What's most interesting about this game is the Nintendo America's marketing strategy. Apparently there was a chip shortage which caused delays in the release of Super Mario 3 and other titles. It also seems like it was intentionally delayed to market the game more in America. Nintendo went to the extreme of having a movie made, called The Wizard (I guess this was technically more of a collab), to act as an effective advertisement for the game. The whole process delayed the release of the game for 2 years... In addition, the Nintendo console was doing quite well in America, so they made a business decision, in America, to delay the release of the Super Nintendo so they could pump more sales from the Nintendo console. This likely also contributed to the delay of Super Mario 3 to artificially prolong the life of the console. It's interesting how much less international the video game industry was back in the 90s and early 00s. Now, games or consoles will release within a week in different languages and countries.

That all said, this is a very ambitious sequel in so many ways. Not only did this refine the mechanics from the first game, but added numerous new ones that feel right at home. Controlling Mario is significantly more fluid and feels good. It's hard to describe beyond that and certainly something you need to feel to understand, but it is a notable improvement. There are new types of puzzles. New enemies. New power-ups. Mini games (honestly I didn't like any of the new mini-games. They were more tedious and annoying than enjoyable). And a new level progression system that turns the linear levels that would immediately start at the end of a previous level into a board game grid. A motif that the Mario series still uses to a degree to this day. This motif is nothing mind blowing, but it's a fun way to further gamify the experience. They don't do anything particularly clever with it. Though the last few worlds end up feeling like a bit of a maze to navigate.

The levels are a lot of fun to progress through and the art style and direction are a drastic improvement over the first game. Mario doesn't look like pixelated road kill anymore. He feels more realized as they pushed the NES to its absolute limits. The backdrops are more complex, adding to the atmosphere of the game. And the music is as bright and colorful as ever.

Level 6-4 stumped me. I looked up the solution and it required a skill I didn't even know I had. I needed to fly to a higher platform with a turtle shell and use the shell to kill these frog plants and break blocks. I didn't know you could fly with a turtle shell in your hands! It didn't feel unreasonably obtuse and cheap like most of the "puzzles" in Lost Levels (Super Mario 2). World 7 started including mostly puzzle levels. These puzzles were basically just figuring out which pipe to go into and figuring out how to navigate to it. It's rudimentary but didn't get too frustrating.

I did feel like the average level in this game was easier compared to Super Mario 1 (I'm not counting Super Mario 2). The Leaf/Racoon/P power-ups can completely trivialize a level since you can effectively just fly past all the obstacles. This doesn't work on every level, but it is still fun nonetheless. Also the football hammer throwing suit is surprisingly good. Able to kill fireballs and Thwomps in a single hit. I also like that the Hammer throwing turtles are called Hammer Bros or Sledge Bros. A fun detail is how a king will address you as a "Racoon," if you are wearing the Racoon suit or ask to have your clothes if you are wearing the football suit (a bit weird).

The story isn't an improvement but to be fair, it's a fucking Mario game so it seems pretty silly to even mention it. Bowser isn't really built up as a boss in this game. He wasn't in the first game either since you basically keep killing him by dropping him into a pit of lava. Peach isn't kidnapped until the end of the game. She keeps leaving letters to you with the weird kings who keep getting turned into random animals. Then finally Bowser writes you a letter challenging you and saying he has Peach. It doesn't really bother me to be honest. The final boss of each world is technically different, but effectively the same boss fight. They give each their own unique hair cut and name. Their spells are different, but the fight just boils down to jump on their head 3 times. Same with the Minibosses. I did like saving the Bowser fight for the end and I think it was a good boss design, albeit quite simple. Unlike some other games, you actually use the main mechanics to beat the last boss... jumping and dodging.

I loved this game growing up as a kid. I never owned a Super Nintendo and I went straight from the NES to the n64. I played this game and TMNT 3 a ton. It's fun going back and definitely as fun as I remembered.

