Super Mario Bros. 3

Super Mario Bros. 3 (also known by the abbreviation SMB3) is a platform adventure game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was released in Japan on October 28, 1988; in North America on February 12, 1990; and in Europe on August 29, 1991. It was later released in the US on the Wii's Virtual Console on November 5, 2007. It is the sequel to Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2, although outside of Japan, it is considered the sequel to the Americanized Super Mario Bros. 2.

It has been considered as one of the greatest games of all time. Its complexity and challenging levels made it a huge success. In addition to new power ups, it featured new moves, items, and enemies. It also features special non-level parts of each world, including Toad Houses and Spade Panels, as well as some secret parts, such as the White Toad 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, except the plot was changed. In the cartoons, King Koopa and his Koopalings tried to take over the real world as well, and not only the Mushroom Kingdom.

Development
Following the poor critical reception of Super Mario Bros. 2, Nintendo had to make a sequel that was stronger than its predecessor. The hard part of creating a video game with old characters is making the old characters seem fresh and new.

Story
Bowser has returned to the Mushroom Kingdom and now with the help of his seven Koopaling children, he tries to conquer it again. He sends his Koopalings into seven parts of the Mushroom World to capture the king of that area, steal their magic wands and with the wands, alter the kings' appearance. Princess Toadstool sent Mario and Luigi to go and stop the Koopalings and turn the kings back into their normal form. At the end of each world, Mario and Luigi fought one of the Koopalings, and after the match was over, the brothers took the wand from the Koopaling and turned the king back to normal. While the brothers are out in their adventure, Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach and takes her to his castle in Dark Land. The brothers go to Dark Land and fight Bowser. After defeating Bowser, they save Princess Toadstool and they all return to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Worlds

 * Grass Land (World 1) Conquered by Larry Koopa
 * Desert Land/Desert Hill (World 2) Conquered by Morton Koopa Jr.
 * Water Land/Ocean Side (World 3) Conquered by Wendy O. Koopa
 * Giant Land/Big Island (World 4) Conquered by Iggy Koopa
 * Sky Land/The Sky (World 5) Conquered by Roy Koopa
 * Ice Land/Iced Land (World 6) Conquered by Lemmy Koopa
 * Pipe Land/Pipe Maze (World 7) Conquered by Ludwig von Koopa
 * Dark Land/Castle of Koopa (World 8) Ruled by Bowser. The Japanese version of the game spells Koopa as Kuppa.
 * Warp Zone (World 9) World only accessible by a Warp Whistle. You get a choice of Worlds depending on what world you use it in.
 * World-e (e-Reader-based world; exclusive to Super Mario Advance 4)

Power-Ups

 * Super Mario – This is the basic power-up. Mario will become twice his normal size.
 * Fire Mario – This form is obtained after getting a Fire Flower. It allows Mario to shoot fire.
 * Invincible Mario – After getting the Star, Mario will be invincible for a short amount of time.
 * Raccoon Mario – This form can be obtained after getting the Super Leaf. It allows Mario to fly for a short time, and attack with his tail.
 * Hammer Mario – This form can be obtained after collecting a Hammer Suit. It allows Mario to throw hammers like a Hammer Bro.. The only downside is you cannot slide down hills.
 * Frog Mario – Mario turns into this after getting the Frog Suit. The Frog Suit allows Mario to swim through water much easier.
 * Tanooki Mario – Mario transforms into it with the Tanooki Suit. This form's abilities are very similar to Raccoon Mario, but it also includes an additional ability to turn into a statue.
 * Kuribo's Shoe – This shoe can be obtained from a Goomba in Level 5-3. It allows Mario to hop across dangerous objects such as spikes.

After the player obtains a power-up that is greater than a Super Mushroom, they can take a hit from an enemy or object and will return back to their Super Form.

Goombas

 * Goomba
 * Micro-Goomba
 * Paragoomba
 * Pile Driver Micro-Goomba

Troopas

 * Koopa Troopa
 * Koopa Paratroopa
 * Rocky Wrench
 * Spike

Buzzies

 * Buster Beetle
 * Buzzy Beetle
 * Parabeetle

Piranha Plants

 * Muncher
 * Nipper Plant
 * Piranha Plant
 * Ptooie
 * Venus Fire Trap

Lakitu

 * Lakitu
 * Spiny

Hammer Brothers

 * Boomerang Bro.
 * Hammer Bro.
 * Fire Bro.
 * Sledge Bro.

