Super Mario Bros. 3
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Super Mario Bros. 3 (sometimes referred to as Mario 3, SMB3, or Super Mario 3) is 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 released on October 23, 1988 in Japan, February 12, 1990 in the United States, and August 29, 1991 in Europe. It was directed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, and the music was composed by Koji Kondo. It is the fourth officially licensed sequel to Super Mario Bros, following the almost wholly unknown non-NES Super Mario Bros. Special, [[Super Mario Brothers: The Lost Levels]], and Super Mario Bros. 2, and the third sequel to be developed by Nintendo.
It features the first appearances of Bowser's children (minus Bowser Jr. who appeared years later). Mario and Luigi have to save seven kingdoms of the Mushroom World from the Koopa Kids (or Koopalings) by recovering the magic wands that they stole from the seven kings, and also save Princess Toadstool from the clutches of King Bowser.
Although widely regarded as being the best-selling video game of all time, the original Super Mario Bros. is actually the best-selling video game, at 40.23 million copies compared to Super Mario Bros. 3
Gameplay
The game play is a return to the style of Super Mario Bros. after the vast departure of the North American version 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 World via a map, which often splits into different paths, giving the player more of a choice of which levels to play. Now the player could know what to expect while entering a level: for instance, a level situated near or on a body of water would most likely have aquatic elements. Furthermore, the player could skip levels entirely, giving them greater control over the gameplay. While on the 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, as in Super Mario Bros. 2 but not the original Super Mario Bros., the player can travel backwards in a level in case they had missed a special area or item. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced the further ability of the screen to scroll diagonally (in Super Mario Bros. 2, it can sometimes scroll vertically and sometimes scroll horizontally, but never in both manners at once).
Also, due to the increased difficulty, a luxury was given to the player, in the U.S. and PAL releases: if he had one of the "special" powers - Fire Mario, Raccoon Mario, Hammer Mario, Tanooki Mario, etc. - and 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, small Mario. This game play mechanic was not used in the Super Nintendo version of Super Mario World, but it was used in the later [[Super Mario remake series#Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2|Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World]] for the Game Boy Advance, and New Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo DS.
A cut-down version of the first Mario game in the series, the 1983 arcade release Mario Bros. was also included as a 2-player minigame.
Levels
| World | Japanese version | Worldwide version | Super Mario Advance 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grass Land | Grass Land | Grass Land |
| 2 | Desert Hill | Desert Land | Desert Hill |
| 3 | Ocean Side | Water Land | Sea Side |
| 4 | Big Island | Giant Land | Big Island |
| 5 | The Sky | Sky Land | The Sky |
| 6 | Iced Land | Ice Land | Ice Land |
| 7 | Pipe Maze | Pipe Land | Pipe Maze |
| 8 | Castle of Koopa | Dark Land | Bowser's Castle |
| 9 | Warp Zone | Warp Zone | Warp Zone |
Note that the original NES release included the Japanese names. It was a re-release that came out slightly later that initially changed the names. The Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance versions also use the original names with the exception of World 3 and World 8. In both the SNES and GBA version, "Ocean Side" was changed to "Sea Side", even in the Japanese version. In the English SNES version, "Kuppa" in World 8 is changed to "Koopa", which is the more common spelling. The English GBA version renames World 8 to the generic "Bowser's Castle". Some versions refer to World 2 as Koopahari Desert.
If Warp Zone is excluded as a set of stages, the entire game has a total of 90 accessible levels (as well as fifteen "lost levels" only accessible by hacking the game). It is therefore considered one of the largest classic games of all time, having more than the 32 levels of Super Mario Bros, more than the 32 levels of Super Mario Bros. Special, more than the 52 of [[Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels]] (Super Mario Bros. 2 in Japan), and more than the 72 of Super Mario World (it is often mistakenly assumed that Super Mario World has 96 stages, but that number includes the 24 secret exits in the game).
