Anniversary: Super Mario Bros. 3 Turns 30 Years Old Today

I play games to feel young! I do have some fond memories of the game. It was good.

Still a great game to play. Thank goodness my brother was a gamer and kept the games coming through my youth.

Yep feeling old.

I'll be honest, this was the only game that gave me any reason to be interested in the NES Online app.

Very old

The game that perfected the physics of platformers... its importance in gaming history cannot be overstated.

Been playing through every level since it was released on the online service. Has been fun to go back through it again!

Been playing through every level since it was released on the online service. Has been fun to go back through it again!

Been playing through every level since it was released on the online service. Has been fun to go back through it again!

Just finished it this weekend for the umpteenth time, still fabulous after three decades. Been humming the tunes for days now!

The reason to own a nes

Definitely my favourite mainline Mario game, though I only played a few of them and I only ever got as far as World 3 in this one.

Funny story, a few days ago in a store with some Disnye-themed merch my girlfriend said it feels weird that Mickey Mouse is older than her. To which I replied "honey, we're both younger than Mario!"

Indeed this game is a year older than me.

Love Mario 3. Such a great classic.

I always say that this is the tighter, more focused game, while Super Mario World is perhaps the more fun and light-hearted game. I'm not sure I could say I prefer one over the other.

Unpopular opinion: Super Mario Bros. 3 isn't that special, particularly nowadays. One noticeable problem nobody talks about is that Super Mushrooms move in random directions when spawned from blocks (and often fall in pits as a result).
Given that New Super Mario Bros. has taken basically everything that SMB3 created and improved upon it, I'll keep playing those instead.

A timeless classic. The short-but-quirky level style really makes this game stand out in the Mario series, as do the clever level designs.

To me, it will always have the edge over Super Mario World because it’s difficulty is so well balanced.

I'm just over a month older than this game. That's pretty funny to think about.

@NerdyBoutKirby Mushrooms don't move in random directions. If you hit a block from the left (still from underneath, of course), the mushroom will go to the right. And vice versa if you hit it from the right, making it go to the left. I'm honestly surprised how few people know about this.

I'm amazed nobody has mentioned or posted a screenshot from "The Wizard" yet!

@NerdyBoutKirby

Wrong. You can manipulate the direction. If you hit the ? Block on the left the mushroom goes right and if you hit it on the right it goes left.

I'm 37 and I feel like I'm in my prime! It's fun knowing Mario 3 has been around since I was a wee one! I remember my excitement during the movie, The Wizard, when they first showed the game! Ah, good times!

Unfortunately I wasn't even around when that came out, but I have fond memories of that on the Wii Virtual Console with my brother. Maybe it's time to put that Nintendo Switch Online to use for once and pop that game up.

Probably my third favorite NES game, beaten only by Mega Man 2 and 5.

@Rohanrocks88 Happy birthday!

I was in my 3rd year at high school by the time this released in Europe. Crazy to think we used to wait sometimes up to 3 years for big games to come west. You knew about the games though from reading magazines, it made Japan seem like a magical place. Imagine today if say Breath of the Wild released in Japan but it wouldn't be coming west till 2021.

I just beat this game (again) last night on Nintendo Switch Online!

Incredible, this was the very first game I remember looking forward to being released. Best present ever!

So weird to think how long between the game's development and US release. Things were different then. But there was nothing like it even in 1990. Comparing it to Super Mario World, I like the items and level of challenge in SMB3, but the level size in SMW is better for me. I got a NES late, but I was lucky. I never owned SMB3 for the NES, but I knew several people who had the game and were quite happy to let me borrow it. I had it in my possession a few times for a significant period as a result. Many years later, I played it on a friend's Wii and the game was still magical. I'm happy to say I finally got a version of the game, the GBA game, after playing it there. I ended up with a bootleg cart by mistake the first time I tried to get it for GBA years earlier.

i'm more older than 30 years so yeah i do feel old, maybe i should give the game a spin just for old times sake.

