Super Mario All-Stars is a great collection of the first 3 4 Super Mario Bros. games. These games are mostly straightforward ports of the NES originals with improved graphics and music to match the SNES standards. And these look and sound great. The gameplay is nearly identical, save for a few oddities such as inverted bounce speed when breaking bricks in Super Mario Bros. and Lost Levels and some bug fixes.
The biggest addition in terms of gameplay is battery backed saves and unlimited continues. Now you don't have to rely on continue "cheat" in Super Mario Bros., you don't have limited continues in Super Mario Bros. 2, and you don't have to play the entirety of Super Mario Bros. 3 without shutting off the console. The save feature is especially welcome for Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, because this game instead of saving after each world, it saves after each level. This change makes this version of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels a definitive experience. I won't go in detail about each game in this package, I'd rather leave the reviews for the respective games under their original releases, but I do want to talk about The Lost Levels, as I have a feeling that I won't be going back to the original Famicom Disk System release thanks to the improvements this version makes, and this IS after all the first time this game released outside of japan.
With that being said I think The Lost Levels is way overhated. It's really not a bad game. Sure, some level design can be occasionally trollish, and the levels are difficult for sure, but when I beat a difficult stage (especially a castle level which lacks a checkpoint) I feel an immense satisfaction rather than relief, it's not dissimilar to any modern tough as nails platformer like Celeste or Super Meat Boy which are hard but satisfying once you overcome a brutal challenge. Then again, I'm talking about the SNES version which saves after each level, so take that as you will, but I did enjoy the platforming challenges, and I think more people should try their very best instead of repeating what others have said (aka git gud).
In conclusion this is a fantastic package, the classic games play pretty much the same but have a fresh coat of paint that utilize SNES hardware pretty well, good music and the welcome addition of saving feature. Super Mario All-Stars is easy to like.
The biggest addition in terms of gameplay is battery backed saves and unlimited continues. Now you don't have to rely on continue "cheat" in Super Mario Bros., you don't have limited continues in Super Mario Bros. 2, and you don't have to play the entirety of Super Mario Bros. 3 without shutting off the console. The save feature is especially welcome for Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, because this game instead of saving after each world, it saves after each level. This change makes this version of Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels a definitive experience. I won't go in detail about each game in this package, I'd rather leave the reviews for the respective games under their original releases, but I do want to talk about The Lost Levels, as I have a feeling that I won't be going back to the original Famicom Disk System release thanks to the improvements this version makes, and this IS after all the first time this game released outside of japan.
With that being said I think The Lost Levels is way overhated. It's really not a bad game. Sure, some level design can be occasionally trollish, and the levels are difficult for sure, but when I beat a difficult stage (especially a castle level which lacks a checkpoint) I feel an immense satisfaction rather than relief, it's not dissimilar to any modern tough as nails platformer like Celeste or Super Meat Boy which are hard but satisfying once you overcome a brutal challenge. Then again, I'm talking about the SNES version which saves after each level, so take that as you will, but I did enjoy the platforming challenges, and I think more people should try their very best instead of repeating what others have said (aka git gud).
In conclusion this is a fantastic package, the classic games play pretty much the same but have a fresh coat of paint that utilize SNES hardware pretty well, good music and the welcome addition of saving feature. Super Mario All-Stars is easy to like.