in the Lost Levels, the ground is mainly covered by dirt. In Super Mario All-Stars, the graphics of all the games were improved, and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was made to look exactly the same as the graphically-improved version of Super Mario Bros. released on the same cartridge.

Also, the game could be saved anytime. Unlike the Super Mario Bros. on the same cartridge, the game would remember the exact level the player was on, and not just the world. This was possibly because this game was much harder than the original.

Super Mario Bros. Deluxe
Super Mario Bros. Deluxe was a remake of the original game for the Game Boy Color. It had many additional features. If a player got on the highscore table with 300,000 points or more, a Luigi head would appear on the main menu. If selected, players would be able to play The Lost Levels, called Super Mario Bros. for Super Players. In this game, as in the Super Mario All-Stars version, the player could save and the game would remember their exact level.

This game had several changes from the original Japanese game:
 * 1) The graphics were the same as the original Super Mario Bros.
 * 2) Luigi did not jump higher or have less traction than Mario.
 * 3) There were no worlds 9, A, B, C, or D.
 * 4) The wind was taken out. As a result, levels had to be modified slightly to make some jumps possible.

Famicom Mini: Super Mario Bros. 2
Released in Japan only, this is an exact duplicate of the original game, for the Game Boy Advance.

Virtual Console
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was also released on the Wii's Virtual Console in Japan on May 1, 2007. To celebrate the Japanese Hanabi Festival, it was also released in Europe and Australia on September 14, 2007, alongside with Mario's Super Picross and Neutopia II. Unlike other games, however, it was removed from the Wii Shop Channel on October 1, 2007, before being re-added permanently on August 22, 2008. The game was released on the Virtual Console in North America on October 1, 2007. Outside Japan, it costs 100 Wii Points more as usual for imported games.

This is the first time an 8-bit version of the game has been released outside of Japan (aside from Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, in which it was featured as an unlockable game).

Wii Shop Description
''Originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros.® 2, this game has previously made only brief cameo appearances in the Western hemisphere. Now available on the Virtual Console in all of its original splendor, Mario fans will appreciate the familiar look and feel of the game, while finding that its updated game play creates an entirely new challenge. No longer content just to wear different-colored overalls, Mario and Luigi also possess different skill sets (Mario can stop quicker, while Luigi can jump higher). In addition to the classic enemies already known to fans worldwide, there are also Poison Mushrooms, backward Warp Zones, and the occasional wind gust (which can help or hinder your progress) to take into account. And if that's somehow not enough, expert players can go looking for the game's secret worlds. So get ready to put your Mario skills to the ultimate test, and save the Princess again. Just don't be surprised if she's in another castle!''

Trivia

 * In Worlds 3-1 and 3-2, it is possible to jump over the flag by jumping on a trampoline and hitting invisible blocks, respectively. In World 3-1, jumping over the flag will take the player to a backwards warp zone to World 1.  In World 3-2, when the player is on the other side of the flag, they can finish the level by simply touching the flag, the same way as normal.