Super Mario Bros. 3 - Mario enters the 90's...
Written: Jul 06 '02 (Updated Jul 06 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Pretty much everything is good with this game, especially its fun factor.
Cons: Small details without importance.
The Bottom Line: The fun you can get out of such a simple and easy-going game such as this is priceless.
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| vince006's Full Review: Super Mario Bros. 3 for Nintendo |
Take the first Super Mario Bros and improve its graphics to make it cartoony. Add maps for each of the 8 worlds featuring many different types of levels and bonus rounds. Cram in lots of new special items to make the game a little more strategic. Replace the first seven Bowsers you kill in SMB with 7 bratty Koopa kids. Finally, add a little updated version of the original Mario Bros (without the “Super”). What do you get? Super Mario Bros. 3.
This is easily one of the most popular NES games. Some people say its the best... others say its the second place (after Kirby’s Adventure), but pretty much everyone will tell you that this game is great. No wonder it still (yeah, some people buy games from the late eighties in the year 2002) is among the top 3 NES games in matter of sales.
Nintendo once again surprised the Mario fans in 1989 with a return of the original SMB gameplay, expanding the Mario universe with lots of new features. This game also defined Mario as the most popular character in the history of video games (he is more famous than Mickey Mouse for God’s sake!), and Nintendo as the strongest gaming company of the era.
STORYLINE
Partially rehashed from the first one: Bowser abducted Toadstool/Peach, and his 7 children stole the magic wands of the kings of each one of the 7 Worlds (other than World 8 which is the Koopa Kingdom itself), and turned them into animals.
Now Mario has to recover all the magic wands and the Princess to restore the order in the Mushroom Kingdom.
...
Hey, cut Nintendo some slack, this was just the second time Bowser kidnapped Peach/Toadstool. And the addition of the Koopa siblings was great (where are they now by the way?!).
GRAPHICS
Sprites
Graphically speaking, SMB3 doesn’t look quite as dated as its predecessors even when they were released in the same 3 year span.
The Mario character never looked better before. He looked bigger, more colorful and better animated in this game than in the past. Nintendo started shaping him as the goofy fat plumber he is, and I must say that the different suits (like the Frog, and Tanooki ones) made him look like more of a cartoon than just a sprite bouncing around the TV screen. Other characters such as the Princess Toadstool/Peach and Bowser were first depicted with their current image in this game.
Speaking about the suits, the only thing I didn’t like was how they put the fiery Mario as golden instead of the traditional red and white. It may seem unimportant, but its one of the things that break the continuity between the different games (Super Mario World would come to revolutionize everything for good, thought).
Finally, all enemies are definitely much more detailed than before. Want an example? In SMB Goombas only had eyes on their faces. Now they jaws and you can differentiate well their body from their head and feet (before, they were just blocky blobs).
Scenery
There are easily more than 15 different types of level backgrounds, and all of them are done nicely (although some of the desert ones are colored all the same color looking dull). Most of the times you will find good detail and even some attempts at making some simple textures (like the wood of the ships).
On some occasions, you won’t know what the hell you are standing on, but don’t worry as you aren’t supposed to. The scenery for certain stages is really generic and doesn’t resemble anything more than flying blocks or simple wooden platforms in the middle of nowhere.
Overall, they did an excellent job with the scenery and the graphics in general.
SOUND
Music
Lots of new songs that weren’t quite as catchy as to make it into any other game. All of them are well done and much more complex than your average NES midis. They range from the “overworld” song, to the music of the boss scenes (flyships), which sounds like an ancient battle drum. My favorite is the upbeat BGM of the “grassy” levels (like 1-2), for its silliness.
The only original tunes from SMB that made their way in here were the Starman song, and the underground song, which was remixed almost to the point of being unrecognizable (it still sounds cool, thought).
Sound Effects
They stuck to the traditional Mario noises for this game. Everything sounds the same: the fireballs, going in and out of pipes, the jumps... all of those actions are the same bleeps and bloops from SMB. They aren’t annoying, at least for me.
There were a few new sounds, but they aren’t that remarkable to describe them, and are not well known like the classic ones.
GAMEPLAY
Gameplay is the strength of the Mario games and this one is no exception.
The level structure and challenges are very similar to the ones of SMB3’s predecessors: kill enemies and bottomless pits, get as many items as you can, and reach the goal before the time is up. Simple, isn’t it?
Fortunately not every single level is the same. Sometimes you will need to defeat a mini-boss at the end, or reach a very secret item. On other occasions you’ll have to solve a maze before the time is up, or even just relax and get all the coins you can before reaching the goal.
Some levels will be just about getting to the other end without getting killed by a single but mighty enemy (like the water levels with the giant piranha).
If there’s something SMB3 can boast about, its variety.
Items
Items have a big role in this variety. They add some strategy element to the game, as you’ll find yourself saving the P-Wings and for difficult levels (as they enable you to fly all you want on a single stage), or on the other hand, dumping the useless items like the Music Box, to get some extra storage space on your inventory.
Some of these items will help you a lot on specific stages. For example, the Frog suit will come in handy for the second castle of World 3, because you have to very precise with your swimming so that the ghosts don’t touch you. The Hammer Brother suit will be priceless on the second castle of World 6, because the hammers you throw can kill off Boos and Thwomps easily, something that no other weapon (besides the short lived Star power) can do.
Control
SMB3 is the only Mario game in which you can’t blame the controls if you are a crappy gamer, because they are perfect.
Mario can move smoothly in all directions, and return to an already visited part of the level (something you couldn’t do on SMB), which means you don’t have to worry much about forgetting an item or a bonus round pipe.
There are some more actions Mario can perform here, due to the suits. Fortunately these are easy to do with the control, and once you master them, you will be invincible in this game. Some examples of these new actions are flying (with the Leaf or the Tanooki), turning into a statue (Tanooki), etc.
Difficulty
This is quite an easy game once you get accustomed to all the situations, enemies, and power-ups. Some stages can be really frustrating, thought, when you play them for a first time.
Extra features
As I mentioned before, a neat multiplayer update of Mario Bros. is included with SMB3. It plays like a little tournament to see who wins more matches. Some bonus games will show up now and then, too.
Its a nice feature that makes this game even more appealing for 2-player mode.
REPLAY VALUE
Really high. The many different bonus games and secrets that you can “unlock” in this game will keep you coming back for more. You could find yourself trying to warp to the later levels, thought, since the first Worlds get a little boring after a while.
RENT OR BUY?
Same as for SMB. If you find, want, and can use it, buy it immediately.
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Just Adding
This is my favorite game for the NES, and I played it throughout all my childhood. The fun you can get out of such a simple and easy-going game is priceless.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
vince006
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Member: Vince
Location: Down here.
Reviews written: 29
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