History VideoGame / SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels

* NintendoHard: This is definitely '''''THE''''' hardest 2D ''Mario'' game to date.
** Notably, every updated version of the game has done something to make it slightly easier. Even the ''All-Stars'' and ''Deluxe'' ports save the game on a per level basis, rather than a per world basis as is the case with every other game it includes. It also removed a number of {{Invisible Block}}s specifically designed to cause unintended player deaths (although many were still left in), particularly in later stages, then added invisible blocks containing power-ups elsewhere. It ''also'' makes Worlds 9 and A-D much easier to get to.
** Playing the game in ''Deluxe'' makes it ''even harder'' via FakeDifficulty; since the Game Boy Color has a smaller screen, you can hardly see what's ahead. Sometimes you can't even tell if there's a pit or solid ground below you. This version also removes the wind and GoombaSpringboard mechanics, making some jumps extremely difficult. On the flipside, the wind jumps have their platforms re-arranged to be closer than the original, and since there are several levels where the wind isn't required to make jumps and is just there to mess with you as you attempt to keep your footing on small platforms and avoid hazards, these levels tend to be a lot simpler on ''Deluxe'', somewhat making up for the small screen.
** In ''VideoGame/NESRemix 2'', most of the challenges either involve the easiest levels in the game, or are very short.

When the original ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' was finally released in North America and Europe as part of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'', it was instead titled ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels''. Worlds 1-8 were also included as the [[UnlockableContent Unlockable]] "''Super Mario Bros.: For Super Players''" in ''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe'' for UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. Keep in mind that these versions, as hard as they are, ease up the difficulty greatly from the original version; the game can be saved after every level rather than every world, and invisible power-up blocks were added to every dungeon level. Also, in both versions, it shares the same graphics as its predecessor, losing some of its uniqueness.

The original version of ''The Lost Levels'' has since been released in future platforms, including a port for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance in 2004 which once again remained exclusive to Japan. In fact, it wasn't until 2007, twenty-one years after the game was released, that the original version was made available to Western gamers via the UsefulNotes/{{Wii}}'s UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole; and from that point the game hasn't missed the international market ever again, being available there on the Virtual Consoles of the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and UsefulNotes/WiiU, the NES catalogue of the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch Online service, and as part of the rerelease of the first ''Super Mario Bros.'' for the Game & Watch for the franchise's 35th anniversary in 2020. For all of these re-releases, the game adopted the name of the ''All-Stars'' version in the West, to distinguish it from the international ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' (though the game's title screen still shows the Japanese name).

* HardModeFiller: [[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-World7-3.png 7-3]] is a level where you have to use several springboards to get across large gaps. [[http://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-WorldC-3.png C-3]] has the same layout, except for a lone Lakitu added, but just that single addition makes the level much, ''much'' more frustrating. C-3 also has no checkpoint, unlike 7-3. Die at any point, especially during the wind section near the end which requires very precise timed jumps, and you're doing the whole stage over again. [[http://vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-WorldC-4.png C-4]] is likewise a much tougher version of [[http://vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-World7-4.png 7-4]].

Released exclusively in Japan on June 3, 1986 for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Family Computer Disk System]], ''Super Mario Bros. 2'', also known worldwide as ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels'', is the second game in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. Following the success of ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'', Creator/{{Nintendo}} decided to follow it up with a MissionPackSequel. There were four main differences between the original and the sequel: the two-player mode was replaced by the option to play the game as either Mario or Luigi, Luigi was given higher jumps but inferior traction, some of the graphics were updated, and the game was about as close to PlatformHell as one gets short of a [[GameMod ROM hack]] or the most hardcore ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' levels.

The game came into existence when Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto and his crew were working on ''VS. Super Mario Bros.'' (an arcade version of the first ''Super Mario Bros.'') and were adjusting the game's difficulty to make it suitable for the arcade's pay-per-play model (e.g. the number of Warp Zones were reduced and infinitive lives exploits were removed). Among the changes made to ''VS. Super Mario Bros.'' was replacing some of the HardModeFiller stages from the latter half of the game by making the earlier versions of these stages hard from the get-go and replacing the later versions with new stages (that would later be integrated into ''The Lost Levels'' itself). Miyamoto decided to create an alternate home version of ''Super Mario Bros'' composed entirely of new stages aimed specifically at hardcore fans of the original, resulting in the production of ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' for the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Family Computer Disk System]].

