Genre: Platformer
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Year: 1990
Basic Idea: Rescue Princess Toadstool again from her secret lover.
Review: I haven’t seen every “Best NES Games” list on the internet, but I doubt many, if any, of them have Super Mario Bros. 3 ranked as low as #15. But believe me, I didn’t rank it here to make a statement. There are just fourteen games I enjoy playing more.
The game really needs no introduction unless your only experience with it is watching The Wizard. The game pushed the limits of the NES capabilities and did so amazingly. I remember the awe I felt playing this when I was ten years old. When I nabbed my first raccoon tail, I played around with that thing for the longest time. The Tanooki suit was pretty damn cool, if awkward. And, of course, Kuribo’s Shoe is in the discussion for best power-up on the entire system.
I suppose I need to mention the few things that annoy me about the game. For starters, you can gain infinite lives on level 1-2, and real easily. Granted, there are countless other ways to get 1-ups in the game, but you have to work for most of them. To get them on level 1-2 is like playing with a game genie. Secondly, the airships where each boss resides bore me to tears. They are virtually identical with virtually identical bosses that are all defeated using the exact same method. All of the originality in the game, and each boss is the same? You’d think that’s something that would have improved from the first game in the series.
I am also not a fan of the final area in the game, world eight. The airships are obnoxiously difficult and most sane people will use a P-Wing or Lakitu’s Cloud to get past them. The final castle is kind of fun, but Bowser is only slightly harder to defeat than Medusa from Kid Icarus. At least the ending is a treat.
Enough complaining. I love Giant Land. I love Ice Land. I love Pipe Land. I love all of the game’s little secrets. I love that there was a competition in the household to see who could win the game first (I did). I love that the game was so damn anticipated that they made a fucking movie starring Fred Savage to promote it. And I love that it delivered on its hype.
Death By Troggles 
If anything, I think #15 still overrates this game. Every couple of years I play it again to see if I was missing something, but the eleven-second levels and the complete ease of the game until it’s crushingly difficult bugs me every time. I’d be hard pressed to find this in my top thirty.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Every time I read Nintendo Power back in the day, I couldn’t figure out what I was missing in this game. I later figured out that I am just not a huge fan of Mario based games in the first place (besides the Mario Kart series).
I’m wondering if anyone found the frog suit power-up to helpful. I thought it was hindering, even under water where it was supposed to help.
I recall finding it useful underwater. It was nice to be able to stay in place without sinking/floating/whateverItalianplumbersdoinwater.
The bosses aren’t entirely replicas. Wendy O Koopa (a a second kid later on) use the bouncing balls rather than the normal ripples. Also, the larger kids (Morton Koopa Jr. I think) shake the ground when they land. Granted, not major changes, but still some variation.
Meh. The strategy remains the same, though. Avoid, jump on head (or shoot fireballs if you want to take forever). Other than some slight variation in the floor, each room is the same, too.
I still love this game. I popped the AllStars version into the SNES a few weeks ago one night and played it right on through. It’s still a joy. I understand the criticisms, but to me it’s about as perfect as a straight platformer can get.
I’ve never played the AllStars version. Other than improved graphics, is there any real difference?
None that I can tell. The music is updated to 16-bit, which is a little weird.
Played this game plenty. Wasn’t terrible at it, but also not that great. I blame not owning it on me never beating it.
I think this is the first Nintendo game I ever played. Nothing but fond memories. Loved World 8 and all of its difficulties. I spent hours and hours and hours trying to figure out the fort with the disappearing doors. I also remember being absolutely terrified of Bowser, having to run out of the room and let somebody else beat him after spending an entire day playing through the game to get to that point.
Ha ha. I am sure there was a game where I’d hand the controller to my brother out of fear, but a specific game doesn’t come to mind at this point. Funny enough, Bowser is pretty easy compared to the rest of the World 8.
Yeah. I was only 5 or 6. I think the sudden jump from out of nowhere is what did it for me.