Items
Like the original Super Mario Bros., Mario can use several different items to give him power-ups. These are acquired through various points in levels, Toad Houses, Princess Peach's letters and other events.Items that returned from Super Mario Bros.:
- Starman: Mario gains temporary invincibility. He is impervious to death by any means except lava, bottomless pits, getting stuck in a scrolling-screen level, and timing up.
- Super Mushroom: Mario doubles in size, can break bricks by hitting them from below, and can take one hit without dying.
- Fire Flower: As Fire Mario, he can throw fireballs that bounce across the ground.
- 1-Up Mushroom: At various points in levels, Mario and Luigi can find special mushrooms called 1-Up Mushrooms, which grant them an extra life. Super Mario Advance 4's e-Reader function also came with four 1-Up e-Cards - one for a single 1-Up Mushroom (only acquirable through Wal-Mart), another for a 5-Up Mushroom, another for a 10-Up Mushroom, and a special promotional card, the 100-Up Mushroom.
- Coin: Worth one point apiece. Collect one hundred for an extra life.
- Super Leaf: 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 Japanese tanuki. By wagging his tail, Mario can descend slowly from a jump and by getting a running start, Mario can fly briefly. It also grants Mario the ability to break bricks, activate question mark blocks and defeat several enemies that can't be stomped, such as Spinies and Piranha plants.
- Frog Suit: Movement on land is hindered, but swimming is greatly facilitated and accelerated. Also allows Mario to swim against the current and into secret underwater pipes.
- Tanooki Suit: Allows Mario to fly, just like Raccoon Mario; Mario can also become a statue of Jizo while in this form, rendering him temporarily invincible by pressing down and B. This suit is based on the Japanese tanuki. "Statue Mario" can be activated in midair and thus stomp many enemies that cannot normally be defeated, such as Boos and Thwomps. "Statue Mario" can also defeat enemies that take multiple hits, such as Koopas, in one stomp.
- Hammer Brothers' Suit: Mario can throw hammers, just like the Hammer Brothers. (The hammers are far more powerful than fireballs, as they pass through walls, and virtually any enemy can be killed by them.) Also, when crouching, Mario retreats into a shell, rendering 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 Spinys to kill them, and walk across Munchers (long rows of indestructible Piranha Plants). His jumping ability is also augmented. This is available only in level 5-3, and is lost when the player clears the level. The only way to acquire this item is to punch the block the Shoe-wearing Goomba is standing on from underneath to force it out; stomping the Goomba will make both Goomba and Shoe fall off the screen.
- P-Wing: Short for "Power Wing", the P-Wing turns Mario into Raccoon Mario and keeps his power meter (normally filled by a running start) constantly filled. Its most basic use is allowing the player to fly over entire levels unthreatened. If Mario is hit by an enemy while in P-wing state, he will lose both the Raccoon power and the filled power meter.
- Jugem's Cloud (after Lakitu's Japanese name) (Map-only item): Using this item changes Mario's icon on the world map into a Lakitu cloud. Mario may now move past one uncompleted level. If Mario dies in the next attempted level, he will be sent to the previously completed spot on the world map, and the Lakitu's Cloud will have been wasted. However, should Mario have to travel through a world-map pipe to reach the level after the skipped level, Mario will only be sent back to the exit pipe. Levels which the player automatically enters simply by passing over them on the map, such as Hammer Bros. battles and the tanks in World 8, cannot be bypassed by Lakitu's Cloud; Mario enters the level anyway, and the item is wasted.
- Magic Whistle: (Map-only item) Using a Magic Whistle takes Mario to the Warp Zone (World 9) map, where he must then choose a world to warp to. There are three Magic Whistles to be acquired in Super Mario Bros. 3: one in 1-3, one in World 1 Minifortress, and one in a World 2 Fire Brothers duel. Using the whistle from World 1 allows access to Worlds 2, 3 and 4, using it in Worlds 2 through 6 allows access to worlds 5, 6 and 7 and using the whistle in Worlds 7 or 8 or the Warp Zone (World 9) allows access to World 8. Using a whistle in Warp Zone (World 9) instantly transports you to World 8 regardless of your previous world.
