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You remember the first time you saw it. Honestly, it was a bit of a shock. 1993 was a weird year for gaming because the 16-bit wars were at their peak, and Sega was screaming about "Blast Processing" every five seconds. Then Nintendo dropped Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo. It wasn't a new game. Not really. But it was the first time we realized that video games could have a "legacy." Before this, old games just died. They stayed on the shelf or got sold at garage sales for five bucks. Nintendo decided that the NES classics—Super Mario Bros., The Lost Levels, Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3—deserved a second life with 16-bit paint.
It worked.
The cartridge was heavy. It felt important. When you popped it into your SNES, you weren't just playing a platformer; you were playing a museum. It basically set the blueprint for every "remaster" or "HD collection" we see today. If you've ever bought a The Last of Us Part I or a Halo: The Master Chief Collection, you can thank (or blame) this specific 1993 release. It proved that people would pay full price for games they already owned if you made them look pretty enough.
The Weird History of The Lost Levels
Most kids in the US had no idea what The Lost Levels even was. We all thought Super Mario Bros. 2 was that weird game with the vegetables and the bird that spits eggs. That's because it was actually a reskinned game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic. The "real" Japanese sequel to the original Mario was deemed too hard for Americans. Howard Lincoln and the team at Nintendo of America thought it would frustrate people. They weren't wrong.
Super Mario All-Stars was the first time Western players got to touch the original Super Mario Bros. 2 (rebranded here as The Lost Levels). It was brutal. Poison mushrooms that kill you? Wind that blows you off a cliff? Warp zones that actually send you backward to World 1? It was a psychological experiment masquerading as a platformer. Seeing those NES sprites updated with 16-bit backgrounds made the cruelty feel almost elegant.
It Wasn't Just a Graphics Swap
People talk about the "16-bit glow up," but it went deeper than just color palettes. The sound was overhauled completely. That iconic theme song from 1-1? It got a bass-heavy, synthesized orchestral feel that took advantage of the SNES's Sony-designed SPC700 sound chip. It sounded richer. Thicker.
But there’s a catch that purists still argue about today.
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If you’re a hardcore speedrunner or just someone who spent way too many hours on the NES, you might notice something feels "off" in the Super Mario All-Stars versions of the first game and The Lost Levels. It’s the brick physics. In the original 8-bit versions, when Mario hits his head on a block, he rebounds downward quickly. In the SNES version, there's a weird bit of code that makes him "clip" into the block slightly or linger for a millisecond longer. It’s a tiny detail. Most people don’t notice. But for the elite? It’s a dealbreaker. It changed the rhythm of the game.
Saving Your Progress Changed Everything
Before Super Mario All-Stars, playing Super Mario Bros. 3 was an endurance test. You either had to leave your NES on overnight and hope your mom didn't unplug it to vacuum, or you had to be a master of the Warp Whistles. There was no save battery.
The SNES changed the game by adding four save slots. You could finally play Mario the way we play modern games—in chunks. You could beat World 4 (Giant Land), save, and go outside. This changed the player's relationship with the content. The stakes felt lower, but the exploration felt higher. You could actually take the time to find every secret in World 7 (Pipe Land) without worrying that a power surge would erase three hours of progress.
Why SMB3 Looks So Different
The jump from the NES version of Super Mario Bros. 3 to the Super Mario All-Stars version is arguably the most dramatic. On the NES, the game was already pushing the hardware to its absolute limit using the MMC3 chip. It had flickering sprites and a weird colorful bar on the right side of the screen because the console was struggling to scroll.
On the SNES, all that "jank" was gone. The colors were vibrant. The backgrounds had parallax scrolling, giving the stages a sense of depth they never had before. Mario himself looked more like the official artwork. He had actual gloves and a more defined shape. However, some fans still prefer the original 8-bit aesthetic. There’s a certain charm to the limited color palette of the NES that the SNES version feels a bit too "clean" to replicate. It’s like comparing a gritty original film to a digital restoration—some of the soul gets polished away.
The Battle of the 90s: Mario vs. Sonic
You can't talk about this game without mentioning the context of the Console Wars. Sega was eating Nintendo's lunch with Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Sonic was cool. Sonic was fast. Mario was starting to look like your dad's favorite video game.
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By releasing Super Mario All-Stars, Nintendo reminded everyone why they were the kings of the genre. They basically said, "Look at these four games. They are better than anything else on the market, and we’re giving them all to you on one disc (or cartridge)." It was a value proposition that Sega couldn't beat. It kept Mario relevant during the transition between Super Mario World and the eventual 3D revolution of the Nintendo 64.
The Legacy of the 25th Anniversary Edition
Years later, Nintendo re-released Super Mario All-Stars for the Wii. It was a lazy port. It was literally just the SNES ROM on a disc. No widescreen support, no extra features, just a soundtrack CD and a little booklet. People were mad. But the fact that it still sold millions proves the power of this specific collection. The SNES versions of these games have become the "standard" for a whole generation of players. When many people think of Super Mario Bros. 2, they don't think of the NES sprites; they think of the detailed, colorful SNES world.
How to Play It Today
If you want to experience Super Mario All-Stars right now, you have a few options, but some are better than others:
- Nintendo Switch Online: This is the easiest way. It's included in the SNES library. It plays perfectly, and you get the benefit of modern rewind features if The Lost Levels makes you want to throw your controller across the room.
- Original Hardware: There is nothing like the feel of an actual SNES controller. If you can find a cartridge, get it. Just be aware that the internal save battery might be dead by now, so you might need a soldering iron to replace it.
- Analogue Super Nt: If you’re a nerd for high-end video quality, playing the original cart on an FPGA console like the Super Nt is the "gold standard." It outputs 1080p without any lag.
Actionable Steps for Retrogaming Fans
If you're going back to play Super Mario All-Stars for the first time in years, don't just blast through World 1-1. Here is how to actually enjoy the depth of this collection:
- Start with The Lost Levels. Honestly. Just to see what the fuss is about. Play it until you get frustrated, then move on. It’s a piece of history that explains why Nintendo changed their design philosophy.
- Compare the SMB3 King transformations. In the NES version, the Kings of each world were transformed into different animals (like a spider or a seagull). In the SNES version, some of these were changed to different Nintendo-related creatures. It’s a fun scavenger hunt for fans.
- Listen to the music. Specifically, the Super Mario Bros. 2 character select screen. It’s a masterpiece of 16-bit composition.
- Check your lag. If you’re playing on a modern 4K TV through an old console, you’re going to have a bad time. Use a "Game Mode" setting or a dedicated upscaler like a Retrotink. Mario requires frame-perfect jumps, and a 100ms delay will ruin the experience.
Super Mario All-Stars isn't just a game; it's the moment Nintendo decided that its history was worth preserving. It wasn't perfect, and the physics changes still irritate some people, but it remains one of the most important cartridges ever made. It turned disposable software into a digital library.