In Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros.3 is Nesfiles' 1st game of the week.
Feel free to discuss.

What should you write?
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I'll start.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was one of my first games. I got it from my sister when I was really Hooked on SMB 1 and was overwhelmed by the new approach with a level map and the really cool graphics.

Here's a Japanese commercial for SMB3. Nice.


And the ending sequence.

I enjoyed this game alot. Very fun. Long. And very good replay Value. SMB 3 is the only few NES Games I have left and plan on keeping it. Better then the 2nd but not better then the 1st.

Super Mario Bros. 3 was my second game, right after the first Mario game, SMB.

I liked the game a lot, the levels were very creative and varied, and the story was well explained.

The sound was good, and the music was perfect. Basicly it was everything a Mario fan could ever wish for.

Playability was very good, since it was many good levels, more challenging bosses and new features for Mario. Like the raccoon suit, when you press the "Down-button" he changes to a statue and none of the enemies can harm you.

The challenge is good, if you don't pick up the magic flutes. The game is ridiculously easy when you have those flutes.

Koopa was a disappointment, when I found out that the only way to beat was to avoid him, I got depressed.

The ending is good, I like it when the princess says: "Thank you for rescuing me, Mario, but your princess is in another castle. Just kidding, ha, ha, ha!"

Overall, it's a very good game.

Very good idea, indeed, and Super Mario 3 is an excellent first choice, as in my opinion, this game was certainly the high point of the system for Mario games.
Indeed, I own the game, and it's one of the rare games my wife joins me in playing (along with SMB 1), and we think it's fantastic from start to finish, with just the right amount of difficulty. The graphics are unforgettable as well.
The first glimpse I got of this game, like many others, was in "The Wizard" movie back in the '80's. My first thought on seeing the movie was "I have to have this game!" As for high scores, I honestly can't remember, even though I had a notebook with all my high scores that I lost long ago.
Using the "print screen" feature, I made several charts of the card-memory game for added help (even though you can find these on every game FAQ site out there; I just like making my own).
And I know there's a convoluted strategy to getting it, but I always get the pirate ship instead of the Hammer Brother completely on accident, and it happens a lot. I'm also one of the nuts who insists on getting the 2nd Hammer Brother suit, even though it takes a lot of time!
As for playing it, good idea, but it'll have to wait until Saturday, I've got work this week! But it's funny you choose this game, because my wife and I have been thinking of playing it lately.


Great timing! My girlfriend and I were playing this just last night. Like ToddVania, it one of the few games she plays with me. She also made a rule for last night, no warping

I remember when this game first came out. It was pretty hard to get a hold of. It's also one of the many games were I remember where everything is at (1UPs, which chests have what in the mushroom huts, where every card is in the memory game, etc.).

Until last night, I forgot how badass the Hammer Brothers suit is. Is there anything it won't kill? I went through a mini-castle the other night with it on. I was able to kill ghosts, actually everything in the castle. I was also able to kill the end boss in one hit with the hammer (not that it is hard anyway).

Great game. Does anyone remember the video of the guy that beat it in 11 mins.?


Two posts from the other thread. Please post only here from now on if you have thoughts on the game.

A great game that deserves to be as popular as it is. Some people say it's overrated but I don't believe so. I remember getting it when I was on holiday in London and picked it up a few days before we returned home. Of course I didn't have my NES with me so all I could do was read through the manual over and over until my excitement reached fever pitch. The game definitely lived up to my expectations as I spent who knows how long playing it over the following weeks/months/years.

This has got me in the mood to play it again sometime over the next couple of days, and I think I'll use the Advantage seeming as that other thread made me realize I don't use it enough. I'm not sure if SMB 3 is the best game for the Advantage but we'll see.

Also I've got to try out what Dante Diamond said about using the Hammer Suit in a castle. I didn't know you could kill those ghosts.

The thread I made, you mean?

That's the one.

I know that feeling.
I had the same with Maniac Mansion. I bought it, but couldn't play it, so I read through the manual about 10 times.

SMB3 was bought by my sister.
I came home from school and she played a new game. What could that be??
SMB3. And then the week-long sessions began.
Because there was no save feature we had the NES turned on for as long as 2 weeks, because we didn't want to loose our progress.

SMB3 was, in my opinion, the center of all platforming games on the NES, rather than the first game. Yes, I said it. The first SMB game was incredibly fun, it's a classic, it had good music, but it was still primitive. From it's simple formula, many a crap game was derived.

When SMB3 came out, it was simply a better game in every respect, and was everything that a sequel should be. Just as it's predecessor (sp?) had done, SMB3 set the bar for platformers.

