Super Mario Bros. 3!

I don't know if my blog writing powers will be enough to capture how good this game is or even how much I love it, but let's go.


Super Mario Bros. 3 was the first game I ever played, and quite possibly my favourite NES game of all time, except for Mega Man 2. A groundbreaking title in the Super Mario franchise, it brought a lot to the series and expanded upon much of the best from both Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic in Japan, but actually was fully intended to be the true Super Mario Bros. 2 until Nintendo decided pulling vegetables out of the ground and drinking magic potions wasn't very Mario-like). The main map of the game was revolutionary for a Mario game, and used it to absolute the fullest the NES could handle, something sadly Super Mario World (or Super Mario Bros. 4 if you're a weeaboo sperglord) didn't hold up to. The card games, the white mushroom houses, the music.

Sorry but I have to gush for a moment.

Wasn't it cool how you could hop into Kuribo's Shoe and and run around the countryside killing things like Piranha Plants with a single stomp? Remember that one level that seemed to have no exit, until you flew up to the very top with a Koopa shell you had to use to open the path to the pipe? How about the Tanooki suit, which didn't see as much use in the series until Super Mario 3D Land tried to bring it back?


Oh my god there are so many things I can say about this game but you should honestly just check it out yourself. It creates this dazzling and very much enveloping environment that not many 8-bit games can muster with their limited technology, making you feel like you're in the Mushroom Kingdom. Which, oddly enough by the way, appears to be built like a stage. The hammered in platforms, the curtains at the beginning, it's like a Broadway musical or some shit and it owns. The feeling of adventure is something I really tried to capture with my own game Tita Gasman, but I'm not sure I could hold a candle up to this masterpiece. I love the orangish skies and the sparkling caves that look like starfields and the white lined skies in the ice world. I love giant land with the huge Koopas and blocks, and the warp pipe maze (actually that maze sucks) and the turbo tanks in Bowser's fleet at the end. I love it all. 


This game is a veritable feast for the eyes and ears.