Super Mario Brothers 3 is the third installment in the insanely
successful Super Mario Brothers series and as well as, being the single
best platform game of all time. The game was released in 1990 for the
Nes, and then re-released in 1993 as one of the Mario games found in the
Super Mario All-Stars compilation. [By the way, read my Super Mario
All-Stars review if you want to find out more about this No.1
compilation.]

It's really hard to imagine that an 8-bit system
could really produce a game something like this. Super Mario Brothers 3
pushed the envelope of technology and creativity in the 8-bit system to
its fullest limit. Shigeru Miyamoto has once again lived up to his most
honourable reputation.

Super Mario Brothers 3 retained its
roots back, but expanded upon the original game in every way imaginable.
No other game has yet able to recapture the spirit of adventure and
enchantment found in Super Mario Brothers 3.

Super Mario
Brothers 3 consists of eight different worlds, naming Grass World,
Desert World, Water World, Giant World, Sky World, Ice World, Pipe World
and Dark World. For the first time, the levels were spread out on an
overworld map that sprawled in every direction. Because of that, there
are many paths which you can take but which is the best?

Graphics


Super Mario Brothers 3 is indeed one of the best looking platformer
games, if not the best. The graphics had improved at least tenfold over
the original and it's hard to imagine that the original was made in the
8-bit Nes. In fact, the graphics had the 16-bit quality like SNES. The
graphics are asolutely gorgeous. Lush, colourful and beautiful worlds.

Music and Sound


The music and sound effects are quite good. Several classic Mario
tunes can be found here. Not just that alone, each world has its own
theme, so does any fortress or airship has too. Each tune suits each
world perfectly well. The sound also sounded more superior than its
predecessors. The control is also intuitive and responsive.

Gameplay


Finally, move on to the gameplay now. When i first played Super Mario
Brothers 3, i couldn't believe my eyes. The worlds are super huge and
exploration is plentiful. Each world is very well designed and there are
so many things to do. Super Mario Brothers 3 simply went far beyond my
wildest imagination. The entire game just cries out to be explored.


Yes, the basic Mario formula may still be the same. Collect
mushrooms, 100 coins, stomp enemies ... blah...blah and so on. But,
anyone will notice that many significant changes are made to the game.
The overworld is a perfect example, which i have mentioned above. While
in the overworld, you can sometimes expect to see the roving Hammer
Brothers roaming around. Besides, mini-games are scattered throughout
the world. For example, you have to match two cards from a deck of cards
that are closed. Yeah, memory. If you manage to match correctly, you
can proceed on and continue matching until you choose a card that does
not match. And, bonus prizes are given to you for matching the correct
cards. Furthermore, each time you complete a stage, power-ups like
mushroom, flower, leaf, star and so on will keep flashing randomly and
all you need to do is to jump and hit it when the power-up you want
appear. Collect three identical ones to gain bonus lives. Cool, right?


Not just these mini-games alone, there are many special animal
costumes that grant never-before-seen powers. You are no longer
restricted to mushroom, flower and star power-ups. The most noticeable
power-up is the leaf, which turns Mario into a Raccoon Mario and allows
him to float in the air temporary. How about doing a sprint and launch
into the air for a few seconds of flight, just to grab those
hard-to-reach coins? What could be better than battling turtles with
your tail after grabbing the leaf power-up?

Other power-ups
include a frog suit that grants Mario the ability to swim, lakitu cloud
that allows Mario to skip levels, a hammer suit that grants Mario the
ability to throw hammers like the Hammer Brothers and so on. If these
aren't enough, there is a special white mushroom house which can give
Mario two rarest items, P-Wing and Anchor. P-Wing allows Mario to fly
and Anchor prevents the airship in the overworld from flying away.


Perhaps, the most impressive and coolest part about Mario Brothers 3
is the ability to use the whistle [Did anyone mention Zelda???] to get
to the hidden warp zones. There are a total of three whistles in the
game. Hmm... how to get these three whistles??? I'll leave you to find
it out on your own.

Furthermore, it supports up to two
players. Yes, Mario and Luigi. Once Mario dies, it will be Luigi's turn.
The same is reverse when Luigi dies instead.

As mentioned
before, the worlds are super huge and the game may actually take at
least 30 hours or more to find all the secrets. There's a wide variety
of challenge. Mario swims, flys and so on. Difficulty also shows a
gradual increase as you proceed on to the next world. The first two to
four worlds are pretty easy but it truly gets very hard when you come to
the sixth or higher worlds.

Conclusion

Need i
say anymore? Grab Super Mario Brothers 3 if you have not done so yet!
It's simply the best platformer game of all time. Yes, in my opinion,
Super Mario Brothers 3 beats Super Mario 64, as well as Super Mario
World 1 and 2. This is a game that everyone should have. If you don't
have a Nes, grab the Super Mario All-Stars copy for the SNES. Imagine
4/5 Mario games with enhanced graphics and sounds in the SNES.

This review was plagiarised from the following site: 

http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/525245-super-mario-bros-3/reviews/6615


Eirinn :  
EX Palen :  
Summoning you guys, because when I do the Local Mods summon, it almost never works, lol.