Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES) review "If you own a Nintendo, and you have not played Super Mario Brothers 3, do not deny yourself any longer."

Super Mario Brothers 3 first enthralled the nation in the early nineties when it made its grand appearance in the movie, ''The Wizard''. Other games such as Ninja Gaiden and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were also featured in this movie which depicted a video game prodigy. However, Super Mario Brothers 3 was spotlighted, as it was the game that the main character had to play to win a fifty thousand dollar tournament.

When the game came out, it surpassed the hysteria of when Super Mario Brothers 2 was released. No easy feat. People lined up outside Toys R Us and K.B. Toys at midnight just to get their hands on a copy. And Super Mario Brothers 3 did not disappoint.

The story is the same; you play the role of Mario and/or Luigi, and you must find and rescue Princess Toadstool from the evil clutches of Bowser, king of the koopas. The gameplay switches back to the more traditional style of Super Mario Brothers 1 than the odd gameplay of 2.

New twists are added to the gameplay though. You can now venture everywhere on the screen, left to right, up to down, down to up, and right to left. Jumping is still the main weapon, but new powerups and abilities are available. Super Mario Brothers 3 was the first platform game to offer a wide variety of powerups.

Of the powerups, there's the old dependable mushroom and fire flower. The ''magic mushroom'' makes Mario grow up to be Super Mario, and the fire flower gives Mario the ability to throw fireballs. The magic leaf turns Mario into Racoon Mario, and allows him to fly. The frog suit is perfect for allowing him to swim, and the Tanooki suit produces strange results when used. However, nothing beats the Hammer Brothers suit, which is fireproof, and extremely powerful hammers.

The worlds in Super Mario Brothers 3 are strange and diverse. The first stage is rather plain, but after that, worls vary wildly, from desert, to ocean, to worlds full of pipes, to worlds full of giant monsters. Each world has their own special monsters, although goombas (little brown walking things) and koopa troopers (turtle warriors who use their shells to attack) are present in every world. None of the enemies are particularily tough, but the leaps and jumps in some stages will challenge you sufficiently.

Graphically, everything in Super Mario Brothers 3 is presented vividly with a full usage of the Nintendo's graphic capability. The music is also very sharp, with a mix of classic Mario tunes and newer sounds to balance it out. It is not a stretch to say that the graphics and sound in Super Mario Brothers 3 are the best for the system.

If you own a Nintendo, and you have not played Super Mario Brothers 3, do not deny yourself any longer. It is by far one of the elite games of the system, and worth every penny that you might psy for it. Check out Funcoland and other online outlets for a copy. This is mandatory classic game playing, along with Pong, Tetris, and Pac-Man.

Community review by sgreenwell (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.