Super Mario Bros. 3 is a platform action-adventure game for the Famicom and NES and is officially the third installment in the Super Mario series. It was released in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990, and in Europe and Australia on August 29, 1991. It was later released in the US on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, the 3DS's Virtual Console in early 2013, and the Wii U's Virtual Console in late 2013. It was also remade for the 1993 SNES compilation game Super Mario All-Stars, and for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the final installment of the Super Mario Advance series. It was also released as a reward that Club Nintendo users could purchase with their coins for the Wii Virtual Console on June 3, 2013.

Super Mario Bros. 3 has been considered one of the greatest games of all time, with its huge success attributed to its complexity and challenging levels. The game introduces six new power-ups: the Super Leaf, the Tanooki Suit, the Magic Wing, the Frog Suit, the Hammer Suit, and Goomba's Shoe. It also features new moves, items and enemies. It also features special non-level parts of each world: Toad Houses, where items can be obtained, and Spade Panels, where lives can be obtained, as well as rarer areas such as the White Mushroom House and the Treasure Ship.

Shortly after the release of the game, a cartoon named The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 was made. The cartoon was based on the game, but with a different plot. In the cartoons, King Koopa and the Koopalings tried to take over the real world as well as the Mushroom Kingdom. The cartoon series was produced by DIC Entertainment Productions in association with Nintendo.

Story [ edit ]

The following text is taken directly from the instruction booklet.

The Mushroom Kingdom has been a peaceful place thanks to the brave deeds of Mario and Luigi. The Mushroom Kingdom forms an entrance to the Mushroom World where all is not well. Bowser sent his seven children to make mischief as they please in the normally peaceful Mushroom World. They stole royal magic wands from each country in the Mushroom World and used them to turn their kings into animals. Mario and Luigi must recover the royal magic wands from Bowser's seven kids to return the kings to their true forms. "Goodbye and good luck!" said the Princess and Toad as Mario and Luigi set off on their journey deep into the Mushroom World.

Peace has returned to the Mushroom Kingdom thanks to the efforts of Mario and Luigi; however, Bowser sent his own seven children (Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig) to the other countries of the Mushroom World. The Mushroom Kingdom forms a gateway to these lands, and the Koopalings have stolen the respective royal magic wands of the seven kings, using them to transform the kings into various helpless creatures. Mario and Luigi vow to go and stop the Koopalings' mischief, and change the kings back into their normal form. At the end of each world, Mario and Luigi fight one of the Koopalings, and after the match is over, retrieve the wand from the Koopaling to turn the king back to normal. While the brothers are out in their adventure, Bowser kidnaps Princess Toadstool and takes her to his lair in Dark Land. The brothers go to Dark Land and fight Bowser. After defeating Bowser, they save the princess and restore peace once again.

Gameplay [ edit ]

Super Mario Bros. 3 plays similarly to Super Mario Bros., with several additions. The game features a world map where the player can choose which path to take and which level to play. Toad Houses and Spade Panels are also found on the world map. Halfway through each world, Mario or Luigi enter a fortress, where they fight Boom Boom. At the end of each world, they enter the airship, where one of the seven Koopalings is fought. After defeating the Koopaling, Mario or Luigi restore the king back to his normal state.

The first player controls Mario, while the second player controls his brother, Luigi, with the two players taking turns. New moves include being able to pick up an object and kick it, and the Slope Slide, which allows Mario or Luigi to slide down a hill, a move which has been carried over in the future Mario games. The Fire Flower returns in this game, where it acts as it does in Super Mario Bros., allowing Mario or Luigi to transform into Fire Mario or Fire Luigi and shoot fireballs. Several new power-ups are also introduced, including the Super Leaf, a leaf-like power up that transforms Mario or Luigi into their raccoon form, allowing them to fly into the sky, and the Hammer Suit, which transforms the brothers into their hammer form, being able to throw hammers at certain enemies.

