Genre: Platformer
Year: 1988
Developed by: Nintendo R&D4
Published by: Nintendo
Platforms: NES
#85
Feeling Like: A NEW GAME? YOU DIDN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT A NEW GAME!
Just look at that goddamn box art. Might as well be a painting.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best NES game, one of the best 2D games ever and was responsible for me punching my membership card into the church of Nintendo for life. Super Mario Bros. was mesmerizing, but I was too inexperienced to understand why it was a big deal. Super Mario Bros. 2 was a bizarre, but endearing romp. But Super Mario Bros. 3 got everything just right. It looks so much better than its predecessors, it’s hard to believe it’s using the same guts. supe
And my goodness, what an introduction! How many games are announced via a silly family drama/comedy in theatres? Kids went absolutely bonkers. This wasn’t a fake title made for the movie, this was a real game. Out o f the blue. Coming to a store near you. JIMMY! WATCH THE MUSHROOMS!
I don’t think there’s a single person on the planet who owned a NES and didn’t have this sitting on their shelf at one point or another. I must have played this with every friend I had. There’s no single memory that stands out, it really was everywhere. Trying to beat the last World with Andreas. Copying the secrets I saw Jimmy do in the Wizard. Two player mode with Dobbo. The P-Wing. The epic final encounter with Bowser. The boundless creativity. Super Mario Bros. 3 is typical Nintendo fare, meaning the quality of the controls is peerless and the level design is meticulously planned to ensure you have as much fun as humanly possible. There aren’t enough superlatives.
We’re currently going through Super Mario Bros. Wonder. It’s a delight, it harkens back to the best 2D Mario games ever. At first when I saw the promotional material showcasing Mario in an….elephant suit? Huh. I wasn’t wild about it, but then I remembered Super Mario Bros. 3 had a frog suit, raccoon tails and hopping around in a giant boot. There isn’t something too weird for Nintendo to make work. Of course, the elephant suit is awesome. Even with 2023’s oppressive competition, Super Mario Bros. Wonder should be a shoe-in for a Top 10 spot. No level feels repetitive and you know starting a new one will bring something unique to the table. The anticipation and execution is flawless.
What else do I say? I have one other NES game above it on the 500, but in no reality would I claim that Mega Man 2 is ahead of Super Mario Bros. 3, that’s just personal preference. And the soundtrack. And the fact that Mario Bros. 3 has been supplanted by at least a few other 2D Marios, whereas I’m not convinced there are better Mega Man games than Mega Man 2. Well, ok, maybe one, but I’m spinning my wheels here.
There’s the bastardly sun. The giant world. The ice world. The Tanooki suit, which gives you raccoon powers AND you get to transform into a statue. Shells of all kind, secrets galore. Jeff Gerstmann and Dan Ryckert playing it on a roller coaster. Warp zones. Auto-scrolling levels. The airships. The koopalings.
Nearly everything I know about using momentum and physics in video games comes from here. Tough jump coming up? Better start running. Can I use those Goomba as launching pads? Yes, easily. Auto scrolling level, ok, don’t move too far to the right or left. Keep center. Should I start this level with an item? Which one? Can I slide down this hill to get enough height on that jump?
The fundamentals we enjoy were from experiments of mad scientists almost 40 years ago and Super Mario Bros. 3’s everlasting legacy is present in every future Mario game. When I go down a pipe, or see a fire flower on the ground, I think back to six year old Henry doing the same thing. I can hear every sound effect in my head, every song rushes back a flood of memories. It’s not the best soundtrack on the Mario circuit and admittedly it would be difficult to justify this game over Super Mario World, or Super Mario Wonder but it’s still a superb example of Nintendo magic.
The 500 