- Anchor: (Map-only item) Anchors can be found on the white Airships that appear when the player collects a certain number of coins in a certain level, and in even-numbered worlds' hidden white Toad houses. When a player dies while attempting to complete a Koopaling Airship level, it relocates itself to a random vacant spot on the world map. If a player has skipped a level in the world (using Lakitu's Cloud or otherwise), he might find the Airship's new location inaccessible. Using an Anchor prevents the Airship from relocating. This is especially useful in World 5, where a bug occasionally causes the Airship to "hide" in the sky above the ground-levels, where it is inaccessible from either the ground or the clouds. Here, one can use the anchor to keep the Airship from permanently "hiding" in this area, where it would essentially end the game by making itself impossible to reach.
- Music Box: (Map-only item) This item changes the overworld music to a different theme, a shortened version of the original Super Mario Bros. theme, and puts all the Hammer Bros. on the map to sleep for several turns, causing them to remain in the same place on the map. Mario can walk past the Hammer Bros. while they sleep without fighting them.
- Hammer: (Map-only item) This hammer can break impassable stones on the world map. In World 2, this tool is necessary to gain one of the three aforementioned "Warp Whistles". A buzzer will sound if Mario attempts to use a hammer at a place without a rock.
Bonus Games
Super Mario Bros. 3 also has two different game show-style bonus games, both hosted by Toad which consist of a sliding matching game and a memory game where you have to match up two of the same card without missing twice. There are also two lost bonus games, one hosted by a Koopa and one hosted by a Hammer Brother that can only be accessed by hacking.
Development
U.S. and Japanese version differences
While Super Mario Bros. 3 was in development in Japan, rather than directly porting the exact game code, Nintendo of America took the time to alter the game by enhancing it somewhat and adjusting the difficulty by either adding or removing some elements of the game. The following is a mostly complete list of differences between the U.S. and Japanese versions of Super Mario Bros. 3.
- When a level is selected on the Map screen, the screen fades out to black. However, there is an extra fade-in to the level in the Japanese version; this fade-in was omitted from the U.S. version.
- In the World 1 Fortress at the end of the room with the falling spiked ceiling, four higher spikes are located below and to the right of the lower two. In the U.S. version these four spikes were removed, the wall was extended two blocks to the left, and the door that goes to Boom-Boom's room was moved one block to the right.
- In the Japanese version, the castle throne room has three columns, the column shadows are to the right of the columns, the column beside the King is behind the stairs, Mario begins the level standing on the left side of the screen, the edge of the throne and tops of the stairs are light blue, the stairs are shorter, and the background is greenish-blue. In the U.S. version there are only two columns, the column shadows were switched to the left, the column beside the King is in front, the chair edges and tops of the stairs are gold, the triangles in the background are a different size, Mario begins near the center of the screen, Toad has moved back a little, the stairs are longer, and the background color has changed colors slightly to light blue.
- Like the original Super Mario Brothers, Mario will go revert to small Mario after taking a hit, no matter what power-up he has in the Japanese version. In the U.S. version, if Mario has a Fire Flower, Raccoon Leaf, Goomba's Shoe, or any other suit and takes a hit, he will return to being Super Mario rather than small Mario. (This change later found its way into the Game Boy Advance remake of Super Mario World, and was also incorportated into New Super Mario Bros.)
- At the end of World 5-1, in the Japanese version, Mario reaches a wall with a pipe sticking out of it. Mario must enter this pipe to reach a different part of the level containing the goal card. In the U.S. version, the end of World 5-1 now contains no wall or any pipe. The dark ending portion of the level was moved to the spot previously occupied by the wall. This particular change was made in response to an unusual but harmless glitch that occurred when Mario reached the area containing the goal in the Japanese version and proceeded to fly over the left-hand wall in this area. More details regarding this glitch can be found at [The Mushroom Kingdom].
