Rate top gamesSuper Mario Bros. 3
About
Remember when no one had ever heard of a Tanooki Suit or knew that
Bowser had a clan of Koopalings? The game that made these things common
knowledge is also considered by many to be one of the best ever made.
Bowser and the Koopalings are causing chaos yet again, but this time
they’re going beyond the Mushroom Kingdom into the seven worlds that
neighbor it. Now Mario and Luigi must battle new enemies, returning
favorites, and a new Koopaling in each unique and distinctive world on
their way to ultimately taking on Bowser himself. Lucky for the
brothers, they have more power-ups available than ever before. Fly above
the action using the Super Leaf, swim faster by donning the Frog Suit,
or defeat enemies using the Hammer Bros. Suit. Use the brand-new
overworld map to take the chance to play a minigame in hopes of gaining
extra lives or to find a Toad’s House where you can pick up additional
items. All this (and more) combines into one of gaming’s most well-known
and beloved titles—are you ready to experience gaming bliss?
This classic game is part of the Virtual Console service, which brings you great games created for consoles such as NES™, Super NES™ and Game Boy™ Advance. See more Virtual Console games for Wii.
System requirements for NES
System requirements for Game Boy Color
System requirements for Wii U
System requirements for Nintendo 3DS
System requirements for Wii
System requirements for SNES
System requirements for Nintendo Switch
Where to buy
Super Mario Bros. 3 reviews and comments
This game is an absolute masterpiece with great level design, simple but very tight controls, just the right selection of both useful and kind of silly power-ups, a sizable cast of enemies and great sense of journeying through a big world of magical kingdoms.
For many people of my age, there has always been the debate of whether Mario 3 or Mario World is the best game in the franchise, and I get it. Mario World had more to its move set, had more stage gimmicks, more stages in general, simply felt bigger, more explore-able and, well, it had Yoshi. And it's a great game. But Mario 3 still has it beat in my opinion, which is mostly due to the variety in its worlds.
Super Mario World might be bigger and might have more to offer as a whole, but it always felt like it was basically just a vastly bigger version of Mario 3's World 1, which is the most vanilla and boring part of that game for me.
I always loved how memorable every stage in Mario 3 was, due in no small part to the fact that each world was themed around its own specific gimmick, which was explored fully in each one and then mostly just left behind before it could overstay its welcome.
Going from the regular, predictable Grass Land to the desert, complete with a traumatically scary angry sun trying to kill you, and then cooling off in a water-based world, for instance, was always something I absolutely loved and didn't feel has been replicated by any other game in the franchise.
It's easy to have a favorite and least-favorite world in Mario 3, while I would be hard pressed to come up with an answer for that in World. And I also love that Nintendo had the balls to keep some of the most unique gimmicks, like the Goomba Shoe, limited to a one-stage occurrence.
There really isn't much I can say about this game that hasn't been said time and time again, so I guess I'll just leave it at this: This game is a master piece and while I don't believe in the concept of perfection, Mario 3 is definitely one of the closest I have ever seen a game get to said concept. There really isn't much I could come up with that would improve this game.
It's amazing and one I still love to play through on a regular basis, decades after it was first released.