As developers continue to innovate and gaming advances into a new era, it can often be easy to forget where a lot of the amazing things we have now first came from. For that reason, it’s a good idea to periodically look back at the greats of the past and appreciate what they did for the future of their franchises. With the NES legend Super Mario Bros. 3 celebrating a birthday today, now’s the perfect time to journey to when this classic first became available in stores and what it did for the future of Super Mario as a whole.
Super Mario Bros. 3 first hit the shelves exactly 36 years ago in Japan, releasing on October 23rd, 1988. A shortage of ROM chips led to the game’s release outside of Japan to be delayed, with it only arriving in the US in early 1990 and even later in Europe. Despite how late in the NES’s lifespan this was, Super Mario Bros. 3 was still praised as one of — if not the very best — game on the console, and in the eyes of many still held up against later SNES releases such as Super Mario World.
When looking back at Super Mario Bros. 3, it’s pretty obvious how much this outstanding entry shaped the future of the series. Many features that would become mainstays of both 2D and even 3D games of the future originated here; the world map scattered with obstacles and minigames, the seven Koopalings, enemies such as the Chain Chomp, and even power-ups like the Super Leaf all made their debut with this game. Just taking a glance at modern Super Mario shows plain and simple the long-term impact that Super Mario Bros. 3 has had over the years.
Hopefully this little window into the past helped shine a light on how the Mario franchise became what it is. While there are many contributions to the beautiful stew that is present-day Super Mario, it’s good to take a step back every now and then to look at where it all came from. We’ll be eagerly looking onwards to another year and what it has in store for us, all the while glancing back at the long and winding path we took to get here.
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Written by Abbie Maxwell
Lifelong Nintendo fangirl, Abbie holds a special place in her heart for video games. She has always strived to provide tips and tricks to make the experiences of those who share her passions that much better.
