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Super Mario Bros. 3 review
Exceptional
by Pandsu

For me, this is as good as Mario has ever gotten.

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.
«Time-tested»
«Beaten more than once»

Other reviews5

12/10 - Played it on my old NES, than played it on the All-STars version on my SNES, replayed it on 3DS, and now replaying it on the Switch Online. This game is truly a MASTERPIECE,  the game that i have most played in my life.
«Can’t stop playing»
«Time-tested»
It's the bar for platforming games. There has been stuff that looks prettier and is smoother, but you have to respect SMB3 because those other games probably never would have existed without it. For the most part its fun and breezy, a relaxing game with a moderate amount of challenge towards the end. As a person who played it constantly as a kid, booting it up is like a warm hug of nostalgia. There's not a bad word to say about it, and it still holds up decades later. It's going to be one of those games that I regularly pop in my entire life.
«Time-tested»
«Sit back and relax»
Expanding on the first game, rather than replacing, this iteration claims its status as the rightful sequel to the NES classic. The more varied worlds, powerups, and minibosses spice the gameplay up a decent amount from the first game. The lack of saving still pains this series, at least for me. I know I sound like a broken record but the artificial difficulty just irks me. 
9/10
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»