Reception and Legacy
The Lost Levels sold 2.5 million units in Japan, easily becoming the best-selling game of all time for the Famicom Disk System.
In a review of the Virtual Console version of the game, IGN compared the game to the original Super Mario Bros., saying that "The Lost Levels feels a lot like a fan-made hack – with platforming challenges that are just a bit too frustrating and don't flow as well as Mario 1, and graphics that seem like a downgrade as well." The IGN reviewer also claimed that Nintendo of America made the right choice keeping the game in Japan.
Several aspects of The Lost Levels have gone on to become standards in the Mario series. The appearance of the mushrooms, shorter and wider with eyes, became the standard for all subsequent games. The game mechanic of Mario and Luigi having different abilities (i.e. Luigi jumps higher but skids more) was later reused in the Super Mario Advance series of Game Boy Advance remakes and in the Super Mario Galaxy series. Poison mushrooms have proven to be an enduring aspect of The Lost Levels, appearing in subsequent games such as Super Mario Kart and the Super Smash Bros. series.
Read more about this topic: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
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