Though the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) practically qualifies as ancient technology now, many of the games that catapulted the system to stratospheric popularity are still considered top-notch fare. Super Mario Bros 3 is chief among these esteemed titles. This classic action game from 1988 more than holds up in the current busy era of gaming: It continues to contribute to Mario's legacy, and still fuels the imaginations of modern game developers worldwide.
It therefore goes without saying that Super Mario Bros 3 is worth downloading from the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. It doesn't matter if you already own the game. This is one adventure that should be owned in every available format. You should play it, you should re-play it, and then you should share it with your children, your friends, your fish - anyone that hasn't yet sampled its near-perfection. It is your duty.
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Action / Platforming
ESRB Rating: E ("Everyone"). No noteworthy descriptors of potentially offensive content.
Compatible With: Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 2DS
GOOD: A classic action game that shows off Mario at his very best.
BAD: Non-customizable controls may be a source of frustration.
Necessary Reading Comprehension: Very low. There's a tiny amount of dialogue from the Toads, the Princess, and the rescued kings, none of which is necessary for understanding the game or its mechanics.
Super Mario Bros 3 is available online for the Virtual Console. Click here for a direct Nintendo 3DS eShop link.
THE BASICS: Save the Princess - Oh, Wait.
Surprisingly, Super Mario Bros 3 doesn't begin with a kidnapped princess. Bowser, the dastardly King of the Koopas, is certainly up to his old tricks, but this time, Princess Peach (or "Princess Toadstool," as she was known before 1996's Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64) is safe at home.
Instead of performing his usual kidnapping shenanigans, Bowser instead looses his children on the Mushroom Kingdom. The Koopalings steal wands from the realm's seven kings, but not before turning the monarchs into a menagerie of weird animals.
Already a veteran in the "hero" business by 1988, Mario sets out to retrieve the wands and turn the kings back to their royal selves. He travels across eight worlds, each packed with stages that reflect the maps' varying themes. There are classic Mario enemies to be disposed of, including Goombas and Koopa Troopas, but there's a dizzying array of new threats as well - including bosses, mini-bosses, stark fortresses, and flying ships.
GAMEPLAY: Suit Up
Super Mario Bros 3 marked something of a homecoming for Western Mario fans. The game we know as Super Mario Bros 2 is a re-worked version of Japan's Doki-Doki Panic, an Arabian-themed action title. Doki-Doki Panic was fine-tuned, Mario's skin was applied, and Super Mario Bros 2 put up for sale on North American markets.
Whereas Super Mario Bros 2 presents a dreamlike realm wherein Mario and his pals defeat baddies by plucking and throwing, Mario pulls on his stomping boots once again for Super Mario Bros 3. Foes are primarily disposed of by stomping, though there is certainly more than one way to squish a Goomba this time around.
Super Mario Bros 3 built the initial closet of "suit" power-ups that still appear in Mario games today. Mario's raccoon tail is the most iconic of the bunch, and the most useful. After catching a Super Leaf, Mario grows a bushy ringed tail (and a couple of pointed ears to match) that lets him fly if he builds up enough momentum while running. The tail doesn't need to be "charged up" to be useful, either. It can slow Mario's descent after falls, making for easier jumps across treacherous terrain. It can also knock enemies silly.
Other available suits include the Frog Suit (which lets you cut through the water with ease, eliminating the need to press the jump button repeatedly to swim), the Tanooki Suit (which functions much like the Super Leaf, but also grants Mario the ability to turn into an invulnerable statue for a time), and the fan-beloved Hammer Suit, which lets Mario sling the same hammers as the feared reptilian siblings.
The suits are occasionally found within the levels themselves, but more often they're collected from Toad Houses. Toad Houses are scattered around each world map, and can be visited as long as Mario has cleared a path by completing the necessary levels.
In fact, Super Mario Bros 3's non-linearity marks one of the most significant changes between itself and its predecessors. While it's necessary for Mario to complete the majority of the levels in each world, there are also optional diversions that lead to alternate paths, or even to Toad Houses that contain rare suits.
Players that are especially keen may discover how to unlock some of the game's invisible super-secrets. Think you can find a way to board the Coin Ship? Or maybe you'll discern the pattern of coin-collecting that reveals the fabled White Toad Houses.
Oldschool Challenge
Mario needs all the power-ups he can hoard, since Super Mario Bros 3 still ranks as a pretty challenging game. It's easy enough to earn extra lives, but if you play all the worlds straight through, you gradually notice how each land contains unique hazards. Sky Land has bottomless pits galore. Ice Land's terrain is slippery, and its enemies are hardy. Pipe Land's pipe mazes will send you in circles. And Dark Land - well, King Bowser rules the realm with a spiked fist, and let's just say he doesn't believe in shelling out for additional lighting.
Moreover, unlike many Mario games, the levels in Super Mario Bros 3 lack midway markers that you can return to if you die. When Mario kicks the bucket, he has to re-start the level from square one. This can be a frustrating experience for beginner players, and it's doubtful veteran Mario fans always appreciate being booted back to start, either.
There's an additional noteworthy flaw that belongs to the emulation, not the game: Super Mario Bros 3 for the Virtual Console doesn't let you adjust your controls. Players that prefer the Super Nintendo controller setup - "Y" for running / projectile throwing and "B" for jumping - are out of luck. It's "A" for jumping and "B" for running, or it's nothing.
Hopefully someday Nintendo will get around to letting us customize our Virtual Console control schemes.
GRAPHICS AND SOUND: Look, Listen, Appreciate
Super Mario Bros 3 is a good-looking game, though younger players may admittedly have a hard time appreciating the 8-bit graphics (especially if their first exposure to Mario has been the jaw-dropping Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U).
Nevertheless, aside from its clean sprites and creative enemy designs, Super Mario Bros 3 also contains tons of little visual touches that give it jolts of personality. The steel-and-wood ships and tanks that make up Bowser's army look as if they're made of weathered logs, and when Mario falls through the sky after retrieving a magic wand from one of the Koopaling's airships, the clouds scroll past him at different speeds, creating a pseudo-3D effect that's pretty ambitious for an 8-bit game.
Even the world maps have extras still capable of making you smile all these years later. Who can resist watching the trees dance to the slow beat of Desert Land, or the quick, chilly-sounding twinkle of Ice Land?
The soundtrack for Super Mario Bros 3 is as ambitious as its graphics, if not moreso. The general theme is seemingly calypso-inspired, complete with digital steel drums for the more laid-back stages. When the situation calls for drama - say, an airship, a fortress, or a battle with a boss - the tone shifts and becomes appropriately foreboding.
Also, open your ears when you use a Music Box item to put the Hammer Brothers to sleep. The "lullaby" is actually the original Super Mario Bros theme played at a gentle tempo. Soothing and nostalgic!
CONCLUSION: Mario at His Best
Super Mario Bros 3 marks one of the Mario series' high points, if not its highest. It's creative, it's fun, and it's stuffed with bright ideas.
The Mario series still holds up today, and that's partially because the teams making the new games still adhere to lessons learned when Super Mario Bros 3 was first conceived. Nearly any Mario title is a good one, but Super Mario Bros 3 is truly king plumber.