Please login to submit a screenshot

And so, Mario flew..."

It all started when the little Italian plumber scrolled right towards a flagpole; it went on with the mustached pipe fixer to a less charismatic land and a character roster of Mushroom kingdom sorts to choose from; In Super Mario Bros. 3, Nintendo decided to go back to the roots--Goombas roam the lands once more and it's up to Mario to squish their tops and save the princess. Like with tradition, eight worlds divide between Mario and a joke: "The Princess is in another castle.. Just Kidding," the princess goes.

The over-world is a valuable asset for a platformer, and the introduction of it in Super Mario Bros. 3 gives things a more interesting nature, putting the player at a heightened sense of control--you can circumvent whole levels by taking different courses of action on the map; you can choose to play 1-4 in order to hit 1-6 later, or you can go with 1-5 followed by 1-7. The map is littered with levels, fortresses, toad houses, and airships amongst other constructions.

If you come at this game from Super Mario Bros., you'll notice how much the series advanced on all fronts: graphics, audio, and gameplay have all been greatly refined--you can now scroll to the left of the screen, making the player feel more in control as previously mentioned, and when the player is more in control, (s)he's bound to be searching and fiddling more, which is why this game has plenty of fun secrets. There are three warp whistles that will help you warp ahead, and finding them is all sorts of fun--nothing like a secret to make you all giddy.

Now secrets don't stop at whistles; there are all sorts of shortcuts and game mechanic hacks to be utilized. A good game mechanic hack that sent a smile up my neurons is that of unlimited 1up scores: at certain points in the game, you can utilize your situation--surroundings, enemies, and power-ups--to score unlimited amounts of a different breed of 1up; it's not the green mushroom we all know, but rather a red text 1up making its entry following alleviating sums of score points--100, 200, 400, etc. 8000, 1up, 1up, and more 1up. This is clearly demonstrated in level 1-3, where you can utilize the Super Leaf powerup to stomp an endless barrage of Goombas for an endless injection of Mario-ups.

Mario's surroundings are at an originality high: the game levels feel fresh, and going from area to area, you won't feel the same models are being rehashed. Each level has a distinct aura of its own, unlike what has been presented in Super Mario Bros. 2. The turtle--koopa troopa--is here, and now Mario can carry its shell about, unleashing it at your leisure. There are multiple sections where the tortoise plays an integral role, since stationary targets at level with Mario--that can't be hit per say--can be targeted by the tortoise.

Multiple Mario staples make their debut here: the P-block is here, a block that turns coin to stone and stone to coin. Huh? A long stretch of coins lines the sky above leading to an easier route towards the end of the level, and to utilize it, you'll have to turn the coins to stone. P-block and carry yourself to comfort, but do hurry, since the amount of time you have is limited before things go back to normal.

A Super Leaf was mentioned before, but I didn't quite point out its beauty. The Super Leaf gives Mario a tail that will help him soar the skies--after a bit of a warm-up, and once a turbo meter at the bottom is filled up, you can use you tail to fly about for a limited amount of time, findings secrets and skipping hard stretches of platforming land. There is also a variation on this power-up, the Tanooki suit, plus two suits missing from other Bros. titles: the Frog and Hammer Brother suits. The Frog suit turns Mario into a jolly frog that can cut through water levels like a super genetically-enhanced frog; however, on land, the frog suit is a debilitating power-up that slows Mario down, so it's best left for the waters.

You have an item inventory in this title, given the choice of using various items you win during the course of the game. Before entry into any level and on the game map, you can open up an items menu to select from the various power-ups you own: stars, flowers, mushrooms, P-wings, and various other Mario boosters. This gives another layer of strategy and control over the game, where you can decide what to properly equip your Mario with before dispatching him in Hammer Brother territory.

The enemies are a varied bunch like usual, ranging from the aforementioned Hammer Bros. and Goombas, to Koopa Troopas and Piranha Plants. Most enemies have patterns that can be observed to efficiently dispatch of them. Others are just winded and set at Mario in a zombie straight, like Goombas and Koopa Troopas. Piranha Plants dwell in pipes, which is a plumber's best friend--Mario enjoys pipes as they tend to offer him plenty of coins and power-ups to feast on, not to mention their natural course of offering shortcuts.

Bosses are fun to take out. Instead of the same Bowser vomiting fire at you at the end of every world, you get a different tortoise that has a different pattern for you to crack into, mostly jumping and squishing the soft noggin three times to finish it off. Bowser is a bit different than the bosses that come before him, and he seemed a bit easy for an end boss for a game that was increasingly challenging the same time you were getting better.

The levels are all sorts of themed, ranging from underwater and grass to desert and snow. Platforming is as fun as Mario goes, and things tend to get hectic--bullet bills coming at you as you stomp a koopa troopa and gain height to cross an empty chasm below, all the while keeping a canon ball in mind check; it's hectic, but there's no satisfaction like dodging enemies and escaping death by a mere hair with toned reflexes.

Alongside Super Mario World, I consider this the cream of Mario's 2-d crop. The platforming is both challenging and rewarding, the secrets are aplenty, and the suits are fresh. The game will take you a while to finish, but I'm willing to bet you that it won't finish--this is one of these games immortalized by time.

Pros

+ SUPER LEAF
+ Platforming goodness
+ Plentiful fulfilling secrets
+ Interesting game mechanic hacks
+ Nice custumes exclusive to this game

Cons

- Bowser isn't challenging
- You can't replay levels... what's up with that?

Visuals - 9

Real pretty for an NES title; Mario really advanced from his first Bros. title.

Audio - 10

The iconic riffs and clanks that made Mario.

Gameplay - 10
-Fun Factor - 10
-Controls - 10
-Difficulty - Average

FUN.

Lifespan - 8

Once you finish it, you will keep coming back as time goes by.

Overall - 10

Along with Super Mario World, this is the title that embodies 2-d Mario platforming greatness. Do yourself a favor and stomp some Goombas in a Tanooki suit.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 10/02/08

Game Release: Super Mario Bros. 3 (US, 02/12/90)