Does anybody know how Super Mario Bros (NES Classic) actually created the minus worlds?

[/classicNES]

The existence of the minus worlds is not news to me. I’ve been aware of them since I sought to take my interest in video games to online platforms. Though I had always assumed a developer had just been playing around with some level randomizer they’d coded and left it in the game as an Easter egg for players to discover (rare for the time period but not unheard of). Now I just got one of those gaming top 10 videos in my recommended and my entire understanding is thrown out of whack. I did some research... apparently it’s actually a glitch. I guess I really have been living under a rock.
So obviously the implication here is that the creators did not intend for this content to be in the game. What I’m having a bit of trouble understanding is why the program actually generated and stored data for 248 worlds that can’t even be accessed except with hack magic or by swapping the Tennis cartridge (weird btw). All the sources I’ve looked into about this neglect to include this information. I know how to access the worlds, what happens with the warp zones, and how it works... but I don’t know WHY the glitch exists in the first place
I love video games but I don’t know jack about the programming that goes into them. This is probably an obvious answer to those of you with some more technical knowledge about the game. If you can spare the time, would you mind explaining it? Idek why but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to sleep until I know

submitted by /u/jzilla1207
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