Line #10 VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels


1	!!!'''[[SimilarlyNamedWorks You may be looking]] for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', the Western sequel to ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' which was released later in Japan as ''Super Mario USA'''. ''
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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/english_smb_tll_boxart.png]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} For Super Players]][[note]][[NintendoHard and we]] ''[[NintendoHard really]]'' [[NintendoHard mean it.]][[/note]]]]
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9	%%Caption selected per the Caption Discussion/Repair thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900&page=134#comment-3330
10	%%Please do not remove or replace it without discussion in that thread
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12	->''"It's like ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros. 1]]'', except you'' '''''die'''."''
13	-->-- '''[[https://www.youtube.com/c/LewisMedeirosANobodyPlaysGames Lewis]]''' of ''WebVideo/BrainScratchCommentaries''
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15	Released exclusively in Japan on June 3, 1986 for the [[Platform/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.
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17	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 [[Platform/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Family Computer Disk System]].
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19	Even though this was back when many games - including the first installment - were NintendoHard, the difficulty spike between this game and its predecessor was insane. In Japan, this had the effect of giving jaded Mario fans a new challenge to overcome (in fact, the game sold well in Japan, it sold 2.5 million units, and was the all-time best-selling on the Family Computer Disk System). However, when Howard Phillips, Nintendo of America's chief play-tester, and favorite of [=NoA=] president Minoru Arakawa, got his hands on the game, he found the experience of playing it to be absolutely punishing, and not at all fun. Based on Phillips' input, Arakawa made the decision [[NoExportForYou not to release it in the United States and Europe]]. However, Nintendo of America absolutely needed a western ''Mario'' sequel in record time, so Nintendo [[DolledUpInstallment Dolled-Up]] another Nintendo game, ''[[VideoGame/DokiDokiPanic Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic]]'', and called it ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2''. (Eventually, in Japan, the re-dressed game would get released under the title ''Super Mario USA''.)
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21	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 Platform/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.
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23	The original version of ''The Lost Levels'' has since been released in future platforms, including a port for the Platform/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 Platform/{{Wii}}'s Platform/VirtualConsole; and from that point the game hasn't missed the international market ever again, being available there on the Virtual Consoles of the Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/WiiU, the NES catalogue of the Platform/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).
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25	''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. Nintendo would revisit this idea years later, by offering ''VideoGame/NewSuperLuigiU'' as a more difficult downloadable expansion of ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU''.
26	----
27	!!Tropes differing from the first game:
28	* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: Due to World 9 being intentionally designed to be glitch-like, the original version of the game describes it as "Fantasy World". The ''All-Stars'' version removes this and presents World 9 the same as all the other worlds in the game, thus removing the context for why the levels in World 9 have a stranger and more surreal design.
29	* AirAidedAcrobatics: Some levels have gusts of forward-moving wind that need to be used to trampoline over huge gaps.
30	* AllThereInTheManual: The original manual is basically an update of the predecessor, with one noticeable addition: [[http://imaikami.sakura.ne.jp/mario2/2m54.jpg an entire message from "Mario's Staff" directed to Super Players,]] in which it is explained that setting is a "[[AlternateUniverse Parallel World]]" to the original game.
31	* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
32	** The original ''Super Mario Bros.'' requires a hidden code to start a new game at the beginning of the World you last got a GameOver on. This game, on the other hand, allows you to do so via a menu at the game over screen rather than having to look up a guide.
33	** Both ''All-Stars'' and ''Deluxe'' allow you to save the game per level, and you get infinite continues, which makes a grueling game much more tolerable.
34	** ''All-Stars'' also allows you to play through the bonus Worlds A through D immediately after completing World 8 (or World 9 if you unlocked it), unlike the original game which required you to complete the entire adventure eight times.
35	** In 7-2, one of the trickiest levels in the game, each time you loop around the first part, a new mushroom block will always pop in, in case you lost a hit trying to get up to the level's Warp Pipe.
36	** 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]], if you're playing the original FDS version).
37	* AquaticMook: The Blooper and Cheep Cheep inhabit underwater levels, like in the first game. However, in this game, Bloopers can also be found hovering airborne in ground levels; as a result, you can now GoombaStomp them.
38	* ArtEvolution:
39	** While the Mario Bros. and enemy designs remain unchanged, the backgrounds look different: the ground is now made from rock instead of brick, the clouds and bushes now have faces, mountains look more jagged in appearance, trees are drawn more realistically, the fence posts are replaced with mushrooms, lifts are made of mushrooms instead of metal, bricks have shading, the giant mushroom platforms are replaced with cloud platforms, mushroom powerups have eyes for the first time, and Princess Peach has a redesigned sprite. Drop shadows were also added to the text so they are easier to read against the bright blue backgrounds.
