(Originally posted on October, 2015)
(1988, Famicom)
(Note: I own several physical and digital copies of the US release, but opted to play the Japanese version on an emulator.)
Although many would argue that the series changed for the better after branching off on a more open, exploratory path with Super Mario World, for me, none of the later games offer the same sense of immediate, constant fun quite like Super Mario Brothers 3. At any given moment, some sort of enemy or vantage point is enticing you to keep going, all the while you’re marveling at the latest small but novel idea introduced to nearly every stage. Since most of the levels are rather brief, it’s very easy to get stuck in that “just one more” pattern and play quite a bit longer than intended. Other games in the series might offer greater wonder, innovation and influence, but Mario 3 is the best at straight up platform jumping, enemy defeating Mario-ing.
For many, Mario 3 was ubiquitous as the absolute peak of gaming from early 1990 all the way until the arrival of the Super Nintendo around a year and a half later. The mania surrounding the game was further propelled by all the merchandise, cartoons (of questionable quality, but hey, if you’re 7 and it’s just a show, do you really care?) and even McDonalds Happy Meals. I can still remember watching The Wizard in theaters and losing my mind when the game showed up completely out of nowhere during the epic VIDEO ARMAGEDDON tournament. The game further stunned when I got a closer look at it at someone’s house. The graphics blew away anything I’d previously seen on the NES and the level design not only matched the complexity of what was featured in Mario 2 (USA), but the game was much faster paced and even more fun. That feeling of awe never faded, as Super Mario 3 is still more or less still my favorite game after all these years. I’ll need to be in the right mood for a fighter, RPG or adventure, but I can always have a great time with SMB3 no matter what.
The original SMB already captivated millions, but 3 finally does justice to the initial design. The physics have been made far more manageable, allowing for more enemy hazards and variances within the stages themselves to provide the challenge. The levels are filled with hills, alternate paths, auto scrolling, and an increased general interactivity with many more ways to die. The goombas, koopas and sealife impeding your way have been expanded to a huge cast, some of which are delightfully strange and rare, such as the ride-able Para Beetles and always nerve racking Ptooies. Like SMB, puzzle elements are relatively sparse, feeling like they were placed in there to goof on the player rather than as a full blown part of the game’s makeup. The inventory system and impressive variety of items brought a touch of strategy and planning while on the world map. Even smashing bricks is more fun as they now explode with a more satisfying crumble.
Besides all that, the Worlds themselves are what the game’s all about! Let’s go on a brief tour.
1 – Grass Land
Taking place on a single screen, this brief world introduced a ton of new features that were mind blowing at the time. The ability to fly, slopes you can slide down, fortresses, toad (item) houses, mini-games and challenges, scrolling stages…and this is just the very beginning! The first time playing 1-4, forced to quickly decide how to get to the next tiny platform, I felt like I was really a thousand feet in the air.
2 - Desert Hill
This huge world marks the series’ first appearance of Thwomps, Boos, and most horrifyingly, The Angry Sun! I particularly loved the level design within this world. It’s so much fun discovering and swimming in the lagoons, making your way through the entanglements of pipes and touring the pyramids, be it outsides where flame snakes patrol or the inside, which is an infested labyrinth of buzzy beetles.
3 - Ocean Side
My least liked world, many of the levels are fun yet slightly annoying, whether being stalked by a giant man eating fish on multiple occasions, swimming through the slightly cramped oceans or guessing which door to go through in the water logged fortress. If you’re unlucky enough to get into a fight with the hammer brothers as small Mario, he’ll be forced to swim past the hammers raining down on him.
4 – Big Island
It felt like the NES was performing magic when all the enemies, blocks and pipes suddenly became gigantized. A cool moment is how near the end of the world, you’re given the option to go through a doorway that returns you to a more familiar world, where everything is smaller and easier, but you’re having such a good time that you’d likely rather just continue the insanity!
5 – The Sky
The second half of this world is where the game suddenly ramps up its difficulty. Shortly after jumping up and down in Kuribo’s shoe, the game goes “Enough with the dilly-dallying. Let’s get the party started!” From there, a series of very tricky levels must be conquered. Ascending the clouds of level 9’s diagonally scrolling stage while being endlessly stalked by fire chomps and finally making it to the pipe never loses its thrill.
6 – Iced Land
Here the game goes from challenging to straight up menacing. There are tons of slippery levels and several fortresses. As a kid, this is where I usually warp whistled to the final world. Be brave and get through it, as you’ll be rewarded with the ultra-rare Hammer Bros suits.
7 – Pipe World
Very moody and isolated, there are some very fun regular platforming stages set to dusk backgrounds, complimented by the inventive and very challenging special “piranha” levels. A fun moment is when 7-4 gets so overwhelmed with jellyfish to navigate through, that you’ll think you’re playing a shmup.
8 – Castle of Kuppa
Probably the darkest, most Death Metal world in the entire Mario universe, in-between all the auto-scrolling stages pitting you against Bowser’s army, there are simpler yet tough stages that pay homage to the original Super Mario Brothers. Containing the only level I cannot stand in the game, I usually skip past the world’s rather confusing fortress.
With some of the finest graphics on the NES at the time, the variety of enemies and stages made the game look and feel huge. Terms like ambience and art direction don’t seem hugely important to the series, yet I feel they reached a notable peak here. Possibly tapping into Alice in Wonderland’s imagery, I was always strangely bothered by the checkered tile, chandeliers and brick walls of the fortresses. In World 5, when you finally finish ascending the tower, the creepy music continuing even on the outside portions, there’s no goal or fanfare when you get to the end. You’re just plopped into a new whole new part of the world. Like a hamster transferred to a new cage, you can’t help but sit there for a moment wondering what just happened! The whole game has an often overlooked, subtle eeriness lurking everywhere, right before the series permanently morphed into the often bemoaned “kiddy” Mario style. There’s even more stuff like the recently confirmed rumor that the whole game is a play, the scowl of boom boom, the menacing, unchanging smiles stuck on the faces of the koopa kids and the feeling of isolation even though you’re in such a huge world. All of these elements and a ton of other little touches take Mario down a very interesting path.
While none of the music is particularly classic, it’s up there and there’s a ton of it, most of it still feeling underutilized even after hundreds of playthroughs. An interesting mix between hi-tech samples (by NES standards) and the usual warm sounding wave sounds, the usage of steel drums in particular always stuck with me. The remix of SMB’s “underground” theme provides a fun feeling of mischief. The deliberate slow coolness of the Pipe World theme tended to immediately scare me into using a warp whistle. Themes like World Clear, Iced Land, Pipe World and Lullaby are just waiting to be cleverly used as a hip-hop beat if they haven’t already.
The Japanese references added another special touch to the game, especially since I barely knew anything about the culture at the time. There’s the elusive treasure ship with the 宝 (Treasure) symbol. I had no idea why “Tanuki” Mario, whatever that was, was capable of transforming into the even stranger Jizō statue. At the age of 8 I just compartmentalized this kind of stuff as “Japan.”
If you have any modern Nintendo system and haven’t played yet, certainly put down a five-spot and download it immediately. If you’re up for an additional challenge, check out the Japanese version with it’s substantially more challenging (and satisfying) damage penalties. The game is still just as instantly accessible and engaging now as it was 25 years ago. The only possible flaw is that levels/worlds can not be revisited within the same session, but at the time such a concept wasn’t really established so it’s not as much of a problem as it sounds. In that way, Mario 3 can serve as a reminder to enjoy life’s fleeting moments to the maximum. With the Nintendo though, you can always restart.
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