"The absolute best Nes game ever and one of the best games of all time."

Who hasn’t played this game?, is there anyone?, not having played this game is an offence, a true sacrilege, because this is the best game ever crafted for the old Nes. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the true sequel of the first Mario game, the original Super Mario bros. 2 was just a bloody hard version of the first Mario, the and the American version, while as good as this one (in my humble opinion), was a completely new game that had almost nothing to do with the Mario saga. But this third part plays and feels exactly like the first Mario right from the beginning, and right from the beginning too, this game is one million times better than the original and three billion times better than basically any other Nes game you can imagine, and let’s face it, Super Mario Bros. 3 is much, much better than almost any other game you can imagine for any console ever. Yes, it is that good.

Plot:
This time the evil dinosaur Bowser not only has kidnapped the Toadstool Princess again, because his evil children have also turned all the kings in the land into animals, Mama Mia!, but no one has to worry, Mario and Luigi are back again to try to solve these problems.

Graphics 10/10:
Teeeeeerrific, maybe there are more impressive looking games on the Nes, but Super Mario Bros. 3’s graphics are gorgeous, almost Snes quality I would say, crystal clear, absolutely wonderful, tremendously appealing, and with such a huge variety that is hard to believe. Perfect, just perfect, it is impossible to say anything negative about them.

Music 10/10:
The classical Mario tunes are back, in Super Mario Bros. 2 the music was completely new (maybe it was the original music the game that Nintendo copied had), but here the most classical Mario themes are what we are going to hear, as well as a lot of new ones that, of course, have top notch quality and are so catchy that you will not be able to stop humming them in the rest of your life.

Gameplay 10/10:
The classical Super Mario gameplay is also back, running and jumping and collecting coins will be our primary goal again, also the classic enemies are back, koopas and goombas are going to be, again, our enemies, but together with them comes are new true army of enemies that are as charismatic as Mario himself. In short, back to the roots better than ever!

This time the game is structured in maps, there are eight maps, each one with a lot of different levels, there is no need to beat all the stages to reach a new world because we normally have to choose between paths that have different stages, anyway our mission will be to reach a big flying boat where one of Bowser’s evil kids will await. The maps, even the first one, are pretty big, but just wait until you reach other worlds, the maps get so big that they need separated screens to hold everything they have to offer. Now, the world map looks great, but that is not all, because common stages are not the only thing we are going to find in them, scattered around them there are mini games and special enemies or obstacles like the Hammer Brothers, they will be constantly moving around the map, and if we happen to mess with them, we will have fight.

Super Mario Bros. 3 features a massive amount of new and old items, and the best thing about them is that we can store them if we want and use them whenever its necessary. We will obtain most of the items from the mini games, but there are more ways also, as well as special items, and they are some extremely valuable ones, with them will be able to skip stages and even worlds. Aside from the classical Mushrooms, Starts, and such there are Clouds, Hammers, Switches, Flutes, Bombs, and Anchor… and of course we can’t forget about the costumes, Mario has a Racoon costume, a Frog consume, and another one that I don’t know if it is ok to talk about it as a costume, because there is a stage where you can get into a boot, yeah a boot, anyway, with the Racoon costume you will be able to fly, to do that we need to run until will fill that little bar we have at the bottom of the screen as jump, the way we fly is excellent because we can move freely around everywhere, it is not like in Super Mario World where were just able to float (something that wasn’t bad at all anyway), the Frog costume is a little bit useless because it will only be available in a few stages, but Mario looks really nice while wearing it.

The two player option is amazing, because you and your fiend will have to play the maps together, you can’t play a stage at the same time with a friend, that would be great at the beginning, but the stages are too complicated to do that, anyway, what I meant was that if the first player clears a stage, that stage will be cleared for the second player also, and as expected, the mini games are going to be constantly causing trouble all the time, because the one who beats a mini game first earns all the items, ah!, I can still remember when my mother shouted because I was making too much noise while playing with my friends, ah!, the golden oldies... and that is not all, there is also another two player option (which is a little bit hidden) which lets you play nothing more and nothing less than the real first Mario Bros. game released back in prehistoric times.

Replay Value:
Endless, that is it, endless, there so many secrets that I would say that is impossible to find them all, and then, whether if you have found everything or not, you will to play again and again and again for the rest of your life, this is one of those games that MUST to be played once in a while.

Conclusion:
Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best Nes game available, the epitome of entertainment and gameplay perfection ever in the Nes, not loving this game is an insult to the video game industry, so it is very simple, if you don’t consider this game as one of your all time favourite, your are a moron that don’t deserve to keep playing, keep that in mind.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/28/04