SMB3 Chaos Control is a ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 3 for the NES. Most of us are all familiar with Super Mario Bros. 3 and all the hype that went along with that game in the early '90s. In the spring of 2005, someone by the name of Schwa developed a ROM hack of SMB3 called Chaos Control. Chaos Control is just like SMB3 in terms of graphics, sound, and gameplay. The differences are in the level/game design, plot, content, and difficulty. This is a pretty good hack overall, but I didn't get into it the way I did Super Mario 3. However, I still found it a very enjoyable game and one to add to my collection.    

Graphics 8/10: The graphics of the original game were pretty typical for an NES game released in 1990. Chaos Control is no different from SMB3, and everything looks just like it did in that game. Both are colorful, and the sprites have a lot of detail put into them. However, the backgrounds still look pretty bland and uninteresting. Overall, Chaos Control is a nice looking game but nothing spectacular.

Music 8/10: Chaos Control reuses the same songs from SMB3 but arranges them in a different order. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the similarities to Mario 3, but it is kind of interesting how the tracks of the game are arranged. The Dark Land theme plays in Bowser's Castle just like in the SMB3 cartoons. Although, the airship theme is overused a lot in this hack. I guess, the soundtrack isn't all that different from before. It's just the order/selection that has been changed, and in some ways this makes the hack better, and in other ways it ruins it. For the most part, the music is no different from SMB3.

Gameplay 10/10: SMB3 Chaos Control has the same gameplay as the original game. However, this hack contains more levels than before. Super Mario Bros. 3 contained about 91 levels, but this game contains quite a bit more. Like the original, some levels are optional, and there are also Toad Houses, Hammer Bros., and card matching games where the player can earn items and extra lives. The items such as: the Frog Suit, Tanooki Suit, Hammer Suit, and Super Leaf also make a return. The levels in Chaos Control have a lot of variety and are similar in their themes to SMB3.

But, I feel like Chaos Control has more to offer, and the arrangement/design of the 8 overworlds has been changed a lot. This hack contains: weird grassy levels, desert levels, athletic/water levels, giant levels, cloud stages, ice/water stages, desert/plant levels, and a crazy twilight zone type of world at the end of the game. The design and layout of this game is really strange, and it offers more content than what SMB3 offered. The mechanics of the game are the same as before, but it is clearly not the same game. Every world is different and has a different theme than in the original.

Schwa put a lot of effort into making a totally different version of SMB3. These are not the same 8 worlds from the original game, and they contain more levels than what the worlds in that game had. I probably enjoy exploring Chaos Control more than what I did with SMB3. There is a lot more new content to check out, and these levels are all unique from what they were originally.

Story 8/10: The storyline for SMB3 Chaos Control is similar to the original game. This time, Bowser has sent Kamek to steal a Chaos Emerald, and he uses the Emerald to transform all the worlds of Mushroom Land. The 7 worlds are badly damaged by the effects of the Emerald and are more dangerous to travel across than before. Mario must also restore the 7 kings to their original forms by getting the magic wands away from Bowser's 7 children because they have returned and transformed the kings into strange creatures like before. All the while Mario is doing this, Bowser kidnaps the Princess yet again and takes her to his new and improved castle in the Onyx Stronghold.

I don't know, it's kind of like Schwa copied and pasted the plot from SMB3 to this hack but not entirely. The storyline does explain why the 8 worlds look so different from what they originally did. The Mushroom Kingdom has been transformed by a Chaos Emerald. Although, it feels kind of cheap that Bowser and his children just go on another rampage like they already did. This plot is a cool concept but not all that original from before.

Content 10/10: Chaos Control is a pretty lengthy game to sit down and try to finish. It is one that takes almost 3 and 1/2 hours and is similar in length to a game like Super Mario World. This hack includes: Murky Courtyard, Desert of 100 Duels, Magictrick Land, Shadow Mountain, The Twin Midas Valley, Ocean Paradise, Uncharted Continent, and Onyx Stronghold. There are also a lot of card games, Toad Houses, and Hammer Bros. just like before. Chaos Control has a lot of interesting new content that is worth exploring all the way through.

Difficulty 9/10: Compared to a lot of other ROM hacks of Super Mario Bros. 3, this one is very playable. Some hacks are next to impossible, but this one is still pretty hard. Although, after several playthroughs, I started to find this game to get easier the more I played it. Chaos Control builds on the same type of challenging style of difficulty that SMB3 had. The platforming started out fairly simple but got harder as you progressed into the game. This time, it is quite a bit harder but no more difficult than other Mario 3 hacks such as: 2nd Run. Both hacks are challenging and do take quite a bit of practice to beat. Chaos Control might be a little harder, but it still isn't anything that is enormous.  

Overall 8.8/10: This is a fairly decent ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 3. It isn't impossibly difficult the way some hacks are, but it is somewhat harder than the original. It is pretty cool to see how all these new levels are laid out, and the song arrangement is a nice change of pace from what the original game was. The plot could have used a little more work, but it does explain why Chaos Control is a different looking game from the same one a lot of us grew up with. This is a hack worth checking out, but like with many of them, I don't find it to be as good as the original. It is still worth playing to see the way everything has been mixed and re-arranged.