What? You haven't heard of this game? Then get out from under that rock and go out and buy it in stores as Super Mario Advance 4.
Aanyway, in Super Mario Bros. 3, we're introduced to the whole of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's huge! It's also quite impossible to travel through, too. Goombas, Koopas, and Pirhana plants abound! Not to mention huge, bottomless dropoffs, invisible pushing walls of death, and of course, those pesky flying enemies. How do the Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants live in a place like this? At any rate, you've got to maneuver your way through the levels. At the end, you get a special card, with either a fire flower, a mushroom, or a star on it. After you get three of these cards, you get an extra life. I think you get more when the cards match.
As for bosses, the game introduces the short-lived Koopa Kids, featuring Larry, Morton, Ludwig, Wendy, Iggy, Lemmy, and Roy. There's also something called a Boom-boom, but Hell if I know what that name means. Anyway, Boom-booms live in miniature castles, while the Koopa Kids run all around in airships that they stole from the Final Fantasy games. Anyway, each of the Koopa Kids stole some magic stick [Insert dirty "Magic stick" joke here] from the King of someplace, then turned the King into a dog. After restoring the King to who he used to be, I found he was so ugly, I wish he had stayed a dog. If you look through the levels long enough, you'll find one of four "Warp whistles," which, other than taking you to another level, I've found to be quite useless. They're well hidden, but certainly not worth looking for.
Oh, yeah, before I forget, you see that little >>>>>>P sign at the bottom of the screen? That's the power bar. As you run, power builds up. Once the P starts flashing, if you jump, you can do some fun things. If you've got the Raccoon Leaf, you can fly. Speaking of which, you can also find frog, statue, and Tanooki* suits as powerups in the game, too. They all do stuff, but I forget what they do.
- Graphics: Best graphics of any Mario game on the NES. (9)
- Sound: Authentic sounds of collecting coins and jumping on tortoise-like beings! Well, actually, no, not authentic, but still, it made sounds that would be heard over and over for many years to come! (9).
- Gameplay: It's the original hot, spicy, sidescrolling action! (Perfect 10)
- Overall rating: 9.3
Comment: Buy. Now. Before I come after you.
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*"Tanooki" properly spelled Tanuki, is the Japanese word for raccoon, but I'm sure if you've played the game well enough, you should already know that.
