Development
The game was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, the creators of the original Super Mario Bros. Visually, it looked very similar to its predecessor, but it had a higher level of difficulty. Smooth level designs were replaced by tough obstacle courses.
Koji Kondo wrote the score for The Lost Levels. The game largely re-used the musical pieces from its predecessor, though there were also new compositions, such as the ending theme.
Nintendo of America disliked The Lost Levels, which they found to be frustratingly difficult and otherwise little more than a modification of Super Mario Bros. Rather than risk the franchise's popularity, they canceled its stateside release and looked for an alternative. They realised they already had one option as Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic (Dream Factory: Heart-Pounding Panic), also designed by Miyamoto, had actually begun development as the original prototype "Super Mario Bros. 2" and had been changed into Doki Doki due to a licensing arrangement and also its radically different approach to platforming; it was therefore reworked and released as Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America and Europe and later as Super Mario USA in Japan.
Read more about this topic: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
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