- In the Japanese version, the Kuribo's Shoe will turn red if Mario runs into an enemy, and Mario will be reduced to small Mario if he is Super, Fiery, Raccoon, or is wearing any of the suits. When Mario runs into an enemy in the U.S. version, he will still remain in the power-up condition he had when he got into the shoe. Also, the shoe does fly off, but does not turn red.
- The first ship encountered at the beginning of World 8 has a small difference at the very end. In the Japanese version, if Mario drops into the mud and manages to do a trick to swim all the way to the right of the final pipe, he will not be able to get back up because the wall is a single block too high. A block was removed from the U.S. version, at the very top of the right wall. Thus, even if Mario falls into the mud, he will be able to get back up and continue on. This change was not done for the versions featured in Super Mario All-Stars or Super Mario Advance 4; however, in the Advance version, Mario and Luigi share their Super Mario Bros. 2 differences, so if the player enters Mario and Luigi mode, Luigi can jump the ship's end.
Trivia
- In outdoor levels where the scenery includes large colored blocks (such as levels 1 and 3 of World 1), keeping Mario crouched down on top of a white block for several seconds causes him to fall through the block. He now appears behind the scenery instead of in front of it. If this can be sustained until the end of level 1-3, Mario can walk right past the end to reach a hidden mushroom house, where he finds a Magic Whistle.
- If the player completes a world while wearing a Frog suit, a Tanooki suit or a Hammer Brother suit, the king will say something different each time.
- The theme for World 3 is similar to the theme used for most of the file select screens from the Legend of Zelda games, but there is a bit of a difference.
- The king originally thanked the player by saying, "Thank Heavens!" This was removed in the [[Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3|Super Mario Advance 4]] version and replaced with "Oh, Splendid!"
- The final island group in World 3 is shaped like the islands of Japan, with a gold coin in the approximate location of Tokyo and the castle in the approximate location of Kyoto, where Nintendo is based. Also, both the city names are reversed if you use Japanese characters.
- The tune which plays when Mario uses the whistle is identical to the melody used for the Recorder in The Legend of Zelda, and in both games it summons a tornado that sweeps up the hero and dumps him elsewhere. Koji Kondo composed the music for both franchises.
- Super Mario Bros. 3 contains some dummy content that was created during the development process but removed from the final version. Using tools such as the Game Genie, it is possible to reveal this material. More information can be found at [The Mushroom Kingdom].
- In the original game and Super Mario All-Stars, Mario and Luigi don't appear to be wearing gloves except in most closeups. This was changed in Super Mario Advance 4.
- Because of its popularity, many ROM hacks have been done. [link]
- According to Nintendo Power, the first person to find all three magic whistles was Anuj Shah.
- In New Super Mario Bros., Bowser Jr. acts as a progressively harder version of Boom-Boom.
- There are about 15 "Lost Levels" that are in the game, but they are inaccessible through normal means. They can only be accessed through a ROM patch for SMB3. However, the levels can have one or more of the following: no exits, no enemies, can be short, or are early versions of other levels. Maps for these levels can be viewed [here].
- McDonald's sold Happy Meals containing toys from the game. They were a jumping Mario, a wind-up Luigi toy, an air-pump Koopa Para-Troopa, and a jumping Goomba.
- The theme music during most of World 8 is an arrangement of Mars from Gustav Holst's The Planets.
Critical reception
With its expansive gameplay, Super Mario Bros. 3 is often considered to be Nintendo's true masterpiece for the NES, and is commonly referred to and voted as one of the greatest video games of all time. Since its release, Super Mario Bros. 3 has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide, an outstanding achievement for video games that are sold separately from their consoles. It is to this day still the best-selling standalone video game.
Several months before its North American release, a "sneak peek" of sorts was given to the American public in the movie The Wizard (1989), where the game was featured as the final lap of a video game competition. Additionally, the game appears in the feature film Beethoven, in which two of the dog's owners are seen simultaneously playing the game, which is possible only during two player "challenge" scenes. The game also makes a cameo appearance in the movie "3 Ninjas", in the scene where the kids are in their room before their parent alarm goes off.
