For the last week or so, I’ve been addicted to Super Mario 2… and not the SMB2 most of you are familiar with.

My cousin Carl MSNed me one afternoon, and said he was playing the Real Super Mario 2. Intrigued, I asked some questions, and in response he sent me a ROM file.

For those of you familiar with classic console and arcade emulation, feel free to skip this paragraph and the next two.

For those unfamiliar with the wonders of emu gaming, I’ll be brief…. Nowadays you can download free applications (which run on modern computers - Windows, Mac, Linux, whatever you use) called emulators… these programs essentially duplicate and perform as retro computer hardware. Combined with a ROM file (which contains the original game, byte for byte), an emulator brings classic, obsolete video games back to life, and runs them exactly as they originally ran.

In other words, even though the NES is 22 years old, and been out of production for over a decade, and your Mom sold your old NES at a flea market for 3 dollars, you can install a virtual NES on your computer, find ROM files (virtual NES game paks), plug in a joystick or sync your Wiimote to your computer via Bluetooth, and experience these games exactly as nature intended.  And no blowing on the cartridge required!  Pwnage.

For information on finding emulators and ROMs, hold tight; I’ll discuss it briefly at the end of this post.

Anyway, back to SMB 2… time for a little history lesson:

According to Wikipedia folklore, the real Super Mario Bros. 2 was never released in North America because Nintendo of America employees felt the game was “too difficult and confusing”.

In light of the development of video games over the past 20 years, these charges seem ridiculous today, when one looks at the game in question.  But, the game was indeed canned, and another game nearly ready for release, called Doki Doki Panic, was slightly re-tooled, Mario-esque sprites were inserted, and a game which was never conceived of as a Mario title, was released as Super Mario 2.

Over a decade later, the lost Mario game was released, in a sense… it premiered in North America as Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels. It was souped up with better graphics and sound effects, but the gameplay remained essentially the same, with only a couple of minor changes.

However, all of this occurred before retro gaming became a pursuit for enthusiasts.  Released with little fanfare, as a mere supplemental, bonus title on Super Mario All-Stars (a best-of compilation), many years too late to be cutting edge, but many years too soon to be ‘retro’, The Lost Levels were largely ignored.  The game, which is terrific in my opinion, was in a sense, wasted.

Let me assert that I’m not in any way knocking the SMB2 we’re familiar with. Without that game, many Mario standards (character switching, throwing vegetables, Shyguys, etc.) would hever have been established… SMB2 is a legitimate part of Mario’s legacy.

Nonetheless, for people like myself who grew up on the NES, coming across the ROM of a lost game, was a real trip. A Mario game, over 20 years old, that I’d never played!

And when I sat down and got into the game, I was instantly hooked.  This is easily the most difficult Mario game ever.  It requires premium Mario 1 skills, and many sections of the game require you to Ninja your way through things with ridiculous precision.  It satisfies my sense of nostalgic adoration for the original Super Mario Bros. (as it looks and behaves exactly like the original NES release title, including the theme music, the enemies, the level structure, etc.) and at the same time gives me a brand-new set of puzzles and fresh doses of Mario twitch-action with which to bombard my nervous system… a brand new game, with the same flavor as the stuff I grew up on.

Comparing this non-release with the original Super Mario 1 (the most successful, most played platform game of all time) with regards to difficulty, is a no-brainer - I remember SMB1 getting pretty easy over time, with the exception being World 8. World 8-2 and 8-3 in particular, were difficult no matter how many times you played them. Well, many sections of the Real Super Mario 2 fit this description.  Does a springboard-to-floating turtle-to-floating turtle-to-single block platform jump combination, in strong wind, with Lakitu spikies raining down on you, and WALKING Hammer Bros. to greet you on the other side, sound ridiculous to you? Me too.  This is why I love this game.

But, I don’t want to ruin it, so I won’t discuss the gameplay in detail… I want you to experience it for yourself.  You should try this one because:

-It’s retro, and retro stuff is cool

-It’s unreleased, and having unreleased material is cool

-It’s incredibly difficult, and beating it will give you a sense of satisfaction

-It’s incredibly difficult, and beating it will give you bragging rights, and the right to claim status as a perennial Nintendo Master

Now, the really tricky part…. finding the game….Emulators are easily available.  Google “NES emulator” and you’ll get tons of results.  Start your journey there.  And as for the game itself….

Unfortunately, I cannot legally link to the ROM file… it still belongs to Nintendo and the game can’t legally be distributed without their consent… but suffice to say that if you look around, or ask the right people nicely, you can find it…

Finally, the fact that all of this is unfolding for me in the Wii era, brings to mind a fairly obvious question…. why isn’t The Real Super Mario 2 a virtual console title??

If you’d like to see that happen, post a comment… if I get enough of a response, I’ll forward it to Nintendo.

Excited yet? You’re a REAL gamer aren’t you?  Well then get out there, use your Google skills… then use your ninja platform game skills… then puff your chest out a little, with the knowledge that you’ve located, played, and defeated the most difficult Nintendo game ever made.