Preliminary: I somewhat recently played the All Stars version of this while on stream (a bit over a year ago). I can't deny how much they added to original Mario format--the minigames, the world map is a favorite, the power-ups, the ships, just so much. It was so much more than a linear series of levels you're ushered into. That being said, I feel like Super Mario World took these ideas and brought them to maturity: you could go back to previously played levels for power-ups, you could save now that it's so long, etc. I know where the Warp Flutes are but I will collect them and try to resist using them. Only if it starts to feel redundant since I played it recently or if I get tired of it or if it gets just too long will I use it (after all, I thought I'd be done with 88 pretty quickly, but late 88 has some long games! And FF2 is still coming up!). Anyway, this time I am playing the very original Japanese version. Here goes nothing. Oh, and I am going to play it "blind" since I thinnnk I remember where the Flutes are etc.

Day 1

Right off the bat that first world jingle is instantly nostalgic. I'm drawn into the music of the first level, tho the controls are clunky compared to SMW which I've been practicing speedruns of. I will quickly get back used to these tho. I used to play this so much as a kid, tho very rarely beat it. Often would warp to the Pipe world or straight to the final world and almost get to the end but not have enough lives.

Welp, it wasn't long before I found the first Flute :-p It came right back to me. But I wont use it (yet). Mario himself is a bit ugly (especially as Fire Mario, as seen below), but for the most part it has a great Look for late 88, especially the world map screens which are such a great idea and I'm glad most platformers followed suit with level select world maps after this.

The length of the levels still feel short and sweet like the first Mario. And I like the new idea of the P for running, tho it got a bit overkill or actually a negative sometimes haha. Jumping around like crazy. Great tune for the intros/outros to the Castle/last levels of each world. Tho I can't understand the Japanese ha I should've gotten a translated version...

Wow, all these decades playing this and not knowing about this secret area. Okay I did realize I had missed the second flute at a spot I know (the first world fortress) and tho I'm enjoying the game so far, I did want to remember where the 3rd Flute is. Turns out, I never knew! I didn't know about this area screenshotted below at all

As great as the music and Look of the World 3 Water World are... I was thinking I might use a Flute just to skip past that world? Let me give it a shot at least. Argh, I really wish I would have. First the puzzle fortress then the fortress that only unlocks a tube back to the beginning (which, for the record, is super useful if I were dying a lot). Finally done with that hell that I should've skipped (I would've just skipped one world, I swear), and on to one of the neatest ideas for a world!

Some clever level designs in this that remind me of Castlevania where they give you the Fire Mario when useful, or the Raccoon Mario when needed for a secret etc. Tho I notice they denied me the Racoon Mario Leaf in World 4 Fortress in that tube I was so proud of finding lol. I think it's just a shortcut anyway. Whatevs. I love the music of World 4 world map too.

As frustrating as this game can be, Mario just kept setting the standard for action platformers of its time. So many other 88 platformers just pale to this quality and robustness and longlasting allure. Jump is so fluid, everything's so quick and responsive, it's so long without being repetitive. Playing a clunky Atari ST or Mac platformer from this time just can't compare. Welp, at the end of the first night, I was already a good way through World 6 lol and didn't use any of the Flutes. I was in full Mario craze, my skin was warmed up and I was determined to beat it in one night. Well, that didn't happen but still got a lot done and quite the Mario fervor :-p Time to wrap up for the night... or maybe one more level?

Day 2

As much as I'm enjoying most the Sound, I gotta say it's very tinsely/trebly. I'm now on World 7 at last, the Pipe World that everyone hates. Gonna give it a show otherwise use a Whistle. I'm tired tonight but still kinda having fun with it. It's definitely getting to the frustrating part of the game where they just were using all the quirks of the game and/or including puzzles in the levels. I think it helps that I recently played this so the most frustrating parts weren't so bad (Pipe World levels in particular :-p)

Yep for real. Note to self for potential future replays: just whistle past Pipe World. Maybe also the sky world. rest are worth pushing through tho. The Pipe World even has the Castle I hated so much in the last playthrough with all the uh spinny coiled thingies that you have to jump at the right moment for or else you spin down.

