Super Bros. 3 is the first video game that I can recall receiving mainstream hype. The commercials with the planet practically begging for more Mario, since the second game was a complete dream and all. By retro game guy obligations, I now have to remind you that Super Mario Bros 2 was a reskinned Doki Doki Panic released here in the United States. Because you didn't know that before reading this.

When the first Super Mario Bros. game dropped, it changed platform gaming. By introducing physics like gaining momentum that affects your trajectory and the height of your jumps. But SMB3 perfected it.

Released in Japan in 1988, Super Mario Bros wouldn't hit North American shores until two years later, and the UK in 1991. I can't confirm this, but I feel like the marketing campaign for the movie The Wizard (because you can never have your fill of Beau Bridges and Christian Slater in the early 90's). So you know you're Nintendo and are completely ruling the planet in the 90's when an entire movie is commissioned to act as a glorified commercial for a video game. Even throwing the magic warp zone flute in there, for good measure. Also, based on that competition, The Wizard might be to blame for planting the early seeds of a generation of video game speed-runners. I have nothing against speed-runners, it's just comes off to me as the hot-dog eating contest of video games. Don't @ me.

EVERYTHING about Super Mario Bros. 3 is better. The graphics, the speed, the controls, the variety of enemies and worlds, it's bigger, there's more to explore, and the replay value is through the roof. It's hard to talk about what this game hasn't done for the medium and its appeal in general. For a while, I thought that it's the very best Mario game made. When searching for the results and consulting many posts, opinions, and it ranks very high with Odyssey and World, and for good reason.

Bowser (still King Koopa at this time here in the States) and the Koopa Kids, who may or may not be his children (I've long forgotten at this point. I would rather not focus my diminishing brain power on the reproductive behavior of giant fire-breathing turtles) steal the 7 wands from the kings of each world. It's up to Mario and Luigi to get them back and restore peace to the land. I know I mentioned up above and in my Mario vs Sonic editorial during RETRO REBOOT VS month that the franchise as always been presented as a stage play, but I have always found it funny that these figures have never returned, or have been mentioned, since this game. Are Peach and Daisy just ruling their parts of the land with an iron fist, and these "kingdoms" have been reduced to mere provinces? Why are Daisy and Peach still going by their "princess" monikers? They're technically queens. See, these are the things I think about when I get a report that my flight has been delayed for six hours due to "giraffe complications". 

New threats to you in this game include water and land based levels, including rising and sinking tides, providing two new threats at once and making you place greater importance on your location. The first time you're experienced to nearly being swallowed by Boss Bass can really hit home how different things have become in this game. The world map is also new, something else that'll become a Mario staple. Hammer Bros can ambush you on the world, unless you have music boxes that can put them to sleep. Oh yeah, there's an INVENTORY in this game!

Need a quick power-up? Mario 3 introduces the inventory, where you can store items you win in a Mushroom hut or by defeating the Hammer Bros. You can get new power-ups, like the tanuki leaf, the signature skill in this game, the frog suit (very situational), and the Hammer Bros suit, whcih you get way too late in the game to truly appreciate. You get it in world six, the ice world. What good is it going to do there?

A case can be made that this inadvertently makes the game too easy, at least the first half. I think after World 4, it starts to really pick up. And the last two worlds can be pretty frustrating if you aren't careful. Its lax difficulty makes it very easy to pick up and casually play. It's another one of those titles that when I sit and dabble with for a few hours to prep for a review, I end up halfway through.

Sure, you can earn a lot of extra lives and skipping levels can be a snap when you know where all the secret locations are, but at times it can serve as a stress reliever before the challenge spike kicks in around World 6. With two players, you can go head to head to either take out the game together or see who can get a more thorough clear rate. And if they're playing too much like a d**k, challenge them in the old school Mario Bros arcade setting ans steal their extra lives and cards. That karma certainly won't add up over the years.

 You can't go wrong with Super Mario Bros. 3. It embodies everything that makes a video game enjoyable. A whole lot of NES games have aged terribly as the decades rolled on, but this one is definitely time tested and remains a delight to turn on and play to this day. It's the first video game that built up a great deal of hype and completely delivers. The only thing about Super Mario 3 that sucks is that lame cartoon, which is a terrible lateral from the charm of the Super Show.