Really great way to experience the original Super Mario Bros. 3

I get that out of the options available, most prefer the original NES version and I tend to agree. This feels like an ungraded version of the All Stars version which has upgraded graphics and a save system. There are a few additions, some voice clips and rough use of rumble were the most obvious to me. It also keeps track of completed worlds, which is cool.

I love playing these tightly packed levels and by finishing the game you can go back and replay or tidy up uncompleted levels.

Less obvious is the inclusion of Level Cards which was a rudimentary form of DLC. These are included in the Switch Online release, and were on the Wii U release. These borrow elements from Super Mario Bros. 2 with turnips and World with the criss crossing quad cannon shots and Chargin’ Chuck. In a time where the last new 2D Mario to release was probably Yoshi’s Island this is a welcome inclusion and sort of paves the way forward to New Super Mario Bros and Mario Maker series going forward.

Sempre quis zerar mario 3 depois que finalizasse o world e finalmente consegui na versão de gba, que infelizmente é consideravelmente mais fácil que a versão de snes, pois não tem um "game over" de verdade. Ao perder todas as suas vidas vc não volta no marco 0 do mundo atual mas sim na fase que vc acabou de perder. Tornando a versão de gba a mais fácil de completar.
Mas é um ótimo jogo, com várias inovações e criatividade com muitos desafios nas fases. Única reclamação que tenho são sobre os chefes. Os da fortaleza é sempre a mesma tartaruga, que vc precisa atingir 3 vezes pra ganhar, e que ao longo do jogo as lutas contra ela vão "dificultando", se movendo mais rápido ou voando ou o chão se mexendo... mas nada muito desafiador. Quanto aos chefes dos castelos são os kopalings, que são diferentes uns dos outros, mas que tem os mesmos movimentos. Sempre atiram raios do cetro mágico e quando vc pula neles eles entram dentro do casco e podem te dar dano. Apenas pule três vezes e pronto, as arenas mudam levemente de formato nao adicionando tanto desafio, mas basicamente eles são todos iguais. Diferente do world em que os chefes tem características totalmente diferentes, alguns vc derrota em uma gangora derrubando na lava, outro saindo de canos, outro que cai do teto... por isso que além dos gráficos, mario world é superior ao mario 3.
Outra pequena coisa que não gosto muito são as vozes do Mario sempre que ele pega vida, power ups, morre etc... se vc for ruim em mario igual eu, vai ouvir mil vezes " mama mia!" Um pouco irritante mas nada demais.

I'm keeping the GBA Marios in my collection, even though there are the original NES classics still available, even though there's also All-Stars, even though the SNES originals are far better as well, even though they sound much worse and the screen crunch is not great, for the simple reason that the goofy Charles Martinet voices are in these. That's it. It's the end of 2023 and I have officially reversed my stance on Charles Martinet Mario voice. Gimme more wahoo! and letsa go! please. Oh, you want a patch for Super Mario Advance 4 that gets rid of the Charles Martinet voices? That already exists, dumdum, it's called Super Mario Bros. 3.

Weird how I never knew what I had all along until it's finally gone. On an unrelated note, I do tend to get into classic bands just as their members start passing away. My first major Beatles phase started not long before George Harrison died. Ramones? High school, well after Joey left this earth but right when Dee Dee got it. The Clash? Around the same time, RIP Joe Strummer. The Cramps? Oh, you better believe it was around 2009 when I was starting grad school and Lux Interior passed away. The moral of this story is if you want to live, you better not let me like what you do. Hideo Kojima is going to be immortal, I guess

Actually way way better than expected. Movement is awesome, the secrets really cool and overall a really really fun game.

It even susprised me how you can express jokes just with gameplay visuals, I really laughed with the fish in world 4

Just what I needed! Lucky! Bravo!!!!

