Super Mario Bros 3

I think this has to go down as one of the greatest gaming sequels, if not one of the greatest games of all time.


For me this took gaming to a whole new level, all the details, all the new items, not to mention the ability to fly (which wasn't all that common for platformers back then). I also like the different environments you encounter, from ice worlds to water worlds, and even worlds with giant enemies.

The difficulty is just right as well, for me it's the right balance, and what really helps is the ability to store inventory for later use - if you were anything like me, you'd save the P-Wing for the last world.


I'd like to know the forums view on this classic game, in my opinion this set the standard for platformers.

I didn't get to play SMB3 at the time of its release. My first encounter with Nintendo games was with the SNES and the first Nintendo platform game I played was Super Mario World. This was mainly because I wasn't into consoles until that point and being an Amiga fan I had no interest in the NES.

I did really enjoy Super Mario World a lot. I've still never completed it fully, but for me it is one of the best 2D platformers I've played. I then went on to play the previous Mario Brothers games via the Super Mario All-stars release on the SNES. I thought that was a great cartridge. All the previous games with improved graphics and sound, plus the lost levels too.

I really enjoyed playing through the previous games and SMB3 was definitely a great game. However as I had first played Super Mario World before then trying the previous games I don't think I enjoyed them quite as much as if I had played them as they were each released. And I think this is true for any game on any platform. Anyone going back and playing 8-bit games today for the very first time will never get the same experience we all did actually being there at the time of each game's release.

As with Harrison, my first encounter with SMB3 was via. the SNES and All-Stars, so I was comparing it head-to-head with SMW and the latter came out on top. SMB3 was still a good game, but SMW is near the top of my all-time favourites. A little bit sad, but I've completed SMW twice on the console (the whole lot, 92 goals or whatever it was) and twice on emulator.

I'd agree with you Shaun when you say SMB3 set the standard for platformers - SMW and SMB3 have a lot more in common than SMB1 and SMB3.

SMW2 and Donkey/Diddy Kong were better games than SMW, but because of the amount of time I spent on SMW before getting those later games, I'd still rate SMW as my favourite SNES platformer.