Controls [ edit ]

In a level On the world map NES









SNES









Game Boy Advance









Wii Remote









Wii Classic Controller









Nintendo 3DS









Joy-Con / Nintendo Switch Pro Controller











Characters [ edit ]

Playable Characters [ edit ]

Supporting Characters [ edit ]

Enemies [ edit ]

Bosses [ edit ]

Transformations [ edit ]

Another object is the Goomba's Shoe, only obtainable in World 5-3 of the game. This object allows Mario to safely hop across dangerous objects and jump on spiky enemies, such as Piranha Plants and Spinies. It is obtained from bumping a Kuribo's Goomba off a block from below. It is only found in this game and its remakes. However, since it is not a power-up, it does not overtake any previous powers the player may have had. For example, if Fire Mario mounts a Goomba's Shoe, then loses it, he will still retain his Fire form, similar to Yoshi in Super Mario World.

In international releases of this game, after players obtain a power-up that is greater than a Super Mushroom, any injury will turn them back to their Super form, like in every 2D Super Mario game after Super Mario World. In the original Japanese Famicom release, any hit reduces the player back to Small form, like in Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels and Super Mario World. Also, getting hit while in the Goomba's Shoe in the Japanese Famicom release also changes Mario into Small form, regardless of what power-up he had while in the Goomba's Shoe.

Worlds [ edit ]

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. The map of the Mushroom World in

Unlike Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2, this game has a world map, a feature that has been carried over into every subsequent title in the series. Like Super Mario Bros., the game features eight total worlds spread out across eight different maps, each one featuring a different name, theme, and boss; the inclusion of thematic worlds would also be carried over into future titles in the series. In the remakes and the original NES release of this game, most of the worlds were given different names (indicated in parentheses in the table below). In Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, the world map gains interactive features.

2 Player Game [ edit ]

In 2 Player Game, Mario (player one), and Luigi (player two) take turns to complete the level, just like Super Mario Bros. After one brother completes a level/loses a life, the other brother plays. Also, if one brother picks a level that the other brother completed, they enter Battle Mode in their small forms.

Some Battle Mode stages are similar to Mario Bros. The player that defeats three of five enemies or survives wins. Enemies to defeat are Spinies, Sidesteppers, and Fighter Flies, but defeating a Fireball does not count. Players can indirectly kill each other by forcing the rival to collide with an enemy to gain victory. Players can also steal goal cards from each other by bumping from below. One stage involves grabbing three of five coins.

There is also a stage that has a vertical pipe that shoots out Fireballs and coins. The player that collects three coins or survive wins. Another stage has the players climbing ladders to retrieve coins under boxes, some of which are empty. The first to obtain three wins.

Any deaths incurred in the Battle Mode will not affect the player's lives in the main game. Super Mario All-Stars also includes an expanded Battle Game in the main menu for Super Mario Bros. 3.

Development [ edit ]

Super Mario Bros. 3. Game designer Shigeru Miyamoto hard at work with

Development for Super Mario Bros. 3 began shortly after Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was finished in the Spring of 1986. Originally, the game was developed with a bird's-eye view in mind, similar to The Legend of Zelda, where the player would be looking down at the characters from above. With jumping as one of Mario's main moves, this overhead view made it difficult to determine whether Mario was touching the ground or not, so the view was switched to the side-view used in earlier titles. However, relics of the overhead view can still be found in the final game, such as the black-and-white checkerboard seen at the title screen.[8]

When Takashi Tezuka was designing concepts for the game, he didn't want it to be like Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels where only the levels and difficulty was changed. Instead, he wanted to rework everything, from giving Mario an improved moveset to overhauling the character sprites. Programmers also had what they called a "Map Room", which was a long, narrow meeting room where they looked at sheet papers and programmed map data all day. There were 20 to 30 people working on Super Mario Bros. 3, compared to Super Mario Bros.'s seven or eight. However, Koji Kondo was completely alone on sound design, and he claims it was difficult to come up with music to fit the genre of the game. Additional sounds were possible to use during Super Mario Bros. 3's development which weren't able to be used during Super Mario Bros.'s. The Japanese version of the game was originally planned to release in Spring of 1988, but because of the developers wanting to add so many new features, the game ended up getting pushed back another six months.[8]

The hard part of creating a video game with old characters is making the old characters seem fresh and new.[9][10] In many ways, Super Mario Bros. 3 revived the series and brought many new young and old fans back to the adventures of the Mario Bros. The game was first shown in North America in the 1989 movie The Wizard as a way to advertise it; this also marked the first time that a Mario game was advertised in a movie.