Pros: It's gotta be the e-reader card stuff, they added so much replay value to this game, in ways that, hell, even the Super Mario Maker series still hasn't given us. The e-reader was a separate GBA device that let you scan the barcodes on physical trading cards, that would then upload elements into the game. Here, there are plenty brand new stages and a few classic old ones too thanks to the e-reader, with varying levels of challenge. And the added content is rich, there's even power-up cards, like, the entire cape power-up from World is in this, and it's just as great as it was in SMW, there's also a new boomerang weapon you can use too, which, isn't really a power-up, but it's a boomerang that you can catch and throw as often as you can keep catching it, neat! There's also stages that have you plucking vegetables just like in SMB2, stages that have you running on walls and ceilings like SMW, and stages with "no-return" exit gates from Yoshi's Island. It's a best of Super Mario Advance collection!! These stages were locked to the e-reader, so one could consider that a con, but I had the e-reader, I collected the cards, and man, that too was fun, so for me, it's definitely a pro!

Also, the entire game of Super Mario Bros. 3 is here too, of course, heh, with Luigi and his added abilities from Super Mario Advance 2! Changes things up enough to play the game again in a different way. It's a great port of the All-Stars version of SMB3, and hey, they fixed Mario's gloves! He's actually wearing them now!

Also another fun little minor addition, Game Boy Player support, where if you played the game on a Gamecube with the GB Player, you'd have rumble support on the Gamecube controller, heh, not bad!

Also also, every Super Mario Advance included a remade version of Mario Bros., and it's no different here, the same game is included, but now that there were four Super Mario Advance games, we now had four game paks with Mario Bros, which allowed four player bouts of Mario Bros. with all of the benefits and options of doing four-game pak mode, it was really genius of Nintendo to allow multiplayer of that mode with any version of Super Mario Advance!

Cons: SMB3 itself is still not my favorite of Mario games, it's great, don't get me wrong, but I would've loved these e-reader additions to a better game like Super Mario World, using that game's base engine instead. Still, it's hard to complain about all added bells and whistles here, it's certainly the best version of SMB3, period.

What it means to me: This version of the game was the first time I ever played SMB3 from beginning to end, first time I ever beat it, in fact! And so, naturally, it means more to me than the other Super Mario Advance series game releases, it just gave me so much more. And even with later releases on Wii U and Switch, they pre-set all of the e-reader stages on them, even the e-reader stages that were never available in North America, due to the cards for them only releasing in Japan. So years later I got even more enjoyment out of this game! It's the game that keeps on givin'!

Happy Mario Day.

Sorry Mario World fans, this will always be the BEST classic 2D mario game, and Advance 4 is an excellent port.

But man FUCK that title. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. Bro that is like two steps away from a Kingdom Hearts title.

Played on NSO GBA

Played through the main game and the majority of the e-reader levels on a GBA with flashcart.

Bright vibrant colors for a GBA game thanks to being able to force a "Gameboy Player Mode".

Arguably the definitive Mario 3 experience with a bunch of fun bonuses to go along with it.

This one really isent for me. I felt alot of the time like i died due to getting jumped by enemies that suddenly came into frame and dident give me enough time to react. Also felt like the controls were a bit "heavy" and slow to responf for my liking. The music is a downgrade from the original in my eyes. That being said its still Mario, the quality and challenge is deffinetley there and i can understand why people have verry fond memories of this one. I guess im just a Yoshis Island kinda guy myself, feel like that game gives me a bit more wiggle room while this game asks for a bit more precision

The SNES version is better. The screen crunch, reduced audio quality, and washed-out colors all make this a big downgrade.

The e-reader levels are of questionable quality. It's neat to see every type of 2D mainline Mario (up to that point) crammed into the SMB 3 engine, but they should've implemented checkpoints as well. It's especially annoying for the long fortress and airship levels.

There are lots of examples of poor level design. A towering tour has one blind leap of faith that can unfairly kill you. Slip Slidin' has a bullshit moment with the penguin knockback. The all music note levels are annoying. Castle Dash has an obstacle that kills you regardless of whether you're powered up or not. It's a shoe-in has a segment where accidentally killing the enemy without pulling off a jump results in mandatory backtracking. A caped escape has a really frustrating maneuver required near the end. Bowser's Airship 2 has fire bro fireballs that can kill you from off-screen. Para beetle challenge might just be the worst official Mario level outside of anything in The Lost Levels.