It’s astounding that almost 40 years since its original release, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels continues to unearth surprises and challenging content, potentially frustrating players with newly discovered areas.
To provide some context, the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES is infamous for a glitch called the Minus World. This allowed players to bypass normal level progression and access unexpected stages through specific movements that placed Mario in unintended zones.
Now, renowned speedrunner and YouTuber, Kosmic, has identified a similar glitch within The Lost Levels, known as Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan.
Untapped Minus Worlds Revealed in The Lost Levels Nearly Four Decades Later
In a recent video upload, Kosmic demonstrates and explains his discovery of a new collection of Minus World zones within The Lost Levels, coming almost 40 years after the game’s debut.
The process is quite elaborate and time-intensive, requiring advanced manipulation of the game’s mechanics, forcing a system crash, and consequently unlocking these unconventional stages.
Interestingly, this glitch is triggered specifically on the Super Mario All-Stars compilation on the SNES. Minute technical differences between this version and the Western original enable certain memory exploits.
This means no emulation or extensive hacking is necessary, implying accessibility! You can view Kosmic’s detailed method and the newly found hidden levels in the video provided below.
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels initially launched in 1986 for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan and contained levels more challenging than the first installment. In 1993, it reached Western audiences as part of the Super Mario All-Stars collection on the SNES.