Mario Chronicles is another ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 3. It was released in the spring of 2005 around the same time that another famous hack of SMB3 was released called "Chaos Control". This one was made by "Ringodoggie". Chronicles is one of the many Mario hacks I played a lot in my early days on Vizzed back in 2013 and 2014. It is also another incomplete hack similar to SMB3 2nd Run, but this hack has a lot of glitches in it. Save states are a must with this game due to all the many bugs it has. I don't feel like this is one of those good hacks and falls into the same category that many ROM hacks and remakes fall into.

Graphics and Sound 8/10: These parts of the review are so repetitive that I feel like just copying and pasting what I've already said about the graphics and sound of the other SMB3 hacks for NES. The sprites look good, but the backgrounds are pretty bland in all of these remakes/hacks of Mario Bros. 3. The music is also the same way. It is a case where too much variety hurts it more than it helps it. Some of the songs are catchy like the airships theme but some are dull like the overworld theme for world 1-1.

Gameplay 2/10: The main objective in Mario Chronicles is the same as it is in Super Mario Bros. 3 and all the other hacks of that game that I have reviewed so far. The stages are still pretty short in length and fun to play through. Some of them do have the flying fish of death in them, and those are the ones that are not so fun. Although, there aren't that many of them in this particular hack, but there are a lot of other levels that have ridiculous platforming sections that are impossible. I just skip these levels with a P-Wing. You still get: card matching games, panel line-up games, Hammer Bros, Toad Houses, etc. But, watch out! These parts can be glitchy!

There isn't much to say about the gameplay of Chronicles that I haven't already said about the gameplay in Super Mario 3 and many of its other ROM hacks. You also have the same item selection as before with a few new ones like: Kuribo's Shoe, keys, and a Boomerang Suit. Some of the Toad Houses freeze the game, and if you die on the airship in world 1, it flies off into a part of the overworld map you can't get to. There are a lot of parts of this game you'll want to avoid and make save states at the right places, or the game will freeze, and you'll have to start all over!!

What's worse is that this is an incomplete hack, and world 7 is full of parts that will freeze. There is no way of knowing how to avoid this crap unless you have watched a playthrough on YouTube, or you've played the game for yourself and have already made these mistakes before. Mario Chronicles is fun to play until you get to these areas. The hack is hard but not as bad as other ones I've played. It's just all the glitches and the way it craps out on players in world 8. There was so much that could have been worked on in Mario Chronicles.

Had it been completed and all the bugs were fixed, it wouldn't have been that bad with exception to some of the bad platforming stages. I don't think this is a hack that was designed very well. It is way too buggy for me and not much fun. It has some good levels, but all the glitches keep it from being a game with good design or gameplay.

Story 4/10: The plot is the same one from Super Mario Bros. 3, but it never got finished. Bowser has sent his 7 children to steal the magic wands from the 7 kings of Mushroom Land and turn them into animals. While Mario is off fighting his Koopa kids on their 7 airships, Bowser kidnaps the Princess and takes her to Dark Land. If Mario can avoid all the glitches in Mario Chronicles, he'll make it to Dark Land just to have the game tear up and give out on him!! Why was this game never finished, and why were none of these bugs ever fixed before this hack was released? The story would have been the same as before if had gotten completed, but it didn't.

Content 9/10: Mario Chronicles has way less content than what SMB3 had, but it still has a good bit that is playable. It includes: Grass Land, Desert Land, Water Land (which is more like an island paradise world in this SMB3 hack), Giant Land, Sky Land, Ice Land, Pipe Land (which also feels like some kind of island but with a lot of plant life for this world), and Dark Land where the game basically dies. Playing through all the playable levels doesn't even take 2 hours. It can be finished in a little less than that amount of time.     

Difficulty 10/10: Chronicles is still a hard hack nonetheless with many fish stages and Koopa hopping levels that are really impossible to get through without a P-Wing. And that's if you can keep the game from freezing up on you! Once you get up to world 5, the game gets way too hard. Now, I know why I quit playing this game years ago and why I haven't revisited it much since 2014. It's just like Blue Mario Bros. 3 but even worse with all the glitches and bugs. Don't play this game without save states!!

Overall 6.2/10: Mario Chronicles is a terrible ROM hack of Super Mario Bros. 3! I see why I saved this one for last in my reviews for these old SMB3 hacks. It is next to unplayable with all the glitches and poorly designed stages. It looks and sounds like the SMB3 we're all familiar with, but it is still another incomplete hack as well! I guess it's worth playing because there are some good levels, but once you get to world 5, things really take a turn for the worse. World 7 sucks, and world 8 is where it just gives out! This is the SMB3 hack I enjoy the least and have to give it a thumbs down!