Super Mario Retrospective #2
Released:
– 1986 for Family Computer Disk System (Famicom) (Japanese equivalent of the NES)
– Remade as part of ‘Super Mario All-Stars’ in 1993 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
– Ported as part of ‘Super Mario Bros. Deluxe’ in 1999 for Game Boy Color
The gameplay
a.k.a. the Japanese Mario 2. For its original Japanese release, it was simply known as “Super Mario Bros. 2” and was displayed as such on the title screen. When it came to America years later, it was subtitled “The Lost Levels” to distinguish it from the other, completely different “Super Mario Bros. 2”, and The Lost Levels is what this game is generally known as nowadays.
This game has the same gameplay and game engine as its predecessor, but with a brand new set of levels which are way harder. The first Super Mario Bros. was already quite hard, but The Lost Levels goes much, much further.
As far as sequels go, The Lost Levels may not be as epic as Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World, but I think this is a worthy follow-up in its own right. The American Super Mario Bros. 2 is a good game too. Between the two Mario 2’s, however, I like this game a bit better, partly as I feel it makes more sense as a sequel to the original Super Mario Bros., and it has better synergy with the original game. This game being so similar to the first even works to its advantage in a way. It’s a natural extension of the first game, which transitions and flows perfectly into this game. It just feels good to play and complete the first game, then play this one immediately after.
That said, I can understand the criticism Lost Levels gets. It’s not for everyone. It’s not as accessible to newcomers or casual players as most Mario games are. For someone new to the series, it certainly isn’t the first game I’d recommend them to play. It’s perhaps easier for someone like me to appreciate, as I have many years’ experience of playing Mario games. Although even there, I remember enjoying this game as a kid too, even despite the high difficulty and my initial inability to fully complete it. Either way, the game accomplishes exactly what it set out to be; a Mario game for experts.
Despite having the same style, presentation, and (mostly) the same features as the first game, and despite it not being as further innovative as the third and fourth games, there is still a remarkable amount of subtle creativity on display. The level designs are top-notch. There are some neat (and occasionally nasty) little surprises not seen in the first, third, or fourth games: The poison mushrooms, the backwards warp zones, the unexpected gusts of wind, invisible blocks popping up where you don’t expect them, the flying Bloopers (jellyfish enemies), among others. It all serves to keep the player on their toes and to give this game a distinct identity all of its own.
As in the first game, there are (initially) eight worlds and four levels per world. World 8 is presented as the final world and final castle, whereupon you rescue Princess Peach from Bowser’s clutches. Also like in the first game, you can keep playing even after you defeat Bowser and save Peach, if you want some extra challenge. Unlike in the first game, however – which featured the same set of levels except tweaked to be a little harder for the second playthrough – The Lost Levels gives you brand new levels entirely.
If you manage to clear Worlds 1-8 without using any warp zones, you’ll unlock the strange and surreal World 9. Meanwhile, if you manage to beat World 8 a total of eight times (with or without warp zones to get you there), you’ll unlock Worlds A, B, C, and D, with World D featuring another final Bowser fight and rescuing Peach again. And yes, that’s right; you have to clear the rest of the game eight times to get there. This might be my only genuine complaint with the game (the original Famicom version, at least), how ridiculous the requirements are to unlock those last four bonus worlds. At most, I could understand if you had to beat the game twice to unlock the extra levels… but eight times?! Really? Thankfully, Nintendo themselves seemed to realize how ridiculous this was, as they fixed it in the All-Stars version, detailed below.
Regardless, this was the first Mario game to have bonus levels after the main set of levels (that weren’t simply harder versions of existing levels), which wasn’t as common in the franchise’s earlier days, but would eventually become a series tradition.
The setting
As with the first game, this takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom, and so it looks and feels much like its predecessor. Several of the graphics have been redesigned, though overall it still gives off a similar style and vibe to the first game. The All-Stars version, meanwhile, redoes the art for both games to make them lusher and more detailed, but also makes them look the same as each other. Thus, unlike the NES/Famicom versions which merely look similar, both games in the All-Stars version have identical backgrounds and level aesthetics.
There is one distinct difference from the first game, regardless of the version you’re playing. In the first game, Bowser’s last castle in World 8 is located on the ground, same as all the other castles. In The Lost Levels, you journey up into the sky for the final showdown. At the end of World 8-2, you climb a vine which takes you into the clouds, leading to World 8-3 which is an all-sky level, and then to Bowser’s castle in 8-4. (Whereas the final castle in World D is another ground castle similar to the first game.)