The interesting thing about the NES was that it's platformers tended to blend genres, so very few games managed to reach the level of pure, unadulterated platforming that was SMB3. As such, it was most certainly the center of all platforming on the NES.

I forgot to say this in my last post, but I kind of look on SMB 3 as a massive "apology" for the SMB2 "goof."
Not that SMB2 was bad, and that can create a whole other thread, but it did stray far, far away from the original SMB format, and we all know why.
Another thought: I've always wished you could put Kuribo's (did I spell that right?) shoe in your inventory! There's so many places where that item would be useful other than just that one stage.

I totally aggree that you should be able to keep that shoe.

i love this game.

my speedrun record is 11:57 for it. I've played it sooo many times, its a lot better than smb2.

Great timing! My girlfriend and I were playing this just last night. Like ToddVania, it one of the few games she plays with me. She also made a rule for last night, no warping

I remember when this game first came out. It was pretty hard to get a hold of. It's also one of the many games were I remember where everything is at (1UPs, which chests have what in the mushroom huts, where every card is in the memory game, etc.).

Until last night, I forgot how badass the Hammer Brothers suit is. Is there anything it won't kill? I went through a mini-castle the other night with it on. I was able to kill ghosts, actually everything in the castle. I was also able to kill the end boss in one hit with the hammer (not that it is hard anyway).

Well, I got a (slight) break from work yesterday and we were able to play SMB 3 for a couple of hours yesterday. We got as far as world 4 and I had to go back to work we're going to try to go through the whole thing on Saturday.
Heh! It's been awhile since I've played on the actual NES, I've been using the emulator for a long time now, I was surprised by how much that emulator drags.
Does anyone remember how to give each other lives in this game? At world 3, I had over 30 lives while my wife only had 5, and she eventually had to continue , or was that just Super Mario World?

I think it was only Super Mario World where they have the feature that one player could donate lives to the other.

OK, I thought so, but SMB 3 has so many options, I wasn't sure. Thanks.

What is the purpose of fighting each other in SMB3 (Like when you go to the tile say Luigi is on and hit the A button. It will take you to the old Super Mario Bros. vs. screen. There's a POW in the middle and you are both small. There are also the spikey guys coming out of the pipes above)?

That's fun. Nothing more, nothing less.

Ahhh, I see. Some reason I thought you could somehow steal extra lives from the other person.

I do believe that you can steal the other persons turn if you win the battle... Say if there is a magic mushroom ahead and you unlocked it (by beating the level before it), if you make them go into battle and you win, you get his turn and can go get the mushroom you earned.

Make sense? I re-read it and its kind of a run-on, but you get the idea.

yes, you can steal the other person's turn and make it so they can never play if you wanted. too bad people cant beat me in the battle though.

Do people still want to play against you?
Back then when I beat everybody every time in Tetris they wouldn't play with me any more. :/

Hey, Andrew, if you have video of your SMB3 speedrun, this would be the perfect place to post a link.

actually... i think recorded over my attempt because I didn't care about it because it was not the world record. people do refuse to play against me now though. the only NES game that anyone has a chance against me is Dr. Mario, both my mom and my sister are very good as well as my brother. so it's fun to play that with them. When I play smb3 with my sister, I take turns that are 10 seconds long while she takes ones that are 3 minutes+ this is just the first couple of levels though.

I might try a speedrun of smb3 since it's the game of the week.

Speaking of speed runs this thread wouldn't be complete without the legendary faked SMB3 speed run. I love how he gets all the 1ups in World 8, even if it is done frame be frame.

In honour of the first game of the week here I played through Mario 3 last night without using any whistles. It's been a while since I did that. I have a new found appreciation of the Hammer Suit now. I never knew you could kill the Thwomps before. That's particularly useful in the first mini castle after you pick up the suit in World 6 because it is full of them.

I didn't play through it, though, but threw in a round of SMB3 again and it's still one of the best platformers there is, even by today's standards.
It's so easy to get in, yet also challenging in the later levels.

Speaking of speed runs this thread wouldn't be complete without the legendary faked SMB3 speed run. I love how he gets all the 1ups in World 8, even if it is done frame be frame.



you can steal lives from the other player in the smb3 battle thing, by taking their cards that they earned completing a level.

I played smb3 all the way to world 6 yesterday with my gf. I love that sock level...

I bet I could do the same as this video with enough practice, which would be pretty sweet. getting all those 1-ups are too risky though for a real run In my opinion. (at least I can do the first world identical to him in like 20 tries... 1-3 is a pain to do the way he does it, but the fastest.... difficult timing i must say.


me playing the first level.