40	** This also applies to the [[http://disk-kun.com/node/85 promotional art]], which depicted the characters (particularly Bowser and Princess Peach) much closer to their now standard designs (here's [[http://imaikami.sakura.ne.jp/mario2/mario02f.html a comparison between the manuals for this game and the original]]) than they did in the first game. However, Mario is still drawn with red overalls and blue shirt, instead of the blue overalls and red shirt ensemble he has from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and onward.
41	* TheArtifact: In ''VS. Super Mario Bros.'', the player is given 100,000 points for any life remaining after saving Peach. This is carried over to ''The Lost Levels'' but without the benefit of a high-score table. This feature is removed in the ''All-Stars'' remake.
42	* ArtifactMook: Played straight with the Bloopers above water and earth mooks in underwater stages.
43	* ArtworkAndGameGraphicsSegregation:
44	** Luigi is depicted in official artwork with a green cap & overalls and a blue shirt. In-game, however, he retains his white and green palette from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1''.
45	** The official artwork for the Poison Mushroom depicts it with a SlasherSmile; its in-game sprite, meanwhile, depicts it as a simple PaletteSwap of a Super Mushroom.
46	* AscendedGlitch:
47	** 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]]
48	** Some [[WarpZone Warp Zones]] (including one of the infamous backwards ones) require the player to jump over the flagpole, which was an unintentional action in the original that simply trapped the player in an infinitely scrolling flat plane until time ran out.
49	* BattleThemeMusic: As in the previous game, no boss music plays when you meet Bowser in any of the castle levels. This is rectified in the ''All-Stars'' remake, which gives him a dedicated boss track in the first seven standard worlds, as well as the first three special worlds, and another for the eighth and thirteenth (fifth special) worlds. Interestingly, in both instances of the latter case, Bowser's FinalBoss music starts playing from the moment you meet his brother.
50	* BilingualBonus: The message spelt out in blocks in World 9-4 reads "Thank You!" in Japanese.
51	* BlessedWithSuck: Did you get the Star Man in World 8-3? Congratulations, you're now going to plow straight through those Koopas you need to bounce off of to escape the BottomlessPit.
52	* BonusDungeon: Worlds A through D are treated as a separate adventure in the FDS version. In ''All-Stars'', the bonus worlds continue from World 8-4 or 9-4 with the player's lives carried over.
53	* BossCorridor: The last stretch prior to Bowser in World 8-4 is a long corridor.
54	* BossInMookClothing: In Worlds 8-4, 9-3, and D-4, there is a blue Bowser that appears prior to where the real Bowser would be (except for 9-3, where only the flagpole is behind him), who appears to be distinct from the fake Bowsers (even himself having a decoy in D-4). In a strange twist, this Bowser is referred to as [[https://www.mariowiki.com/File:Bowser%27s_Brother_Source.jpg "Bowser's brother"]] in materials mostly released between ''The Lost Levels'' and ''All-Stars'' (which changed his color from blue to green), but later references toned it down and currently state that his relationship with the real Bowser is unknown.
55	* BrutalBonusLevel: The game itself is hard enough but Worlds A to D take it to a whole other level. World 9 as well, especially in the original Disk System version where you're only given ''one life'' and ''no continues'' to get through it.
56	* CheckpointStarvation: Like the original, castles and World 8 have no checkpoints, and this time neither do the extra worlds after 8 (9 and A-D).
57	* ColorCodedForYourConvenience:
58	** In addition to red and green Koopa Troopas, this game also introduced red Piranha Plants, which pop in and out of pipes faster than the original green ones and emerge even if you're standing next to their pipe.
59	** Also applies to the PoisonMushroom. Its color palette matches the background in the 8-bit versions (brown in overworld levels, blue underground, gray in castles). It also has black spots on it, in contrast to the red spots of Super Mushrooms and the green spots of 1-Up Mushrooms. The ''All-Stars'' version went even further to distinguish the Poison Mushroom, making it purple with a large skull on it.
60	** Also done with the green springs. Whereas the red ones simply let you jump higher than normal, the green ones will launch you straight off the screen, high enough that it'll take a good few seconds for you to come back down. Required to complete certain levels.
