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Super Mario Bros. 3 is now 35 years old. Officially launching in Japan on October 23, 1988, it would take a few years before the title would come to North America and then Europe, with fans the world over getting an infamous tease of the game in the 1989 film The Wizard. That tantalizing stinger of what was to come left fans positively thrilled by all of the adventure and surprises that Super Mario Bros. 3 had in store for them. Indeed, the hype for the game was really unlike anything that had come before.
Once Super Mario Bros. 3 did launch, it was an enormous success. More than 17 million copies of the game have been sold, and it has withstood the test of time as one of the greatest examples of design the industry has ever seen. This is thanks to a number of factors, including an expanded suite of abilities for Mario.
Fans might take it for granted now, what with oddities like Elephant and Cat Mario running around everywhere, but prior to Super Mario Bros. 3, the only preceding entry that truly utilized the character’s signature power-ups was the original. With Super Mario Bros. 3, power-ups made a significant return and Mario was granted a whole new range of offensive and even defensive options. The most iconic arguably being the Super Leaf, which granted the character the power to fly.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was also bolstered by its nonlinear level progression. The world map has multiple branching paths, not to mention the return of warps via the Magic Whistle. The game was everything that the first Super Mario Bros. was but amplified and perfected, securing the character’s place as one of the most important and impactful franchises that the industry has ever seen. It has been remade twice and whether playing it on an NES, an SNES via Super Mario All-Stars, or a Game Boy Advance via Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (that’s a mouthful), Super Mario Bros. 3 remains one of the greatest achievements in all of video games.
What are your thoughts on Super Mario Bros. 3? Did you grow up playing the original? The GBA version? Switch Online? Let us know down below and happy birthday to a true all-time great!
