Are you planning on buying Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D for your Nintendo 3DS? If so, you might want to check out Best Buy's current pre-order bonus with the game. What might that be? If you pre-order the game from Best Buy right now, you will receive a download code for SMB: The Lost Levels for your Nintendo 3DS' Virtual Console, when Donkey Kong's new 3DS adventure releases later this week! You can see the details, HERE.
SMB: The Lost Levels was originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1986, but only in Japan. It was the true sequel to Super Mario Bros. in Japan, being called Super Mario Bros. 2 there. It never released for the NES in the United States, but thanks to digital distribution the original NES version finally did reach our shores in a more accessible way.
Nintendo made SMB: The Lost Levels available on the Wii's Virtual Console service on October 1, 2007 and it is available to download for just $6 (600 Wii Points). The game is also now available to download from the 3DS eShop for just $4.99. The game received an ESRB rating of "EVERYONE", on both systems, with no content listed for parents and gamers to be aware of.
If you have never played the real sequel (depending who you ask, I know) to the original Super Mario Bros., how many hours can you expect out of the game? How many U.S. Wii owners have game-play data reported for SMB: The Lost Levels, since it released in 2007? Brew yourself some coffee, and let's take a look!
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| Better than the original? |
Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels has approximately 116,065 U.S. Wii owners, who have the 481,632 Total Hours of game-play reported (seen above) through the Wii's Nintendo Channel with about 2,058 days reported. The game's average reported play time shown of 4 Hours 9 Minutes "Per person", averages out to about 24 Minutes played per time reported.
For some comparison to the other NES Virtual Console Super Mario games, SMB: The Lost Levels' reported average play time "Per person" is actually the lowest of them. Those other games being Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2 (titled in America), and Super Mario Bros. 3.
How much has SMB: The Lost Levels' Wii Virtual Console release has made Nintendo, just off its U.S. release? The game's U.S. digital release has made Nintendo over $600,000 since it release in 2007, based on the information from the Nintendo Channel data and its $6 price.
Caffeinated Thoughts
If you haven't seen any footage of SMB: The Lost Levels, the video below is the video for the game on the Wii's Nintendo Channel, and I find it a bit odd for an info video. Take a look:
I don't know if they were recording somebody playing the game for the first time ever, but I think it's funny the player skips over the mushroom (Bean 1 does that quite often), and is just running and jumping around quickly, without much planning.
As for the data, while I find it interesting this game has the lowest reported average out of all the Super Mario Bros. NES games, that it is actually a dollar more than the standard price of NES Virtual Console titles on the Wii, is surprising. Maybe Nintendo of America had to do more work in getting the original version localized for the Virtual Console, since it was only originally in Super Mario All Stars on the SNES?
Have I ever played Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels? No, I haven't! After reading up more on the game in the last week though, I'm interested in it. Not only because it has the words "Super" and "Mario" in its title, but also because the game said to be pretty challenging, and that's supposedly one big reason why Nintendo of America didn't originally localize it. I guess the the subtitle, "The Lost Levels", is appropriate. But hey, it's a Mario title, so better
Being that we don't have this one in our collection, I will probably just wait until Nintendo releases the game for the Wii U's Virtual Console to get the added GamePad play; well, if they release it for the Wii U's Virtual Console. I haven't see any information on it, but I would imagine they will at some point, considering it has "Mario" in its title, even if abbreviated!
Questions
If you have played every NES Super Mario game, even if only in digital form, where would you rank SMB: The Lost Levels? Better than the original, but not as good as Super Mario Bros. 3? Perhaps it's your favorite one?
Also, if you have played The Lost Levels, do you know how many hours of game-play you have gotten out of the game, whether its the Wii Virtual Console version, and/or even the 3DS Virtual Console version?
You can see a few Mario related items below, including the SNES Super Mario All Stars which includes a version of SMB: The Lost Levels in it:
