Reality in Retrograde

Top: this is what the regular ending of the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, known internationally as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, looks like. It is extremely similar to the ending of the original Super Mario Bros., except instead of Mario walking up to Peach directly after defeating Bowser, he first approaches a door, which then turns into Peach (presumably either he walks through a door and she is on the other side, or she walks through it) before she speaks.

Bottom: there is a commonly known glitch in Super Mario Bros. whereby Mario activates Bowser's axe on the same frame as touching Bowser, resulting in him both winning and losing at the same time. The camera then usually scrolls over to Toad or Peach who speak to nobody before the level ends.

In the case of the ending of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, there is an additional side effect of that glitch. The door never turns into Peach, so that the text from Peach starts appearing without either Mario or Peach being physically present, with just the door being on screen. Normally, the seven Toads also appear after this (not shown in the footage); these also fail to appear during this glitch.

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