The Worst Mario Level Of All Time? - Worst Levels Ever # 47

Unfortunately, although there are lots of fantastic levels and stages in video games, there are also a fair few awful ones.
Mario has been the king of platformers for as long as we can all remember, deciding upon the absolute worst (official) Mario level from the large collection of 2D Mario platformers is a very difficult task when the quality is as consistently high as it is.
Opinions may vary on what makes a great or a terrible level, but I'm confident that my choice and the focus of this episode of Worst Levels Ever cannot be topped in terms of cheap and poorly-designed unfairness...
Want more Worst Levels Ever? Check out the playlist: • Best and Worst Levels ...

[@virtualturboprincessrescuermk3]

So, to answer your question, I HAVE actually played and beaten all 52 levels on an original FDS copy of the game. And YES, the C-3 issue is still present on that one. The Letter Worlds come off as very rushed, and it was quite the smart idea to bury them behind eight normal play-throughs of the Number Worlds. In order to earn Stars on the title screen, you can take the most efficient warp route to the end. Not a single play-through needs to be warp-less, but it was still tedious even when Lost Levels was my favorite game in the world back when I had just turned 18 and started importing retro consoles on eBay in the early 2010s.

[@whoisthisgit]

Thank you for letting me know, I can now rest easy knowing I made the right choice.

[@L_HD]

"The Letter Levels comes off as very rushed" You're telling me the whole game wasn't rushed?

[@mmmmmmmmmmmmmMicrowav]

"my favorite game in the world back when I had just turned 18" dude i am so sorry for your childhood ..... (I absolutely hated lost levels when I was a kid, and I still think it's hot garbage now)

[@youkai3785]

Hello, Git. Longtime watcher, first time commentator. Fan of the "creepy bad endings" series. To add to the comments, I've played the game on the GBA Famicom Mini series (Japan's version of the Classic NES Series) and its basically a perfect emulator to the NES/Famicom. And when I played C-3, I dealt with the EXACT same problem with respawning over the pit. However, I also know all the common knowledge bugs and glitches and other secrets to the stock SMB1/2J engine. It IS possible to survive the deadly respawn In C-3. However it requires perfect timing, the same kind of timing that enables you to double jump whenever you collect a Super Mushroom either as you descend in a fall/jump, or at the absolute highest point of your jump. If you time the jump button press right as the level starts up, you'll jump before the fall registers. But again, you need pixel perfect timing to pull it off. The same kind of timing it would take to pull off the "Mario Gliding Walk upon exiting a pipe" glitch. And that may be better executed with Luigi than Mario.

[@Infindox]

Not one to judge, but I have a lot of hard games that I consider some of my favorites, and Lost Levels nowhere CLOSE lol

[@mariodude345]

"I think people come out of the womb with this knowledge these days" LMAO

[@qu1253]

The Lost Levels has very strong "ROM hack" energy, especially in the letter worlds. It's the only Mario platformer that I've never finished.

[@lrgogo1517]

"Wait... where's the spring?" Where I thought this was going: "You have to line up your fall from the _previous_ spring and bounce off of the Lakitu from 100 feet in the air to make it to the next platform?! Curse you, The Lost Levels!!"

[@starshkr46]

I think it's a good testament to the Mario series that the worst level ever chosen by Git is just a badly programmed one and not one with bad design ideas. But I would like to see more of the latter category too.

[@Lilyana1001]

Mario 3 is my favorite game of all time but I am going to nominate 5-6 for the latter category. Just a slow, auto-scrolling ride across para-beetles and a quick, not very interesting coin mop-up. So bad. I have done all level playthroughs countless times...minus one. This one. I almost always skip it. So boring.

[@VestedUTuber]

There's a handful of levels with intentionally designed dick moves, and some that just have unfun mechanics or excessively precise jumps. And then there's... whatever Rainbow Cruise from SM64 is supposed to be. But SMB2(JP) C-3 takes the cake because its bugs make it worse than even the worst of the poorly designed levels.

[@PomPomb]

Sticker Star is a candidate for a future episode

[@freddywilliams9837]

I'm going to nominate Snow Bunnies from Mario Galaxy. It's all the most annoying mechanics thrown together with an equally annoying time limit. Ick.

[@fandenovelas777]

Nah id put any level 7 of mario 3 all of them tedius game of wait and nothing interesting more than pipes

[@ivortering7120]

I feel like this level was a last second addition, when designers realised they had no time to complete original C-3. Bad checkpoint, which is otherwise at normal ground level, may be a remnant from that original level. Since 7-3 doesn't have a checkpoint, when they copied data over, that checkpoint ended up being overlooked, since level was likely never tested.

[@ortherner]

interesting thought

[@Nzcade]

The Lost Levels feels like a combination of bad Mario Maker levels all in one game

[@tibby4503]

The second ever true Super Mario game, and they already resorted to Kaizo tactics.

[@ivortering7120]

@@tibby4503 Take it further, this game is the origin of kaizo.

