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Super Mario Brothers 3 NES

Format:
NES

Genre:
Platforming

Further reading:
Super Mario Brothers
Super Mario Brothers 2

Buy/Support:
Support Sinan, click to buy via us...

Super Mario Brothers 3 had a lot to prove after the side track of the second game. It was clear from the start though that it easily had the stones to do all this and more.

When I played Super Mario Brothers I had a life changing introduction to video games. I discovered a hobby that I loved and was quite good at. When we met the second time with Super Mario Brothers 2 disappointment reigned down upon me and I felt like a man who had been promised a Mars bar only to be given a Marathon (Snickers). Could I ever trust the Italian plumber again? What could he possibly do to regain my trust?

Well I'll tell you what he did. He came back with a vengeance! In 1990 I was lucky enough to go to Canada for a ten day tour with as part of a brass band (I know, I couldn't make this stuff up!). I was nine and every night we would play a concert and then stay with a family for the night before moving onto then next place.

There were two really good things about this hospitality system. The first was that every morning I'd be awoken by the smell of pancakes doused in maple syrup - a dessert for breakfast, pure genius. This simply redefined my morning eating. The second was that every family had kids and those kids had consoles and they all seemed to own the same game - Super Mario Brothers 3.

This game had not yet been released in Europe and so I came face to face with a game that not only recaptured the magic or Mario, but also recaptured the surprise and glee of surprise. I don't know how he did it, but Mario won again.

The game captured all the great elements of the original (Question Mark blocks, Mushrooms, Power-ups), had incorporated the best elements of Super Mario Brothers 2 (picking up items and throwing them, floating), and come up with a few new tricks all of its own (the Tanooki flying and Frog suit swimming).

The bosses were now varied and weren't all the same (each boss was one of Bowsers sons, leading up to a battle with Bowser at the end), and then the most magic thing of all happened, I got shown how to cheat. In the first game there were warp pipes that allowed you to skip some of the game, in this one there was the magic whistle that whisked you off to another land, and if you found all three you could complete the game in less than 20 minutes!

When I got home not only did I know that this game was coming soon, but all the cheats for it! I wrote into a magazine and even won a prize for 'discovering' these tricks, and of course gain kudos by helping my friends when they got stuck. I was a game guru!

So thank you Super Mario Brothers 3! My faith is well and truly restored. Now the story of how I got the game and how I upgraded to the super Nintendo is also a great tale but will wait until the next instalment: A World of change!

Written by Sinan Kubba

You can support Sinan by buying Super Mario Brothers 3



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Sinan Kubba writes the Returning Gamer column.

"As an 80s kid I was obsessed with gaming. But university, stress and life relegated my hobby to the backseat. After years in the wilderness, I'm back into video games. I don't just want to play games that remind of a happy youth though. I'm just as excited about games that take things forward, experiences that re-ignite that curiosity and fascination I had years ago."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

• Dark Souls
• Metal Gear Solid
• Portal
• Tiger Woods 11
• Home