Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nelsonic Game Watch)



Super Mario Bros. 3 was a Game Watch. Literally, it is a watch that plays a game (not to be confused with a Game & Watch). It is presumably a highly simplified version of the NES game.

The Layout
The watch itself consists of 6 buttons. Two red ones (one for 'Mode' and one for 'Set') and 4 blue ones, left, right, up, down.

On the LCD there is a level layout with pictures of Mario, Princess Toadstool, Bowser, Goombas and platforms. When the watch is in time mode, it will run the same scenario on the game layout over and over with the time at the top left. When in game mode it will start out with the introduction music and the player will have to navigate their way through the game. Finally, there is the alarm. If the alarm is set and the time comes for the alarm to go off, the Super Mario 3 Theme repeated only 2 times.

Setting Up
See below for how to set this up.

Time
In order to set the time the user must first be in time mode. Hold down 'Set' (Red button on left) while pressing down. the time will then start to blink. Pushing left will send the hour up and pushing right will send the minute up. When done, push down again for completion.

Alarm
Press 'Mode' (Red button on the right) until you see AL next to the time. Then, hold the 'Set' (Red button on the left) until it start blinking. Set the alarm time with the left (hour) and right buttons (minutes) and then hit 'Set' again to stop the blinking. There will see three mario faces in the middle of the screen if the alarm is on. Hit 'Set' to make them disappear or turn off alarm. If the alarm is set and the time comes for the alarm to go off, the Super Mario 3 Theme repeated only 2 times.

Playing The Game
The object of the game, as in the original game, is to save the princess. The game is controlled with the left, right and up buttons with up acting as Jump. In order to navigate through the level, the player must time their jumps and movement properly to prevent Mario from dying.

To start the game, the player has to go to game mode and hit the bottom button. Mario starts in the top left corner. He goes down with an elevated platform. He must avoid a Fire Bro., who tries to hit Mario with a fireball. Then, he can go to the right and get a Starman for invincibility against the Goombas coming at him from the left. He must hit the P-Switch to open the warp zone to go to the bottom right. Then, Mario can get the Super Leaf and swat his tail at Goombas. The Jump Blocks get Mario to the next platforms above to face Bowser. The game puts the player in the top right corner, where Bowser is spitting fire at Mario. A coin will then appear above the player. Bowser can be defeated by going left and under him and jumping underneath him several times until he falls. Then, the game is over and the player gets to start all over again.

Release
This game watch was released by 'Nelsonic' and licensed by Nintendo in 1990. There were also three other game watches released, Zelda and Tetris.