(Part 4 of 5)

Despite how different it was from the average Mario game, Super Mario Bros. 2 was still a pretty good game, one that has plenty of qualities that would inspire many other games later down the road, Mario or otherwise, and one that would introduce many mainstays to the Mario series, such as Shy Guys and Birdo. And of course, the game was extremely successful, which led to the development of one final main entry for the NES, and this entry was gonna be HUGE. So huge in fact, that it managed to get its own 90-minute commercial alongside it, which was disguised as a movie known as The Wizard. While the movie itself was a piece of shit, I’m sure many thought that it was pretty good, all because of the reveal of this new game, which at the time, didn’t even exist to the public eye. That game in question would go onto being what many consider the best game of the original trilogy, Super Mario Bros. 3.

Back when I originally reviewed this game, I made a bold claim by stating it was the best 2D Mario game ever made, and my personal favorite 2D Mario game ever made. Nowadays, I am not so sure on that, because Mario Wonder is making my life pretty wonderful at the moment (HA………..HA), but even if it overtakes that slot, I would still consider Mario 3 to be an absolutely fantastic game. I have plenty of memories of playing the GBA remake of this a lot as a kid and having a great time with it, and I have played plenty of the original NES version as well, which may not be as good as the remake, but it is still a really great version. Like with the original game, what is done in this game may have been done better in future games, but this game still manages to hold up extremely well to this day, and is still fun to play in comparison to other games in the series.

The story, at first, starts out original, with Mario and Luigi needing to save several kingdoms from the wrath of the Koopa Kids, but then it devolves into Bowser kidnapping Peach, so you don’t have to worry in case Mario was getting somewhat original, because it managed to go right back to the status quo, the graphics are without a doubt the best out of the original trilogy, having plenty of bright colors and fun designs for all of the characters and enemies, and even with the remakes later made, the original style still looks pretty good to this day, the music is also pretty great, with there being plenty of great remixes of the original themes, along with several other memorable and enjoyable tracks as well, the control is perfect, handling just as well as the original game, if not more so, with several new additions that make it stand out from others, and the gameplay is pretty similar to that of the original game, but with several additions that make it stand out as a definite improvement over the original.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of either Mario or Luigi, go through eight separate worlds, each containing many different levels to go through, take out plenty of enemies by either jumping on them or using one of the many powerups that you can acquire, gather plenty of coins, extra lives, and powerups to help assist you along the way, and take on plenty of bosses that you can take out pretty easily, because not only are they pretty easy, but also because it is usually the same boss over and over again. The game as a whole is pretty standard for not just a 2D platformer, but also for a Mario game, but what makes it work is how well it is constructed throughout, and how many unique elements it has compared to many other games later down the road.

Out of all of the games in this series, this one may have my favorite assortment of powerups as a whole, not only because there are quite a few of them, but also because of how strange and different they are. Of course, you get the typical ones, like the mushroom, the Fire Flower, the Starman, and so on, but then you get other ones that you don’t see too often after this, such as a Frog Suit that lets you swim underwater faster, the Tanooki leaf, which lets Mario whip things with a tail and flutter through the air, and the best powerup without a doubt, the Hammer Brother Suit, where you get all of the powers of a Hammer Brother, including throwing an infinite amount of hammers. Trust me when I say that, when you have one of these suits and blaze through so many levels with it, you feel absolutely unstoppable, it is so great. In addition to this, there are also plenty of powerups that help you discover secrets in the overworld, as well as ones that allow you to warp to other worlds in the game, which is also pretty helpful. And finally, there are also plenty of minigames that you can play alongside the main game, which may be simple, but they do help in getting you extra lives and more powerups, so they are pretty fun to play, even if I especially suck at the one where you have to hit the button in time to make a picture of a star.

There aren’t many problems that I have with the game overall, to be honest, as it is an incredibly well put together product, but I will admit that it isn’t perfect by any means. There is one problem that I do have with the game, and that would be with the lack of a save feature. Unlike the previous two games, which can be beaten somewhat quickly even if you are taking the normal route, this game is pretty long, with there being so many different worlds and levels to go through, so if you decide to go for all of them, you’ll be at it for a long time. Unfortunately though, there is no save feature for the game, so unless you have save states, then that means you would have to go through the entire game in one sitting, which does kind of suck. Thankfully, the game doesn’t send you back to the beginning when you get a game over, so there is no threat of losing progress, but I mean, come on: this game was released in 1988, 1990 for us, and there were plenty of other games that used a save feature at that point, so you’re telling me you couldn’t use one as well for this game? It’s not like you would’ve been risking anything with it, cause it’s fucking Mario!

Overall, despite a lack of a save feature, this is still a fantastic Mario game, a fantastic NES game, and just a fantastic game in general. I may have to reconsider when I beat Mario Wonder, but for now, I still consider this to be my favorite 2D Mario game of all time, one that I can go back to time and time again and have a blast playing, and one that’s influence has endured even all the way to this day. I would definitely recommend it for fans of Mario, as well as fans of 2D platformers in general, because while I haven’t played all of them from this genre, I can safely say that this one is one of the best out there. It’s just a shame that, you know, it had to have been revealed through a pretty bad movie that nobody should watch. I mean, unless you are a fan of bad, cheesy 80s movies about video games and a weird fascination for the Nintendo Power Glove, then by all means, go right ahead and watch the fuck out of it.

Remake #6

EDIT: Now that I have beaten the game, I gotta say, I think I prefer Mario Wonder more than this. I'm sorry Mario 3, but you don't have the Wonder Flower, so there is no competition.