Well before its American console release, Super Mario Bros. 3 was made available for play on the PlayChoice-10 arcade machines.
In Japan, there was a trilogy of OVAs depicting characters from the game acting out Japanese folk tales. DiC Entertainment also produced a Saturday morning cartoon titled The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, a follow-up to their previous animated Mario series. McDonald's restaurants also released a Happy Meal consisting of four different toys based on the video game.
In 2003, a gamer named Morimoto beat SMB3 in slightly over 11 minutes, using warp whistles to skip through most of the game and taking advantage of various glitches (see video at [link]). He used an emulator to record his work and undo his mistakes, which made some viewers of the video question whether it was a worthy accomplishment. On his [website] (in Japanese),[(in English)] he mentions it was played mostly frame by frame, thus essentially pausing many times to perform perfect moves. However, most viewers agreed that it was an impressive sight regardless, and the video rejuvenated an interest in the classic game. The video also inspired a lot of similar emulator video-recording on various games, known as tool-assisted speedruns (see [Tool Assisted Console Game Movies]); SMB3 itself has had that run improved by about 30 seconds.
Remakes
In 1990, id Software developed a PC version of Super Mario Bros. 3, using a smooth scrolling engine they had created. They recreated the first level and sent a demo to Nintendo; however, Nintendo was not interested in entering the PC market. id Software forged ahead, replacing Mario with Commander Keen.BS Super Mario Bros 3
In 1995 Nintendo released a add on for the SNES called the Satellaview, also known as the "BS-X" in Japan. One of the games for this system is a weird demoversion of Super Mario Bros 3, with enhanced graphics just like in Super Mario All-stars. The game is not a copy of the original. It features some new features like "flower icons" and cartoon style pictures that appear every now and then, among other things.Super Mario All-Stars
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. 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, mostly to popular creatures from other SMB games. When Mario became Fiery Mario he was previously orange where in the updated version he resembled Fiery Mario of the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario World (Red and White). 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. For the aforementioned world name table, Super Mario All-Stars uses the original world names.
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
A similar version appears on the Game Boy Advance as [[Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3]]. It includes the updated original Mario Bros. and the ability to connect with the link cable to battle against each other. Newly created levels based on Super Mario Bros. 3, and demonstrations of how to complete certain levels can be downloaded through e-Reader cards. However, this feature wasn't very popular since the e-Reader had been discontinued in the U.S. not long after the game came out. Some levels were changed in the new Game Boy Advance version to make the game easier.
Glitches
- Although hinted at in an official Nintendo's Player's Guide, the wall jump exploit has obtained relatively little publicity over the years. The glitch occurs when Mario jumps toward a solid wall, touching it at a certain point in the air so that he appears to temporarily pause in midair, as if stumbling onto some invisible foothold. Mario normally drops to the ground after this quick display, but it is possible to time a second jump off the non-existent foothold. This procedure, although difficult to successfully execute, can be used to scale large walls such as the one at the start of level 6-9. In theory, this glitch could be exploited to serve as a safety net in levels with instantly-fatal traps such as pits and lava. But due to the split-second precision required for the maneuver, only a genuine master would be able to utilize it to this degree. This may have given rise to the "Wall jump" ability introduced in Super Mario 64, though this is simply speculation.
- When using an activated P-Wing in a room with a giant "?" block, it is possible for the player to fly through the "?" block by hitting it and repeatedly pressing the "A" button to fly.
See also
- List of Mario games
- Mario Adventure
- List of best selling computer and video games
- List of NES games
- List of Famicom games
References
- In [[Animal Crossing: Wild World]] you can get a type of note paper called SMB3 paper. It was designed to look like a background of SMB3.
External links
- [Super Mario Bros. 3] at MobyGames
- [Nintendo Power Special: The making of SMB3]
- [Super Mario Bros. 3 information at The Mushroom Kingdom]
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