CGOTW: Super Mario Bros. 3
With Super Mario Galaxy dropping next Monday, it's important that we as gamers look back on the legacy of the series, in order to properly evaluate the place of the new game. It's important for, um, historical reasons. And science.
Yeah, okay, it's just a flimsy excuse to play easily the best Mario game ever made once again. And maybe watch The Wizard. Who knew Jenny Lewis would get so hot?
Super Mario Bros. 3 was big news in 1990. Sure, it didn't have soft drinks named after it like Halo 3, but everybody was excited to see the further adventures of a chubby Italian plumber, this time with a raccoon's tale, in a world full of breakable blocks, evil turtle-like creatures, and mushrooms. SMB3 was also a return to the tried and true Mario formula, expanding on the original's level design with eight distinctive worlds and different paths between levels. It set a template that came to define the Mario series for years to come. And if that "historical importance" doesn't do it for you, there's always the fact that SMB3 is crazy amounts of fun, even today on the Virtual Console. Super Mario Bros. 3 is this week's Classic Game of the Week.
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I had an absurd amount of fun with this as a youngster. My little brother had an NES. At the time he was 9 and I was 15. We would play this almost constantly (until I purchased Tecmo Super Bowl for us). We would take turns going through the levels. We would go into the original Mario Bros game and battle each other. There were many late nights where we stayed up late trying to beat the game. This was definitely a bonding experience in our respective childhoods. We never did beat it together. It was always the end that got us. The air ships, etc. Eventually I doubled back on it for the GBA and beat it. I was relieved to slay that dragon after so many years of it haunting me.
Next to Tecmo Super Bowl, my favorite game growing up.
XBox Live Gamertag: DSGamer GWJ
There are definitely worse ways to spend five bucks
At the risk of sounding overly crude, I have to say it:
SMB3 was, still is, and always will be, the sh*t.
Awesome, awesome game that is every bit as fun today as it was way back when I first got to play it.
If anyone is interested, the 1up.com podcast Retronauts just did an episode dedicated to Mario in all his 8-bit glory.
SMB3 is one of my all-time favorite games. The music can still pop into my head randomly and stay there for days...
Codexica - GWJ Alliance
So many great memories of this game. All the different suits, using the warp whistles, plus there was a whole feature length film dedicated to being a commercial for this game. Pure Awesomeness.
"Uranus is positioned for summer surprises." - from Tarot.com's mailing list
Xbox Live Gamertag - Yoreel
Ahhh the memories.....
XBL: GWJ Stryker
Super Mario Brothers 3 with the game genie was my wasted childhood.
Pharacon wrote:
I saw it on the Virtual Console, and I just had to get it.
So many awesome memories.
Mystic Violet wrote:
Just downloaded it. You can't replay a level once you beat it, can you? It's such an important part of the Mario experience now that I'd forgotten it wasn't in Mario 3. I knew it wasn't in 1 or 2, but 3 feels like the "new Mario" and I expected all the cool stuff from Mario World. Just a minor quibble -- not a horrible, soul-crushing disappointment like Under the Blacklight.
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/nyles
Website: http://banditosbanditosbanditos.typepad.com
Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
Oh, I see what you did there. Well played.
You can replay levels after you beat the game once, but you're right. It sucks to not be able to go back through the level you just finished.
"Even though that place should only be fifteen or twenty minutes away geographically, in actual practice - between the hours of four and seven - Redmond might as well orbit the Earth." - Tycho, Penny Arcade
Goomba's shoe = Best vehicle ever.
Occasionally
I get the urge to write out
a stupid haiku
It's funny that they came up with the idea to pack each level with multiple paths and secret exits but it didn't occur to them to let you play it more than once. Or maybe they thought that would be cheating. I know in Super Mario World my first task is to get about twenty extra lives for when I hit a losing streak. Some might consider that a bit cheap.
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/nyles
Website: http://banditosbanditosbanditos.typepad.com
Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
I'm not a huge fan of Rilo Kiley, but I sure do like Super Mario Bros. 3!
Amen to that.
I've still not beaten it though... FOR SHAME.
Pistols for two and coffee for one.
Technically speaking, SMB3 DID have a soft drink associated with it. (-:
http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/nes/nintendo-mario-soda.jpg
I'm so in love with Jenny Lewis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Thz2SOKkGI
super mario what?
sorry /derail
Steam Community ID: LastExile[gwj]
Ironclad Online: lastexile
I was totally JUST going to link that!
I'm not THAT much of a Rilo Kiley fan either, but I love Jenny Lewis's solo disc. Though I don't know if I can responsibly call it a solo disc, because I don't know if it would be so awesome without the Watson Twins.
XBox Live Gamertag: Warlockbert
After having a pretty easy (and boring) time with Mario 2, I remember this game for being quite a challenge to beat without warping. Not as hard as Mario 1 since you get so many lives, but definitely challenging for a Mario game. That damn level 7 pipe world kicked my ass.
World 8 is just RIDICULOUSLY good. It's so varied, the music is crazy, and there are airships. I remember being so frustrated when I first played this and the third map on World 8 is just a little flashlight over your current position. What more can a plumber want?
If I were a bad demoman, I wouldn't be sitting here dicussing it with you, now would I?
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Wii Code: 3516-1828-0081-7936
I first came across this game on the Mario All Stars cart for the SNES. My parents bought me it for Christmas, and I played it endlessly for weeks. My father hated the music for the flying ship levels; he said that it made him think of his funeral. Weird fella, the daddy.
Requires 2 non-replaceable LR41 button cell batteries for the monkey (included)