I remember the advert as a kid... my gawd, I'm old >.<

@ilikeike 100% agree

What great memories I have of playing this with my family, it is the game that made me a Super Mario and Nintendo lifelong fan. What a MASTERPIECE of gaming and it is still just as fun and essential as it was 30 years ago. Actually after and because of Super Mario Bros 3 every major Mario game release up through to Odyssey has been and is an event in my household and I don't see that ever changing.., Good Times. 🙂

@NerdyBoutKirby The direction mushrooms and items move depends on where the block is hit. It actually gives the game a small level of strategy that was new to the franchise at the time. It is totally not random.

I was nine years old and the second one to have this game in my neighborhood besides my cousin when it released. Most of the childhood friends wanted to come to our houses just to play that. This was my favorite 2d platformer.

@Yosher I stand corrected, then. I'll admit when I'm wrong.

@NerdyBoutKirby To be fair nothing is random in games. It's all deterministic. In this case once you learn the cause you can manipulate it, as it was a deliberate design choice that it would feel random until you learned it. So you were also right.

After all these years later,still my favorite Mario game.

Back in the days when I had to rely on friends [or in this case, a movie - “The Wizard”] to find the secrets hidden in video games [such as the warp whistle inside the first castle].
A friend of mine told me about the whistle in world 1, level 3 (where you have to duck down on the white block and go behind the screen towards the end of the level).
I was able to find the last warp whistle in world 2 by myself (the one where you have to break the rock on the far right of the world map).

I still LOVE the part of “The Wizard” where the “brand-new-game”, Super Mario Bros. 3, is revealed. Hits me right in the childhood every time. Growing up in the 1980s / 1990s was the absolute best. 👍😃

I was 10-11 when I got to play this. Best thing I remember of that time. It was so fun just getting to the next world to experience it's dynamic. World 4 Giant Land was that "wow" moment for me in that regard. I may just set aside some time to do a non-warp run of it again for ol' times sake.

A few things..
1) happy birthday smb3!
2) this is probabaly my most played game ever even though I've never beaten it ( that I can remember) . Yes that's odd I know.
3) this makes me even more excited for new super mario bros u deluxe!

What a great game!! I have finished it many many times!!

To me, this is the best ever. I'd eat it if it were edible.

30 years old????
Nap, I played it last week on my snes mini and stack for 3 hours.

I am 38 and I have finished this masterpiece 138 times.

And still going, I haven't on my switch.

Good old buddies never get old.

Happy Birthday Super Mario Bros. 3!

This is my favourite game of all time. I was about 6 years old when I first played this with my older siblings. We would always go to my grandma's house because my aunt who was living there had an NES with this game.

One of the best games ever made, and my personal favorite of the Mario series too. My head nearly exploded when I discovered that you could sometimes choose your own path to the castle.

Having played Super Mario World first, this game has always felt a little lackluster having played it afterwords. Still, it's a pretty darned good game for the time and one of the few NES games I still find quite playable today.

My all time favourite Super Mario game! Played it over and over again on my beloved Nes in the 80's! Still love it!

This was the first game that I properly played as a little kid. My mom even told me stories about when I was a baby and how I moved in my chair just to see my dad and my older brother play the game. I remember both never managed to get past the desert level with the Sun. I barely remember the first time I beat that level, but I do remember feeling accomplished.

Happy birthday super Mario bros 3

Funny to think for us UK gamers, by the time we got Super Mario Bros 3 it was already 3 years old August 29, 1991

Classic

I have so many fond memories of playing this game, that I'm not even going to flood this comment with them. Even after decades of playing, and finding all the white mushroom houses, there's still little hidden coin boxes that I never knew existed that I've run into while playing on Nintendo Online. It holds up better than most NES games in general.

Still the greatest Mario 2D game ever.

