Super Mario Bros. 3 is a 1988 video game created and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was first sold in Japan on October 23, 1988, in North America on February 12, 1990, and in Europe on August 29, 1991. The game was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, with Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka leading the project.
In the game, players control Mario or Luigi, who must rescue Princess Toadstool and the rulers of seven kingdoms from the villain, Bowser. Players defeat enemies by jumping on them or using special items that give them powers. New abilities include flying and sliding down hills. The game introduced features like Bowser’s children (the Koopalings) and a map to move between levels.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was praised for its difficult but fun gameplay. It is considered one of the greatest video games ever made and the best title on the NES. It sold over 17 million copies worldwide, making it the third-most sold NES game. The game inspired an animated TV show made by DIC Entertainment. It was shown during the final scene of the 1989 movie The Wizard.
The game was remade for the Super NES in 1993 as part of Super Mario All-Stars and for the Game Boy Advance in 2003 as Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3. It was later re-released on the Wii, Wii U, and 3DS through the Virtual Console service and included on the NES Classic Mini. In 2018, it was released again for the Switch through the Nintendo Classics service with online multiplayer added.
Gameplay
Super Mario Bros. 3 is a side-scrolling game where you move left and right while controlling Mario or Luigi. The game has similar rules to earlier games in the series, such as Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2, but adds new features. Players can run, jump, slide down slopes, pick up and throw items, and climb vines. New power-ups, like the Super Leaf and Tanooki Suit, let Mario fly or float. The game world has eight kingdoms, each with many levels. Each kingdom has a unique look: the first world has grassy areas, while the second world, called "Desert Land," has sand and pyramids. The fourth world, "Giant Land," has enemies and obstacles twice as big as normal.
Players move through two screens: an overworld map and a course. The overworld map shows the current kingdom and has paths leading to castles, fortresses, and other areas. Choosing a path takes players to a course, which is a level filled with obstacles and enemies. Most of the game happens in these levels, where players run, jump, fly, swim, and avoid or fight enemies. Players start with a set number of lives and can earn more by finding 1-Up mushrooms or collecting 100 coins. Mario and Luigi lose lives if they take damage while small, fall into lava or pits, or run out of time. The game ends when all lives are lost, but players can restart from the last world they failed in by choosing "Continue." If they continue, completed areas and unlocked doors stay open, and items in their inventory remain.
Completing levels lets players move through the overworld map and advance to new worlds. Each world ends with a boss fight. The first seven worlds have battles against Koopalings on airships, while the eighth world ends with a fight against Bowser in his castle. Other map features include boulders and locked doors that block paths. Mini-games and bonus screens on the map offer chances to earn power-ups and extra lives. Power-ups from these mini-games are saved and can be used later.
The game includes power-ups from earlier games, like the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, and adds new ones. The Super Leaf and Tanooki Suit let Mario fly or turn into a statue to avoid enemies. The Tanooki Suit also lets Mario jump and hit enemies on the ground, introducing the "ground pound" move. The Frog Suit improves underwater speed and jumping, while the Hammer Suit lets Mario throw hammers and resist fire attacks when crouching.
Super Mario Bros. 3 has a multiplayer mode where two players take turns controlling Mario and Luigi. Players can play mini-games, including a version of the original Mario Bros. arcade game, where one player can steal cards from the other or lose their turn if they lose the mini-game.
Plot and characters
The story of Super Mario Bros. 3 is explained in the game's instruction booklet. In Mushroom World, Bowser's seven children, the Koopalings, take over each of the seven kingdoms by stealing the king's magical wand and using it to change the king into an animal. Princess Toadstool learns about Bowser's actions and sends Mario and Luigi to visit each kingdom, get back the stolen wand, and return the king to his normal form.
After rescuing the first six kings, Mario and Luigi receive notes and special items from Princess Toadstool. When they rescue the seventh king, they instead get a note from Bowser, who claims he has kidnapped Princess Toadstool and locked her inside his castle in Dark Land. The brothers travel to Dark Land, enter Bowser's castle, and fight him in a battle. The game ends with Princess Toadstool being freed from the castle.
