Super Mario Bros. 3
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| Portal: Action/Adventure | 
| Super Mario Bros. 3 at Nintendopedia |
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| Super Mario Bros. 3 | |
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| Developer(s) | Nintendo |
| Publisher(s) | Nintendo |
| Designer(s) | Shigeru Miyamoto |
| Release date | October 23, 1988 (JP) February 12, 1990 (NA) August 29, 1991 (EU) |
| Genre | 2D Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Age rating(s) | N/A |
| Platform(s) | Famicom/NES |
| Media | 320-kilobit cartridge |
| Input | Controller |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in February 12, 1990 and is considered one of the best games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and is often cited as being among the Top 10 video games of all time, and has been one of the gold standards of the action-platformer genre ever since. The director, Shigeru Miyamoto, truly had wonderful ideas for this sublime installment.
It was the third game in the series in both Japan and the US.
In Super Mario Bros. 3, Mario and Luigi are on a mission to rescue the seven kings of the seven kingdoms (referred to in-game as "worlds") which neighbor the Mushroom Kingdom. Each of the kings has had his magic wand stolen by one of the Koopalings, who has turned him into a different type of animal. It's up to Mario and Luigi to enter the seven kingdoms, make their way to the Koopalings' airships and take back the wands.
However, as Mario and Luigi learn at the end of world 7, these attacks are merely a diversion planned by Bowser to allow him to capture Princess Peach while her guardians are otherwise occupied.
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[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay returns to where it first began, Super Mario Bros., with many more new and interesting mechanics. While the platforming is similar to the previous installments, it has so many new ideas that it surprised people more than often.
New in the series is the overworld map which displays the levels of the world and where you're currently situated. By integrating this marvellous idea, players have the freedom to take different routes and try the levels again if they wanted to. There are also mini-games, traveling enemies and secret areas spread around the seven worlds that enriches the experience, including:
- Mushroom Houses, which allow the player to choose from one of three chests for a free power-up item that can be used on the world map only to buff Mario or Luigi before entering a level.
- Spade House, which lets the player play a slot-machine-like mini game for extra lives.
- Card Games, which pop up occasionally, and allow the player to play a Memory mini-game, rewarding correct matches with the bonus shown on the matched cards.
- Hammer Brothers, which appear on the world map on certain levels and wander around it. If the player encounters one the player must defeat one or two hammer brothers in a small one-screen stage, with a map-powerup reward. If the player encounters one on an uncleared stage, the hammer brothers will show up in the early portion of the stage, and give a power up when defeated.
- Coin ships, which show up occasionally and wander around the map. Entering one will present the player with a small stage where their only job is to get as many coins as they can while the stage goes past them.
To decrease the difficulty in the North American and European version, Nintendo decided to give Mario & Luigi an "extra" life by making them able to take a hit if they had a special power.
Ah yes, the "special" powers, arguably one of the best gameplay inclusions. While the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower were familiar power-ups, there are a dozen more power-ups which helped Mario & Luigi through their quest. From the Super Leaf which granted our protagonists the ability to fly to the Frog Suit which enables faster movement underwater, you couldn't help but smile and congratulate the ingenious mind of Shigeru Miyamoto. Of course, no list of powerups (in this game) would be complete without including Kuribo's Shoe.
There are also the Tanooki Suit, which allows limited invincibility in addition to flight, and the Hammer Brother Suit which allows Mario or Luigi to throw hammers at enemies, and duck to become immune to fireballs.
Boss fights are a two-stage process. The first stage involves the player traversing an airship filled with hazards to a pipe, which leads to the Koopaling boss him or herself. The fights with the Koopaling bosses occur in a single screen, and are always concluded by jumping on the boss three times. Each boss has a different pattern of movement, getting more difficult in successive stages. If the player fails to defeat the boss in their first attempt, the airship will move around the map to a random other node, and the player will need to chase it down. Sometimes, if the player has skipped a fair number of levels, the boss airship will require that the player beat a stage they have skipped to get there. Each time a level is beaten if the airship is in motion, it will move to another random spot on the map.
[edit] Popularity
With its brilliant gameplay, Super Mario Bros. 3 is considered a must-have for every NES owner. It sold more than 30 million copies worldwide with 18 million in North America alone, making it the best-selling standalone video game not bundled with a console. It was an astonishing achievement for that time. (Frankly, it is still an unbelievable achievement.)
[edit] Remakes
Super Mario Bros. 3 has been remade for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System under the name Super Mario All-Stars. It included all three instalments of the Super Mario Bros. series and received a major graphical and audio overhaul.
Another version was released for the Game Boy Advance, dubbed Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. The most notable new inclusion is the feature to download power-ups, new levels and speed demos through the e-Reader.
[edit] Secrets
In level 3 of World 1, there's a large white block placed between different coloured blocks. If you keep Mario crouched down for several seconds, Mario will fall down through the block behind the scenery. From then on, keep going to the right (look out for any Goombas) and you will walk to a secret Mushroom house containing a Magic Whistle.
In the mini-castle in World 1, there's a secret passage above the wall at the end of the first segment. Have Raccoon Mario fly to the top all the way to the end and press Up to enter a secret area containing another Magic Whistle.
[edit] Speed Runs
Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people have tried to beat the game as fast as humanly possible. To do this you must obtain the two secret Warp Whistles in the first half of World 1 and use both of them to go directly to World 8. One of the more famous speed runs circulating through the Internet is one that's beaten under 11 minutes by a Japanese fanatic. What's astonishing is that he enters World 8 and scores 1-Ups like it was nothing. Unfortunately, it was done using slow-down techniques and quicksaves from an emulator, thus proving to be more of an entertainment purpose than anything else.
