Super Mario Bros. 3
In 1988, Nintendo unleashed a game upon the world that would forever change the course of the Mario series, and, in its own special way, the world of video games as a whole. The game, Super Mario Bros. 3, took Mario to whole new levels, including giving the portly little guy the gift of flight.
I’ve played SMB3 about 70 times over the last few weeks, perhaps to the point that I’ve grown tired of it. Whatever the case, those play-throughs really gave me a closer look into the game’s more subtle nuances, and a greater appreciation of just how good the game is.
First of all, the amount of levels in the game was absolutely unheard of in the Mario series. Breaking the earlier established format of 7 or 8 worlds consisting of 3 or 4 levels, Mario 3’s 8 maps contained a minimum of 8 levels, including fortresses and airship levels. And unlike the original Super Mario Bros., the game featured levels that were all unique and original, each offering a new experience.
The Sun is apparently opposed to tornado-hopping.
The game’s music is superb, with each song upbeat and catchy. I find myself going over the music in my head over and over every time I hear it, sometimes to the point where it gets maddening. But it’s ok, I’m a Mario fanboy. Most notable about the game’s music is the revised version of the classic Mario underground theme, which adds a kick-ass beat to those memorable notes.
The game also features the ability to store items in an inventory that, when I think about it, stores a hell of a lot of items. You receive these items in bonus games, chests found in levels, in letters from the Princess, or in Toad’s Mushroom Houses. It can really come in handy when you find yourself getting your butt kicked by a particularly rough level.
The original Mario’s two-player mode was pretty shallow, with one player taking his turn only when the other has lost a life. This game takes two-player to a new level, with one player taking his turn when the other has either died or completed a level. Also new to the game is the ability to hijack the other player’s turn in a thrilling two-player battle royale reminiscent of the original arcade game Mario Bros. In this mode, the players have the ability to steal the other player’s turn if he dies. A play can also defeat 5 enemies to secure the victory and resume play. An interesting addition to this mode is the ability to steal your opponent’s cards, which can inch you ever closer to securing the coveted 5-life bonus that you receive when you possess 3 star cards.
Yes, despite the advancements of Super Mario Bros. 2, Luigi was right back to being nothing more than Mario's clone.
The card system adds a bit of depth to the game, with the goal at the end of every level giving you one of three possible cards – the Mushroom, the Flower, and the Star. When you’ve collected three cards, the game awards you one of four prizes: one life, two lives, three lives, or five lives. One if you don’t have matching cards, two if the cards are all mushrooms, three if they’re flowers, and five if they’re all stars. I don’t know if this is intentional or not, but they made it pretty easy to get star cards; all you have to do is run full speed into the side of the block at the end of the level.
Also making their debuts are neat little bonus games. The first you’ll probably encounter is a matching game, in which three panels alternate quickly between parts for a mushroom, flower and star. There are two mushroom parts in each panel. Your job, as you can probably tell, is to make the panels form one of the three possible shapes. The payout works similar to the card system – a mushroom yields 2 lives, a flower 3, and a star 5. This time around, though, if you can’t match the panels at all, you are sent away with nothing. No consolation prizes here.
The second bonus game comes in the form of a card-matching game, in which you are told to flip cards and match identical cards. For each match you make, you are awarded with the item pictured on the cards in your inventory. For example, if you match a pair of cards with stars on them, you can find a star in your inventory after the bonus game is over to give yourself invincibility for the next level you visit. If you match a couple of 1-Up cards, you get an extra life, etc.
The Powerups! My God, what have I been doing? SMB3 plays host to some of the most memorable abilities in the Mario series. Starting with the basics, Mario has the ability to grow, as always, and the familiar Fire Flower makes its comeback here. However, look beyond that, and this game features totally new outfits and abilities for Mario to try out. Take for instance, the Super Leaf, which gives Mario the ears and tail of a raccoon, and the inexplicable ability to fly. Also making their Mario debuts are the Hammer B
ro Suit, the Frog Suit, and the Tanooki Suit. The Hammer Bro Suit is my personal favorite, as it gives you the ability to throw hammers a la the hated Hammer Brothers, and a protective shell that really comes in handy when you press down to crouch. The Frog Suit tends to be the most useless, mostly due to the fact that there are only a few water-based levels in the game. You are given prolific swimming ability when underwater, but when Mario goes on land, his ability to walk is hindered greatly. The Tanooki Suit is almost exactly like the Raccoon Suit, except for the fact that this suit gives Mario the ability to turn into a statue when the player crouches and presses B at the same time. This ability makes Mario capable of defeating almost every enemy, including Thwomps and Roto-Discs.
Fat guy + flight = unforgettable.
The bosses in the game are a tad repetitive, with Boom Booms at the end of every fortress and not much changing from battle to battle besides the landscape. Boom Boom does acquire the ability to fly in the later levels, but frankly, the strategy for defeating him remains unchanged throughout the whole game. Bowser’s back, of course, except this time you don’t get to see him until the very end of the game. Instead of being faced with Bowser in every trip to a flying fortress, you are treated to meeting his Koopa Kids, with each more sinister than the last. Granted, most of the battles with these offspring of the Koopa King are similar, but a few really stand out as really memorable. Wendy O. Koopa, for instance, fires beams that not are not only unpredictable, but permanent as well; they stick around and keep bouncing of the walls of the stage. Lemmy Koopa also makes for an intense boss battle, as he releases a beach ball that travels in a manner similar to Wendy’s beams when he’s hit. And the last two Koopa Kids, Roy and Ludwig Von Koopa, are so heavy that when they jump or fall, they create an earthquake so jarring that it renders Mario helpless for a few seconds. And then of course, there’s King Bowser himself, whose body weight you must use to gain the advantage. As he jumps around the level, you must goad him into landing on the soft brick floor below you, chipping away at it until Bowser falls through, resulting in a tremendous “CRASH” and your march to victory.
Thank you. But our Princess is in another castle!...Just kidding! Ha ha ha! Bye bye.
My God. The guy just spent all of his being to come and rescue you, and you have the gall to crack a stupid tasteless joke like that? Talk about ungrateful. But with Mario being Mario, I would assume that would be enough for him.
Well, there you have it. Super Mario Bros. 3. This is considered by many to be the greatest game of the franchise, and I, for one, am in that camp. It’s the pinnacle of the series, with all the goofiness and over-the-top antics that many have come to expect from the Mario series. Few games have since come close to the sheer enjoyment that this game brings. With that, it’s time to wrap this baby up. Expect Super Mario World to be the subject of the next installment of Mario: A Retrospective.
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