For some of us the first time we saw Super Mario Bros. 3 was in the movie The Wizard. I saw the movie a few years later so that doesn’t apply to me. However, I remembered the night we got it. The year was 1990, I was in the car with my mom and middle brother waiting for my dad and oldest brother. They went inside of a wholesale club possibly BJ’s. It felt like they were taking forever but the patience of a 5 year old are pretty slim.
Then they finally came back to the car with the game in their hands. We got home that night and fired it up on our NES. As the youngest sibling you don’t get to play first or second especially as young as I was. But I watched and it looked so fun I couldn’t wait to eventually play it. My brothers room was a finished basement and thats where majority of the gaming happened. Sitting on that hard cold floor with the console on the floor and a CRT TV on channel 3.
How Super Mario Bros. 3 Is Superior to its Predecessors
I am very biased on this one but I think many people can agree with me. First off the graphics look way better with details and colors. Even though Part 2 has a drastic improvement to Part 1, it still doesn’t compare to 3.
The Progression
The first two games you cannot choose the stages or go around the map like most Mario games. This is the one that started that metagame mechanic in the way you progress in the game.
the weapons of choice
Also it was the first of the franchise to allow you to pick a power-up before starting a stage. Don’t get me started on the various power-ups that helped you throughout your battles. Aside from the typical mushroom, star man and fire you get the super leaf, frog suit, tanooki suit, hammer suit and P- wing were fun to use. Flying throughout the stages, tail whipping the enemies and swimming fast were a necessity against enemies. This was something that blew our minds especially when you first saw it on the back of the box and manual.
The Unique Worlds of Super Mario Bros. 3
I love the worlds in Super Mario Bros. 3 and its enemies had remained throughout the franchises. You still see some of these in the Nintendo Switch games and that tells you these are fan favorites. One of my personal favorites is giant land in world 4. Every time I’m there I feel like I’m at Costco or vice versa, so you can say going to a wholesale club will always remind me of this game. Another interesting one is Oceanside or Water Land which every you prefer. I always been a water type of guy and just love that giant fish chasing me.
Beating the game both ways
I’ve beaten Super Mario Bros. 3 for the first time when I was about 9 years old. I was sick one day my mom let me stay home from school and in the middle of the day I decided to play it. I got my whistles and made it to world 8.
This is where it got hard but I pushed through and it probably took me over an hour from when I started the game. I took a break for lunch but just before my brothers got out of school I finally beat bowser. It felt like such an accomplishment I was thrilled. I dont even think I saw my brothers beat the game so that was a badge of honor.
About a year and a half ago I wanted to see if I could beat the game without the whistles and just hit every stage. I managed to get through he whole game and experienced every stage of every level. I discovered stages I’d never seen before, along with enemies I’d previously only seen on the box or in the manual. It was that itch that I had to scratch because I was always curious of whats out there. I have the Commentary and Non Commentary videos that I will provide below if you want to revisit your childhood.
final thoughts
I’m always going to love the music from this game and the visuals. it’s such a charming timeless master piece. Even when I had gotten my SNES and beat Super Mario World I still went back to play this game. I’ve played almost half of the titles because we all know its a lot! But Super Mario Bros. 3 has got to be my all time favorite out of the franchise. Every time I play it, it brings nostalgia from when I was a kid. It’s like a peaceful time machine for me.
Check out my other articles on nostalgic classics below.