The sequel they thought we couldn't handle.
In 1986 Japan got a Super Mario Bros. 2 built for people who had already beaten the first one to death — Luigi who jumps higher but slides off ledges, wind that shoves you mid-air, warps that send you backward, and a mushroom that hurts instead of helps. Nintendo of America took one look and decided it was too hard and too familiar for a market still learning to play, so they reskinned a different game and called it Mario 2 instead. For years this real second chapter simply didn't exist where I lived; I only met it in 1993, redrawn inside Super Mario All-Stars. Playing it now, dying to that first poison mushroom, you realize it was never cruelty — it was a designer trusting that some of us wanted to be pushed.
About this game
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is a 1986 2d platform game for the famicom, developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development, directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, with music by Koji Kondo. It belongs to the Super Mario series.
Gallery
Tricks & Tales
Luigi isn't just a palette swap here: he jumps higher than Mario but has worse ground traction, so he slides off platforms and into pits more easily — a real risk-reward trade. The infamous Poison Mushroom works as an anti-mushroom: instead of powering you up it shrinks or kills you, turning the series' most trusted item into a trap. North America never got this on cartridge; it first reached the West in 1993, redrawn with 16-bit graphics inside Super Mario All-Stars, where it finally received the name 'The Lost Levels.'
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
Famicom and NES are the same hardware family but use physically incompatible cartridge formats — Famicom carts have a 60-pin connector and a narrower shell, while NES carts use a 72-pin connector with a wider housing. You cannot insert a Famicom cartridge into a North American NES slot without an adapter, and vice versa. The Famicom itself has no lockout chip, so any Famicom cartridge from Japan will run on a Famicom console regardless of origin. If you are buying a Japanese Famicom cart to play on a NES, you will need a 60-to-72-pin physical adapter; if you own a Famicom, Japanese-market software is your native format and no workarounds are needed.
Maintenance Tips
The gold-plated edge connectors on Famicom and NES cartridges pick up skin oils and oxidation over decades — a gentle wipe with a cotton swab dampened in 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol, stroking along the length of the pins rather than across them, is the accepted standard. Let the alcohol fully evaporate before reinserting. The old habit of blowing into a cartridge is folklore: the moisture in breath causes slow corrosion of the contacts over time, and any improvement you felt came from the act of re-seating the cart, not from the breath itself. Nintendo eventually updated its own troubleshooting guidance to say explicitly: do not blow into your Game Paks.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels copies regularly.
The original Japanese version — what format does it come on?
The 1986 original is a Famicom Disk System title — a yellow disk card, not a cartridge. You need a working Disk System unit (and often a fresh drive belt) to play an authentic copy, so factor that in before buying the disk alone.
Is this the same as the 'Super Mario Bros. 2' I played in America?
No. The US 'Super Mario Bros. 2' (1988) was a reworked version of Doki Doki Panic. This Japanese Mario 2 is the true high-difficulty sequel and only reached the West in 1993 as 'The Lost Levels' inside Super Mario All-Stars.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
A short checklist for buying a used Famicom cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Make sure it fits your console
This is a Japanese Famicom cartridge with a 60-pin connector; a North American NES uses a 72-pin slot, so it will not fit directly.
Play it on a matching Japanese console or a region-free system, and confirm the listing states the region.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Confirm it is genuine, not a reproduction
Sought-after titles are targets for reproduction boards with replacement labels.
Ask for a photo of the circuit board and look for factory markings. Favour a shop with a licensed second-hand dealer permit (古物商) — by law its stock has a traceable origin, your simplest guard against fakes.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
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Rooms this game lives in
Wander deeper — explore the themed rooms where Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels sits alongside its kin.
Memories from around the world
This is a young museum, and this page is still waiting for its first voices. The memories people send reach Taisei personally, and the ones that move him find a home here over time — always with the writer's blessing. Yours could be the very first for this game.
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