61	* CosmeticAward: In the FDS version, every time the game is cleared, a star appears on the title screen. While eight stars is needed to access Worlds A through D, anything over that (the maximum being twenty-four) is nothing but bragging rights.
62	* DifficultButAwesome: Luigi's bad traction presents some [[TooFastToStop control issues]], but overcoming such leaves his superior jumping ability, giving him quite an edge over Mario in most situations.
63	* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Luigi gets his distinctive abilities here (higher jumps, doesn't stop on a dime), predating the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2 US/EU sequel]].
64	* DoubleUnlock: In the Disk System version of the game, to get access to Worlds A to D, you had to beat the game ''eight times''. This was changed in the All-Stars port where you just have to beat the game once to play the rest of the worlds.
65	* EasterEgg: Like the first game, if you wait long enough on the title screen, then a [[AttractMode brief demo]] will start to play. It also explains why you shouldn't touch Poison Mushrooms in the first place.
66	* EndlessCorridor: In addition to having endless corridors in some castles, the game also does this with some of its overworld levels, e.g. 7-2 and 8-2. In the former, you take a pipe to get out, in the latter, you have to climb a hard-to-reach beanstalk.
67	* EndlessGame: In the original, if you beat the game without skipping any castles, 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.
68	* FakeLongevity: Want to access Worlds A through D in the original version? Beat the game eight times! This is alleviated lots in ''All-Stars'', which only requires completing World 8-4 once, or 9-4 if you unlocked World 9.
69	* GameBreakingBug:
70	** An important springboard in World D-2 can sometimes fail to spawn, making it impossible to jump across the wide gap to the flagpole.
71	** World C-3, where the fifth green spring (after the first three Piranha Plants) won't appear at times, and you need it to cross a very long gap.
72	* GameMod: An ''official'' one, ''All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.''. Here, levels are recycled from the first game (but with modifications) and some of the enemy characters and all of the Toads were changed into Japanese celebrities. It was given out as a raffle prize on the Japanese radio show "All Night Nippon".
73	* GoombaSpringboard: This play mechanic makes its debut in the ''Mario'' series here. Also the TropeNamer. For some reason, this mechanic is removed in ''Deluxe'', playing more like its predecessor, although levels were edited to compensate the removal.
74	* GuideDangIt:
75	** World 2-2. Because of the large gap that Mario cannot jump across by himself, it's the first level that requires hitting an invisible block to win.
76	** World 8-2 will repeat itself if a player tries to beat it like they would any other level. The only way to beat this level is to hit a block which spawns a vine to climb up to the flagpole in the sky.
77	** To access worlds A through D, you have to beat the game eight times, and then hold A and press Start on the title screen.
78	* GustyGlade: The game does this in some overworld levels, often as a means of making the jump timings more difficult. The good news is that the wind always blows east, so it never dampens the jump's height or the run's speed as long as Mario or Luigi is moving to the right.
79	* HailfirePeaks: World 9, which mixes up the underwater, castle and overworld settings in a DebugRoom style.
80	* 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]]. The opening of [[https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-WorldD-4.png D-4]] is a harder take on the opening of [[https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/SuperMarioBros2(J)-World8-4.png 8-4]], [[BaitAndSwitch but the level goes in a different direction]] after the first pipe Mario/Luigi went down in 8-4.
81	* HardLevelsEasyBosses: The Bowser fights have mostly been unchanged from the first game, which makes them even more of a stark contrast in difficulty. In the original FDS version, they don't even throw hammers in Worlds A-D.
82	* IfItSwimsItFlies: The Blooper now appears in land levels, hovering around the exact same way it swims underwater, and stompable for 1,000 points. [[RefittedForSequel This behavior was already fully defined in the previous game]], just [[DummiedOut never actually used]].
83	* InvincibleMinorMinion: Buzzy Beetles become these in World 9-1. They can't be stomped on underwater, and can't be killed with fireballs, so they are effectively invincible.
84	* InvisibleBlock: Sure, the first game has them, but ''The Lost Levels'' places them with the express intention to kill you. Good luck trying to jump past the Hammer Brothers in world 8-3 without hitting invisible blocks and dying on your [[TrialAndErrorGameplay first few attempts.]] And many of them contain a PoisonMushroom.
85	* JackOfAllStats: This game begins the long tradition of Mario having average stats -- with lower jumps but better traction, he manages the incredible feat of being the most average of ''two'' available characters.