[@L_HD]

Nintendo in Japan really saw this and thought "Yeah, we should sell this as a true Mario sequel" At least America had good sense to name this "The Lost Levels" and reskin a game that would've been lost in the dust with Mario for a sequel

[@ivortering7120]

@@L_HD Except, in reverse, Nintendo of Japan thought: "First Mario game sold really well, and everyone loved it, so if we'll make same, but harder, everyone (who already mastered original game, whis is, again, everyone) will love it even more!", and so they made this.

[@Neo-Metal17]

*Decent Mario Maker level Mario Maker levels can reach a new low

[@starshkr46]

Fun Fact: The game Atlantis No Nazo has a "level" that works just like the checkpoint bug in this video, except it is intentional as is meant as a trap to cause a game over when the player enters it. Talk about mean...

[@Pikachu132]

Quite a few games had levels like that. Jet Set Willy comes to mind at the top of my head, with a Hades "level" that likewise traps you in a respawning loop of death.

[@hi8203_dom]

I've heard people say that C-3 is a hard as hell level, but I had no idea that it had an unfair checkpoint location. Why they had to change the checkpoint location when C-3 is a reskin of 7-3 is something I will never understand

[@diskpoppy]

I doubt it's an intentional change, the terrain is stored independently from other stuff in the level (like enemies, warps, etc.). That's why having "duplicate" levels actually saves space, as the terrain data isn't copy-pasted but is reused instead, and the differences in those levels are due to swapping the other kinds of data/properties.

[@Entelarmer]

Calling it unfair doesn't even cut it IMO. It doesnt make things more difficult (as in, spawns you in trouble some place that is too difficult with this setup). It is just straight up death trap.

[@youkai3785]

I figure it was an unintentional placement. Most editor programs for SMB don't allow one to "copy-paste" a level, so they likely had to recreate each detail from scratch. It's possible that a checkpoint pointer slid or was otherwise moved accidentally, and they didn't catch it in time before the release. OR, the play testers made it through in one try, and never caught it.

[@pex_the_unalivedrunk6785]

Naw...the programmers were just trollin. and they came up with the master troll!

[@MaxOakland]

I bet it was a mistake

[@masterseal0418]

Let's just be glad the west got a Mario-themed reskin of Doki Doki Panic(Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic), Japan on the other hand had to suffer with The Lost Levels for a while until the All-Stars Collection on SNES brought all it's controller-smashing terror worldwide. Let that sink in...

[@genyakozlov1316]

Japan got the Doki Doki reskin too, they just called it Super Mario USA

[@rainlion10]

I like both SMB2s tbh

[@memberofchat2825]

i preffer mario 3, i like mario 2 usa but im very bad at it.

[@youkai3785]

Suffer? Oh no.....this was weaponized trauma. Levels like this are why Kaizo level makers and players exist...

[@masterseal0418]

@@rainlion10 Good

[@Ultragamer63]

Thank God this game stayed Japan-Exclusive. They would've crashed the video game market all over again.

[@Nieveria]

honestly the worst level in SMB2LL in my own opinion isn't even too hard, i just hate it out of principle. world 3-4 is one of the infinite scrolling maze levels, but with a twist...you're FORCED to lose a powerup. it's designed in a way where you NEED to be small mario to get past one of the checkpoints and continue the stage. if i'm good enough to be able to take big or fire mario to this point in the game, i shouldn't be PUNISHED for my skill!

[@tablettablet3028]

Personally I hate the castle level where you have to go down the right path the most. By the time you figure it out, time runs out

[@fbit7613]

Everyone talks about 7-3, but never 7-4. I always had waaay more trouble with 7-4. And C-4? Those firebars around halfway through become damn near impossible to avoid. That's my pick for worst level.

[@MichaelM-yx4lu]

Yeah, C-4 seems like quite the bomb in my opinion.

[@sandsunderthetable.6625]

7-3 genuinely gave me some sort of trauma lmao. I’m always scared of spring boards no matter the game even if they work well in games like SMM2 and IMO it’s definitely the hardest Mario level of all time

[@jvts8916]

When it comes to his counterpart I'd say Scrambled Egg Zone and Crystal Egg Zone are some of my least favourite Sonic zones. While I expect the final areas of the game to be some of the hardest, these aren't hard for tricky platforming. It's just the tubes that suddenly get introduced and amount to trial and error even after you realize how they control, especially in the game gear version that is more accessible to the public.

[@MinusBros]

Played Lost Levels on NSO and also got the spring disappearing glitch too

[@Hijiri_MIRACHION]

Of course the worst Mario level is from The Lost Levels... I actually tried to beat the original FDS version of that game as a child. I eventually brute forced it, but man it was tough... (And no, I didn't grow up in the 90's or anything, this was the early 2010's). And no, I never got up to the letter worlds.

[@hecatia666]

I tend to play smb2j on my free times on NSO and yes, there's levels where the 'leap of faith' depends on the sprite limit to not fuck you up There's one level that requires you to do the leap and there's a red paratroopa at the end of the jump so you have to stomp on it to continue... There were MANY times it didn't spawn...

