14. Super Mario Bros. 2, aka The Lost Levels (NES)

The Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is essentially Super Mario Bros., but harder. Its cute little disk seems to taunt, “Oh, you think you’re hot stuff for rescuing the princess? Well, try these levels on for size.” Except here in the west we couldn’t, because the folks at Nintendo apparently deemed this sequel too difficult for foreign markets.

It’s easy to see why. Compared to the challenging but relatively chill original, the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 is kind of mean. It sets the tone immediately by making the first “power-up” a poison mushroom which kills you. Or a few worlds in, you might find a beanstalk that leads to the sky. In the first game this was cause for celebration, but here your reward is a reverse “warp zone” that sends you all the way back to world 1-1. But don’t fret: In a hilarious example of the game’s twisted version of “mercy,” a small chasm next to the unwanted warp pipe offers the opportunity to dispose of your current Mario should you wish to avoid being sent back. Aw, those softies.

Sadism aside, Super Mario Bros. 2 really is more a Super Mario Bros. expansion than a wholly original sequel. A lot of the tile graphics are redone to be uglier, there aren’t many new items or foes, and you need to beat worlds one through eight a whopping eight times to unlock the even harder worlds A through D. Oh, and now Luigi has his different physics.

Is it good? Sure, in that it’s more Super Mario Bros., the landmark action game that changed everything. But the west never saw this sequel until it was part of the 1993 SNES remake package Super Mario All-Stars, by which point we’d also experienced the first two Super Mario Land games, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario World. So many folks, myself included, didn’t get a chance to experience this one fresh out of the oven, and I know I don’t quite appreciate it as much as a result. It’s also not a big leap to suggest that the first Super Mario outing is just plain more appealing to a wider audience. — Alexandra Hall

Read More: Super Mario Bros. 2 Japan + Super Mario Bros. 2 USA = My Dream Game