Mario and Luigi bring perfection to the NES.
THE GOOD
-Excellent level design
-Epic boss fights
-Excellent music
-Lots of fun power-ups
-Fun mini games
-Plenty of replay value
THE BAD
-Too few places to get the hammer brother suit
OVERVIEW
Super Mario Bros. 3 is my favorite game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Again the Mario brothers are back in another sequel to the hit series. This time Bowser brought along his Koopa Kids to help him defeat the Mario Brothers. Your mission this time is to help out 7 kings, of neighboring lands, from total chaos by 7 of Bowser's Koopa kids. Then you'll find out that it was all a diversion, by Bowser, to capture the Princess, again. You play as Mario and Luigi as you explore eight uniquely themed worlds like Desert Hill, Sea Side, and Iced Land.
GAMEPLAY
The level design is excellent and with the eight themed worlds to play in, you will have a lot of fun playing through the game. In each world you have a choice to pick which levels you want to play and avoid, if possible. There are regular stages (marked with numbers), fortress stages, power-up stores (little Mushroom huts) and other mini-game spots. Again, Super Mario 3 is another great 2D Platformer like the first Super Mario game.
Your goal is to reach the end of each level by avoiding pitfalls, solving puzzles, and defeating enemies. Your main attack is to jump on your enemies but there are a bunch of old and new power-ups that the brothers can use. The fire flower and starman are back but now you can obtain new power-ups like the raccoon suit (which lets you fly for a short period of time), hammer brother suit (gives you the power to throw hammers), and frog suit (which enhances your swimming performance).
The controls for the game are really good. You can run, jump and use special power-ups with ease. Some platformer games with bad controls really make the game hard to play but Super Mario 3 won't disappoint you in this area. Like all the other Mario games the bosses are quite challenging. At the end of each world you will fight a different Koopa Kid except for world 8 that has you face-to-face again with the King of the Koopas. Each boss has different abilities which keeps the challenge fresh.
Another cool feature is that you can store up your power-ups and save them for later use. You can get these power-ups from the Mushroom huts and other mini games like the concentration card game. Plus, do you remember the original Mario Brothers game? Well you have the option to play that game in Super Mario 3 with another friend. The nice thing is that you can play this game at anytime in multiplayer mode. Speaking of multiplayer, Super Mario 3 lets you and a friend play as Mario and Luigi together. When one person completes a level the other player doesn't have to play it again. This adds a nice teamwork element to the game.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
Super Mario Bros 3 has some of the best graphics for any NES game. Along with a very good level design the visuals will astonish any gamer.
The musical score is excellent and really fits each of the worlds and levels. Just like the previous Super Mario games, the sound effects are exceptional.
CONCLUSION
If you are looking for epic platformer, then Super Mario Bros. 3 won't let you down. There is plenty of replay value and you'll probably find yourself playing this game for years to come. Nintendo really created perfection with Super Mario 3. Enjoy!