Welp, I was planning to do one more day of it but got in that fervor and now on the final castle with 10 mins before movie time! Nice. What a weird looking final part of the world lol

Great ending jingle, and cute idea of recapping/showing the names of the worlds (in English, despite the rest of the game being in Japanese ha)

Look: 8.5/10 The world maps had a lot of cute touches, and overall, this game set so many precedents for the Mario series. Still, Mario himself sure is... meh looking.

Sound: 8/10 Some definite jams in this. But also a lot of high pitch sound effects. I prefer the All Stars version's Sound (unsurprisingly).

Play: 8.5/10 Frustrating as all get-out at times, but this is such a well-crafted and robust game. Set so many standards for later platformers. This, like the first Mario, set the stage.

Feel: 8.5/10 This game has a lifelong type power to it, just like the other great Mario games. Can't deny its Feel.

Attachment: 9/10 Now, I claim right at this moment that I wont play through every level again... but that's what I said a year ago when I played through every level (well, not every level either time, but I didn't use any Whistles I should say... so every world). Thing is, this game lures you in and gets you captivated. Even for young me, who never actually got to Bowser, I would try and try again. With the unlocking of gates for retries in one play session, and Whistles for multiple play sessions. I do wish power-ups were more readily available after you lose all 5 lives, so you don't feel hopeless as often. Being able to replay levels would've solved that. But anyway, I digress: this game has an undeniable Attachment to it and will continue to be a part of my life.

Overall: 8.5/10

Completion: Main Story

Playtime: 2h 45m

I always see people rave about Super Mario World, but Super Mario Bros. 3 is the first undeniable pinnacle in Nintendo's side-scrolling Mario games, from my view. Super Mario Bros. 3 is a total masterpiece and one of my favorite games of all time to this day.

Like with the other early Mario titles, I first experienced this game through the Super Mario All-Stars collection on the SNES when I was quite young, and my mind was blown by the incredible art, music and gameplay. Today, it's easier for me to identify why this game feels so damn good... Super Mario Bros. 3 is the first time Nintendo really perfected what I think of as the "Mario level design" formula: levels that are built around specific mechanics or concepts, instead of just an arbitrarily put together series of obstacles.

Super Mario Bros. 3 takes great care to introduce an incredible wealth of new mechanics, with them being introduced slowly level-by-level until the game snowballs into something much greater. 1-1 introduces you to the game's new core mechanics, including the new P-meter, the ability to pick up shells, and most importantly, the Super Leaf and Raccoon Mario power-up. 1-2 introduces diagonal surfaces and Note Blocks. 1-3 introduces Boomerang Bros. 1-4 introduces the concept of auto-scrolling stages. I could go on for every single level in the game, and I bet you every single level either introduces a novel mechanic, or delivers a brilliant twist on an existing idea. It also helps that most levels in Mario Bros. 3 are relatively brief, and rarely overstay their welcome.

Another layer is that each world has its own unique theme that plays into the levels' mechanics. Of course, there's the typical water, desert and grass worlds, but there's also a few that still feel ingenious to this day, such as the giant world, where all the enemies and obstacles are super-sized, or the pipe world, which features at lot of... well, pipes. The world map is another new addition, and Mario Bros. 3 still has my favorite iteration of it in the classic titles. There are plenty of mini-games, branching paths and opportunities to skip levels... Which is appreciated, because this game is difficult!

Super Mario Bros. 3 isn't the first hard Mario game, but I think it's the first one that gets the perfect balance between being difficult and being fair. If you are hit while powered up, Mario reverts from his powered-up state to his big state, instead of going straight to his small state like in the earlier games. This lets you take one extra hit before Game Over, which is more forgiving without making things too easy. Additionally, the world map introduces many opportunities to stockpile important items that you can save for stages that give you trouble. The game is also quite generous with 1-UPs, and if you lose all of them, you restart at the beginning of the world instead of at the beginning of the whole game. All great changes.

