Sorry... my review is in another castle! Just kidding!
Written: Sep 11 '02 (Updated May 11 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The best game ever crafted for the NES, and arguably of all time.
Cons: I paid around $50 for it when it first came out!
The Bottom Line: This is the mainstay of my NES game library. My childhood favorite.
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| thepremier's Full Review: Super Mario Bros. 3 for Nintendo |
One game, so many hours...
How can I possibly convey to other people, especially the younger generation (listen to me prattle on, I'm only 21) just how much of a phenomenon Super Mario Bros. 3 (SMB3) was when it was released?!? For many children of the early 90's, after school meant coming home, finishing tedious homework, and then trying to save Princess Toadstool from the evil clutches of Bowser Koopa.
I remember my friends and I playing this game for hours on end, watching 8-bit Mario run across the screen, happily listening to the simple music, trying to get the highest score, discovering secrets, trying to get tons of "extra guys" and all the time in awe of how hot the NES and the game cartridge got from playing so long. I even remember drawing lots of pictures and art of Mario thwarting various bad guys with my friends.
If you haven't played SMB3, you are missing out on one of the most important pieces of video gaming history, a game that continues to shape the Mario series to this day. Since its release, it has topped the bestseller list of NES games - rivaling or exceeding The Legend of Zelda on a monthly basis.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as being the #1 selling video game of all time - 18 million copies have been sold. Chances are, you know someone with a copy of SMB3 lying around.
Most of all, if you've never played it, you're missing some serious fun!
The Story
The Mushroom Kingdom is once again plunged into disorder. Bowser Koopa has returned to take revenge on the Kingdom and he's got company this time. His seven children have each run amok in one of the seven lands of the Kingdom. They have stolen the Magic Wands of the Seven Kings of these lands and turned them into animals. They and their minions plague the countryside from high above in their airships. Bowser himself has once again captured the beloved Princess Toadstool and made her captive in his own private realm. It is up to you, that rotund plumber from Brooklyn, Mario, and your brother Luigi to recover the wands, restore order in the Seven Kingdoms and rescue the princess.
The Land and Layout
The Mushroom Kingdom has been greatly expanded. In fact, it is HUGE. Playing every "action scene", or in other words every stage in each of the Seven Kingdoms, plus Bowser's realm, can take all day.
The Seven Kingdoms are:
Level 1: Grass land (No, not that kind of grass...)
Level 2: Desert land (a.k.a. The Koopahari Desert)
Level 3: Water land (I think it's pretty watery, don't you?)
Level 4: Giant land (think koopa troopas on steroids)
Level 5: Sky land (Divided into ground and cloud halves)
Level 6: Ice land (Brr)
Level 7: Pipe land (Everyone's favorite)
And...
Level 8: Bowser's realm and castle.
Gameplay
SMB3 is your usual side-scroller adventure game. You run around, smash some bricks, evade and kill enemies, find power ups and coins (to buy extra lives) and try to make it to the end of the stage. Each of the Seven Lands consists of a different number of stages called "action scenes". You plot your course on a map and can choose to avoid certain action scenes if you wish. To give specific stages, first state the level number, then the action scene number. So the first stage in Desert Land would be 2-1.
Along the way are castles, pipes, and places to get power-ups.
When actually playing, the pad moves Mario, the A-button makes you jump (or fly, depending on power-up) and the B-button will make you run or use your power-up. Start button thankfully pauses the game.
Items
What makes adventure games so much fun are the various items found that give you power-ups. Each item gives Mario (or Luigi) more strength. I'm sure you're familiar with the mushrooms, fire flowers, and starmen.
Items unique to this game include the Leaf, which turns you into Raccoon Mario and gives you the power of temporary flight, and 3 suits. The Frog Suit helps you swim and turns you into Frog Mario (clever, eh?). The Tanooki Suit turns you into Tanooki Mario and also gives you the power of flight and also gives you the ability to turn into a statue, useful for avoiding harm from baddies and for crushing them. The rare and elusive Hammer Brother Suit turns you into Hammer Brother Mario, lets you throw powerful hammers, and makes you immune to most projectiles while "ducking".