In both this and the first game, the sky sections are simply bonus areas, but not full levels in themselves. Except for World 8-3 here, which is notable for being the first full sky level in a Mario game. World A-3 also takes place in the clouds, but it was just those two levels. But it was enough to establish the trend of sky levels as a classic Mario setting, and later games would follow suit.
Character tidbits
Whereas Mario 1 has “1 Player Game” and “2 Player Game” modes, The Lost Levels is exclusively a single-player game. Instead, we have “Mario Game” and “Luigi Game”. Thus, to distinguish the brothers, Luigi controls a bit different from Mario, with Luigi being able to jump higher but with more slippery traction. The better jumping/worse traction would go on to define Luigi’s control style in many later games as well, while Mario would retain a more ‘average’ control style. This is one of several ways in which Luigi would gradually evolve from “Mario’s brother” into a more distinct character of his own.
Speaking of brothers, there’s a much more subtle – and mysterious – character detail. In fact, it was the very thing which inspired me to start doing this “Character tidbits” section in all of my other video game reviews as well. Did you know that Bowser has a brother too? If you didn’t know that, well, now you do!
Or at least, he’s been commonly referred to as “Bowser’s brother”, but his true identity is unclear. The official sources from Nintendo have given contradictory answers. A few of them have stated him to be Bowser’s brother, while others have either described him as a fake, or simply said that his true identity is unknown. Even to this day, Nintendo has never cleared the air for certain on whether he is or isn’t related to Bowser. (For the sake of clarity, I’ll still refer to him as Bowser’s brother. And regardless of Nintendo’s ambiguity about it, I personally dig the idea of Bowser having a mysterious, elusive sibling.)
Bowser’s brother can be found in World 8-4 and D-4 before you fight Bowser himself, and the brother also appears as the sole castle guardian of World 9-3. While Bowser and all the other fake Bowsers in the game appear green, Bowser’s brother can be distinguished from them with his blue colour, at least in the Famicom version. In the All-Stars version, the brother appears green just like all the rest of them, although there was an alternate blue palette for him which was programmed into the game but strangely never used.
To make the whole thing even more strange and mysterious, this is the only game in the entire franchise where Bowser’s brother appears. Never again was he to be seen after this…
The All-Stars treatment
Back in the day, many players, myself included, only had the option of playing The Lost Levels on Super Mario All-Stars, with the original Famicom version not being released for western players. It wasn’t until many, many years after the release of All-Stars when the Famicom version was released internationally. It was made available on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, a remarkable 21 years after the game’s original release. It was interesting to finally be able to play the original version after having grown up with the All-Stars version. While I do think the Famicom version is worth checking out at least once, beyond that I’d probably only recommend it to hardcore fans (and/or if you truly want the hardest possible challenge). Otherwise, All-Stars is my preferred version of the game. I already felt that way regarding Mario 1, and All-Stars is even more preferred with The Lost Levels.
For one thing, the added save feature. The other three games in the All-Stars compilation let you save your progress at the beginning of each world. Whereas The Lost Levels, due to its high difficulty, instead lets you save at the beginning of each level. Although granted, this is less of an issue nowadays in the modern era of gaming which often lets you create save states for older games whenever you want them, but still, I do like All-Stars’ built-in save feature.
But the main benefit of the All-Stars version is that it makes Worlds A-D significantly easier to unlock. Instead of beating the rest of the game eight times, you only have to beat it once, which is appreciated.
All-Stars also more clearly presents Worlds 9 & A-D as this game’s Second Quest (or “a more difficult quest” as Peach puts it). Whereas in the Famicom version, the bonus world are unlockable, but not presented as a new quest per say. This is a much more minor, but still welcome touch-up in the All-Stars version.
As with the first game, The Lost Levels was also included as part of the Game Boy Color port, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe. In this version, it’s referred to as “Super Mario Bros. for Super Players”. However, the Game Boy Color version, sadly, does not include Worlds 9 & A-D. Just the first eight worlds. And so, the All-Stars/SNES version really is the essential way to play it.
Overall assessment
This is a fantastic sequel, although I would not recommend it to casual players, or to anyone who is easily daunted by unforgivably tough games. This game will test you, and it will test you hard. But if you are one of those folks looking for a thrilling challenge, then Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is well worth your time.