I now see why Super Mario Bros 3 is arguably the greatest Mario game ever made. It now makes its way on the VC
Bowser is back and makes his 2nd appearance in his history of games. Once again, he has captured Princess Peach and the Italian plumber must go rescue her. As he searches for the princess, he encounters the kings from the other castles who have been cursed and have fallen under transformations caused by Bowser and his minions.
Once again there are 8 worlds Mario must travel across. This time, there are more than 4 levels to each world. This time there are, in some cases, up to 10 levels. By beating 3-4 levels in a row and defeating the several Koopas you encounter in their castles, a key will unlock these doors which will give you access to later levels in that world. The way the warp pipes and levels are set you can travel and skip a few levels that you've already beaten. Furthermore, if you lose all your lives and when the screen asking you whether to continue or end pops up, you can return to the Wii Menu with the Wiimote and you'll end up at the exact same spot that you've left off from.
Each world has a theme regarding the designs of the level. There's a sky world, an ice world, a desert world, a dark world, etc.. Each and every level is so incredibly made in terms of pacing, the level of difficulty, and some creative, unique platforming designs that have never been seen before. The ? blocks are back. Mushroom, fireflower and star powers have returned. All your known enemies from Super Mario Bros appear again. Total, there are at least 60 levels giving this plenty of replay value.
SMB3 has added many new features that show why this game is a masterpiece. Of course, you'll encounter new enemies. Warp pipes are more effective this time around. Sometimes levels will have multiple warp pipes and lead to multiple routes of the game. Generally they'll all help you to the end of level. Lots of levels have implemented going up and down instead of left and right scrolling. Another new feature: any Koopa that has been stomeped on once can be picked up, carried and thrown. After a short time, the Koopa will pop out of the shell. You better hold on to them for too long.
The bottom of the screen will show the time meter (how much time you have left to complete the level), the number of coins you've collected, the # of lives and how fast you're running. On the game screen, you can select suits and power ups you've collected and activate them at anytime you want before selecting the level you wish to play, giving a very fair advantage in case you're really struggling on a specific level.
Why would want to know how fast Mario runs? Well, one of Mario's brand new suits is the raccoon suit. When Mario runs and reaches full speed Mario can fly- literally. You can attack by swinging your tail at enemies. A few levels have put extraordinary use of this suit. Another suit is the Frog Suit. This suit enables Mario to jump much higher and swim a lot faster underwater. There are a couple other suits that are unique in thier own way, but I won't spoil it.
The graphics are so colorful and beautiful. It really pushes 8-bit graphics to the limit. Each character and every background detail looks polished up and terrific. The sound effects are astonishing and the music demonstrates excellent old school tunes.
The one small complaint I have is that some levels will flicker along the very edge of the right side of the screen. It's as if were loading that segment of the level. However, it doesn't affect how the gameplay and everything is always animated right. Most of the time you won't even notice it becuase you'll be having too much fun stomping enemies.
If you've ignored everything I've stated and just skipped to the bottom, I'll just simply say that the VC holds a game that will be talked about for many years to come. It's only $5. Get this game!