Fortress

 * Boo
 * Dry Bones
 * Hot Foot
 * Podoboo
 * Roto-Disc
 * Stretch
 * Thwomp

Water

 * Cheep Cheep
 * Baby Cheep
 * Big Bertha
 * Blooper
 * Blooper Nanny
 * Boss Bass
 * Jelectro
 * Lava Lotus
 * Spiny Cheep-Cheep
 * Deep-Cheep

Artillery

 * Bob-omb
 * Bullet Bill
 * Cannonball
 * Missile Bill
 * Chain Chomp
 * Fire Chomp

Bosses

 * Boom Boom
 * Bowser
 * Koopalings
 * Larry Koopa
 * Morton Koopa Jr.
 * Wendy O. Koopa
 * Roy Koopa
 * Iggy Koopa
 * Lemmy Koopa
 * Ludwig von Koopa

Fire

 * Angry Sun
 * Fire Snake

2-Player
In two-player mode, player one is Mario, and player two is Luigi. After one bro. completes a level/loses a life, the other bro. plays. Also, if one bro. picks a level that the other bro. completed, they enter a battle stage similar to Mario Bros.

Glitches

 * In World 3-6, Mario is temporarily unable to break a block when he is in his raccoon form.
 * If the player presses B while going down a pipe as Tanooki Mario, Mario will turn gray.

Remakes
Super Mario Bros. 3 was later revamped and included in Super Mario All-Stars, with updated graphics and sound for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. A notable addition to the All-Stars version was a save feature. Additionally, there's a Battle Game feature that works differently from the ones featured from the maps in the 2-Player Game Mode.
 * 'Super Mario All-Stars

In 2003, the fourth entry in the Super Mario Advance series, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 was released for the Game Boy Advance. It boasted similar graphics and sound to the All-Stars version, and made use of the e-Reader. A few e-cards came included with new copies of the game, while two sets (referred to as "series") of cards, were released and sold alongside the game. By scanning special cards into the e-Reader, players were able to upload items, videos, and most importantly, new levels into game. One notable item was the Cape Feather from Super Mario World, which allowed Mario to transform in Cape Mario. There were also two Switch cards that the player could activate (and deactivate) the effects of by scanning them; the Orange Switch and the Blue Green Switch. Scanning these switches triggered small functions in the game. The e-Reader feature is absent in the European version.
 * Super Mario Advance 4
 * For a complete listing of cards, see Super Mario Advance 4 e-Cards.

References to Other Games

 *  Mario Bros.- There is a multiplayer mini-game very similar to this game.
 * Super Mario Bros.- When Peach is saved from Bowser she says "Thank you Mario, but our Princess is in another castle hehe, just kidding!" this is a reference to the Mushroom Reatainer's line "Thank you Mario, but our Princess is in another castle!" from this game.
 * Super Mario Bros. 2- Peach's appearance is identical to how she appeared in this game.
 * The Legend of Zelda- The warp whistle is an item taken from this game.

References in Later Games

 * Super Mario World- The sunken ghost ship is speculated to have once been one of the invading Airships.
 * Super Mario All-Stars- This contains a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3.
 * Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World- This contains a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3 and the sunken ghost ship is speculated to have once been one of the invading Airships.
 * Tetris DS- Levels 4, 5 and 6 on marathon mode show Mario identical as how he appears here running through levels found here on the top screen. Also a remix of the Over World Theme plays.
 * Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix- Music from SMB3 is remixed in this game.
 * WarioWare: Twisted!- Mario as he appears here, is features in a SMB3 style Micro-Game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee- Music from here is remixed in this game.
 * Super Smash Bros. Brawl- Music from here is remixed in this game.
 * New Super Mario Bros.- Many concepts started in here are features in this game, such as Toad Houses.
 * Defend Your Castle- By clicking SMB3W4 with the Wii Remote in the special thanks section leads to a game with giant stick men. SMB3W4 actually means Super Mario Bros. 3 World 4, which was Giant Land, hence the giant stick men.
 * Mario Kart Wii- A license plate which reads "SMB3" can be found.
 * Super Mario Galaxy- Level 1-2 and Airship Music were remixed in this game.

Trivia

 * The movie The Wizard had new footage of Super Mario Bros. 3. The game was played at a video game competition, and was supposed to not be released in stores yet, but, somehow, Jimmy's (the "Wizard"'s) friends knew of the secret of the Warp Whistle in the first world.
 * This game was ported into the American arcade machine, Nintendo Playchoice-10.
 * There is a way to remove Bowser's fire powers, rendering him useless as a Fireless Bowser.
 * The back of some boxes show an unused level.
 * This marked the first appearance of the Koopalings and the Boo species.
 * This is both sale wise and chronologically the first time Mario has fought Bowser's children as Wendy O. Koopa says this is the first time she has fought Mario.
 * A Toad Suit was planned to be in the game but was scrapped for unknown reasons.
 * The NES version of the game was released twice in English. In the re-release, the names of the worlds were changed to (theme of world) Land, while the first English version used the Japanese names. Other changes include a slightly different set of instructions from Toad's N-Spade game and a slight rewrite in one of Toadstool's letters, changing "Kuribo's Shoe" to "Goomba's Shoe".
 * In the Scholastic World Book of Records for 2007, this was the best selling game.
 * The NES version of the game was placed 5th in the 100th issue of Nintendo Power's "100 best Nintendo games of all time" in 1997.