When the original ''Super Mario Bros. 2'' was finally released in North America and Europe as part of the ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' CompilationRerelease, it was instead titled ''Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels''. Worlds 1-8 were also included as the [[UnlockableContent Unlockable]] "''Super Mario Bros.: For Super Players''" in ''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe'' for UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. Keep in mind that these versions, as hard as they are, ease up the difficulty greatly from the original version; the game can be saved after every level rather than every world, and invisible power-up blocks were added to every dungeon level. Also, in both versions, it shares the same graphics as its predecessor, losing some of its uniqueness.

* AWinnerIsYou: Reach World 9-4 and you get a message made of blocks that reads "アリガトウ!" (''Arigatou!'', or "Thank you!")

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[[folder:I-N]]

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[[folder:O-W]]

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** Some of the backwards Warp Zones have bottomless pits allowing you to kill yourself instead of just letting the timer count down to 0 (on the other hand, warping backwards and completing any missed worlds would mean World 9 isn't [[PermanentlyMissableContent lost]]).

* EndlessGame: In the original, if you beat the game without warping, you can play World 9. But when you play through World 9 it just continues to loop, until you die or give up. However, in ''All-Stars'', beating world 9-4 leads to world A-1 instead of looping.

* NewGamePlus: If you play through the main game without warping, you access the secret World 9, in which you only have one life and no continues to complete. Furthermore, each time you play through the game, you earn a star. Once you get eight stars, you go to Worlds A through D, at the end of which you finally find the Princess. The ''All-Stars'' version averts this, as you don't lose all your lives in World 9 and you can continue after a game over, and you go straight to Worlds A-D after the first loop (in fact, to replay the previous worlds, you need to choose them manually before resuming your playthrough).

* PermanentlyMissableContent: In ''All-Stars'', your save file is permanently locked out of World 9 if you used a warp zone prior to when you would start World 9, ''even if you warped backwards''. Not only that, but if you ever use a warp zone ''after'' getting World 9, you retroactively lose it for that save file. If you're unfortunate enough to save, that is. This was not the case in the original.

* WarpZone: Just like in the first game, except there's some which send you backwards. Using any of them prevents you from getting to World 9. In many instances of reaching backwards Warp Zones, [[AntiFrustrationFeatures there's a conveniently-placed pit where you can kill yourself to avoid warping back.]] If it doesn't, such as the one in 8-1, you can always just wait for the [[TimedMission timer]] to expire.

* AscendedGlitch: World 9 was inspired by a glitch in the Disk System version of the first game. The glitch involved removing the cartridge during the middle of gameplay, replacing it with a copy of ''Tennis'' and then resetting the console. After playing a few rounds of ''Tennis'', the player must switch cartridges once again during gameplay, switching back to ''Super Mario Bros.'', and then reset the game once again. After doing all of this without turning off the console, the player must start the game by pressing A+Start (the continue code) in order to start in World 9, which is an underwater version of World 6-2 and World 1-4 with random enemies and crashes. This glitch is impossible to reproduce on the NES, since the console automatically resets when a cartridge is forcefully removed.[[note]]Unless, of course, you're playing on a 1993 "toploader" NES, which lacks the infamous CIC lockout chip programmed to reset the console ''every second'' if a licensed cartridge isn't inserted. Or if you're playing on a modified frontloading NES with its lockout chip disabled.[[/note]]

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Frequently, if this game gives you a star, you don't actually want to take it. Either it will prevent you from getting one-ups from using Koopa Shells on enemies ([[PlatformHell which you'll need]]) or you won't even be able to complete the level (8-2 is an example of this, although the level loops so you can try again).

''The Lost Levels'' could be considered a very early example of DownloadableContent; in addition to being sold on its own, it could be written to the blank side of the Disk System version of its predecessor, or any other Disk System release with a blank side, for the low price of 500 yen using Nintendo's Disk Writer kiosk (itself an early example of UsefulNotes/DigitalDistribution). It is far from uncommon to find secondhand copies of the Disk System version of ''Super Mario Bros.'' with ''The Lost Levels'' on the other side.

''The Lost Levels'' could be considered a very early example of DownloadableContent; in addition to being sold on its own, it could be written to the blank side of the Disk System version of its predecessor, or any other Disk System release with a blank side, for the low price of 500 yen using Nintendo's Disk Writer kiosk (itself an early example of UsefulNotes/DigitalDistribution). It is far from uncommon to find secondhand copies of the Disk System version of ''Super Mario Bros.'' and ''The Lost Levels'' on the same disk.