[@Future_Doggo]

My problem with Lost Levels is, that it feels like for 90% of the levels Nintendo thought, "how do we make this level difficult?" Rather than, "how do we make this level difficult while still being enjoyable?"

[@ChromaNyan]

this really helps show perhaps why these levels should have stayed lost to begin with

[@Laffey99]

Tbf, the last Star in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the hardest Mario level out of all of them to me. At least this game has ways to survive damage in the entire game.

[@memberofchat2825]

i thought that level was fun but i also remember getting very angry while playing it

[@Victini862]

The perfect run also isn't unfair unlike all of this game

[@rcblazer]

I have always known this game as The Lost Levels, mostly because I only ever played the SNES All-Stars version, but also because I genuinely like Super Mario Bros. 2! The Lost Levels feel like what would happen if Beat Takeshi was allowed to make an official Mario game.

[@GreatFox42]

I'll say it. 2J/LL is a legitimately bad game. It's not because it's "hard." I almost refuse to describe the game that way, because what it _really_ is, is _cheap._ More than half your deaths in this game can't be called your fault. You will die because of poor level design requiring trial-and-error, which is just _fantastic_ when you have _limited lives_ and it's not like this game hands them out. You will also die because of _bad luck._ If it were _just_ the pure, challenging platforming. That would be _fine._ But how often are you faced with an _extremely_ tight jump requiring perfect positioning and timing, only to get completely screwed over because a bullet bill spawned at the exact wrong time at the exact wrong height? Same can be said for the castle levels. So many of the later ones demand you make extremely flawless jumps, while running _constantly_ or you won't have the speed to make the distance, just for a Bowser flame to spawn exactly where you need to land when you need to land. There is _literally_ nothing you can do about that. And if you're out of lives, back to the start of the world to retry the gauntlet and hope the slot machine lands in your favor this time! The trial and error is also _horrific._ You know what's cool? Trying to explore, and getting punished for it by being sent back to 1-1. Oh, and you can kiss world 9 goodbye too. How about entering a coin heaven that also sends you back to 1-1? This game also _invented_ what we call the kaizo block. 8-3 is a wonderful level that totally doesn't have hidden blocks positioned to perfectly dump you right onto a hammer brother. Speaking of hammer brothers, they _exist._ And then you get levels like D-1 which is pretty much luck of the draw if you can even _start_ the level. I hate this game. It's legitimately bad, not because it's hard, but because the difficulty is artificially inflated by cheap level and game design.

[@headphonesaxolotl]

I also think that even today, you have to choose between "hard game" and "Limited attempts" (Which can be a threat of a game over, having to restart the level, or any mechanic that keeps you from needlessly killing yourself over and over that can't easily be undone.) So something like Sonic Mania chose the route of being overall not too hard, while Shovel Knight and Celeste chose the "hard game with little to no punishment" route (losing 10% of your gold into three fairly easy to collect bags isn't too much of a penalty compared to losing a life.)

[@GreatFox42]

@@headphonesaxolotl I honestly don't mind harsh punishments in a difficult game, so long as the difficulty is _earned._ I'm a weirdo that never gets mad at a game so long as my failures are my own. I can grind a wall of a boss for hours and be _fine_ (and have been) so long as I can point to the exact moment in my decision-making or execution that I went wrong. But if I have to ask the questions "How was I supposed to know that?" or "What was I supposed to do about that?" All bets are off. As soon as you throw in luck and trial-and-error, all that pleasantness goes out the window. In fact so does everything. Both aspects are terrible to have the vast majority of the time, difficult or not. There are exceptions, but very very few.

[@robertanderson9447]

You're right on all counts, though interestingly the 8-3 invisible blocks and D-1 dice roll are All-Stars specific issues. Those are normal blocks in the original, blending into the castle wall background, so you can actually kind of see them and stand on them. And the hammer bros in D-1 don't charge at you, meaning less RNG.

[@GreatFox42]

@@robertanderson9447 I'll grant you that. Though whichever version you're playing, you're still getting screwed. The game is out for blood and it does _not_ play fair regardless of console. The saddest part is, when it's not a luckfest or a parade of blindsides, when it is _JUST_ you and the tricky platforming, it can be enjoyable if you have the patience for difficult challenges like that. Like the parts of the castle levels before the flames show up and ruin everything, it's just you and the controls, nothing else. That's the part that sucks the most. 2J/LL _could_ have been a legitimately good if very difficult game for hardcore nerds like me. Niche, but they were aiming for that anyway. But as-is, it's just a mess. Instead of focusing on the challenge aspect, they just threw in whatever they thought would kill the player the most. I hate that mindset in level designers. To paraphrase a youtuber, "Playing a game is having an exchange between player and designer in an interactive way. But when it's something like this, how can I interpret this as anything other than the designer telling me to go screw myself."

