Release Date:
June 3, 1986 (Famicom Disk System)
October 1, 2007 (Nintendo Wii Virtual Console)
Cost: $6 (Nintendo Wii Virtual Console)
For most of us who grew up North America in the 1980's Super Mario Bros. 2 conjures up images of Shy-guys, using the Princess to float around, and Birdo (one of the first trans-gendered characters in video games). However, this actually isn't Super Mario Bros. 2. This game is actually the Japanese game Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic with characters from the Super Mario universe inserted in for the North American audience. You see the real Super Mario Bros. 2 was too close to Super Mario Brothers 1 and Nintendo figured that a North American audience wouldn't like so similar a game.
When it was finally released in N.A. the game was retitled Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. Originally available for the SNES as part of the game Super Mario All-Stars, it is now available for download on the Virtual Console. This will allow a new generation of gamers decide if Nintendo was correct in thinking that we wouldn't enjoy so similar a game.
True, it is very similar to Super Mario Bros. 1 in terms of gameplay, sound, and graphics, but it does have one very important difference...it is insanely hard.
Right away in world 1-1 you will notice a difference in the difficulty level. First, there are mushrooms that don't make you bigger, they kill you. We have been trained to run at the first mushroom that we see, so it is no surprise that I was killed on world 1-1.
I managed to overcome my Pavlovian conditioning and made it all the way to world 3. and found a warp zone. I was expecting to jump ahead a few levels, but I was astonished to find out that this warp zone sent me back to world 1. What the heck! It took me hours to make it here! Now you sent me back to world 1? Despondent, I shut off the game before I lost my mind. (There are more examples of how difficult this game is, but I want you to be amazed and angered by yourself).
Returning back the game hours later, I really started to get into it. Yes, it is much harder than the Super Mario Bros. you remember, and, yes, it will drive you to the brink of insanity, but you will have fun with this lost little gem.
It currently costs $6 to download to your Wii, if you have a SNES you could pick up a used copy of Super Mario Allstars for about $15. You will get at least 6 hours worth of entertainment out this, probably more. I still haven't finished this game yet, but I feel that I have my $1 per hour of entertainment out of this game.
For any Super Mario fan out there, if you haven't played this game yet, what are you waiting for? For anyone else, especially if you can't handle dying repeatedly during a gaming session, let this one pass on by.
Oh, and one final tip: the red piranha plants can rise out of the pipes even when you are standing on them. Treachery!
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