According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the game, Super Mario Bros. 3 was created as a stage play. The title screen shows a stage curtain being pulled open. In the original NES version, objects in the game hang from catwalks off-screen, are attached to the background, or cast shadows on the skyline. When Mario finishes a level, he walks off the stage.
Development and release
Development of Super Mario Bros. 3 began shortly after the completion of Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Famicom Disk System in spring 1986. Nintendo's Entertainment Analysis and Development team, which included more than ten people, created the game. It took over two years to complete. The development budget, when converted to U.S. dollars, was about $800,000 to $1.3 million (or $2.2–3.5 million when adjusted for inflation). Shigeru Miyamoto was the director. He worked closely with designers and programmers during the game's planning and final stages, encouraging open sharing of ideas. Miyamoto believed that creative and original ideas were essential to making a successful game.
The team originally planned to use an isometric perspective, but found it difficult to control Mario's jumps. They returned to the 2D side view used in earlier games. Some isometric elements remained, such as the checkered floor on the title screen. All pixel art was drawn using Fujitsu FM R-50 HD business computers. Code was written and tested on HP 64000 mainframe computers with a 6502 processor card.
The game was designed to appeal to players of all skill levels. Bonus coins and 1-ups were more common in earlier worlds to help less experienced players, while later worlds had more complex challenges for skilled players. In two-player mode, players took turns to balance play time. The team introduced new power-ups that let Mario take on different forms, such as a raccoon with limited flying ability. Earlier ideas, like making Mario a centaur, were not used. Other costumes with unique abilities were added, and levels were designed to use these abilities. New enemies were included, along with variations of previous enemies like Goombas, Hammer Bros., and Koopa Troopas. The game’s release was delayed six months because of the many new features the team wanted to include.
Some enemies were inspired by the developers’ personal experiences. For example, the Chain Chomp, a barking creature with a chain, was based on a dog that lunged at Miyamoto as a child. The Koopalings, Bowser’s children, were designed to look and act differently. Miyamoto based their appearances on seven of his programmers as a tribute. Nintendo of America named the Koopalings after famous musicians, such as Ludwig von Koopa (after Ludwig van Beethoven) and Roy Koopa (after Roy Orbison).
Character graphics were created using a special graphics machine that stored and combined shapes to form images in real time. The Super Mario Bros. 3 cartridge used Nintendo’s custom MMC3 ASIC chip to improve the NES’s capabilities. The chip allowed for animated tiles, extra memory for diagonal scrolling, and a scan line timer to split the screen. This split the screen into a playfield on top and a status bar on the bottom. On the overworld map, the status bar also acted as an inventory for items and power-ups.
The music for Super Mario Bros. 3 was composed by Koji Kondo, who also included new songs and returned melodies from Super Mario Bros. Kondo said this game was the hardest for him to compose. He tried different music styles after learning that the first game’s music sounded like Latin or fusion music. The team decided not to include music on the title screen.
In 1988, a shortage of ROM chips and Nintendo’s work on Super Mario Bros. 2 delayed the release of Super Mario Bros. 3 and other games, such as Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This delay allowed Nintendo to promote Super Mario Bros. 3 in a movie. In 1989, Universal Studios asked Nintendo to include its games in a film inspired by video game competitions. The movie, The Wizard, featured Super Mario Bros. 3 in a final scene showing a game competition. The film was released in December 1989, between the Japanese and North American releases of the game.
The marketing budget for Super Mario Bros. 3 was $25 million, bringing the total development and marketing budget to $25.8 million (or $70 million when adjusted for inflation).