The NES version, which I played here, is just as good as the SNES version. The simpler 8-bit graphics have their own charm, and I actually kind of prefer the NES chiptune soundtrack. Still, you really can't go wrong with any version of this game. I've lost count of how many times I've replayed it over the years, and it never gets old. Not every level is a home-run, and there are a handful that are maybe not so great. But the great thing is that this game gives you the tools you need to either skip a level you don't like, or to practice until you can successfully beat it. I'll die on this hill: Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the best platformers of all time, easily on par with Super Mario World... And maybe even better in some respects, if I'm feeling a little controversial.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is my favorite Mario game in this retrospective so far. Took me a while to get it done but I'm happy to have pushed through and beat it because it was so worth it.

Super Mario Bros. 3 released back in 1988 for Japan and 1990 for the US and it is a drastic overhaul from the previous games.

Like before, the game is 8 Worlds and the objective is to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. However, there exists an overworld and the challenge is to get through all the levels and find ways to maybe pass through optional levels to complete a world. The game also has its fair share of mini-games such as matching cards and creating a shape by timing the press of the button. Toad houses are introduced as well. Toad Houses allow you to get a power-up that will be stored and can be used before entering a level. The levels are mostly the same. You gotta get to the end of a level through platforming and avoiding obstacles. I'd say that this game does a better job at difficulty progression. Never felt unfair. Completing a level gets you a card and getting the same card after 3 levels can earn you 5 1-Ups. This game introduces new characters as well. Bowser's Minions (They aren't actually his children, contrary to popular belief), The Koopalings. Which consists of Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig.

The Power-Ups are crazy. Too much for me to simply go over. There are the Power-Ups we've seen. The Mushroom, and Fire Flower. But there is also a Frog Suit which lets you swim better, The Hammer Suit which lets you throw hammers like a Hammer Bro, etc. But the main selling point was the Tanooki Suit. A Power-Up that allows you to hover for a short period based on your running speed. There's also the P Tanooki Suit which lets you fly for as long as you please.

This game is so interesting and weird. So full of personality and charm. Easily one of the best NES games of all time and likely one of the best 2D Platformers of all time.

4/5

Would Recommend

So I must confess: this is the first time I have played this game. The reason is because I jumped from playing the first two Marios on the NES to my favorite Mario game of all time, Super Mario World in the SNES. Since forever I have heard form veterans like me that this game is THE Mario game… and it has been on my backlog since then. Now I finally made it… and I am super proud of myself to be honest.

Is this a good game? Absolutely, the good Mario never fails. Is this the best Mario game? In my humble opinion no, but is close.

We all know the basic 2D Mario formula: 8 worlds, power-ups, castles and the final boss Bowser. What makes this game stand up from the rest?

First of all, its age and platform. This is a masterpiece considering the humble capacities of the NES. Controls are very smooth and precise and levels are long, varied and very creative. Then you have to consider all the different power-ups available. I may dare to say that no other Mario game (besides of course Super Mario Maker) has that many. And third (this is not the case for me) the nostalgia factor. Many people of my age grew up playing this, and that can never be beaten.

Like all Marios, at the beginning I was thinking that this game was too damn easy and thus quite boring, but difficulty increases as you go on and peaks, in my opinion, on Level 6 (the Ice World). And then add in the annoying but addictive feature (?) of restarting the whole world once you run out of lives. This makes you ace previous levels in which you were dying before. All of us gamers are a little masochistic and feel very proud when we notice we have mastered previously hard levels. Who doesn’t want to feel like a pro?

The power-ups are cool, but sometimes they made me feel that they toned down the difficulty. Throughout the world you find spots where the Toads gave you randomly power-ups you can choose to use whenever you want before starting a level. I felt like I was cheating, especially with the raccoon suit (was it a raccoon?) that doesn’t need to run to fly. But hey, it was a feature from the game and I was not trying to prove a point here, so I used them any way when I was struggling with some levels.

Also, there was this castle on World 7 in which there were several doors, and while you go on you run in circles… if you have played any 2D Mario game before, you instantly know that there is one hidden door somewhere that takes you to the next room. I quickly found it, but chose to ignore it. This castle was gold because while you were running in circles you could collect a shit ton of coins. And I increased my lives to 50. I simply did not want to die and restart again anymore.

