Why All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. Doesn't Have Levels From Vs. Super Mario Bros.

 
      All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is described on a lot of other websites as being a collection of levels from three different games: the original Super Mario Bros., the Japanese version of Super Mario 2, and an arcade game called Vs. Super Mario. However, that's not really true. First off, there are no pure SMB1 or SMB2J levels in All Night Nippon Super Mario, they have all been modified in some way. Secondly, there are no Vs. levels in the game. In order to understand why, first you need to understand what Vs. Super Mario is. VSMB is a 1986 arcade comprised of modified versions of levels from SMB1 and SMB2J; the game has no completely original levels in it whatsoever. The modifications that were made to the levels are generally very slight, but they're specifically designed to fuck with experienced players: some power-ups have been moved, some bricks have been removed, and some extra enemies have been added.

      Three different games, same screenshot. Pictured above is the portion of World 1-1 where Mario obtains his second power-up. In the original Super Mario Bros. game, the question mark block is placed in the bottom row of bricks. In the Vs. and All Night Nippon versions, it is in the top row. Being as this was the first change in Vs. Super Mario and one of the most obvious ones in the entire game, it's very easy for a lazy reviewer to assume that the All Night Nippon version of the level is a direct copy of Vs. level because it has the same obvious change. However, such is not the case...

      Once again, three different games, same screenshot. Here's a classic section of World 1-1 that I like to call The Pyramid. In its original form, the pyramid is made entirely out of question mark blocks. In Vs. too, it is made entirely out of question mark blocks. But in All Night Nippon, the top of the pyramid is made out of regular bricks. On top of that, all three contain different rewards...

      In the original game, as you should know, the top block contains a power-up. You shouldn't ever need it, unless you completely suck at Mario. In the Vs. version, the top block contains a coin. Why? Because there didn't really need to be another fucking other power-up in this level anyway. And in the All Night Nippon version, the top block contains a Starman that you could have picked up earlier in the other versions. So you see, World 1-1 of All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. is not exactly the same as the original version or the Vs. version. Does it have one of the major changes from the Vs. version? Yes, but it also has its own additional changes. Furthermore, the All Night Nippon version of World 1-1 does not have *all* the changes from the Vs. version. The Vs. version sends four Goombas at you right before the final staircase; the All Night Nippon version of the level, much like the original, only has two.

      You know, it's not as if the programmers didn't try to make it immediately clear that All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. has its own unique variations. The first big moment in Super Mario Bros. comes when you grab that first Magic Mushroom right before the game's first pipe. And in All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros., that mushroom has been moved. That's right, they fucked with the first big moment in the entire game. Did Vs. Super Mario have the balls to do that? Absolutely not. To sum things up:

Vs. Super Mario Bros. is a game comprised of modified versions of levels from the original SMB and SMB2J.
All Night Nippon Mario Bros. is a game comprised of modified versions of levels from the original SMB and SMB2J.
The level modifications found in All Night Nippon Super Mario ≠ the ones found in Vs. Super Mario.
The level placement in All Night Nippon Super Mario ≠ the level placement in Vs. Super Mario.

      Do you get it yet? Try this. Think of the original World 1-1 as a melody. Now think of the VSMB and All Night Nippon versions of World 1-1 as variations on that melody. Both variations have some of the same stylistic changes, because they were both arranged by the same composer, but each one is also distinctly different. So repeat after me: THERE ARE NO FUCKING VS. LEVELS IN ALL NIGHT NIPPON SUPER MARIO. Wikipedia, Mario Wiki, and all the dumb little bloggers who steal their information from those sites and try to pass them off as original thoughts are lying to you. Or maybe they're just idiots. Either way, they're wrong.

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