[@robertanderson9447]

@@GreatFox42 I think most of 2J is honestly not bad. It's just, the parts that are bad are pretty hard to ignore. Like any time they make you fit Mario/Luigi through a hole just slightly bigger than a Big Mario. If you ARE big, it's usually a dice roll.

[@BlazeMasterBM]

No wonder these levels were lost.

[@SuperJM9]

I have beaten C-3 on original hardware many times. In fact, SMB2j is one of my favourite games, though I can see why others don’t like it. I can confirm that the first glitch with the trampoline happens. I always kill the Lakota before the previous trampoline jump. It’s still atrocious though, and unacceptable from a company like Nintendo that normally has excellent level design. I didn’t know that it was the spiny specifically that does it. That explains the inconsistent nature of the glitch. The second issue, however, is emulator only. On real hardware you are sent back to the same point as 7-3. Nonetheless the first issue alone is enough to make this a contender for the worst Mario level ever. A runner up for me is 3-3 in Super Mario Land. It contains a Kaizo-like hidden block that will cause to fall into a pit if you don’t know it’s there. Clearly an oversight rather than intentional. The other level I have in mind for the worst level is 7-1 of All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. They are basically the same as those in SMB1, but the hammer bros use the same logic as SMB2j. This means that they walk towards you in world 7 and 8. This makes them much harder to avoid and impossible in some cases, the level design does not take this new behavior into account. If you die past the checkpoint of 7-1 you have to face them immediately without a power up and may not be able to get past. This is also a problem in 8-3, but it’s not as much of an issue there despite the prevalence of hammer bros. At least you start at the start of a world upon game over in that game so you do t lose much progress if you get game over in 7-1. I agree that the hammer bro in 6-4 is tough, though the trick to get past him is to run to the right so he goes offscreen, then run back and jump up to the top, correct, route without the danger of his hammers.

[@NintendoLover2005]

I love Mario 3, but I hate that world 7 fortress that loops forever until you fly into a random spot. And if you don't go in with a racoon or tanooki suit, you also have to hit a hidden p switch.

[@pirategamer6630]

I know that level. So annoying lol. You have to hit a P-Switch to enter a door in the fortress.

[@RyneMcKinney]

4:51 The spring doesn't even load sometimes. Good job Nintendo

[@davidgalvan787]

Fun fact: some of the levels in this game were levels from Vs.super Mario bros (arcade). The arcade game was a months earlier than Mario 2: lost levels.

[@hoodedman6579]

To elaborate a bit on this, Vs. Super Mario Bros was, by and large, Super Mario Bros. stuck in an arcade cabinet with a bunch of changes to make it harder, such as a bunch of extra lives and power ups being removed, some of the enemies you can use to do the infinite 1-up glitch being changed, and, as was already said, several harder levels were just created and replaced repeat levels in the original game (as there were a surprisingly large amount that were exactly the same but with some extra enemies). They also took out the warp zones to world 7 and 8.

[@nerdicusdorkum2923]

Man, I remember when I was a wee tot in daycare, and I got a chance to play the lost levels. Bopped one of the blocks, it gave out a poison mushroom. I grabbed it, because I knew mushrooms were a good thing, and I was shocked when I died instead! Don't think I ever touched that game again. Would rather play super mario bros on our already heavily outdated nes then touch that evil, awful, unfair game!

[@Nzcade]

That one wind level with the spring, just unfair

[@General12th]

The Lost Levels is, in my opinion, straight-up simply a bad game. Anyone who rages while playing it (*cough* Arin *cough*) is right to do so.

[@SorenDaein]

You were DEFINITELY in the right to single out "World C-3" as the worst level for Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels. It's given even ME a hard time. To quote "SomecallmeJohnny", "If there was an award for most obnoxious difficulty spike in a sequal, THIS GAME WOULD WIN THE AWARD THREE YEARS IN A ROW!" Small wonder why Lost Levels didn't get to be played internationally until Super Mario All Stars.

[@DoctorNovakaine]

So, fun fact: Doki Doki Panic was originally going to be a Mario game. "Wait, didn't Doki Doki Panic turn into SMB2?" It did, yes - but the original engine for the game was intended to be used for a Mario game. What changed was Nintendo getting a licensing deal with Fuji Television, and the engine being co-opted for use with Yume Kojo characters instead, which led to Nintendo doing the retread SMB2 in the original SMB style instead. When the difficulty of SMB2 proved to be a sticking point for exporting it, that was when they turned back to Doki Doki Panic - meaning that it came full circle. Anyway, I've encountered broken or insta-death checkpoints in ROM hacks, but this is the first time I've seen one in an official game. Talk about not doing your playtesting. Apparently, Miyamoto was barely involved with this because he was mostly working on DDP, so maybe that's part of the reason.

[@gossamera4665]

Hah, you never hear that side of the story, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

[@OmniMon94]

As a gamer once said "And Nintendo gave us a reskin of Doki Doki Panic because they thought it would be too hard for Americans. Well im glad to stay in Japan" (I don't remember the exact quote from Bandy but he said that I guess)

[@goldam1986]

Oh so you originally have to beat World-8 eight times. I thought they meant to beat all stages 8 times... That would actually be 10x's worst.