Remakes and ports [ edit ]

Super Mario Bros. 3 was later remade and included in Super Mario All-Stars, with updated graphics and sound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and with further minor upgrades in the re-issue, Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World, and the game's eventual port to the Wii as Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition. A notable addition to the All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. 3 was a save feature which allow players to save the progress and continue the world where they left off. Additionally, there's a Battle Game feature in the title screen that works differently from the ones featured from the maps in the 2-Player Game Mode. Other than that, retaining some localization changes and certain glitches fixed, gameplay was not altered.

The original game is also one of the 30 titles included in the NES Classic Edition and Nintendo Classic Mini: Family Computer, and was made available as one of the 20 NES titles with added online play at the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service's launch in September 2018.[11]

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 [ edit ]

Super Mario Bros. 3 was ported to the Game Boy Advance handheld system as the fourth and final installation in the Super Mario Advance series, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. It used the same graphics and sounds as the Super Mario All-Stars version, and also incorporated the use of the e-Reader: by scanning in certain cards, players could unlock new items and levels, including content originally from the other classic Mario platformers.

Reception [ edit ]

The game has received critical acclaim and is considered to be one of the greatest games of all time. IGN placed it at the number one spot of their top 100 NES games of all time list[12].

Reviews Release Reviewer, Publication Score Comment Wii Lucas M. Thomas, IGN 9.5/10 "Super Mario Bros. 3 is still a spectacular adventure today, and the best representation of the Mario universe to come from the NES. Though we would have loved to see a little something extra thrown in for this release, it's difficult to argue against Nintendo's standing policy of just releasing games just as they were when they first arrived. Mario's third adventure still stands well enough on its own to firmly recommend it for download even with its old graphical quirks still in place. The only reasons you shouldn't already be walking to your Wii to launch the Shop and put down your 500 points would be if you're happy with a version of the game you already own, like the 2003 Game Boy Advance re-release, or if you're holding out hope that the visually enhanced Super Mario All-Stars edition will someday arrive as a downloadable option as well. But really, even then, it's five bucks. For one of the greatest video games of all time, and absolutely one of Mario's best ever adventures. So how can you resist adding to that already-enormous lifetime sales total?" Wii Frank Provo, GameSpot 9/10 "Those who already love Super Mario Bros. 3 and have the desire to play the original NES version again will be pleased with this Virtual Console release. It's like reconnecting with a best friend that you haven't seen since you were little. Meanwhile, those who haven't yet immersed themselves in its jump-heavy sweetness have been given a golden opportunity to do so. This is 500 Wii points ($5) well spent." Wii Nintendo Life Staff, Nintendo Life 10/10 "SMB3 cannot come any more highly recommended; it is widely regarded, by many, as the best game on the NES. Some would even say it rivals the magnificent Super Mario World on the SNES, though the jury is out on that one. You owe it to yourself to try both out and decide for yourself. You won’t be sorry!'" Aggregators Compiler Platform / Score GameRankings 97.50%

Release [ edit ]

Merchandise [ edit ]

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Among the merchandise based on the game are a Nelsonic Game Watch, and chocolate chip swirl cookies manufactured by Salerno, which features a maze on the box.[13]

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id Software's attempted PC port [ edit ]

PC developer id Software sent to Nintendo a demo of a PC port of the game[14], with the intent being to gain authorization to make an official port. The demo reached the Nintendo of Japan management (including Shigeru Miyamoto), who were impressed by the port's quality. However, Nintendo declined to greenlight an official PC version of the game as the company had no plan to release its products outside their own platform[14].

The pitch followed a tech demo named Dangerous Dave in "Copyright Infringement", which was a playable recreation of World 1-1 with Mario's sprite being replaced with that of the titular character. Dangerous Dave was notable for featuring smooth scrolling[15], something unheard for PC games of the time[14][16]. With a distribution deal with Scott Miller of Apogee Software, Ltd., "Copyright Infringement" id developers John Romero and John Carmack along with Tom Hall (who originally had the idea)[citation needed] later used the engine they had developed to create the Commander Keen series, a series of shareware platform games for MS-DOS[17].

On December 14, 2015, John Romero uploaded gameplay footage of the port on video-sharing website Vimeo[18].

Media [ edit ]

For a complete list of media for this subject, see List of Super Mario Bros. 3 media.