World 8 was easy compared to the previous 2 worlds. Mario games are not known for having difficult bosses, and Bowser was very easy to beat once you find the way. Sometimes I think that for a change, I would like a Mario game with killer bosses that make you pull your hair, but we have to keep in mind that the target audience for these games are kids, so I suck it up and keep playing, you play Mario for the fun of it. Go play Dark Souls or Nioh if you are looking for a masochistic experience.

And the end was gold. Do you remember the famous quote from the Toads in Mario 1, “Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!”.

When you reach Princess Toadstool (her name is not Princess Peach yet, as far as I know) she says the following.

I imagine Mario thinking something like this: "Hey, good to know that after being kidnapped you can joke around right? So where is my kiss?"

I highly doubt there are other individuals like me that have not played this already... but if you haven't... what are you waiting for? Go grab a copy and start playing!

I FINALLY BEAT SUPER MARIO BROS 3!!!!!

Ok, now that we got that out of the way, let's do a review. Honestly, this game is so monumental and influential that everything that can be said about it has probably already been said before. For me personally, this is chronologically the first Mario Bros game I actually cared to play all the way through. The original and Lost Levels are fun, sort of, but a few game mechanics make them super janky. Mario 3 brought the ability to grab shells and adjust your jump in mid-air. Those two mechanics alone completely changed the way Mario games were played.

There are other innovative components in the game, but you can probably just Google those. I want to talk about the worlds. Many of the levels are as familiar to me as my first car. However, since I could never get past probably world 4 or so as a kid, many of the levels were completely new to me. Because of the flutes, I think I'd at least experienced every world, but jumping to the later worlds without beating the first ones is actually pretty tough, considering the escalated difficulty.

This was really the first time we were exposed to themed worlds, and boy did they nail them right off the bat. Of course, you've got your Mario staples, such as Desert Land and Water Land, and you've got some that have been reincarnated in later releases, like Giant Land and Ice Land, but they're not just different themes for the background, and they're certainly a step forward from the original. There were two main types of levels in Super Mario Bros: above ground underground. But really, the main difference was the background, colours, and music. You usually encountered the same types of platforming in both types of level.

Mario 3 takes it a step further. The levels in Sky Land are completely different from Ice Land, and you'd be able to tell which world you were in even if the backgrounds were removed. Giant Land and Pipe Land both usually give you options on how to move forward throughout the levels, but the latter is more about methodically deciphering the puzzle, while the former is more about preference: do you want to have huge enemies or normal-sized ones? Even the idea of choosing your own path through the worlds was completely revolutionary.

I'm about to turn 24. This was probably one of the first games I ever played, and I've never beaten it until now; it is a legitimately challenging game. I threw my controller down in frustration several times, and I threw my hands in the air in celebration almost every time I beat a castle, knowing that I wouldn't have to redo the previous few levels again when I inevitably got a game over a few minutes later. It's tough, but well-deserving of its renown.

Still, not better than Super Mario World, the pinnacle of 2D platforming.

History:

Another defining game of my childhood, though I probably never really gave it the attention it deserved at the time. I think I may have beaten it once, I definitely remember World 8, but it's blurry. Actually, one of my more vivid memories of this game was from the end of The Wizard, which at the time I thought was AMAZING!

Expectations:

I remember world 1-4 and 8, so, I'll be making my attempt without warp pipes. I think I'll be able to beat this one, which would be nice considering my current track record with NES Mario games. Friend of mine says I won't be able to beat this one in a single night. We'll see...

Day 1:

Just so we're clear, I'm not using the flutes, but I still want to get them for the sake of completion! At least, I did, until I spent three lives in the first fortress trying to get the second one, at which point I just said screw it and moved on to the first airship.

Nice and easy, which I would soon learn wasn't going to be a trend... In any case, I't off to World 2.