[@Drayiss]

So I can’t confirm off hand right now, but I remember SMB1 having an interesting quirk: if you hold A during the black screen transition, you’ll buffer a jump once the level loads. Hacking the game even shows that it even works when you spawn in midair. I imagine the trick would still work here, unless they fixed it. I don’t know for sure if it’ll let you clear the pipe to safety though. If it works…well that’s still absurd, honestly.

[@gotekeeper9519]

obligatory mention of Action 52 and its tendency to not spawn vital objects required for progression due to sprite limits.

[@maxwellmegagamer8535]

You know how the devs hosted a 104K dollar competition where you had to beat minigame called ooze? And game was rigged to fail every time you got to a certain part? Even the devs knew how shit that game is

[@jayceofspades7195]

Agh that staticy wind sound is prime Leave My Ears Alone material too.

[@NyxSakura]

I think the most unfair levels of Super Mario The Lost Levels are the ones where you have to go through specific path to actually be able to move forward, like some of the Bowser castles, or the levels where you stay on top of a moving platform. Like how are those fair? "Oh, you didn't go below this one platform and found the one secret hidden block? Try again." or even "Whoops, you didn't go through this one specific, seemingly unimportant pipe at a random spot of the level, and went all the way to the end of the screen? Too bad, you have to go back to the start and try again" It's even worse in the OG version, cause there's no way of knowing if you're in the right path. The Super All Stars version at least had the decency to add audio queues to when you're right or wrong, even if they only play after you succeed/fail.

[@rainlion10]

I'd say the ones where there's a seemingly unimportant pipe on the top of the screen are ok, because you don't die or anything, you just have to try again, but instead go inside the pipe.

[@jamesborlan2850]

Honestly the lost levels is one of my least favorite mario games in general Yes smb2/doki doki panic is different but it still felt like a progression of the mario series Lost levels felt way too similar to smb1 and lost its charm in the process

[@gaspardsavoureux8680]

I had no idea about these issues and the ridiculous requirement for the letter worlds! I thought Lost Levels was a pretty fun die and retry type of game thanks to All-Stars but now I understand the hate

[@retrokoh]

C3PO = C-3 Pisses me Off

[@xRed5433x]

Personally I think C-4 deserves a place in the conversation for worst level. Similar to 7-3 and C-3, it is the same layout as each other, but in C-4 there is a fire bar that rotates in a way that cannot be avoided, pretty much forcing damage on you unless you can pull off a pixel-perfect jump out of the pit before the fire bar swings around.

[@MyHandleIsAplaceholder]

Why did I think "the worst Mario Maker level" I have a huge brainrot

[@Megapig9001]

I don’t know what’s funnier, the pit checkpoint, or the Mushroom Hill Checkpoint in Gens 3DS that’s 5 seconds away from the goal

[@JSRphones]

I mean that's where it was in the original game too... only difference being, oh I don't know, the lack of a miniboss!!

[@anthonychung5611]

IMO I hate Lakitu because he throws spiny which is annoying.

[@KidagiT]

Just run, he only throws straight down

[@metathpr4h290]

You found the stage refreshing but for me 7-3 was traumatizing and probably the most memorable one from that game due to that. The springs were JANK, so freaking easy to just fall to the void because Mario didn't do the big jump 😭

[@Kirbymasters87]

Glad to have something to watch while on lunch break!

[@ShadeMeadows]

I love me these~❤

[@fandenovelas777]

Yes i was between this and B4 or D4 forgot which one has the unavoidable flame line )if u dont have a mushrrom at that point well get ready to keep dying.

[@PkGam]

Even before you showed the level I had a strong huinch it would be one of the spring levels in Lost Levels, lol! But I had no idea that the NES one had such issues.

[@SkillzNGameplay]

Live-streaming lost levels almost broke me 😂

[@RichardDong68]

The fact that a SEQUEL has the nerve to literally recycle levels like with C-3 and C-4 with 7-3 and 7-4 just shows how already lazy of a sequel it is, down to not even changing the music or graphics.

[@robertanderson9447]

It does reuse levels, but SMB1 is just as guilty of this. I blame it more on space limitations than anything. It's why a lot of NES/Famicom games tend to reuse chunks of level design, even Disk System games.

[@trustytrest]

@@rainlion10 In Land's case, that got done better later with Kirby's first game. They reused all the levels but spritzed em up and called it Hard Mode, so they didn't feel repetitive. They're actually still a bit difficult for me compared to anything else in Kirby.

[@ssg-eggunner]

​@@robertanderson9447 it's laziness since this game barely reaches the 64kb limit of FDS disks

[@TesterTest-uo7gz]

I never finished this game I'm always stuck in the 4 world :(

[@GellyVelly]

As soon as I saw the title and saw SMB 2/Lost Levels in the thumbnail, I KNEW it would be the damn level with the springs and the wind!

[@BigHead2615]

I have a Famicom, and I DO have an original copy of SMB 2, but I don't have a Disk System to be able to play it, yet. But, I do have an Everdrive N8 Pro, and have been playing a good rom / image of the game. I beat it 8 times, and then I finally did the A-D worlds about a week ago; so with C-3, I DO remember the missing jump-spring once or twice, but as far as the death-trap checkpoint, I don't remember that... I don't know if it's because I'm actually pretty good at that particular stage, not to be bragging, but I can seriously fly through 7-3 and C-3 hitting every second jump-spring, etc., so, I don't die very often in either version, but even so, that missing jump-spring can still be an issue.

[@bitwize]

It's not really a sprite limitation. Rather, the game object table had just filled up and the game stopped spawning new objects -- it's an engine bug. Programmers had figured out in later games (including Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic derived game)) how to mux the limited sprites, causing flicker and slowdown, sure, but allowing for more game objects to be in the scene at once. I played through the SNES version of this, and even so, high springs and wind trigger me now. And no one thinks you're a . :)

[@robertlupa8273]

Ah, programming jokes. Love 'em :D

[@RaceBandit]

8:10 | Doesn't look like you can use the "spawn-jump" _(Something like a one-frame window to jump as you spawn in)_ used in some difficulty hacks to escape this, either... I don't think spawn-jumps can actually jump that high? I was half-expecting the brutal timing in C-4's fire bars to be the runner up. It sounds like it's possible to bring a Fire Flower to 6-4 and just pop that Hammer Bro, defusing the difficulty there ... but all a flower would do in C-4 is let you tank the fire bar where both of the normally safe spots are blocked off by architecture.

[@Wow-xi3xz]

We took Tubular for granted...

[@BusyMEOW]

I swore that's happenned to me as well in C3. When I was a kid living in Australia my friend got Smb2 and a Famicom and bought it home for us to play, he had this 52 in one cart with TMNT2 and a bunch of great original releases. I always thought that this version of SMB 2 was like a chinese knock off until I played the Snes All Stars game. Then I was all like I played this before! 😄

[@ZipplyZane]

It wouldn't surprise me if this is where the original checkpoint was in 7-3, and it got fixed in bug testing. But they forgot about fixing it in C-3. I'm sure they use the same level data, but the checkpoint data is probably stored separately.

[@MalzraAirwynn]

Huh. I never knew TLL had 'Letter Worlds.' I never played it much so I guess I just assumed it had the same number as the first game.

[@WhiteFangofWar]

Difficulty through glitches is always brutal, like the Act 6 glitch in Ninja Gaiden making it x100 harder than the rest of the game. More standardly, I found 8-3 of Lost Levels the worst due to the large contingent of Hammer Bros, more than in any other level, combined with a short timer.

[@derthevaporeon]

Okay, C-3 may have inspired some nuthead years later with designing the difficulty for the arcade version of Gradius III PS: Just hoping for a Gradius series' Boss Analysis in the future

[@Jayteaseepiirturi]

Ohh my God, that spring board / sprite limit glitch in C-3! Never knew! But you know, It's the Lost Levels. That could easily be a deliberate design. But I think the checkpoint in the middle of nowhere above a pit can NOT be deliberate. That's just too much 'fuck you, player'. But it certainly appears to be an overal clusterfuck of a design. :D And no, that one Hammer Dude in 6-4 doesn't change it.

[@anueutsuho7425]

1:35 I feel that Springboards were massively improved from Super Mario World onwards. Especially when you could carry them.

[@Sunflorazumarill]

Speaking of Lost Levels, what I think is dumb is that in the All-Stars version, not only did you have to go through every level in the first eight worlds without using warps to unlock World 9, but after unlocking it you STILL couldn't use any warps or else you'd be locked out of the world. You earned World 9, you should be able to keep it.

[@zitherq5761]

I'd expect them to have it stay unlocked lol that would be perfect for a game with saved memory lol

[@jacksonramsey5023]

Glad I erred on the side of caution when playing my file with World 9 unlocked! At least you can access individual levels on your save file in that game, so if you encounter a Warp Zone, just reset the game.

[@rainlion10]

Huh? There's no warps in world 9.

[@gotekeeper9519]

​@@rainlion10using warps in any other world after unlocking world 9 still bans you from world 9 despite already having earned it

[@rainlion10]

@@gotekeeper9519 Oh ok

[@magnum_pig_2004]

This entire level might as well be a crash course in artificial difficulty in game design.

[@gossamera4665]

I never knew there was such a level with wind in it, granted I've never tried to beat Lost Levels in earnest, they were lost for a reason as far as I'm concerned.

[@kstanni87]

And just when you thought World C3 wasn't tough enough already. But a sprite limit that can override a important spring ?