Nah... fond memories don't make me feel old I remember the day getting SMB3 well though. I saved up just enough of my paper route money to buy it. Or so I thought. Arriving in the toy store I became really sad when I found out it costed 149 Dutch Guilders. 20 Guilders more than the usual price for NES games at the time. My mom added the rest. I was over the moon! My best friend and I played it for three months straight.

Aww I miss being 3 (got this when I was 4 at the time as the US release was in 1990 got my first tv that year too. I remember the ducktails wrapping paper still). lol. Still the first Mario game that I actually liked (age had something to do with it.) and yet I've never beaten it (used a game genie that breaks the game at the end). Need to go back and do that. the Mythology references are some of Mario's best suits.

Happy birthday SMB 3! I'm still often undecided if this game or Super Mario World are my favorite 2D entries; I change my mind almost constantly. I played both (Well, the All-Stars version of this anyway) around the same time as a kid.

@Hikingguy I still greatly enjoy Mario 3 all these years later, but I love the likes of Contra and Jackal as well. The NES library is great for games that look inspired by 80s action movies. Some of my favorites are Shatterhand, Batman, the Power Blade games and other games of that sort. Not sure if you're into those, but they are a lot of fun I think. Either way, Contra and Jackal are good stuff too.

I was 3 when this came out! I still remember when my parents handed me that awesome yellow box! I've played this at least once a year since it released.

@Hikingguy I didn't make that two-player connection between Contra and Jackal. I was introduced to Jackal in a fun two-player session. And I always talk about having friends over to play Contra. I believe Guerilla War is another two-player game that I think is quite good.

The only game in the Switch online library I keep playing. Was just 8 when it released, but remember like it was almost yesterday. Remember the hype from reading the Nintendo Power magazines.

The Best Video Game Ever Made!!!

This game should be the main inspiration for Nintendo’s young developers when making a new 2d Mario.

This game has perfected the fun factor of video games.

Wow, time really does fly, doesn't it? And I still remember playing the heck out of SMB3 on Super Mario All-Stars as a kid like it was yesterday. Undeniably one of the absolute best games ever made. Happy 30th, Super Mario Bros. 3!

This game came out a bit before my time, Super Mario World is the game I grew up with and always preferred. My first experience with this was actually the 16-bit version in Super Mario All-Stars, which I always preferred over the NES original.

Well, I guess I feel a bit old-fashioned at least, for still commonly referring to a thirty-year-old game as my favorite.

But hey, my favorite film is older than that, so it can't be that bad.

Congrats to the team for creating such an enduring legend!

The best Mario game to me, nostalgia makes a strong point here! Lol

This is the first game I got when I first bought my NES as it came with the system. I didn't start with the original Super Mario Bros., the third game has always been the first for me which is why I can never return to playing the first that much.

Great memories of watching my brother play this when I was a kid!

SMB3 is best Mario ever for me, it’s just perfect.

Remember buying this in 1991 at Beatties in UK as was released then in Europe.

My favourite NES game. Spent a good few hours on Switch Online service doing every level in every world the other week. Still a classic.

Apart the Lost levels, SMB3 is a hard game. Also one of the very best!

A random fact for you all is that people in the U.S and Japan were playing on Super Mario World whilst the U.K and Europe were still waiting for this game to be released.

@Pod What's your favourite movie, then? SMB3 is one of my favs as well. But movie-wise I'd have to say Jurassic Park (if only take my childhood-days into consideration)

@NerdyBoutKirby games were harder back then, no doubt completely intentional to make it even more challenging. Genuinely a very difficult game but I do think it’s amazing.

Incredible game, completed it for the first time two days ago playing online co-op with a friend; save states helped! (Could never do it as a kid)

Amazing that I found it far more entertaining than many platformers released today. We couldn’t stop talking about how ahead of its time it is, the game constantly changes and throws in new elements through out the entire play through, simply stunning!

@infernogott I used to think it was related to whichever direction Mario was facing.