References to other games [ edit ]

References in later games [ edit ]

Version differences [ edit ]

There are four known versions of Super Mario Bros. 3 released for Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System: the original Japanese version, the North American PRG0 and PRG1 versions (NES cartridges will display NES-UM-USA and NES-UM-USA-1 next to the Nintendo Seal of Quality respectively), and the PAL version. During the two year release gap between the Japanese version and the worldwide release of Super Mario Bros. 3, many changes were made while localizing the game for the international market. Many of the gameplay and level design changes for the international release were kept in the future remakes, while other changes were reverted to make the game closer to the original Japanese version.

Gameplay changes [ edit ]

In the Japanese version, getting hit while powered-up causes the player to automatically shrink to Small Mario like in Super Mario Bros. In the international versions, powered-up Mario is reverted to Super Mario when hit, then shrinks to Small Mario when hit again. This also applies for the Goomba's Shoe. In the Japanese version, the shoe is red as it flies offscreen, and the player is also reverted to Small Mario; the shoe retains its green color as it is removed for the international versions, and the player keeps any power-ups they had before entering the shoe.

In the international versions, powered-up Mario is reverted to Super Mario when hit, then shrinks to Small Mario when hit again. This also applies for the Goomba's Shoe. In the Japanese version, the shoe is red as it flies offscreen, and the player is also reverted to Small Mario; the shoe retains its green color as it is removed for the international versions, and the player keeps any power-ups they had before entering the shoe. In Toad Houses, the player can move while Toad is speaking in the Japanese version. In the international versions, the player must wait until the message is completely displayed.

The timing for the credits sequence was altered for the international versions.

After the credits end in the international versions, the player can press any button to return to the title screen and start another game in which the inventory is filled with 28 Magic Wings. In the Japanese version, the player cannot do this as the game remains on the ending screen indefinitely and must be restarted. This is one of the few international gameplay changes not retained in the later remakes.

Level design changes [ edit ]

In the second room of World 1- Fortress in the international versions, the door to Boom Boom is at the very end of the room, with the spikes above the door slightly above the rest. Comparatively in the Japanese version, the room is two blocks wider to the right, and the door is one block to the left of the gap in ceiling spikes.

in the international versions, the door to Boom Boom is at the very end of the room, with the spikes above the door slightly above the rest. Comparatively in the Japanese version, the room is two blocks wider to the right, and the door is one block to the left of the gap in ceiling spikes. The castle interiors when entering and finishing an airship stage were redesigned for the international versions. Mario is standing in the center of the room rather than on the very left, a third pillar next to the very left one was removed, the column on the right is in front of the stairs rather than behind, the throne and stairs are colored golden rather than being blue like the background wall, the stairs are made slightly longer, and the shadow shading was put on the right of each pillar rather than on the left.

In World 8- , a block was removed off the end of the final ship, allowing players to more easily jump onto the ship should they swim under the fleet.

, a block was removed off the end of the final ship, allowing players to more easily jump onto the ship should they swim under the fleet. The end of World 5-1 was moved to the end of the main area of the level rather than having a Warp Pipe that takes the player to the end of the stage. A Buster Beetle at that part was also removed for the international versions. This was likely done to remove a glitch allowing the chest that appears in the secret area in this level to appear at the end of the level.

Graphical changes [ edit ]

When the player is hit as Tanooki, Hammer, or Frog Mario, the costume comes off and a sound effect plays in the Japanese version. In the international versions, the costume disappears in a puff of smoke.

In the Japanese version, when entering a stage, it wipes in to black, then wipes out the stage. In the international versions, it wipes in, then the stage fades in slightly more quickly.

Textual changes [ edit ]

In the PRG0 version, Castle of Kuppa was changed to Castle of Koopa in the game's ending. In the PRG1 version, the names of each world as shown in-game minus Grass Land were further altered; Desert Hill became Desert Land, Ocean Side became Water Land, Big Island became Giant Land, The Sky became Sky Land, Iced Land became simply Ice Land, Pipe Maze became Pipe Land, and Castle of Koopa became Dark Land. This actually makes it closer to how they were originally written in the instruction manuals, including the Japanese one. The Super Nintendo and Game Boy Advance ports, however, reverted back to the original pre-revision names.

