Name: World 7-3 Debut: Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
⚠️ WEATHER ADVISORY WARNING ⚠️ Our forecasters have reported winds of "strong enough to move a human person" miles per hour across the Mushroom Kingdom. Officials have advised citizens to stay inside in a room without any glass windows, secure any outdoor objects, and do NOT do any precarious platforming challenges. We repeat: do NOT do any precarious platforming challenges under these conditions! These winds have been reported in...
I'm sorry, what's the name of the place we've seen these winds in again? Can we get like, a postcard from there or something?
Oh wow! Those platforming challenges look very precarious! Glad no one has to be there right... hold on, I'm getting a call.
Hello? You're on a quest to save the princess? This is a mandatory part of your journey? No getting around it? Strict time limit? I see. Well, you'll be remembered. Bye!
Recently I have been playing Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, you know, the game Howard Lincoln took one look at and said "No."
And you know, he makes a good point! This game has its reputation for a reason. The reason being "this game has some serious problems". If you want a good picture of my mental state playing this game, all I'll say is that I nicknamed this trio of Koopa Troopas in 4-4 "TV Tropes".
But you know, while playing through it, I've grown to appreciate this game in a new light. Granted, my time with The Lost Levels has been far from an authentic experience. I'm playing it via Super Mario Bros. Remastered, with back-scrolling enabled, timers turned off, mandatory hidden blocks being made visible, and game overs sending you to the start of the level rather than the start of the world. So you know. The Lost Levels doesn't suck so bad when it doesn't suck so bad. Who could've guessed?
But through playing it, I've grown to really like the feeling of playing through a challenging level, slowly becoming aware of all its tricks, and gradually improving until you get the satisfaction of the clear. Don't get me wrong, it sucks when the game forces you to nail three Paratroopa jumps in a row while wind throws off your jump trajectory, but that just makes it feel all the better when you pull it off.
Then there's the levels that aren't really testing any sort of skill whatsoever. The levels that are just some stupid bullshit made by the devs for a laugh. 7-3 is one such level.
The main gimmick of this level is Super Springs, aka spring, but green version. Unlike normal Springs, these launch you really high, like "way up off the screen" high, meaning you basically only have the position of the screen scroll to tell where you are. These appear a few times prior to this level, but 7-3 basically consists entirely of small platforms with a single Super Spring on them, forcing you to jump from one spring to the next. I mean, there's technically other platforms but like...
Are those Piranha Plants really getting a bite out of you? Probably not! The Super Spring effect lasts so long that they're probably gonna be malnourished forever. Maybe you should offer them a bite, just to be nice. No, there is not a Piranha Plant typing away at a keyboard and furiously licking her lips as she said that and I don't know why you'd think otherwise.
Given basically everything but the springs in this level is completely irrelevant, the game needs some sort of obstacle to trip you up, and that's where the wind comes in to play. Wait, have we talked about wind on the blog yet? We should do that.
Name: Wind Debut: Well if I said the concept of "wind" came from Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels I would look like a fool huh
it makes your jumps harder to time
that's it really
Given how small basically every platform in this level is, the wind can mess up the precision needed to get from one spring to the next, but it's not all bad! The wind carries you to the right side of the screen, allowing you to get more distance out of the Super Springs! Without it, you might have to actually do some of the platforming challenges. Shudder! I hate to think of such a thought.
And that's about it for 7-3! There's some firebars at the end, but for the most part it's just wind and springs and not a whole lot else. A really ridiculous and really stupid level, but maybe one of my favorites for exactly that reason.
Anyway what if they put it in the game again
It's the exact same level, but with Lakitu now. That's it! I don't really know how much of a difference they make, since you're gonna be above them most of the time anyway. They don't even spawn in the back half of the level.
Maybe he's not trying to be an obstacle. Maybe he's just here to feed the Piranha Plants. The "C" in "C-3" is for "Chow Time!"