Reception
Super Mario Bros. 3 was highly praised by video game journalists. Many consider it the best game ever released for the NES. Editors from Computer and Video Games—Paul Rand, Tim Boone, and Frank O'Connor—gave it a 98% score. They praised its gameplay, replayability, sound, and graphics. Boone said the game was nearly perfect, calling it "stupendously incredible" and "impossible to put down." Rand called it the best video game ever, comparing it to "the Mona Lisa of gaming" and saying it was "brilliant in every way." O'Connor said it was better than Sonic the Hedgehog and even challenged Super Mario World on the Super Famicom.
In Famitsu, Japanese reviewers also praised the game. One said it borrowed ideas from earlier Super Mario games but still offered new challenges. Another called it the best in the series since Super Mario Bros., though they noted some gameplay felt slightly outdated. Famitsu gave it the second-highest score of the year, behind Dragon Quest III. In Famicom Hisshoubon, reviewers said the game pushed the limits of side-scrolling action and had many well-thought-out ideas. Both reviewers criticized its high price of 6,500 yen and said it might be too hard for a wide audience.
Julian Rignall of Mean Machines called Super Mario Bros. 3 the best game he had ever played, praising its addictiveness, depth, and challenge. Another Mean Machines reviewer, Matt Regan, predicted it would be a top seller in the UK and called it "truly brilliant." Regan said the game tested players' "brains and reflexes," and while the graphics were simple, they were "incredibly varied." Nintendo Power gave it high marks for graphics, audio, challenge, gameplay, and enjoyability. Hidden items like the warp whistles were well-received, with Rignall calling them part of the game's addictiveness.
Rignall noted that the game's audio and visuals were older compared to games on the Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES. The SNES had already been released in other regions when Super Mario Bros. 3 came out in Europe.
Super Mario Bros. 3 became a best-selling game. In Japan, it topped Famitsu sales charts in December 1988 and January 1989, and was the second best-selling game of 1988 after Dragon Quest III. By mid-1989, it was the second best-selling game in Japan (non-bundled), and by 1989, it was the best-selling game of that year, just above Tetris. It also topped the Japanese sales chart in January 1990. By 1993, it had sold 4 million cartridges in Japan.
In North America, The Wizard helped generate excitement for the game. Levi Buchanan called the movie a "90-minute commercial" for Super Mario Bros. 3. The game sold 250,000 copies in its first two days. It remained the top-selling game in the U.S. through April and June to September 1990. In 1990, it sold over 8 million units. By 1993, it had sold 11 million units in Japan and the U.S. It generated $595,000,000 in revenue by early 1992, more than the gross revenue of E.T., Batman, and Jurassic Park. It was also a hit in Europe and Singapore.
By 1995, Super Mario Bros. 3 had sold 14 million copies, and by 1998, 15 million copies. By 2000, it had sold over 17 million copies worldwide and held the record for the best-selling non-bundled video game for a long time. In 2011, it was the highest-grossing non-bundled home video game, with $1.7 billion in revenue (equivalent to $2.4 billion in 2025). In 2013, GamesRadar reported it had sold over 18 million NES copies. Game Informer said the Virtual Console version sold 1 million copies.
At the Famitsu 1988 Best Hit Game Awards, Super Mario Bros. 3 won the Best Action Game award. In 1989, Famitsu again gave it the Best Action Game award for games released since 1983.
Modern critics continue to praise Super Mario Bros. 3, calling it one of the best games of all time. It appeared on many top games lists. It debuted on Nintendo Power's Top 30 best games list at number 20 in September 1989 and reached number one in May 1990. It remained in the top 20 for over five years. In 2008, Nintendo Power ranked it number six on their list of 200 Greatest Nintendo Games. In 2009, Game Informer ranked it ninth on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time," calling it a game with "incredible lasting power." Edge ranked it number 20 on its list of "The 100 Best Games To Play Today," saying it was "the one 8-bit game that still shines today." ScrewAttack called it the best Mario game and the best NES game, saying it was "just incredible." Dengeki readers ranked it tied with Super Mario World as the third most popular game they first played. GamesRadar called it the best NES game, saying it perfected the genre. GamesMaster ranked the NES version 99th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time."