In the PRG0 version, Toad says "Miss twice and your out!" in the N-Mark Spade Panels. The US PRG1 version changes Toad's line to "You can only miss twice!" to get rid of the typo in the PRG0 version.

Princess Peach mentions in her letter received in World 2 "Kuribo's shoe" in the PRG0 version and "Goomba's shoe" in PRG1 version.

PAL version changes [ edit ]

The PAL version is based on the US PRG1 version, featuring most of its changes. It was optimized for PAL NES to have its gameplay and music match the Japanese and US versions. Some of the music sounds different as the result, such as the Airship music, where the percussion in the first part isn't cut off.

Bowser's letter is signed "Koopa Troopa" instead of "King of the Koopa" from the US versions.

Staff [ edit ]

Directors [ edit ]

Game Designers [ edit ]

Shigeru Miyamoto

Takashi Tezuka

Main Programmer [ edit ]

Toshihiko Nakago

Sound Composer [ edit ]

Producer [ edit ]

Shigeru Miyamoto

Pre-release and unused content [ edit ]

One of the early ideas was a power-up to turn Mario into a Centaur (half-man, half-horse), although this was rejected before being implemented into the game. (Tilden 1990, 21)

Additionally, Cheep-Cheeps and Para-Beetles respectively have unused tan and green variations, which would have moved faster than their ordinary counterparts.

Glitches [ edit ]

Gallery [ edit ]

For this subject's image gallery, see Gallery:Super Mario Bros. 3.

Quotes [ edit ]

" The Tanooki Suit turns into a statue! Even though I knew it wouldn't make sense to some non-Japanese players...I was so excited about it that I left it in. " - Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario History 1985-2010 booklet

" - Shigeru Miyamoto, Super Mario History 1985-2010 booklet " We were helped by many people when developing this game. But even with a larger team, I was still the worst gamer of the bunch. " - Takashi Tezuka, Super Mario History 1985-2010 booklet

" - Takashi Tezuka, Super Mario History 1985-2010 booklet "This time around, I added a lot of percussion and was able to create tracks that sounded like there were three or more sounds playing at once, resulting in much richer-sounding music." - Koji Kondo, Super Mario History 1985-2010 booklet

Names in other languages [ edit ]

Language Name Meaning Chinese (Simplified) 超级马力欧兄弟3[21]

Chāojí Mǎlì'ōu Xiōngdì 3 Super Mario Brothers 3 Chinese (Traditional) 超級瑪利歐兄弟３[22]

Chāojí Mǎlì'ōu Xiōngdì 3 Super Mario Brothers 3

Trivia [ edit ]

According to the Guinness Book of World Records 2008 , Super Mario Bros. 3 was the world's best-selling video game, which is false. However, it was the best-selling game not bundled with a console. Also, the image used in the book was of Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 , the remake, which made the same mistake on the back of its box.

, was the world's best-selling video game, which is false. However, it was the best-selling game not bundled with a console. Despite their artwork showing their current color scheme otherwise, NES palette limitations caused Mario's and Luigi's player sprites to have black overalls with no gloves and red/green hat, shirt and shoes (although corrected in the larger Spade sprite), some of the Koopalings' hair and shell colors to be slightly different, and Princess Toadstool to have brown hair, resembling her sprite from Super Mario Bros. 2 and Toad wearing a black vest and red pants. Most of the character's palettes were corrected in later versions.

and Toad wearing a black vest and red pants. Most of the character's palettes were corrected in later versions. Super Mario Bros. 3 is Takashi Tezuka's favorite game in the series [23] , as he feels that it is his first masterpiece.

is Takashi Tezuka's favorite game in the series , as he feels that it is his first masterpiece. Prior to its North American release on the NES, Super Mario Bros. 3 was ported to the Nintendo PlayChoice-10. [6]

was ported to the Nintendo PlayChoice-10. The events of this game are considered by Shigeru Miyamoto to be a stage play put on by the Mario cast. [24] However, in the remakes, many of the stage play-esque elements, such as shadows being cast onto the backgrounds, are no longer present.

cast. However, in the remakes, many of the stage play-esque elements, such as shadows being cast onto the backgrounds, are no longer present. Some of the game's assets were included in Capcom's Japanese 2003 arcade game Super Mario Fushigi no Janjan Land.

References [ edit ]