CLASSIC GAMING
Super Mario Bros 3
Developer - Nintendo
Publisher - Nintendo
Genre - Platformer
Year - 1988
System - NES/SNES/Gameboy Advance


The most famous plumbers in existence had a string of marvellously successful games, that much we definitely know.  Even now when people are seeing the latest of his talents spanning towards the stars themselves, we still remember the knockout hits they had in their earlier times.  One game is especially remembered for being total proof in its earliest form that Mario and Luigi could only go 1-up with Nintendo.  Their first and greatest sequel.

Story - Super Mario Bros 3, the true sequel to the Mario Bros series since Mario Bros 2 was a recolouring of another game entitled Doki Doki Panic, is simple like them all.  The koopalings, Bowser's children, have kidnapped the rulers of the 7 kingdoms that neighbour the Mushroom Kingdom and stolen their ruling wands to cause havoc in their worlds.  However it is later found that it was all a distraction, as Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach to his own kingdom, the Koopa Kingdom, where the Mario Bros. must head for as the final world.


Graphics - The graphics are sharper than the first Super Mario Bros was, the pixels have been smoothened out so Mario and Luigi don't look like a bunch of tiny squares like everyone else around them anymore, but rather a more composite solid-looking duo.  The enemies around them are also the same, looking more unique than ever.
The worlds themselves are also sharper looking, levels varying from the dank undergrounds that can have varying shades of darkness, the above worlds that range from shiny glinting ice lands, pale hot-looking desert lands and the ever familiar normal worlds composite of strange screwed-in blocks of an almost childlike nature, skies filled with peering cute-eyed clouds and wooden boardwalks of the ground with the green field to cross now and again.


Gameplay - The gameplay returns to the original Super Mario Bros with more refined controls.  Once again, you head through levels, defeating enemies by stomping on their heads or other means like fire flowers (which grant you the power to shoot fireballs), Starmen (which make you invincible temporarily), and the koopa shell that shoot across the level if you jump on them.
A new powerup that appears regularly is the Raccoon Leaf, an item that gives Mario a raccoon suit (or Tanuki as it is called in Japan), that allows Mario to hit enemies with the tail, and fly temporarily when his power run meter is fully charged (like a plane, get a long enough sprint without jumping or hitting anything and you fully charge it, but you can go back and forth a smaller strip of land repeatedly to build it up enough).
Another change is that at the end of the level, instead of a flagpole there is a randomly shifting box wich depending on how you hit it, offers you a silhouette of an item.  Get three in a row and you gain an extra life or more, as well as using the good old "gather 100 coins" to do the same.


The levels are no longer as linear as the first game or the second.  Now you can choose levels more to your fitting.  On the world map of each kingdom, you will know what to expect when you enter a level.  A level near a body of water means that you'll be swimming or facing aquatic enemies above ground, and so forth.  The world map also has Toad Houses, where a Toad can offer you 3 chests, each one holding an item you can use on the world map before a level, such as a Mushroom or a Fire Flower.  Now and again a special item like a spade card will appear on the map, which is a bonus round to get more lives if you either match the sliding pictures to make a complete item, or a memory game of pairing up cards.


Music/Sound - The music is some of the most memorable of the Mario series.  From the first world map to the final world map, you will remember most of them in some way or other, even from other Mario games remixed in some manner.  Like all Mario games, Koji Kondo keeps the atmosphere childishly light, even in the dank undergrounds which in itself is a remix of the underground levels of Super Mario Bros 1.  Sounds are generally the same from Super Mario Bros with the klonk of koopa shells, coin shines and the ever famous Mario Bros jump sound.  Nothing has changed other than the new sounds of the new items such as the Raccoon Leaf.

While it is the third game of the original NES trilogy, it is the truer sequel of Super Mario Bros, and you can feel the more original potency shine through from Nintendo in this game that even now, almost 20 years after its production, is still just as variable and playable as you'd want.  Sure you could finish it by skipping a few levels in a day, but the challenge always lies there ready for you.


Fun and Innovation - 4
Replayability - 5
Gameplay - 4
Presentation - 4

great game, brings back a lot of memories.

I think pretty much everyone who played the original 3 loved this game the most.  It was just the biggest and most diverse one.