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I came to this site looking for a hack that would insert the levels from SMB1 and SMB2J (The Lost Levels) into NSMB. To my surprise, there were 2! They are "New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe!" and "New Super Mario Bros. - Origins". Which one should you play? Let's look at the pros and cons of both.

"New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe!" by gridattack

PROS + Faithfully recreates the levels from SMB and TLL. + Contains every level from both games, including The Lost Levels worlds 9 through D. + The Star Coins are not impossible to find.

CONS

• Custom tilesets clash with the NSMB style.
• New sub areas are added to most levels for the purposes of finding Star Coins. However, in many cases, the sub areas are longer than the original level.

"New Super Mario Bros. - Origins" by SKJmin

PROS + Faithfully recreates the levels from SMB and TLL. + Includes NSMB-style remixes of SMB songs.

CONS

• Does not contain all levels from both games.
• Star Coins and secrets are near-impossible to track down without a guide.
• Brand new levels are added in, and the new levels are subpar in quality.

So there is a mix of good and bad with both of them. However, there are two things that tip the balance in favor of "New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe!". 1. The inclusion of all of the extra levels from TLL. 2. The new levels from Origins are just not fun to play.

So if you play only one, go for Deluxe. However, there are things to enjoy from Origins as well.

Finally I finished playing the Deluxe version. I had forgotten how were the old games.

The old games... not like today. Current video game players have many facilities like auto-save, check-points, save-points, self-adjusting difficulty level, infinite continues, selectable levels, changing worlds choice, etc.

In old time there was no such thing. I had forgotten the first classic of the Mario series. It was difficult for me in that time. Super Mario Bros 1 and 2, in my opinion, had a very interesting progressive level of difficulty. From my point of view the difficulty was not linear, but hyperbolic!... a thing that I never considered very nice from the original Nintendo game. The first worlds are exciting, motivating and easy. But the last worlds are becoming almost impossible to pass.

When I reached the world 8 in "Deluxe", I found funny how Nintendo thought a few decades ago. There were levels so hard to finish that just few players did not scream, at least once, to die consecutively at some level in the world 8.

There are pipes to warp zones that compulsory lead you to a previous played worlds; crazed "Lakitus" throwing shells on the player from the start to end of path; hammer brothers everywhere, in every corner. Not to mention the "Bullet Bills," seemingly insurmountable pits, or annoying sequence of pipes to complete nothing intuitive levels.

But Nintendo has learned from the consecutive complaints of his players and refined gradually the genre of your favorite game. But this is not a review about the designed levels from Nintendo.

The "Deluxe" version remade almost entirely the fantastic experience of playing the easier levels, well as the harder levels.

The levels are very detailed and fidelity can be seen in different tilesets and in some backgrounds found.

In the same world, you can find a level where the player can pick up a dozen lives and in the subsequent level, losing another dozen lives just to get in the middle of this same level.

The Star Coins are scattered in three ways:

• Easy to pick up and clearly visible on the same main road.
• Visible from the main path, but not so easy to catch.
• Little bit hard, hidden in parallel paths accessed by pipes or bean trees.

My final perspective:

• Graphics: retro
• Difficulty: Easy-Normal (World 1 to 4), Normal-Hard (5 to 7), Hard (World 8)
• Entertainment: guarantee of fun (until World 8)
• Quality: excellent
• Sound: normal
• Gameplay: you will not regret it
• Final Media: 4.5/5.0 (very recommended)