This is the first game in a trilogy of Super Mario World hacks. This is SMW The Lost Adventure Episode 1. The original Super Mario World on Super NES is one of my favorite games of all time. I grew up playing that game, Super Mario Bros. 3, and several other ones in the trilogy. Super Mario World was (and still is) my favorite one out of the whole bunch, and you can tell SMW The Lost Adventure is clearly a ROM hack of that game. However, the design of this hack is somewhat different from the original, and in some ways I found this one to be pretty interesting to play. The music is awesome and so are a lot of other things, but it is only the first one of the series meaning there was still room for more creativity.

I think that this hack could have been improved quite a bit. The difficulty feels way too unbalanced which keeps me from enjoying it as much as I feel like I should have. A lot of levels are pretty fair, but it only takes one level to put a stop to the whole game! And that is what happens in the first Lost Adventure hack in a handful of stages.

Graphics 9/10: One of the ways in which it could have been more creative was with the graphics. There is very little difference in how The Lost Adventure looks when compared to Super Mario World. There are a few levels that have different and better looking backgrounds when you compare the two games, but most levels have the same appearance. Super Mario World is a very good looking game, but it was one the early SNES games. When it was released in 1991, Nintendo didn't have the technology to make that great looking of a game. The Lost Adventure looks nice, but it could have looked better when compared to other SMW hacks.

Music 10/10: The music on the other hand is a big upgrade from the original SMW! This hack contains a huge soundtrack! There are songs brought into The Lost Adventure from a lot of other games. Many of the songs I am unfamiliar with. The quality/volume of the music is loud and blows you away when you start a level. This isn't the game you would think it would be! This is part of what makes me want to keep playing the hack, and it even adds to its replay value.

Every level sounds different, and even if the sound effects are from Super Mario World the songs are a collection from games like: Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, and 3, Super Mario All-Stars, Yoshi's Island, Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3, Donkey Kong Country 2, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Kirby's Dreamland and Kirby's Adventure, Tetris, Dr. Mario, and a lot of other tracks I don't know a lot about. The soundtrack is the strongest part of The Lost Adventure, and this would only get better in the future Lost Adventure hacks.

Gameplay 5/10: The Lost Adventure still plays like Super Mario World. The goal is still the same like in that game and most other Mario games. You have to get to the end of the stage before running out of time, and in this hack that would be something that would be exploited a lot which would basically slow down, if not, stop your progress. However, most stages are playable, and The Lost Adventure has some pretty interesting gimmicks like: trying to beat the clock, spin-jumping in order to change coins into blocks, etc. The levels were also similar to other classic Mario and Sonic games with their artwork and graphics. This is a hack that seems to have a lot to make you want to play it again despite its flaws.

Although, there would be more puzzles in the later Lost Adventure hacks, so this one seems pretty dull when compared to The Lost Adventure 2. The main bosses are just Bowser and the Koopalings, but there are some new bosses thrown in too. Bowser Jr. makes an appearance towards the end, and Mario fights other ones as well such as: Birdo, Kamek, and Kirby. The bad points of The Lost Adventure are that there are no collectables or secret exits. Yoshi only makes an appearance in one or two levels, and power-ups such as: the Cape and Fire Flower have been replaced by the Bullet Bill and Hammer power-ups. The game likes to freeze a lot when shooting a lot of Bullet Bills, and I can never seem to learn how to use the Hammer power-up properly.

The Lost Adventure still contains a main overworld map with individual maps of some of the different worlds. The worlds have been modified in this game, but still there are no hidden areas. In the original game, the player would have to find a key or a secret exit in order to unlock a path to another level. The Lost Adventure is really just a straight path. There are no secrets or surprise worlds, but the Lost World was a nice addition. This was where the game got interesting and contained the levels that were similar in design to the other classic Mario and Sonic games. What the game lacks in exploration it makes up for by paying tribute to other games in terms of music, artwork, and level design!

However, every level has to be played in order to beat the game, and this game is way too difficult in some parts. The design in these stages are just garbage! They can be too long to even bother with in a lot of ways, and I feel like the good points of this game don't even matter because of how hard some of these levels are to try to complete. You don't even get to play the later stages, and that's a real shame. I find myself getting frustrated, dying over and over because of glitches and things beyond my control, I never even get to play the really cool stages!

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT AND A BAD WAY TO RUIN WHAT COULD BE A REALLY GREAT HACK!! It's frustrating to the point that you can never consistently beat this game! I hate the Speed Break level the worst! HOW DO I KEEP DYING THERE?! AND WHY DO I NOT DIE OTHER TIMES!!? IT FEELS GLITCHED!! The Master Shell level also feels cheap the way you have to spin-jump from block platform to block platform without falling in pits. If you screw up, you have to replay the whole level which is pretty long. Same way with the Ghost House with no floor!!

