Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, known in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2, is a 1986 platform game developed by Nintendo R&D4 for the Famicom Disk System (FDS). Like its predecessor, Super Mario Bros. (1985), players control Mario or Luigi to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. The Lost Levels has a higher difficulty level, introducing obstacles such as the poison mushroom, counterproductive level warps and mid-air wind gusts. Luigi controls differently from Mario, with reduced ground friction and increased jump height. The game contains 32 levels across eight worlds, and 20 bonus levels.

Nintendo developed The Lost Levels after designing some of its levels for the Nintendo VS. System version of Super Mario Bros. It was directed by Takashi Tezuka and designed for players who had mastered the original. Nintendo released it as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan on June 3, 1986, but Nintendo of America deemed it too difficult for the North American market and released an alternative Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) instead. The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was retitled The Lost Levels for its inclusion in the 1993 Super Nintendo Entertainment System compilation Super Mario All-Stars, its first international release. It has been rereleased for Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch.

Reviewers viewed The Lost Levels as an extension of Super Mario Bros, especially its difficulty progression, and appreciated the challenge when spectating speedruns. The Lost Levels gave Luigi his first unique character traits, while the poison mushroom became a recurring Mario franchise element. The Lost Levels was the bestselling FDS game, selling about 2.5 million copies. It is remembered as among the most difficult Nintendo games and recognized as a precursor to the Kaizo subculture, in which fans create and share ROM hacks featuring nearly impossible levels.