Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
Super Nintendo
Before we proceed too far into this review, I want to clarify that I am counting this as a Super Nintendo game since I played it on the Super Mario All-Stars cartridge for the SNES. This game never saw an NES release in the United States, despite being designed and released as Super Mario Bros. 2 overseas. Apparently that version of the game was deemed too difficult for United States players, and also too similar to the original Super Mario Bros, so it was never released stateside.
Instead, the Super Mario Bros. 2 that we saw in the U.S. was simply a re-skinned version of Doki Doki Panic. The REAL Super Mario Bros. 2 didn't see the light of day in the U.S. until it was released as a part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection for the Super Nintendo in 1993. And that is the version I played for this review.
Story:
Don't expect to see anything new here. It is almost as if the original Super Mario Bros. didn't happen. Bowser is still the bad guy. He's still got the Princess. And, you guessed it, she is still in another castle. It is up to you to rescue her.
Gameplay:
If you've played the original Super Mario Bros. you should have a perfect understanding of this title's gameplay. There are eight stages, each one consisting of four levels - the fourth one always being Bowser's castle. I think of this game as more of an expansion pack of new levels for the first game than an original game itself. There are almost no differences from the original title's gameplay to this one.
I say almost because there are some slight changes; a few wrinkles that have been added to make things more difficult. Warp pipes that take you back several levels instead of moving you forward. Blue mushrooms that hurt you when you touch them. Super powerful trampolines that launch your character into the air and off of the screen. There are even the occasional added wind effects that, depending on the direction of the wind, can help propel your character forward or push him back.
I don't know if this is an actual gameplay change or if I am just losing my mind, but I found the game's control scheme to be a little looser than the original Super Mario Bros. When I would try to nail a precision jump, I'd find the momentum of my character constantly taking me over the ledge and to my death. I had a difficult time timing my jumps and adjusting to changes in mid-air. Again, maybe this was just my mind playing tricks on me, but I don't recall having any of these issues with the original Super Mario Bros.
What this game will be remembered for is its difficulty. This game is REALLY tough - almost unfairly so at times. Some levels would be an absolute breeze while others would take me literally hours to finish. I think I was stuck on World 8-4 for two hours at the very least until I finally conquered it. Expect to die, and die a lot.
Graphics:
Taking into account that I played the enhanced Super Mario All-Stars version of this game, it looked quite good - undoubtedly better than the non-enhanced version of the game that just looks exactly the same as the original Super Mario Bros. The colors are bright, the backgrounds are detailed. This is definitely a good looking 16-bit game. Almost as good looking as Super Mario World.
Sound:
This game sounds also exactly the same as the original title. The iconic musical tracks for each level have been slightly modified to sound more hip and modern. Same with the sound effects. The sound of Mario jumping is now the same as what you hear in Super Mario World. You'll find no complaints from me here. I just wish I didn't have to hear that darn "you died" jingle so many freaking times.
Overall:
I'm glad to say I played this game, just for the sake of saying I played it. Was it fun? Did I like it? Debatable. I love the original Super Mario Bros. - and like I said this game is basically an extension of the original title. So by default you would think I loved this right? Right?
Ehhhh. This game has its moments, sure. But all of its good moments seem to be canceled out by bad moments at the same time. The difficulty is just so uneven. Fair and competent one stage, and staggeringly brutal the next. A lot of the additions made to the game don't seem well thought out. You're often rewarded by exploring and being curious with something shitty happening like having to warp back to the first level - and that is not cool. Luckily this version of the game gives you the ability to save your progress. You have an unlimited number of continues as well. This helped majorly because I can't even IMAGINE running out of lives and having to start all the way back at the beginning of the game again each time I ran out of lives.
All in all, this was an okay game. It doesn't do much for me either way. It isn't great but it isn't terrible either. It is what it is - a clone of the original game without the iconic level design, and with its difficulty ramped up tenfold. If this is something that appeals to you - by all means have at it. But even if you were a giant fan of the original Mario games for the NES, you wouldn't be missing much if you decided to skip out on this.
Final Score:
C
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