Do the Mario

This weekend, I had the pleasure of striking another game from my Hall of Shame. This time it's Super Mario Bros. 3.

I remember many games I played as a kid but this is one I recall more than others. For this game was hailed as the greatest of it's day. It was the game every NES had to have and everyone had to play. I myself didn't have a NES but my brother had a friend who did so thus I was able to see, and eventually play, this game of near monumental reverence.
Yet it is only years later through the Virtual Console, that I'm able to play SMB3 and see it through to the end. So what did I think of it?

Well, firstly I tell a lie: I didn't see it all the way through: I used the infamous Warp Whistles to skip the worlds 5-7 and take the fight straight to the last world with a bundle of power-ups in tow. But that counts: I trounced Bowser and saw the ending - and believe you me it does make a lot of difference getting there yourself as opposed to seeing someone else do it.
But what of the game itself? Well the legendary reputation of this game does carry an enormous amount of intimidation with it but I still had fun with it. It's interesting to see implementation of the open world map and the mini-games but, in a way, it does some rather quaint seeing as many other games have added mini-games and non-linear approach many times since. It's interesting to see new features to the Mario series added but some have left me wondering why they haven't reappeared since (Hammer suit anyone?).

And then there is the difficulty: I've often found the Mario games to be quite fiendishly tough when they want to be and SMB3 is no exception. The lack of a save feature is infuriating particularly when using a continue essentially forces the payer to go back over levels they tried so hard to get through - and, more often than not, on the hope of never repeating again. Indeed I encountered the same problem I had with Super Mario World: I had trouble with the tough levels that by the time I got to Bowser I defeated him in one go thus rendering the whole encounter one big anti-climax. Indeed, I'm beginning to wonder that if the minions give the hero more trouble than the Big Bad, then he isn't much of a threat...

Still I enjoyed playing SMB3 and it was good fun. It certainly has a level of addictiveness and, despite my grumbling about the difficulty, the challenge was one to rise up to. So yeah: Super Mario Bros 3 is one game that certainly holds up years later and I'm glad to have finally beaten it.

Now if I could only get my hands on Super Mario Galaxy.......