Insane to think this originally came out only 3 years after the first game for how much it completely and utterly supersedes it, and might as well make SMB1 look like a prototype. SMB3 oozes personality and confidence with a more playful art style, a drastically more tightened up control scheme and freeform moveset for Mario, and generally much better ideas for challenge and experimentation in level design. I do think World 7 is a little stinky and World 8 starts to lean a little too uncomfortably into "can you avoid 10 different flying objects on screen at once" or "can you solve my maze" territory, but I'm happy that it only really starts to crop up around the end of the game rather than souring the entire whole experience. Just a genuinely great platformer and shows just how much Nintendo was at the top of their class at the time, considering how well this has aged compared to most NES games.

One quick note, it's more than a little silly that the NES original didn't have any save function for how much longer this game is too. It's less of a problem these days considering any emulator or modern re-release of it has save state functionality (and All-Stars/Advance straight up added saves), but still more than a bit lame. At the very least, the worry of running out of lives and having to redo the entire game is much less of a concern compared to the first or second game, if anything SMB3 is a little too eager to shower you in extra lives to make it through the entire game.