Super Mario Bros. 3 Turns 20

Alright, if there’s a news post I had to write that made me feel old, it’s this one. Super Mario Bros. 3, the Nintendo Entertainment System classic, turned 20 last Friday, based on its North American release. The reason I feel old is because I remember so vividly seeing the brand-spanking-new bright yellow box sitting on the shelf at the store, and likewise, I remember tearing the box open to shove the cartridge in the console (didn’t even need to blow into it!).

Originally released in 1988 in Japan, Mario 3 did a lot of things right, and if you’ve ever played it, or grew up through the NES years, you know what I’m talking about. Even at the time, it felt like an instant classic, because Nintendo knew what it was doing. Mario 3 was fun in almost all regards, and redefined what a real platformer title should be. Plus, who wouldn’t love being able to turn into a frog one minute and soar through the air the next?

At the time of its release, Super Mario Bros. 3 quickly became the best-selling console game of all time, and believe it or not, it still remains as one of the highest-selling games ever, with over 18 million copies sold total. By comparison, last year’s mega-hit, Modern Warfare 2, sold about 8 million copies total. Even on the Wii Virtual Console, SMB3 sold 1 million, which proves that when a game is a classic, it forever remains a classic.

Of course, Nintendo didn’t stop getting it right after SMB3, as Super Mario World (SMB4) ended up selling even more copies, at 20 million. The rest is history. I don’t believe any other Mario game past Super Mario World in terms of overall units, which may definitely tell you something. Of course, the best-selling Wii title to be sold outside of the console is Wii Play, at 27 million copies, so the audience has certainly changed.

In the spirit of celebrating SMB3, I recommend anyone who doesn’t mind vulgar language to check out James Rolfe’s (Angry Video Game Nerd) look at Super Mario Bros. 3, which he filmed about two-years-ago. It’s really eye-opening, but I stress that the language isn’t for everyone, so listener beware.

Super Mario Bros. 3 (also referred to as Super Mario 3 and SMB3) is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and is the fifth game in the Super Mario series. The game was released in Japan in 1988, in the United States in 1990, and in Europe in 1991. Development was handled by Nintendo’s Research & Development Team 4, led by Shigeru Miyamoto, who directed the game along with Takashi Tezuka.