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Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the last major Mario video game made for the Nintendo Family Computer (in Japan) and the Nintendo Entertainment System (in North America and Europe). It was developed through 1988 - December 1989, and it was not released to the world until February 12 1990. It is widely regarded as being the best-selling video game of all time. It was directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, and the music composed by Koji Kondo.

It features the first appearances of Bowser's children. Mario and Luigi have to save seven kingdoms of the Mushroom World from the Koopa Kids (or Koopalings) by recovering the wands that they stole from the seven kings, and also save Princess Peach Toadstool from the clutches of King Bowser Koopa.

Game mechanics

The game play is a return to the style of Super Mario Bros. after the vast departure of Super Mario Bros. 2. The heroes can again jump on many enemies to destroy them, as well as take on many different forms by acquiring special items.

However, despite the familiar gameplay, Super Mario Bros. 3 is still a different game from its predecessor. More puzzles, enemies and secret areas were added to enhance difficulty.

Rather than simply move forward in the game in a linear fashion, Mario travels the Mushroom Kingdom via a map, which often splits into different paths, giving the player a choice of which levels to play. While on this map, Mario can acquire special items through "Toad Houses" and battles with Hammer Brothers, which are saved in an inventory, and can be used in between levels.

Furthermore, smaller mechanics are changed; for instance, the player can now travel backwards in a level in case they had missed a special area or item.

Also, due to the increased difficulty, a luxury was given to the player, in the U.S. and European releases: if he had one of the "special" powers: Fiery Mario, Raccoon Mario, Hammer Brother Mario, Tanooki Mario etc. - then took a hit, he would revert into Super Mario, allowing for an extra hit. This is contrary to the original Super Mario Bros. and the Japanese release of Super Mario Bros. 3, where if a player had been hit as Fiery Mario (or any other power-up mode), he would revert to regular Mario.

Items

Items that returned from Super Mario Bros.:

• Starman: Mario gains temporary invincibility. He is impervious to death by any means except lava and bottomless pits.
• Super Mushroom: Mario doubles in size and can take one hit without dying.
• Fire Flower: As Fire Mario, he can throw fireballs that bounce across the ground.

Items and forms new to Super Mario Bros. 3:

• Raccoon Mario: A Super Leaf gives Mario raccoon ears and a tail he can use to bat enemies. This power-up, like the "Tanooki" suit, is based on the mythical Japanese tanuki. After getting a running start, Mario can fly for a short time.
• Frog Suit: Movement on land is hindered, but swimming is greatly facilitated and accelerated.
• Tanooki Suit: Allows Mario to fly, just like Raccoon Mario; can also turn into a statue briefly, which renders him temporarily invincible, by pressing down and B. This suit is based on the mythical Japanese beast, the tanuki.
• Hammer Brothers' Suit: Mario can throw hammers, just like the Hammer Brothers from the original Super Mario Bros. Also, crouching renders him invincible to fireball attacks from above.

• Goomba's Shoe (or Kuribo's Shoe, after Goomba's Japanese name): A giant, green boot, Mario can jump inside and stomp on Piranha Plants and Venus Fire Traps to kill them. He can also walk across Munchers (long lines of Piranha Plants acting like spikes). His jumping ability is also augmented. This is available only in level 5-3, and is lost when you clear the level.
• P-Wing: Short for "Power wing", the P-Wing allows the player to skip over the entire level by flying so high that the player off the screen. If the player keeps heading to the right eventually the player will finish the level. However, the P-Wing doesn't work in all levels. This is because some levels (like World 8 Fortress) do not have openings at the top to allow players to escape high into the air.
• Magic Whistle: This item can only be found in three levels. It is based on an item from The Legend of Zelda. When the Magic Whistle is used it will send the player to World 9. The Magic Whistle can be found in 1-3 by crouching on a white block for more than 5 seconds, then running to the end of the level. (It can also be found in 1-4).
• Anchor: This is the game's rarest item, it can be found in the hidden white Toad houses, which only get unlocked if you end certain levels with the required number of coins. When a player battles a boss and losses a life, the ship the boss is on will go flying to another part of the world. The anchor, when used, will hold the ship in one place.

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Worlds

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

In Super Mario Bros. 3 there are 9 different worlds, 8 of which have stages and bosses. The bosses for the first 7 worlds are Koopa Kids, and the 8th has King Bowser Koopa as its boss. In the list below the name of the boss is next to the name of the world.

World 1: Grass Land (Larry Koopa) World 2: Desert Land (Morton Koopa) World 3: Water Land (Wendy O. Koopa) World 4: Giant Land (Iggy Koopa) World 5: Sky Land (Roy Koopa) World 6: Ice Land (Lemmy Koopa) World 7: Pipe Land (Ludwig Von Koopa) World 8: Dark Land (King Bowser Koopa) World 9: Warp Zone

Note that the only purpose of World 9 is to get you to other worlds, and players can only get to it by using the magic whistle.

Game popularity

With its expansive gameplay, Super Mario Bros. 3 is often considered Nintendo's masterpiece for the NES, and is routinely voted one of the greatest video games of all time. It sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide (18 million of which in North America alone), a record at the time for video games that were sold separately from their consoles.

Several months before its release, a "sneak peek" of sorts was given to the general public in the movie The Wizard (1989), where the game was featured as the final lap of a video game competition.

Enhancing the game

Super Mario Bros. 3 received a graphical and audio facelift for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (and in Japan, the Super Famicom) in the Super Mario All-Stars (also Super Mario Collection) cartridge of 1993. This version of the game also appears on the Game Boy Advance as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. On the Super NES version, the Spade panels on the map are animated. The action scene (numbered) panels sparkle. The airships have thunder effects and they are all the same color. The king transformations have also been changed. Most notably, the king of World 7 was transformed into a Yoshi in the Super Famicom/SNES version of the game, but he was transformed into a Piranha Plant in the Famicom/NES version. A save feature was also added for the Super Famicom/SNES version.