If you grew up in the eighties, you probably remember the gold standard of platforming. Mario was king. But there’s a weird gap in the history books for Western players. You might’ve played the original, then jumped straight to the weird, vegetable-plucking fever dream of the second game. But the real sequel? It was a nightmare. Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels is the game that Nintendo of America essentially looked at and said, "No thanks, our players will hate this." It’s brutal. It’s mean. It’s arguably the first "troll game" ever made by a major developer.
Honestly, the story behind this game is just as fascinating as the level design itself. While we were busy throwing radishes at Birdo in what was actually a reskinned game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, Japanese players were screaming at their Famicom Disk Systems because a Poison Mushroom just killed them.
The Sequel That Almost Didn't Happen (Here)
Howard Lincoln and the team at Nintendo of America had a problem in 1986. They were looking at the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. It looked almost identical to the first game. The graphics were basically the same. The music? Same. But the difficulty curve didn't just go up; it fell off a cliff and hit a bed of spikes. They were worried that American kids, who were still getting used to the NES, would get frustrated and give up on the franchise entirely.
So they skipped it.
We didn't officially get to play Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels until the Super Mario All-Stars collection dropped on the SNES in 1993. Even then, playing it with 16-bit graphics and a save feature didn't quite capture the sheer "what were they thinking?" energy of the original 8-bit release.
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It’s Not Just Hard—It’s Spiteful
Most games follow a "teaching" philosophy. They show you a mechanic, let you practice it, and then test you. This game? It hates you. It introduces the Poison Mushroom, a power-up that looks almost exactly like the Super Mushroom but shrinks or kills you. It’s a literal trap. Imagine being a kid in the eighties, seeing that familiar face, and then—pop—you're dead.
Then there are the Warp Zones.
In the first game, finding a Warp Zone was a reward. It was a secret shortcut. In Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, the developers decided to mess with your head. Some Warp Zones actually send you backward to earlier worlds. You think you're progressing, you jump down a pipe, and suddenly you're back in World 1. It’s psychological warfare in 8-bit.
The Mechanics of Frustration
Wind. Let’s talk about the wind. In several levels, a gust of wind starts blowing across the screen. It affects your jump distance and your speed. If you’re not frame-perfect with your inputs, you’re going into a pit. There are also invisible blocks placed specifically where you would naturally jump to avoid an enemy. You hit your head, lose your momentum, and fall to your death.
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It was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka for players who had "mastered" the original game. It wasn't meant for everyone. It was meant for the hardcore elite who could beat the first game with their eyes closed.
Luigi Finally Gets a Personality
One of the coolest things about this game is that it was the first time Mario and Luigi actually felt different. In the original game, Luigi was just a green palette swap. He played exactly like Mario. In Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, they gave him his signature physics.
- Luigi jumps significantly higher than Mario.
- Luigi has almost zero friction. He slides around like he’s on ice.
- Mario is the "standard" mode—reliable, predictable, and easier to control.
Choosing Luigi is basically "Hard Mode." His high jump is necessary to clear some of the massive gaps, but trying to land him on a single-tile platform is like trying to stop a bar of soap on a wet floor.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
You might wonder why anyone cares about a forty-year-old game that’s famously unpleasant to play. It’s because it represents a specific moment in gaming history where the "rules" hadn't been written yet. Today, developers spend millions on playtesting to make sure players never feel "unfairly" punished. This game is the antithesis of that.
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It’s the ancestor of the "Kaizo" Mario movement. Without this game, we probably wouldn't have Super Mario Maker or the thousands of ultra-difficult fan levels that dominate Twitch and YouTube today. It proved there was a market for "masocore" games—titles that are fun precisely because they are so punishingly difficult.
Misconceptions and Trivia
People often think this game was hidden because it was bad. It wasn't bad; it was just "more." If you look at the technical side, it pushed the Famicom Disk System much harder than the original cartridge-based game. It had better scrolling, more complex enemy patterns, and even World 9—a secret world you could only reach if you beat the game without using a single Warp Zone.
And then there are the lettered worlds: World A, B, C, and D. To even see these, you had to beat the game eight times. EIGHT TIMES. On a console with no save battery. That is a level of dedication that most modern gamers can't even fathom.
How to Actually Beat It (Without Losing Your Mind)
If you’re going to tackle Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels today, don't try to be a hero on the original hardware unless you have a lot of spare controllers and a very high tolerance for pain. Use the Nintendo Switch Online version. The "Rewind" feature is your best friend.
- Watch the clouds and bushes. In many levels, the wind direction is indicated by the background elements. If they’re moving, you need to adjust your jump arc.
- Learn the Luigi slide. If you’re playing as Luigi, you have to start braking long before you actually want to stop. Crouch-sliding can help kill your momentum faster.
- Trust nothing. If a jump looks too easy, there’s probably an invisible block in your way. If a power-up is in a weird spot, it’s probably a Poison Mushroom.
- Master the "Edge Jump." There are gaps in this game that require you to jump on the very last pixel of a platform. Practice your timing on World 1-1 because it only gets worse from there.
The game is a masterclass in level design, even if that design is sometimes cruel. It forces you to unlearn everything the first game taught you about "fairness." It’s a piece of history that shows just how much Nintendo was willing to experiment before they settled into the polished, family-friendly image they have now. It’s raw, it’s angry, and it’s a vital part of the Mario legacy.
Your Next Steps
Stop thinking of this as a standard Mario game. Approach it like a puzzle-platformer where the goal isn't just to reach the end, but to survive the designer's traps. If you want the authentic experience, fire up the NES version via Nintendo Switch Online and try to clear World 1 without using the Rewind feature. You'll quickly understand why Nintendo of America thought we weren't ready for it in 1986. Once you've felt that frustration, look up a "Longplay" of the secret World 9 to see the bizarre, glitchy-looking underwater-overworld levels that served as the ultimate reward for the era's most dedicated players.