You're pretty good at the first level, andrewg. Has anyone else noticed that when you're playing the first level, it's next to impossible to get another card than the star? Especially when you're running...

I can get a mushroom whenever i want to. by running and then when at the very end you turn around quick and jump at the left side of the card. It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

the only real reason I dont have the world record time in Super Mario Bros. 3 is because i get so mad with the "hand" levels in world 8 that pull you in if you dont go by them right. after 20 tried of not making it through there I started to give up. it was so annoying.

I know what you mean.

I hated that hand.

Same here, I can't stand it. I pick those levels on purpose though, since I think the leaves will come in "handy" later.

I do that when I'm just playing the game normally.

'Super Mario Bros. 3' is the most well-designed and polished of all side-scrolling NES platformers with Mario in them.
The game play is easy to pick up and play, yet difficult to master. The level designs are superb. Lots of hidden secrets and a great deal of personality to go with it.

I won't compare it to the 'SMB 3' so stop being a bunch of "tools" and realize that there wasn't a traditional 'SMB' format established yet K?) because 'SMB 3' took things to new level of "new leveldom".

Disliking 'SMB 3' because it gets so much praise is nonsensical IMO. Great games deserve all the praise they can get.

You can also kill 'em with the invincibility star. That one is particularly fun on the first castle of world 2; that sucker's full of thwomps, skeleton turtles, and ghosts that fall under the star's mighty POWer, if you choose it before starting the castle.
We intend to do the same thing today. I always collect the whistles just to have them, but I never use them. Same thing with those music boxes; why would you want to put the Hammer Brothers to sleep? They give you a free item!

This is certainly my favourite Mario game on the NES, and also one of my all time favourites. I still play it to this day, on a regular basis, so to me its certainly stood the test of time. For myself and my friends it holds a lot of memories (we're sad like that) and i'll still be playing it for years to come.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is the of the NES.
As an apex of their respective genres, of course.

Well, we played SMB 3 yesterday and got clear through to world 7, area 6? 7? before my wife's patience snapped and I had to finish it alone. that area where you have to race across the black snapping plants and keep grabbing the stars in time!!!
Anyhoo, this was fun. So, what's the game for this week, Manuel?

"and realize that there wasn't a traditional 'SMB' format established yet K?) "

there kind of was. the original smb2 played like smb1. Then Japan just gave us a different game completely and changed it to look like a mario game.

I've found that the original smb2 from Japan is better than smb2 in north america.

"that area where you have to race across the black snapping plants and keep grabbing the stars in time!!!"

I myself have trouble with this occasionally, it usually takes 2 or 3 tries.

I've found that the original smb2 from Japan is better than smb2 in north america.

Perhaps. However, the main point was that it didn't deserve the disgust it seems to garner.

And for the record, SMB2 made me enjoy SMB3 even more. SMB2 was a nice, fun, refreshing NES ROMp into new territory with familiar, friendly characters. Then SMB3 suddenly hit us with everything from the first game completely upgraded to perfection.

And really, as much as some may like it, the Japanese SMB2 was just more of the same, with no real improvements over the original formula.

that area where you have to race across the black snapping plants and keep grabbing the stars in time!!!
Anyhoo, this was fun. So, what's the game for this week, Manuel?

Ha! Wait until Monday.
I guess most of you may like next week's pick, too. ... I hope...

Whew, that sure was a tough wait...

So, how about that game?

Ouch! My bad.
I was thinking it's still Sunday today...
TV was so bad today I thought it must be Sunday.

i'd have to say that i actually might like smb2 and smb2j about the same. I have come to realize i do very much enjoy that game.

I really love smb1, smb2, smb2j, and smb3. I have trouble deciding which I really like most, because I like all of them.

I like smb1 and smb2j for a couple reasons. I like the flagpole idea a lot better than the card thing. I just found it awesome to jump onto a flagpole(so random) haha. in smb1 and smb2j there are so many tricks that i can do It's nearly impossible to count them all. I like the fact mario cannot turn around in the air, it just makes me uncomfortable when i play smb3 and i jump and then he truns around, and doesn't just slow down.

smb2 has the fact that all the enemies are pretty cool and you have a variety of charatcers to choose from. I really dislike the fact that there is no timer or points in this game...

smb3 is awesome in the fact of all the suits, including the sock. I liked being able to fly as well. i dislike the timer because it is not set at a specific rate. If you move faster, the timer moves slower, kind of weird. smb3 had a lot more levels and many hours of enjoyment. The game is so long and you cannot save your progress, this got me aggrevated. where as in the other games they are short enough that you do not need to save really.

Super Mario Bros. 3 cart and boxart!

Japanese


US/European



Which do you like more?