86	* KaizoTrap: It's no Kaizo Mario, but the game derives much of its cruelty from sudden (and inventive) subversions of the original; things that simply don’t work as expected, that is, "Warp Zones" which offer to send you three or four levels '''backward''' -- though Nintendo kindly left an open suicide pit -- inviting players to shout, "You can't ''do'' that! Can they do that??"
87	* LevelInTheClouds: In addition to the "Coin Heaven" bonus areas from the first game, a few levels (namely the end of 8-2 and the entireties of 8-3 and A-3) take place in the clouds. The former one can only be found by climbing a secret beanstalk (as the rest of the level eventually loops). The latter two are more traditional sky levels, and the placement of the cloud platforms as well as that of most enemies make the levels among the most challenging (especially if played with Mario, who doesn't jump as highly as Luigi).
88	* LuckBasedMission: There are a few points in the castles where you must make a long jump and just hope that Bowser's flames don't appear in the wrong location. If they do, sucks to be you.
89	* MeaninglessLives: The ''All-Stars'' edition, because it allows you to save after clearing a level rather than a world. The only punishment for getting a game over in this edition is that you have to restart the stage from the beginning (which is only even a problem if you've passed the CheckPoint, which many levels lack anyway). Plus, your score resets to zero.
90	* MinusWorld: World 9 uses mismatched tile sets similar to "World -1" in the [=FCD=] UpdatedRerelease of the first game, and infinitely loops like the FC/NES "World -1" (except in the ''All-Stars'' version).
91	* MissionPackSequel: Most of the game is reusing sprites and tilesets from the first game, with just a few extra ones. This and the difficulty were the two biggest factors as to why Nintendo of America chose not to release it overseas until ''All-Stars''.
92	* MoodWhiplash:
93	** The fortress in D-4. Halfway through, you're outside in grassland again, then down in a coin-filled bonus room before returning to the fortress. Even more so in ''All Stars'', where cheery bonus music is played in bonus rooms.
94	** World 9-3. This level uses the castle music. There's a vine that leads to a Coin Heaven where the upbeat Starman music plays (or the previously mentioned cheery bonus music in ''All-Stars'') which then returns to the castle music upon exiting the Coin Heaven.
95	* MortonsFork: There are two warp zones out of nine that actually send you ''back''. If you don't want to go back, the only other way is to [[BottomlessPits jump into the pit]]. Of course, if you are playing for a high score, [[SubvertedTrope this is actually beneficial]].
96	%%* MythologyGag: Several points in the game qualify. Consider the first set of ? blocks in World 1-1, where the Mushroom is instead a PoisonMushroom, the first of many.
97	* NewGamePlus: If you play through the main game without skipping any castles, 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).
98	* NoobBridge:
99	** The very first mushroom in the game is trapped in a box that the player can't reach themselves, and so have to knock it out of the box by punching one of the bricks at the correct time.
100	** Ducking is far more important in this game than other installments in the ''Mario'' franchise, and the game warns players about this with the narrow passage in 1-2. If they're already Big Mario or Luigi and don't take a hit from the Goombas, then the only way they can progress beyond the passage is by running and sliding underneath.
101	* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: The Japanese version of ''Super Mario All-Stars'' (''Super Mario Collection'') calls it ''Super Mario Bros. 2: For Super Players'', whose subtitle was the slogan on the original box art. ''Super Mario Bros. Deluxe'' also uses this full title, just without the ''2''. Eventually, Nintendo used their first localized title for the worldwide Virtual Console release, although the title screen is unchanged.
102	* 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, where you're only required to beat all eight castles (so it's okay to use a forward warp zone as long as you use a later backwards warp zone to go back and do the levels you missed).
103	* PlantMooks: The Piranha Plants, which this time bring a red variant that will come out of the pipes even if you're standing onto them.
104	* PlatformHell: One of the few commercial releases. The game was advertised as a more difficult follow-up to the original ''Super Mario Bros.'', and incorporates many perks to further raise the challenge.
105	* PoisonMushroom:
106	** The TropeNamer and its first appearance in the series. As its original incarnation, they are ''almost indistinguishable from Super Mushrooms''. It is very easy to die at the start of 1-1 if you aren't expecting it. Which, considering that Poison Mushrooms hadn't been seen before this game, most players weren't. However, if you stick around to watch the game demo, you can clearly see Mario trying to get the Poison Mushroom and dying, allowing this type of death to be averted by patient players. This says nothing, however, about Poison Mushrooms in Underground and Castle levels, since the mushrooms' colors change and thus may lead player to conclude that it's a different kind of mushroom.