[@Mikimaki7267]

Honestly, I’m really surprised you’ve yet to do a “worst levels ever” for Fire Emblem Revelations yet, there’s PLENTY of options there to be sure

[@shigshug8581]

This is the first game that I've ever rage quit and broke the controller when I was kid playing the Super Mario All Stars version of The Lost Levels on the SNES. I only beat this game once and I still hate it.

[@kattybratt1353]

i watched this channel as a kid when i couldnt hear for a little while, finding it after all these years and seeing the channel keep the vibe of old youtube is so nice. and i can watch without audio, this time to tolerate college classes!

[@jevogroni4829]

great video. i have no problem with hammer bros so 6-4 not so bad. but C-3 I never played on the original, that is busted.

[@starrythestar]

I think the Lakitu in C-3 is meant to give you a small chance after the springs but at the cost of the spinies.

[@renakunisaki]

This feels like they just didn't test at all. For SNES they might have fixed it by changing priority so springs replace other objects instead of being replaced.

[@Qwerty10254]

I completed this game on a nes emulator with savestates, and even beating it once was frustrating already. I can't imagine someone having both patience and skills to deal with this madness 8 times in a row plus some unfair final letter levels. I'm glad Nintendo games today are nothing like SMB2J

[@JustCallMeRaito]

Each level ties for last

[@Wiimeiser]

0:10 Gmod Workshop Note that spinies didn't appear until the mushroom platform was offscreen... yeah...

[@hoodedman6579]

A bit of advice if you're ever in a checkpoint like that again for some reason, you can jump immediately at the start of a respawn even if you're started above a pit. If you've ever seen a video called "Super Mario Bros - Frustration", this is demonstrated at the very beginning of the hack being played, as it also starts you above a pit and requires a jump. I don't think it's very hard to do but I have basically only seen Kosmic do it to any real extent and he's a speedrunner who is probably at least in the top 5 in regards to SMB1/Lost Levels players, so I could easily be underestimating it. You're really only likely to even encounter it in romhacks though, outside of this level of course.

[@gamesforyou2351]

I have played it on real harder the missing spring does happen. But because I play as Luigi I don't die there because I can jump on and off the enemy and make it on the platform if you know how to time it. As for the bad check point that is there as well. It's not the only Mario level with it. If you play the famicom disk version of super Mario bros and go to the minus world and go to -2 and get past the checkpoint and die you start under the bridge. Now you can do a frame perfect jump like I have done to try and get out of it but because the bridge is solid you just boink your head and fall in the pit anyways leading to you having to game over. Now I know some will say it's due to a glitch but in real reality going through the games code there actual is a checkpoint under that bridge in its normal levels it goes unused and gets overrided by the checkpoint we all know and love. But in the glitched version of the level the checkpoint above the bridge isn't there to override. so in other words 2-3 and it's counter part both have the under the bridge check point it just gets overrided by the above the bridge check point. So super Mario bros 2 aka the last levels isn't the first Mario game with a check point like that.

[@paperluigi6132]

Lost Levels shows why the meme of Western gamers not being able to handle Japanese games is a thing.

[@glennianheroes1383]

I already knew the moment you mentioned it was from lost levels, somehow then again theres no level that comes close in that game otheewise

[@madaz6205]

I have the Wii U Virtual Console version and yes, It's still happen. But I haven't had the bad luck to end up in that dead check point yet.

[@Torranceharkleroad64]

One time I was play super Mario bros. And I ran into a spring it's top layer was removed I jumps on it and I was stuck in play all I could do was run and crouch

[@Frongo]

7-3 or c-3? was my kneejerk question going into this one

[@JaCaBrA144]

I think it’s also possible to get to world A early by beating world 8 without using any warp zones and beating world 9, but I also did that with 8 stars so it might still be required

[@sennpowerhv6922]

I actually think the SNES version of lost levels is the easiest Mario game of all time because its level design is simpler than most newer games and saves at each level as opposed to NSMB series

[@OnafetsEnovap]

I'd make that "Worst Mario Game of All Time" if I were you. Never have I raged at a game as much as I have at SMB: The Lost Levels/SMB2 Japan. It is one of the few games I have banned from ever featuring on my channel. By the way, nice font. What is it?

[@Laffey99]

If you think this game is bad, you should never play Battletoads for the NES.

[@TesterTest-uo7gz]

I never finished this game I'm always stuck in the 4 world :(

[@trapez77]

The checkpoint is fixed in the game and watch version and I think on the Wii/ wiiu too

[@vivianriver6450]

When I saw the video title with "Lost Levels", this level immediately came to mind.

[@dork5499]

The real reason why this game was considered "too hard" for Western fans to enjoy

[@Renville80]

I know this is about Lost Levels, but how many immediately thought of Tubular in SMW?

[@whoisthisgit]

I've had that level in mind for years, but I don't know if it's quite enough to be considered the worst. I definitely don't like it, though - it's the hardest level in the game and actually makes the rest of Special World underwhelming on the difficulty front.

[@xinjango6791]

Agreed, those two windy levels are the worst!!