There are also several other items, some used on the map screen. The best thing about power-ups is that you can store power-ups that you acquire from various action scenes, Toad's Houses and parlor games that you encounter in your travels - 28 total, to use at the beginning of any action scene you want, you simply select it on the map screen before starting the stage. The most popular power-up among players is the "P-Wing", which gives you permanent flight (as long as you're not hit by a bad guy!) for the entire action scene - often they are horded until the most horrendous levels. Your item inventory can be accessed only from the map screen, by the B-button and control pads, and then activated by the A-button.
Graphics
This game is a knockout as far as 8-bit goes. Landscapes are not quite detailed, but the characters show a little character themselves. Bad guy sprites are nicely animated. Most important as far as the NES goes, there is little image breakup when lots of things overlap compared to other games.
Mario has lots of baddies to bash, fry and stomp in this game. Bowser has brought a whole slew of new and old baddies, including goombas, para-goombas, koopa and para-koopas, piranha plants, thwomps, boo-diddlys, hammer brothers (and their new kin, fire brothers, boomerang brothers and sledge brothers), and of course, the Koopa Kids - Larry Koopa, Morton Koopa Jr., Wendy O. Koopa, Iggy Koopa, Roy Koopa, Lemmy Koopa, and Ludvig Von Koopa,
Sounds and music
Everything sounds the way it should sound, and they are cartoony and fun. The music is excellent. Most songs from the first Super Mario Brothers NES game are here, albeit slightly remixed. The "Pipe Theme" has had the most cosmetic work done to it. You'll recognize them all. One sound I always loved was the sound of Mario flicking a fire ball at his enemies. I also love the "Starman" music when Mario is invincible.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer exists in both cooperative and competitive modes. You can do one or the other whenever you feel like it in the same game.
In cooperative modes, each player (Mario and Luigi) takes turns completing action scenes on the map.
In competitive modes, Mario and Luigi try to steal each other's power ups. On the map screen, when Mario and Luigi are in the same place, they can compete with each other. How? By playing the grand daddy of it all, the original, the arcade version, Super Mario Bros. The first to get 5 coins wins, steals an item, and bumps the other brother back a few spaces.
The instruction booklet
The instruction booklet for SMB3 is very complete and very colorful. It is actually fun to read. The story, all power-ups, items and bad guys are given their explanations and illustrations. Helpful when drawing your own chapter of Mario history. Note pages on back have room for high scores. Simply put, the booklet is worth scrounging around for and keeping.
How fun is it?
There are so many hidden things in this game, discovering them is all the fun. There are several points in the game to "warp ahead" if you're running low on time, but I urge everyone to fully explore the nitty-gritty of each stage. That's where the fun is and that's how you get million plus high scores.
If there's anyone else out there like me, they remember the feeling they got when they first got to the very, very end of the game and they had to fight Bowser. My heart started pounding - he was so big I wasn't sure what to do. And who can forget that cute and whimsical song at the end which takes you on a tour of your just completed adventure as your reward?!?!
SMB3 holds a special place in my heart and in my TV shelves. It will always be my childhood game. It has been there on those days when I was dreadfully sick and had to stay home from school - Mario made me feel all better before his days as "Dr."
There are so many games today that depend upon graphics. There are so many games today that have beautiful in game movies. Some of these games are great. But few have the power to keep me coming back the way Super Mario Bros. 3 does. And few games have ever dared to push the envelope of the platform they were designed for to the limits as much as SMB3 did for the NES.
What are you waiting for? There's a princess to save and a Kingdom to restore!
The Premier
Epinions - September 2002
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
thepremier
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Member: Constantinos Kolios
Location: Rochester, New York
Reviews written: 99
Trusted by: 36 members
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