Oh, World 2, how I loathe you. I don't know, it's something about desert stages in video games that just doesn't click with me. It's like, every possible annoying threat is able to somehow culminate here... Quicksand, jumping fire, fake blocks, angry suns, boomerang bros... No thanks!

I do manage to make it through the zone, though not at the cost of a few lives. Luckily I've been doing pretty good about hitting stars at the end of each stage so my life count is pretty healthy.

I actually like World 3. Well, I like World 3 so long as a have a steady supply of Fire Flowers and Frog Suits anyway.

The stages here are pretty fun, particularly the ones where the level is bobbing in and out of the water while giant fish try to kill you! After taking several wrong turns (and a couple right ones) I find myself at the airship, which doesn't present too much of a challenge.

Giant World was always my favorite world in this game, and I don't think that's changed. It's unfortunate you don't actually get to see that much of the giant sprites over the course of the world, but those levels are a treat. It started with World 3, but I'm now noticing how ridiculous some of these fortress stages are getting, often being cleared with just seconds remaining!

This was also the first world where I didn't clear the airship on my first attempt, reminding me that they fly away after a fail. I only had to chase it down once to get to World 5 though. It's at this point of the games where I don't actually know what's coming next!

Oh yeah... this place. I'm not a big fan of sky stages anyway, so imagine how happy I was to find an entire WORLD of them! In any case, it takes a few lives and a couple failed airship attempts, but I do manage to clear it in a timely manner.

And it's the ice world... Not a huge fan of slipping around either, but it was inevitable I suppose. Either way, playing through this world was actually pretty fun! The ice made for some entertaining platforming, and eventually...

Tanooki time!

Another airship I had to chase around the map, but, I did make it...

Oh yeah, I forgot about Pipe World! This place was actually a blast to play through, though the fortress did time out on me before I finally figured out what I was supposed to do.

All the king transformation have been fun so far, but this was the only one that actually made me laugh. Just way too appropriate. Once this airship was downed, it was time to go to Dark World...

Bowser does seem like the kind of guy who would start a letter off with "Yo!", and I'm reading this in the voice of Bowser from the 90's animated series, and I'm pretty down with it...

I had actually forgotten that not all of Dark World was... dark. In fact, this world was particularly easy as I'd been saving all of my P-Wings and Lakitu Clouds up to this point, so I was able to practically skip most of the levels, save the fortress which almost did me in...

Hey, nice castle you got there...

Cheating? Maybe, but he's a pretty easy fight anyway. His castle's pretty easy as well, especially compared to recent fortresses. Now then, to save the princess!

Conclusion:

So yeah, I definitely under-appreciated this one as a kid. On a technical level, this game is near-Kirby perfect, suffering from only the occasional lag and virtually no sprite flicker. The soundtrack is still fantastic and the platforming is excellent. One thing I never noticed before was how much of a precursor this game was to my still-favorite Mario game, Super Mario World. Super Mario 3 set a lot of ideas in motion that would carry on through the series, not least of which being the overworld map.

This also feels like the point at which they really started to nail down level design and difficulty. The game was challenging, sometimes frustratingly so, but never disheartening. Levels hid secret routes and areas that never felt too far out of reach, and were always rewarding when discovered. These concepts have been so consistent and timeless, that someone who has never played an 8 or 16 bit Mario game, only experiencing, say, New Super Mario Bros or even Super Mario 3D World, could pick up Super Mario 3 and feel RIGHT at home.

I'm very glad I made myself play without using the flutes, which I now know play a tune from Legend of Zelda... Every world is new and varied, and it's exciting to see what comes next. Playing through each world also enhances the climbing difficulty leading to the final showdown with the not-so-difficult final boss.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is wonderful platforming experience.

Liked:

- Great level design and nearly perfect difficulty.
- Fitting, memorable soundtrack.
- Great graphics for the NES with almost zero flickering or latency.
- Seeing right about the point where Nintendo pinned down it's Mario formula is great.

Disliked:

- Some of the fortress levels were very unclear in how to progress through them, leading to death by timer.
- Final confrontation with Bowser was anticlimactic, though still satisfying.

Personal Score: