Jimmy! Watch the mushrooms! Let's Play Super Mario Bros. 3!

As a kid that grew up with a NES, there are quite a few titles that really defined video games for me as a kid. Games like Mega Man 3, DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, Dr, Mario...

But, the game that will always stand out as my all time favorite video game through the years is Super Mario Bros. 3.



This was the game that blew my mind and made a Mario fan of me. Sure, I played a ton of Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2, but it was the third game that really clicked for me.

Of course, the marketing behind the game might have been a big reason why. A movie called The Wizard was the first glimpse we got of Super Mario Bros. 3 in North America, and you better believe that I dragged my family to the theater to see it on opening weekend. I'm sure there were many other Tyrants in the audience in their hometowns too.



Then, before the game's final release, a special treat... the game was located in a Playchoice-10 machine at my local laundromat. I got to play this highly anticipated game for a few precious minutes time and time again. Hype was successfully gotten.

And in a final surprise, I got the game along with a Nintendo Power Strategy Guide. All the secrets of the game were there for me to learn and explore. And learn and explore I did.



It really is hard to define how this game has remained my favorite through the years, but it is, and even though 90% of the people here have played it for themselves, I still wanted to sit down and play it again for you all.

Note that while these screenshots are from the NES, I'm playing the SNES version that was included in Super Mario All-Stars.

Table of Contents

#1: Jimmy Woods Tactics
#2: Legend of Lightning Larry
#3: Rock Smash
#4: Maneater
#5: Gettin' Some Tail
#6: I Did It for Tanooki
#7: Hammer Time
#8: Grounded for Life
#9: The Silent Cupcakes
#10: Wouldn't it be Cool
#11: These Pipes Are Clean

#1: Jimmy Woods Tactics

Where Red fails to get infinite lives, still knows where all the 1ups are, and goes behind the background.

I never knew about the 1-4 Warp Whistle. Huh.

I also know that somewhere in my parents' house, there is a Super Mario Bros. 3 guidebook from Nintendo Power. I remember using that the first time I beat this game (which was the Advance version through a Gamecube's Game Boy Player).

Technically we had two guides for Super Mario Bros. 3. The first was the Nintendo Game Strategy Guide, while the second was called the NES Game Atlas.

I thought this video was going to blow my mind because of this, but on actually watching the video, I think you mean 1-3. Phew. Mind safely unblown.

Actually I meant 1-Fortress. I knew about 1-3 before I even first played the game. I think I just got 4 and Fortress mixed up because 1-4 is over so fast.

I think it was the first one. The book only had SMB3 in it, and I don't remember reading the word "atlas" anywhere (then again, it was missing the front cover and levels 1-1, 1-2, and the first half of 1-3 by the time I found it).

This is a game that really changes from the NES to SNES versions.

On the NES, if you wanted to beat it in a reasonably short after-school session, you had to meticulously plan out when and where you were going to warp, since you needed to also stock up on items.

My personal preference: get the third warp whistle from World 2, Warp to World 5 for a couple extra easy P-Wings and some Shoe action, then double-warp to World 8.

On the SNES, it's more of a leisurely, SMW-esque play through all the levels. That grants some increased weight to World 7 (since no one I knew was insane enough to play through those torture chambers), but robs the game of a lot of its have-to-beat-in-one-sitting tension. Especially when you're doing things like gambling your last P-Wing to get past the jet ships in World 8 knowing that if you don't win out from there, you're fucked....

I don't think I've ever used a P-Wing.

I just can't make myself skip a level like that when there's no way to replay it.

You had to make sacrifices when you knew your mom demanded that you be home for dinner at 6:00.

#2: Legend of Lightning Larry

Where Red gets all the coins, gets the ships but not the anchor, and flies into the unseen.

Hey, I just said I don't skip levels with the P Wing. I can't remember if I actually managed to beat them all.

Anyway, I found that old strategy guide I mentioned. The funny thing is that when the levels are zoomed out, you can tell they're really short. If I had a scanner, I'd upload some of the pages.

It just occurred to me that I have not once in my life seen the boss fight in the mini-castle from world 1. I don't always use the warp whistle, but much like you, apparently, I am compelled to always grab it.

When we used to do warpness NES runs of the game, getting three warp whistles was like a badge of honor, showing them in World 8 as if to say "See, I can prove I did it legit!

Bypassing that section of the fortress, however, did mean I didn't get to mention the spiked roof and how it was totally different in the Japanese version! Shoot.

#3: Rock Smash

Where Red takes the high road, uses an item at an inappropriate time, and really can act like a dork.

Re: Pyramid woes

If you don't have a Raccoon Tail, you can leave the Pyramid and come back in to grab that power-up block again. So going through without a Tail is your own fault.

And not having a million power-ups and being able to just use a Mushroom on the World Map is my fault too.

Well played, Mr. Turtle.

Well, I'd meant "your" in a general sense, but yeah, sure, everything can be your fault.

Nice to see an appearance by Sgt. Star in that video. Him and his brother, Sabre Tooth Mushroom, were always a nice consolation prize for screwing up the spade house.

The Desert World is probably tied with Sky World for being my favourite in the game, especially those last couple of overworld screens. Just so much in the way of innovative platforming stuff, plus a shit-ton of secrets that really forced you to think about the order in which you played the levels.

It's actually a bit of a shame that the really interesting overworld stuff kinda gets lost in Worlds 4, 6 and 7, which are pretty straightforward (3 has the raft, 5 has the split map).

#4: Maneater

Where Red is surprised by his own reference, discovers the mythical missamatchamoocha, and really spent way to much time trying to show off.

Something you didn't mention: In World 3-5, there's a pipe that you can enter if you're Frog Mario. Within this pipe is a large ? block with 3 1-Up Mushrooms. Also, that reward for flying up top in 3-5 is two sets of 10-coin blocks.

3-4 never had the ability to swim under the level, at least according to the NES guide (it may very well have been a glitch, though).

Though, funny enough, the NES guide does mention glitching the third door in the fortress so you warp straight to Boom-Boom.

I actually did not remember the Frog Mario reward.

Yeah, its not intended. There's at least one place where it mentions in the guide being able to FLY under the ground in the guide.

In all the years I've played, I've only pulled it off once on the NES. It's entirely possible it was a glitch and not available on the SNES.

Since you're following along with the guide, I'll be able to point out one specific place that I know off where a NES glitch is impossible on the SNES, probably the most noticeable one to me.

So, storytime: The first game system I personally owned was a Game Boy, the second was a Super NES. I didn't own a NES until years after when I bought one used at Funcoland; and all of my video gaming time pre-5th grade was at friends' houses. (My dad had an Atari 2600 I was allowed to play, but honestly, that wasn't the stuff video game memories are made of.)

Because of this, my seminal Mario experience was Super Mario World, which I played the living crap out of and actually developed platformer reflexes on. (I'm not that great now, but as a kid, I was really terrible.) I actually only beat Super Mario Land on the Game Boy after beating SMW, despite owning it six months earlier.

Imagine my surprise when I played Super Mario All-Stars and discovered that the levels that seemed so long at friends' houses that I died on so often actually were short and not really that bad. Fun, even, when they weren't so frustrating.

(I have the NES Game Atlas, btw. Should I scan some bits?)

Hey I have memories of the Atari 2600.

OK... They weren't about the games so much as they were about how hard it was to get the cartridges to register. I mean seriously, you almost had to smash them into the console with a sledgehammer to get them to work. Futzing with a Nintendo cart and/or blowing on it seemed like delicate surgery by comparison. Also, I'm very grateful that the SNES was top-loading.

I actually like world 6 for the way it lets you shortcut the map using hammers. It seems more specifically designed for busting out your inventory if you've been sitting on it than any other world. It incentivizes it because it's several screens long and probably the most densely packed of the eight worlds, but you can skip at least half of it if you're creative (as opposed to skipping because of a warp). The hammers have no function in worlds 7 or 8 either, IIRC, so might as well go for broke!

I played SMB3 on NES when it first came out, but never knew some of the more obscure secrets. Really enjoying watching these videos -- thanks!

Yeah, 6 is definitely the "dump all your hammers" level. Of course, if you screw up the airship all of that shortcutting can come back to bite you in the ass, which is a nice touch.

Ach! I remember seeing that, but I can't remember the level.

Coincidentally, it's World 6-8. Except the entrance is on the right side, meaning taking it makes you go backward through the level.

Sounds about right (I thought it was one of those secret-laden stages like 8-1 or 8-2, but then I remembered that you needed those green hills).

The Lakitu 1-up trick was something I always liked to show off, but I had TERRIBLE luck with his throws more often than not. I'd get one or two, and then he'd angle one in between the pipe and the blocks Mario was standing on. Looks like it's tougher for him to do that in the SNES version, as at least one of those tosses towards the end would've gotten through in the NES game (just based on positioning)