Super Mario Bros. Special was the second Nintendo-licensed follow-up to Super Mario Bros., released around two months after Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. While superficially very similar to the original Super Mario Bros., the game features original new levels and has a screen-by-screen scrolling mechanism. The most significant difference is that it features none of the original levels, since the eight worlds are all unique to this release and have a high level of difficulty surpassing even Super Mario Bros. 2.

Super Mario Bros. Special was the second Nintendo-licensed follow-up to Super Mario Bros., released around two months after Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. While superficially very similar to the original Super Mario Bros., the game features original new levels and has a screen-by-screen scrolling mechanism. The most significant difference is that it features none of the original levels, since the eight worlds are all unique to this release and have a high level of difficulty surpassing even Super Mario Bros. 2.