![[RA] Super Mario Advance @BigBrawler](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ghFoJm-FTsk/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Third time I play SMB USA for a RetroAchievements set, and this one was a nightmare, unlike SMB2 for the NES which had easy cheevos and a nice difficulty curve, Advance has a few that are hard. To note, Advance has the Doki Doki Panic achievement of "No Death Run" thru all the game, no warps and no save and quit and if that isn't enough, No "Try Again" either, if you fuck up, you fuck up, all the way back to 1-1. And, just like the SMB2 NES set, this one has a second no death run achievement, same achievement as, Finish the game with no deaths but in this one you can use warps, it's not as bad if you follow the shortest route. Advance also has the "Find all the Mushrooms/HP" in a world, but it has an extra one, capping at 5 Hearts for most of the game, except in a select few who cap at 4, and there's barely any guide online that lists them, luckily I stumbled upon "Strategy wiki" which had the extra heart locations, other than that, this set is fairly easy, the rest are progression, Ace Coins and of course, Yoshi egg challenge, so this one will take at minimum, 5 runs if you play good, 3 of them can be with warps so it's not as bad I suppose (or 4 if you get the No death run with one character instead of me who fucked up with Mario).
That should be it, there's no more SMB USA versions out there right? Right?!
Diffficulty Set: 4/10
Third time I play SMB USA for a RetroAchievements set, and this one was a nightmare, unlike SMB2 for the NES which had easy cheevos and a nice difficulty curve, Advance has a few that are hard. To note, Advance has the Doki Doki Panic achievement of "No Death Run" thru all the game, no warps and no save and quit and if that isn't enough, No "Try Again" either, if you fuck up, you fuck up, all the way back to 1-1. And, just like the SMB2 NES set, this one has a second no death run achievement, same achievement as, Finish the game with no deaths but in this one you can use warps, it's not as bad if you follow the shortest route. Advance also has the "Find all the Mushrooms/HP" in a world, but it has an extra one, capping at 5 Hearts for most of the game, except in a select few who cap at 4, and there's barely any guide online that lists them, luckily I stumbled upon "Strategy wiki" which had the extra heart locations, other than that, this set is fairly easy, the rest are progression, Ace Coins and of course, Yoshi egg challenge, so this one will take at minimum, 5 runs if you play good, 3 of them can be with warps so it's not as bad I suppose (or 4 if you get the No death run with one character instead of me who fucked up with Mario).
That should be it, there's no more SMB USA versions out there right? Right?!
Diffficulty Set: 4/10
![[RA] Super Mario Advance](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ghFoJm-FTsk/mqdefault.jpg "[RA] Super Mario Advance
Third time I play SMB USA for a RetroAchievements set, and this one was a nightmare, unlike SMB2 for the NES which had easy cheevos and a nice difficulty curve, Advance has a few that are hard. To note, Advance has the Doki Doki Panic achievement of No Death Run thru all the game, no warps and no save and quit and if that isnt enough, No Try Again either, if you fuck up, you fuck up, all the way back to 1-1. And, just like the SMB2 NES set, this one has a second no death run achievement, same achievement as, Finish the game with no deaths but in this one you can use warps, its not as bad if you follow the shortest route. Advance also has the Find all the Mushrooms/HP in a world, but it has an extra one, capping at 5 Hearts for most of the game, except in a select few who cap at 4, and theres barely any guide online that lists them, luckily I stumbled upon Strategy wiki which had the extra heart locations, other than that, this set is fairly easy, the rest are progression, Ace Coins and of course, Yoshi egg challenge, so this one will take at minimum, 5 runs if you play good, 3 of them can be with warps so its not as bad I suppose (or 4 if you get the No death run with one character instead of me who fucked up with Mario).
That should be it, theres no more SMB USA versions out there right? Right?!
Diffficulty Set: 4/10")
![[RA] Super Mario Bros. Special: 35th Anniversary Edition](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jL_Al43GKlw/mqdefault.jpg "[RA] Super Mario Bros. Special: 35th Anniversary Edition
After having played SMB Special on the Remastered engine I went and looked or a SMB1 hack that was just a remake of Special, since the OG one in PC-88 is like, not really great, Ill be the second or third person to say it, and this had a Set on retroachievements so fuck it, Lets see what this is all about
So, Special, the true Lost Levels since not much know that Hudson did a mario game in 1986 (even if that name was also kinda given to the e-reader levels in SMA4 but, whatever) and it adds a few items and enemies, and Ill be honest, these add next to nothing if you ask me, they are neat, but nothing really groundbreaking
Level design: is fine, there are some annoyances here and there, and some terrible one tile jumps in some levels, or lets say, a mushroom on a tile ground where it can be blocked and trap you, neat stuff
Items: It adds some but lets be real, outside of the hammer which dont do much, the items are hidden and kinda obscure, you may not even get more than one in a normal run.
Set: This one is rough, specially the 1-up ones and a few No death run ones and add the Kill bowser with fireballs on top of that, this is going to take you a bit to master
Set Difficulty: 3.9/10")
