He'd eaten mushrooms to grow in size. He'd picked flowers to throw balls of flame. And just when you thought Mario's powers couldn't get any weirder, along came his tail – a raccoon's tail that made him fly. Wagging his ringed rear end must have worked, because Super Mario Bros. 3 flew off the shelves. Arriving in American stores for the first time in February 1990, Mario's third adventure was Nintendo's first Megaton release. It sold millions in its first year, and has gone on to become the best-selling non-bundled video game of all time. Now, as the superstar, Koopa-stomping plumber once again arrives on store shelves in an all-new adventure that's guaranteed to become a best-seller itself, should you spend the time and the 500 Wii Points required to add to the lifetime sales total of this past NES adventure? The answer, absolutely, is yes.
In Super Mario Bros. 3, Bowser has become a father. His seven children, the Koopa Kids, have invaded the lands neighboring the Mushroom Kingdom – attacking their castles and casting spells on their kings (who have been transformed into animals). It's up to Mario and Luigi to travel through these worlds, teach the Koopas a lesson, and reclaim the magic wands that have the power to reverse the transformation curse.
It's an epic undertaking, especially from the NES era – and it's a blast to play every step of the way. The game play of Super Mario Bros. 3 is built on the foundation of Shigeru Miyamoto's original side-scrolling, platforming design, but it's expanded in every aspect. Venturing through levels is more open than ever, with no restriction put on exploration. Map screens are introduced to give players a choice of where to go next, including non-action locations like Toad's Item House and card-matching mini-games. A reserved item menu is even available, letting gamers save key power-ups to use later on.
The introduction of map screens was just one of Super Mario Bros. 3's many innovations.
And there are plenty to choose from. Though the newly-released Super Mario Galaxy is once again replete with fresh new upgrades and suits for our hero, it still doesn't match the sheer amount of items included here. Super Mario Bros. 3 more than quadrupled the number of obtainables from the first game's simple trio of Mushroom, Flower and Star – there's a freshly-added Leaf that transforms the plumber into Raccoon Mario, giving him a whip-around frontal enemy attack and the power to fly; a Frog Suit that makes land travel cumbersome but swimming a cinch; and a Hammer Bros. Suit that lets Mario play the villain, throwing arcing hammer projectiles and crouching to gain resistance to fire.
Further, there are several items that can be activated only on the game's maps, and trigger interactions with the environment there – a Hammer that clears away rocks and reveals new paths to travel, a Music Box that lulls wandering enemies into blissful sleep, and the famous Warp Whistles that summon up a whirlwind to carry you away to the secret "World 9," home of Warp Pipes that can send you to any of the game's other worlds.
It's an expansive adventure, full of action and tons of secrets. And now, over 17 years after its original release and standing alongside more modern contemporaries like Galaxy, Sunshine and Super Mario 64, Super Mario Bros. 3 still holds up perfectly. It's just as accessible as it's always been, and continues to be one of the best 2D platformers ever made.
Playing Super Mario Bros. 3 emulated through the Virtual Console reveals, of course, some subtle imperfections that you might not have noticed in the early '90s – specifically, its graphics engine. A thin vertical strip of screen real estate remains blank on the left side of the viewable area in SMB3, an artifact of its original 8-bit programming that wasn't as noticeable when it ran off of a cartridge and NES hardware. You might notice flicker in the graphics from time to time, especially in levels with forced environment scrolling like the world-ending airship stages.
Also, gamers used to the SNES era control scheme of Y Button running and B Button jumping will be disappointed to hear that the SNES-styled Classic Controller doesn't work that way for this VC edition of Mario 3 – which is completely normal for NES titles on the VC and nothing new at all, but feels like a fresh issue because Super Mario Worldis, by contrast, perfect on the CC. You'll likely just want to use a sideways-held Wiimote for this game.
But it's really a stretch to call either of those issues issues at all. You'll be mildly distracted at worst, but quickly recaptured by the magic of stomping foes with Kuribo's Shoe, leaping over the quicksand of the Koopahari Desert and taking out the enormously oversized enemies of Giant Land. You know you're going to warp straight there and check out those gigantic Goombas on your new big screen HDTV, aren't you?
THE VERDICT
Super Mario Bros. 3 is still a spectacular adventure today, and the best representation of the Mario universe to come from the NES. Though we would have loved to see a little something extra thrown in for this release, it's difficult to argue against Nintendo's standing policy of just releasing games just as they were when they first arrived – and Mario's third adventure still stands well enough on its own to firmly recommend it for download even with its old graphical quirks still in place. The only reasons you shouldn't already be walking to your Wii to launch the Shop and put down your 500 points would be if you're happy with a version of the game you already own, like the 2003 Game Boy Advance re-release, or if you're holding out hope that the visually enhanced Super Mario All-Stars edition will someday arrive as a downloadable option as well. But really, even then, it's five bucks. For one of the greatest video games of all time, and absolutely one of Mario's best ever adventures. So how can you resist adding to that already-enormous lifetime sales total?
IGN RATINGS FOR SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 (WII)
Rating
Description
out of 10
Click here for ratings guide
9
Presentation
Mario's world was greatly expanded through Super Mario Bros. 3. The adventure is more epic, with several new lands and enemies to encounter. Fantastic.
8
Graphics
Some of the best 8-bit work ever done – seeing Mario encounter the oversized enemies of Giant Land still impresses to this day. Some flicker issues, though.
9
Sound
One of Koji Kondo's early masterpiece soundtracks, and the one that defined the direction for the franchise in the future – its tunes will stay in your head for hours.
10
Gameplay
2D platform gaming at its best. Mario could already run, jump and duck through pipes, but now he could fly! The new abilities were balanced with exceptional level design and tight control.
9.5
Lasting Appeal
There are lots of secrets to find, and tons of worlds and levels. The VC's Save State feature also makes it easier to play through all the way to the end.

Wow.. This is a long, good, logical review... I guess. 

Simple mistake, man. Just check out the review forum rules. That should help prevent any future issues.

Failed to summon. I'll fix it up if I can.

Local Mods :

What exactly is wrong with this thread? I didn't see any dupes or anything, and it's over 100 words.  Is it plagiarized, because if so... that's an easy fix.... I mean, he could just edit his post....

Eirinn :

Singelli : Copy and paste review.

dragon111 :
Before I close this, just to make sure...... you have no interest in fixing your mistake?
Well, since you posted an apology, I'll assume this is the case, and I'll close this.  Just don't let it happen again, and listen to Eirinn's advice. He's a fantastic reviewer and he knows what he's talking about!

Eirinn, by the way, since it's on the same topic.... I did read your pm.  I just haven't had the time to read through the appropriate posts and give you an opinion yet.  I'll try to by this weekend though.