Super Mario Bros. 3 is the best Mario game. Fact. Period. End of discussion. It is a perfect balance of controls, level design, gameplay variety, and presentation and only Super Mario World even comes close to its greatness. Keep reading as we continue to lavish praise on SMB3 and watch our sick gameplay video.
The thing I like best about Super Mario Bros. 3 is that the levels are generally pretty short. They're pretty much all unique and each and every one does something different than the rest and, more importantly, they don't overstay their welcome. They each have their gimmick, give you time to figure it out, and then it's over. I love that. Every game since SMB3 and SMW has stretched the levels out far too long well past the point of them being fun. The New Super Mario Bros. games in particular have just stupidly long levels, but also don't have nearly as interesting of gimmicks, so you get bored of them very early on.
The other brilliant thing SMB3 does is that the abilities are all unique and interesting and, once again, aren't so frequent that they stop feeling special. Raccoon suit and fire flower aside, every other ability is very rare. You only get a couple frog suits. You only get a couple hammer suits. You only get a couple tanooki suits. You only get to use Kuribo's Shoe a couple times. When you get to use these unique items it feels fresh and fun and special. Later Mario games never really feel like that because they have fewer items overall that are spammed at you constantly.
I also really love the overworld secrets in SMB3. Unlike Mario World which has a static overworld, SMB3's overworld maps are full of secrets and cool stuff. I like the items that let you make new paths, skip levels, or put the patrolling Koopa's to sleep. I also love that there are new special events that open up based on how you perform in the levels. Treasure ships, card matching mini-games, and white Toad houses are all cool as heck and help make the game feel, I'll say it again, like a special experience.
I just freaking love Super Mario Bros. 3. I don't quite perform as well as I would have liked in the video, but I show off some nifty stuff, I guess. The fun thing about SMB3 is that you can plow through it and beat it in 35-minutes if you want - though it will be much harder - or you can take your time and stock up on items and make the run to the end a lot easier, although it'll take 3-hours. That's what great about it, though, in that every play style is accommodated and you can have lots of fun in lots of different ways.