In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked the All-Stars edition as the second best console game of all time, saying it "took the series back to its roots" but improved on the original. IGN listed it on several top games lists, including number 23 in 2005 and number 39 in 2007. UGO also listed it on its top games list.
Rereleases and remakes
Super Mario Bros. 3 has been made available on several Nintendo consoles. It was released as a downloadable Virtual Console game in 2007 for the Wii and in 2014 for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U consoles. It is one of thirty games included with the NES Classic Edition console and is also available on the Nintendo Classics service.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was included in the 1993 SNES game Super Mario All-Stars, a collection of remade versions of NES Super Mario games with updated graphics and sound. This game was also released on the Wii in 2010 and on the Nintendo Classics service in 2020.
A bootleg version of the game, called Super Mario 3 Special, was released for the Game Boy Color in 2000. This version was created in Hong Kong and includes only five levels. Ray Barnholt, a former journalist from 1Up.com, criticized the game as "horrible, awful, rank piece of software." He pointed out its short length, very poor controls that made Mario's movement feel "like a drunken Sonic," weak level design, poor coloring and music, and the absence of a proper ending.
A Game Boy Advance version, titled Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, was released in 2003. This version includes the visual and sound updates from Super Mario All-Stars and also supports the Nintendo e-Reader accessory, which lets players use special cards to access new levels and power-ups.
Legacy
Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced features that later appeared in other Mario games. A similar overworld map is used in Super Mario World, Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, and New Super Mario Bros. Mario’s ability to fly has been included in games like Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, and Super Mario Galaxy. The "Super Leaf" item returned in newer Mario games for the Nintendo 3DS, such as Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7, and New Super Mario Bros. 2. Bowser’s red hair was first introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3 and has since become part of his standard look.
Through a partnership between NBC and Nintendo of America, an animated TV show called The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 was produced by DIC Entertainment from September to December 1990. The show aired weekly on Saturday mornings on NBC alongside the second season of Captain N: The Game Master as part of a special programming block. It included 26 episodes and featured characters, enemies, and settings from the game. The original seven Koopalings were given new names based on their personalities and a new age order.
Music from Super Mario Bros. 3 is included in Nintendo Sound Selection Koopa, a collection of songs from Nintendo games. The game’s stages and graphics served as a background theme in the 2006 Nintendo DS game Tetris DS. The Koopalings are world bosses in Super Mario World, Mario Is Missing!, Yoshi’s Safari, Hotel Mario, and all New Super Mario Bros. games except New Super Mario Bros. Boom Boom. Another boss from this game reappears in Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, along with a female character named Pom Pom who uses a boomerang. Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the games represented as themes in Super Mario Maker and Super Mario Maker 2.
In the early 1990s, American game developers John Carmack and Tom Hall created an IBM PC version of Super Mario Bros. 3 using their innovative adaptive tile refresh software, which allowed smooth side-scrolling graphics on EGA cards. They showed it to Nintendo leaders, who were impressed but chose not to allow cloning in favor of exclusivity. Carmack and Hall later founded id Software and developed Commander Keen, a series of platform games inspired by Super Mario Bros. 3. A working copy of the Super Mario Bros. 3 demo was discovered and preserved in the Museum of Play in July 2021.
In April 1993, Famitsu gave Super Mario Bros. 3 a world record for having the most strategy guide books published, with 20 books. At the 2007 Game Developers Conference, Henry Lowood of Stanford University, along with game designers Warren Spector and Steve Meretzky, academic researcher Matteo Bittanti, and game journalist Christopher Grant, named Super Mario Bros. 3 one of the 10 most important video games of all time. The game was added to the Library of Congress for its cultural or historical significance. The New York Times reported that Grant noted the game’s nonlinear gameplay, which allows players to move backward and forward in levels, as a key influence on modern games. On November 20, 2020, a sealed copy of the game with rare alternate cover art sold for $156,000, the highest price ever paid for a video game at the time.