Failure or not, Zelda II had enough novel ideas in my book to warrant a spinoff series or something. And hey, if the first time was rushed and sent off to an alternate team, then why not try again proper?
Personally I think SMB: the Lost Levels could only be guilty of being too punishing at times. I liked a couple of things, such as warp pipes that sent you backwards. Clearly they were testing the mettle of the more experienced player. And this time, no levels were recycled.