107	** ''All-Stars'' makes the Poison Mushrooms a completely and totally unmistakable solid purple with a skull on the cap of the mushroom and gives them angry eyes, making them far easier to distinguish from regular mushrooms (and also SchmuckBait of the highest order). ''Deluxe'' also does something similar to the design.
108	** ''The Lost Levels'' also has backwards {{Warp Zone}}s. Even though there are only two in the game (one in 3-1, which takes you back to World 1, and one in 8-1, which takes you back to World 5), they are a major pain for players, since not only do they send you back to an earlier point in the game, they also make access to World 9 impossible (in ''All-Stars'').
109	* PointOfNoContinues: In the original Disk System release, when reaching World 9 and beyond this, if you lose your final life, instead of giving an option to continue, you're instead given a final message saying: "YOU'RE A SUPER PLAYER! WE HOPE WE'LL SEE YOU AGAIN. MARIO AND STAFF." This is averted in the ''All-Stars'' version, as you're still given continues when you lose your final life.
110	* PreFinalBoss: In castle 8-4 (and the true final level, D-4), you will encounter "Bowser's Brother" (a blue palette-swap of Bowser) shortly before reaching the real Bowser.
111	* RecurringBoss: Bowser retains his role from the previous game as the sole boss character Mario and Luigi face, this time in an increased total of twelve encounters (two real, ten fake).
112	* RecycledSoundtrack: Most of Creator/KojiKondo's classic compositions from the last game were recycled here. In addition, a "Burning Rubber" sound (later recycled in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'') was added, as was a "Wind blowing" sound. The ending theme was also given a complete makeover, similar to ''VS.'', only with an extended bridge and octave change.
113	* SamePlotSequel: The most explicit case in the series, because the game reuses the main premise of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' (Bowser kidnaps Peach, uses his magic to curse the Mushroom Kingdom and its people, and sends replicas of his to various different castles so Mario and Luigi are fooled by them), with the justification that the events take place "in a parallel universe".
114	* SecretLevel: Worlds 9, A, B, C, and D. Many of them qualify as BrutalBonusLevel, even in relation to the rest of the game (and, to varying degrees, the rest of the series).
115	* SlippySlideyIceWorld: 7-3 and C-3, which retain the monochrome aesthetic visuals in the previous game's World 6-3. Neither have noticeable ice tropes, since they're merely done with recoloring several things white and gray (the ''All-Stars'' versions provide a snowy aesthetic to other levels, but it's purely cosmetic and thus irrelevant to their gameplay).
116	* SoundtrackDissonance: In ''Super Mario All-Stars''. Of course they'd give the hardest ''Mario'' game in history a title screen with gentle harp and string music.
117	* SpringJump: The game has two types of springboards: Red ones are identical to the ones in the first game, and green super springboards that propel you into the air for seconds at a time (and often drop you in perilous or otherwise undesirable places, if you aren't paying attention).
118	* ThankingTheViewer: [[spoiler:World 9-4 is a short water level containing all the common enemies in the game, and the word "アリガトウ!" (''Arigatou!'', meaning "Thank you!") spelled out in ground blocks]].
119	* ThisWasHisTrueForm: Just like in the first game, all the Bowsers but the last one will reveal themselves to be minor enemies in disguise if defeated with fireballs. The ''All-Stars'' version adds new enemies for World A-C and makes the Bowser in World D the real one. (Note that getting to some of these Bowsers with fireballs requires glitching through levels).
120	* TrueFinalBoss: The real Bowser of D-4, who can only be reached by unlocking and completing the four bonus worlds.
121	* UndergroundMonkey: The new red Piranha Plants pop out of their pipes even if Mario is standing next to them. (If you're standing directly over them, the ones from ground-based pipes won't emerge, but if you're standing on the edge of the pipe, they will. However, the ones that emerge from upside-down pipes will emerge regardless of where Mario stands).
122	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: In 7-4, it is possible to jump up to and run on top of the ceiling, which would be a handy EasyLevelTrick if there was an opportunity to get back down. Unfortunately, there isn't, so it just leaves you trapped up in the ceiling and forced to wait for the time limit to run out. This was not fixed for ''All-Stars''.
123	* 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 the ''All-Stars'' version. 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.
124	* AWinnerIsYou: [[spoiler:Reach World 9-4 and you get a message made of blocks that reads "アリガトウ!" (''Arigatou!'', or "Thank you!")]].
125	----
126	-> ''WELCOME TO [[WarpZone WARP ZONE]]!'' \
127	\
128	'''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels 1]]'''

Context VideoGame / SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels