Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (Japanese: Super Mario Bros. 2) is the true sequel to Nintendo's Super Mario Bros.. It was first released in Japan for the Nintendo Famicom. It is notable for being what many consider the most difficult game in the Super Mario series.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels does not have a two-player game. Instead, one may play as Mario or as Luigi. Luigi can jump higher and further, but Mario is a more agile runner, with less "braking distance" (a difference not preserved in later versions of the game). The game is more difficult than the original Super Mario Bros., due to a slightly modified game engine and more difficult levels. For example, the game features Poisonous Mushroom, negative warp zones (such as in World 3-1), and wind which blows intermittently to push the player over long jumps. Graphically, it is very similar, though with more background detail than its predecessor.
The game was not released in the United States. The extreme difficulty and often frustrating gameplay made Nintendo of America deem the game too hard for American consumers; it was feared it would not sell well, and Nintendo of America Chairman Howard Lincoln personally despised the title, stating that the game amounted to a total rejection of everything that had made Super Mario Bros. fun and popular.
Instead, Nintendo released the easier but idiosyncratic Super Mario Bros. 2. The game was nothing like the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2: was a modified version of the Japanese action title Doki Doki Panic. The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 did finally come to the United States in its inclusion in Super Mario All-Stars, which is where the name Lost Levels comes from. It was also released on Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (it was called Super Mario Bros. For Super Players) on the Game Boy Color, though hidden and without levels 9 and A-D (which were hidden in the original).
