got about halfway through world 7 and it's starting to hit that point of being too difficult to be fun so i figure it's best to tap out before I stop enjoying it, even as far in as i am. maybe i'll go back and finish it someday, who knows.

it's a classic platformer, it's good. most likely one of the hardest 2d marios we're ever going to get, which isn't always a good thing, but it makes the levels generally feel much more fulfilling to complete than some modern offerings like Wonder. just about as much as you could really squeeze out of a platformer on the NES but a lot of the levels still end up blending together, sadly. obviously plenty good for the time but also a part of that era where progress was so rapid that World was only about 2 years down the line when this came out lol

FInished on the NSO

Nowadays Mario 3 is considered the bread and butter of platformers: a classic title that it's eezy and fun to play.

What I really appreciated to this title though is how much it evolved the Mario formula esteblished by SMB and makes the best out of it, regardless of the limitations of the NES hardware.
It takes what I felt was the janky movement of SMB1 and makes it a refined improvement, perfect for more precise positioning and also for just jump through the levels without hesitations, while I find that the original SMB1 movement only hined if you just sprinted through the worlds.

The addition of the leaf suit can be considered a bit of a broken powerup, considering you can just fly through the levels, but considering the time you have to "charge" the sprint, I feel like it's not that easy to just fly across the obstacles. Not to mention that, as the second big powerup next to the fire flower, it is both a creative concept and a cool realization. Frog suit is weird but it has an interesting gimmick, and I like the hammer suit. I feel the fire flower is kinda not fun considering that shooting fireballs breaks the momentum of your run, but it is still a cool tool to have.

The level design, something that I felt was a bit unispired in the original SMB (with a lot of worlds just blending together) now is more distinct and offers a lot of cool ideas that are still unique to this 2D mario game: later titles like New SMB never brought back those nice concepts like the Pipe World with movement similar to the Arcade Mario Bros, or the world where everything is gigantic. Even the Dark world, where Bowser had literal tanks was never been reconsidered for modern 2D mario titles.

The enemies implemented are all really solid: you got some classics from the OG SMB but now the way they are positioned into the levels and the way they can sometimes just be traps for the player makes the obstacles courses more endearing. The Sun, Munchers, Boos and Stretchers, Lotuses, the little flames with legs, or the jumping desert blocks.... most of them appear just once or twice during the whole game, but the way they are implemented makes the specific level even more memorable.

The presentation is also really solid and I think the way the game introduces the concept of a map, the addition of fortresses, kings, specific bosses in the form of koopalings and the whole "theatre aesthetic is what was able to give mario its own identity as a Videogame universe."... also Peach feels like a more competent character and you can already see glimpses of Bowser's threatening but charming personality

I will say no all of the levels hut, there are a couple of stinkers like the infamous World 6-5 or some of the later Castles, but overall the levels have a lot of unique qualities to them.

SO yeah, I really like SMB3, not just as a fun simple platformer but also as a proper evolution to the formula that SMB1 introduced