Mega Bits

Four hours and forty-one fun-filled minutes of my life were spent last night playing two-player on one of my most beloved games: Super Mario Brothers 3.  This game was so big at the time, that it was introduced in a feature film called The Wizard.  That movie got me and the rest of the NES geek boys and girls excited about the upcoming new Mario title.  Considering the ending of Mario 2 was waking up from a dreeam, it’s a wonder I even gave it a try – I guess my requirements were not as high back then.  The first game I bought with my own money was Jackal, I mean come on.  Contra 2 was better.

After its release, it was offered as a replacement for the original Super Mario Brothers/Duck Hunt cartridge, which I played into the ground when we first got our Nintendo.  But I think that more than any other game, this game embodies the best of 8-bit gaming.

In addition to being a side-scrolling platformer like its predecessors, Super Mario Brothers 3 added a game board overview of each world, and allowed choices, secrets, and bonuses more than any Mario title before.  This template would carry the Mario series to a new level, spawning the two successful Super Mario World games for SNES and carrying that theme of choices all the way to Super Mario Galaxy, the latest in the series.  For the first time ever, there were levels you didn’t have to play!  In fact, if you used your items wisely, you could skip several levels and never have to play them again.  Before this, your only choice was to know where the secret warp pipes were – and they were only on specific levels – which dropped you somewhere down the otherwise strictly linear game.  The choices offered in Super Mario 3 allowed for a much more dynamic game, and a higher replayability.

Among the cool things that this game introduced to Mario were the four new suits that Mario could wear – the raccoon, the frog, the tanooki, and the hammer brother (and the boot!) – that gave Mario additional abilities until he was hit by an enemy.  Also, you could keep certain items for use before you start a new level, allowing you to power up before a more difficult level, helping you get to the end of the game.  With enough secrets to keep the enthusiast occupied and enough simplicity to make the game beatable, this game is what I think of when I think Nintendo.  This was the NES’s masterpiece.

If there is one game that embodies the essence of the Nintendo Entertainment System, it is without question Super Mario Bros 3.  Play it if you haven’t!