These areas halt all your progress and ruin what could have been a really great hack. I like some of the creativity and all, but a lot of times, I can't move past the really bad stages like these to enjoy the good ones! That is quite a disappointment and a bad gameplay experience! I never know what to expect with this Mario World hack. It can be random with me finishing it and being satisfied or being frustrated and let down! I want to come back and play it, but I don't know what to expect. That's not good!

Story 8/10: I have tried to figure out the storyline for The Lost Adventure by looking it up online. I don't know what this new land is called, but the Koopa kids are back. They have kidnapped Yoshi's friends and trapped them in eggs, and Bowser has also kidnapped the Princess as before. It seems like it is the same story as in the original SMW. Mario goes to Hell in this game (where Bowser has taken the Princess), but before he goes there he goes to Heaven! Bowser Jr. is also in this game, so I guess the storyline has a little bit of creativity to it but not much.

This is another one of the more disappointing aspects of this game. There aren't that many changes to the plot. Bowser and his Koopalings return, but The Lost Adventure takes place in a new environment. They are also joined by Bowser Jr. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the storyline for this SMW hack. I've seen a lot of Mario hacks that fall into this category, but The Lost Adventure Episode 1 does make more effort with the plot than what a lot of other hacks did. In some ways it's disappointing and in other ways there is some originality to it. Overall, this is an okay storyline.

Content 10/10: The Lost Adventure is a longer game than the original. It contains a total of 9 worlds, and all 9 of them have to be played in order to finish the game. I don't know the names of all the worlds, but they go in this order: worlds 1 and 2 are unknown, world 3 Crystal Cave, world 4 Rocky Mountains, world 5 unknown forest world, world 6 Forbidden Zone, world 7 (which is underneath the Forbidden Zone accessed by entering a pipe) The Lost World, after The Lost World Mario re-enters the Forbidden Zone and fights Wendy, world 8 Hell, world 9 Heaven, after completing all the levels in Heaven, Mario re-enters Hell to fight Bowser Jr. and Bowser himself.

Everything you knew about Super Mario World has been changed, and like I said before, this is a totally different game. The original SMW had a lot of content to it as well, but this one takes things a step further. All of these new levels are very fun to play with exception to one level in The Lost World. I like how The Lost Adventure expands upon an already great Mario game. I didn't like how you had to play every level. These weren't optional stages like in the original game. The hack didn't encourage you to do a lot of exploration in order to uncover these hidden areas. Instead, you just played them, but either way The Lost Adventure will keep you busy for an even longer period of time than the original SMW.

Difficulty 10/10: For the most part, The Lost Adventure Part 1 is just plain unfair and random to say the least! I found myself dying more on the bad stages the more I played the game! WOW! That's just sad! There are the levels that I absolutely hate: There's No Rush, House Without Floor, Speed Break, and the infamous "Master Shell Demo". Most times, I rage quit before I even make it that far. I have noticed, I can beat the game if I can just get through the Master Shell level! HOW DO ONLY A HANDFUL OF STAGES CAUSE SO MUCH TROUBLE AND RUIN THE WHOLE GAME!!?? DAMN!!

No matter how many times I've played this game, I still continue to have trouble on at least one of these same parts! I almost always rage quit on one of these stages, and it only takes one to screw up my progress and keep me from wanting to beat the game. However, sometimes, I'll get lucky and beat it with minimum frustration, but most times I run into problems and give up!

Overall 8.4/10: The Lost Adventure is strong on music but bad on gameplay. It is a downright frustrating game at times. It's not near as much fun as the original. I wish it was designed more like Mario World and Mario Bros. 3, and you could just skip the crappy levels!! Those stages should just be optional, and it would be just like the original and have moderate to low difficulty. I like the soundtrack and the creativity, but the difficulty becomes too much of an issue in most of my playthroughs. Even after as much time as I've spent on it, it never gets easier. I don't feel like these hacks get much easier, but maybe they're more balanced. I guess, it's an okay game, but it could've been a lot better.

One thing I have to hand to this hack is its pretty cool title. The word lost tends to make a game, movie, book, or anything more intriguing. Or at least it has that effect on me.

I like that you were comparing it to the original SMW. Of course it's disappointing if a ROM hack is less enjoyable than the original. But that's pretty common.

I'd still recommend this hack because it is a first in a trilogy of other Lost Adventure games. There were other ROM hacks that followed. I've played The Lost Adventure Episode 2, and it seems to be somewhat better graphically than this one was. There was also a Lost Adventure Episode 3 that I have never played before and would like to someday. The Lost Adventure 1 is sort of like Super Mario Bros. 1, it wasn't as good as the other games (in my opinion), but the later games built on it. Lost Adventure 1 is thought of as an introduction to the series and is worth checking out as well.