This finally explains my long-lasting frustration with the World 1-6 1up mushroom. When I was a kid and I hit the block, the mushroom always veered left, allowing me to catch it in time. In recent years, it always veered right, going into the abyss as a result.

Now I realize it's because of my reflexes. As a kid, they weren't as honed, which meant I was unconsciously hitting the block from the right, not being an able jumper. Now, as an adult, I tend to reflex-jump faster, therefore hitting that same block from the left.

Suddenly, I feel an urge to replay this game....

Linking to the article about the demise of print gaming mags... The in-depth and well laid-out articles of print magazines are something I miss, but the comments in articles like this are a definite plus for online gaming sites. Love reading the different perspectives and memories (and, hope I'm not speaking to soon, no bickering!)

I remember being blown away when I first played this (I'm from the UK but lived in the US at the time, about 11 years old). I had already loved the first Super Mario, but this just blew it away in it's ambitious scope, variety, music, graphics etc.

It must also be one of the biggest ever games that didn't have the ability to save. Getting all the way to the end without using a warp whistle was an exhausting, epic journey. Hands up, how many would leave the NES switched on overnight because you were forced to stop playing but couldn't bear to lose your progress?
Getting close to the end and then dying... just agony!! But then of course, the feeling of reward and achievement when you actually did it was just amazing.

@NintendoFan4Lyf
I assume you live in Japan? I’m curious how Japanese kids at the time thought of the game, whether it was one of the things students talk about in elementary school.

This was my father's game. His absolute number 1 favorite. He maintained that opinion for years and years. I grew up playing it with him on the NES he had hooked up to his TV in his man-cave basement. Or on the little piece of junk TV we kept near the dining room table.

Good times, good memories.

One of my faves games evah!

@Shane76 You posted the comments six times mate

One of my favorite Mario games. Happy B Day!!!

Well, if Earth Bound had been released in 1991 as planned (and not 2015!), then it would have made this game feel old (a line that was like "Are you playing Super Mario Bros. 7? I'm still playing Super Mario Bros. 3.")
Though in Japanese, the line mentioned Dragon Quest IV instead (which would have been actually released only about six months later. Where SMB7, as I recall, could be taken to be Sunshine, New SMB2 or maybe Galaxy 2? if you wanted to try to calculate that one out. )

I was 13 when this game came out. Yikes! I grew up poor and with a single mother who SOMEHOW scraped together the money to buy me an NES system and this game. Best day ever! We had to sell the NES a few months later because we had no food (again,I was poor) but it was fun while it lasted. I didn’t touch another console for about 25 years.

Wow! To celebrate, here’s a Brentalfloss video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DYpJiL0aOj8

The Wizard was the best commercial ever. So hyped was I.

Even though I am older than it Smb3 was the last of the classic 2d games I played (as part of the all stars pack). Unpopular opinion but I am not very fond of the 2d Mario's as I always found the controls too tankish and slippery (now 3d Mario's on the other hand are my jam with Mario 64 still in my top 5 games evahh)

@sportvater

I was thinking of Barry Lyndon when I wrote that, but other contenders like Casa Blanca, Dumbo, Back to the Future, Alien, and A Clockwork Orange all fit the bill too.

More contemporary stuff, I do love Jurasic Park as well, and most films by Brad Bird, Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, and the Cohen Brothers. :9

@NerdyBoutKirby If you were keen enough you could manipulate which direction the mushroom would leave the box. Not that difficult really.

@NerdyBoutKirby The mushroom comes out the opposite side you hit the block from. It's really obvious. A shame you dog on a nearly perfect game because you don't notice simple mechanics.

@NerdyBoutKirby You can control the direction, it goes the opposite way that you face. Also, it is OK if you don't really dig the game - but it was definitely a game changer for platformers and gaming in general.

@Tenma
@retrogamingdev
This is old. I was informed of this trick years ago and acknowledge that it's not the flaw I once thought it was. (Though I still prefer the fact that they move in one set direction in modern games.)