[@Dr.Livingdark]

Nintendo is gonna have to kick up to Git from now on!

[@asmodeus58XX]

8-3 also deserves a mention because there are so many Hammer Bros there.

[@TheLakabanzaichrg]

Mario 2 looks like a fan game

[@Vaquix000]

Japanese Super Mario Bros 2 is the worst mario game in my opinion. It's just a direct copy of Super Mario Bros 1 with NO new enemies or power ups. It's insane how much better they got with super mario bros 3, but japanese super mario bros 2 actually gave a hint on what mario games would come to be like - saving peach from a spiky turtle over again and REFUSING to try anything fresh as though it's some insane social experiment to see if people will happily do the exact same thing over and over. And since there are people that grew up with mario STILL playing mario for SOME reason... turns out it's true in a lot of cases. Scary stuff.

[@ivortering7120]

Games, that are made for fun of consumers, are pretty much chocolate bars. If you like specific brand you do buy it over and over and don't complain that recepture doesn't change, right?

[@Vaquix000]

@@ivortering7120 If I eat too much of anything I get sick of it. Plus a chocolate bar doesn't take many hours of your time to consume, these games take so much of your time to give you what you already experienced. The best I can say for mario now is that the control and gameplay is fairly decent, though I'm talking about Mario Galaxy 2, last one I played. The newer ones I just saw on youtube since I'm not giving nintendo money to insult my intelligence with the same plot over and over. Good control and decent platforming is not enough to be a great platformer, that does not equal a magical experience that captures your imagination.

[@ivortering7120]

@@Vaquix000 The point of eversaturation is different for everyone, but it does exist, I give you that. On the other hand, an addiction factor also exist. In fact, the way it works, is specifically why people complain so much about Sonic games. It's not because Sega does a bad job (although it's not a very good job anyway), it's because it tries something new with (almost) any entry since around Sonic Adventure. And people don't want something new, they want specifically classic Sonic games, but better. It's the reason Mania was so popular, it's the reason a literal legion of Sonic hacks exist. It also the reason a Super Mario Maker is the most talked about Mario-relater thing of late. Because people want more of that same thing that they liked, not something new, even if that new thing could be better. On that end, there are also sports games (I don't really know much about it, so I could be wrong, since I talk from my impression). They get pushed out every year for a hefty sum with nothing really new but slightly upgraded grpahics and up-to-date roster. And people still buy it, as they get the kick out of controlling "actual" players. Same thing may apply there. Some people just like Mario himself to the point where an equally good platformer will get relatively worse reviews and much less exposure just because "it's not Mario" (and it works just as well in reverse).

[@Vaquix000]

​@@ivortering7120 People don't dislike sonic games because they try new things with the plot. They dislike the sonic games because they change the gameplay around even when they have a good formula going. I never asked for mario to change its gameplay, I asked for it to change its plot and actually make it exciting and interesting. It doesn't need to be a complicated plot in the least, it just needs to be different and most importantly without a main villain that's about as threatening at this point as a goomba. Enough defeats will do that do a villain. No other game franchise has the same villain well over 20 times, because the creators know that will be boring. Nintendo must for whatever reason think Bowser was one of their keys to success simply because it started with him and can't let him go, like he's a good luck charm? I shouldn't even bother making sense of it. The american super mario bros 2 is actually one of my favorite marios now because it was fresh and introduced so much, like the shy guys and birdo. It made nintendo look like a creative company and not just a company that uses goombas, koopas, piranha plants, (need I go on?) in every game. Mario land introduced Wario and he has his own freaking franchise, if they used bowser for that one the wario franchise wouldn't exist. Think of how many great characters we may have seen if they weren't obsessed with showing their bewildering love for this spiky turtle. This guy was never interesting to begin with, a pretty decent final boss for super mario bros 3 and never needed to be seen again after that quite honestly. A spiky red haired turtle that goes "Gwahaha!" and likes to kidnap princesses... he's not funny, threatening or interesting. He's what we'd expect from a joke miniboss. Even a cool interesting villain is no longer intimidating when they are defeated - in some cases a villain comeback can work when there's been a long time, for example with Donkey Kong's K Rool, he's had a long break so people would thikn it's cool for K Rool to come back. Who the hell would think it's cool and exciting for Bowser to come back.

[@ivortering7120]

@@Vaquix000 I was under impression we WERE talking about gameplay here, my bad. But, on subject of Bowser, my favourite version of him is in RPG games, where he is not even a villain and sometimes even a playable character. (Like in Bowser Inside Story. Pretty much everyone have a consensus that this game have, if not the best, than in top-5, plot out of Mario games) Also Nintendo is not the best company when it comes for stories. The most variablity is in Metroid. And even then it's only because they explodiate setting in every single game, so it's new place and new event every time. But then... Zelda? it's Gannon 90% of the time. Star Fox? They can't even come up with any plot other than original one. Well, Kirby also exist, but HAL is not exactly Nintendo. Neither is Intelligent Systems, which is mainly responsible for Fire Emblem.