Super Mario Bros. 3 is quite possibly the greatest game ever made, and I do not say that lightly. Of all the things I could say about Super Mario Bros 3, none of them are negative-- the game's controls are near perfectly tuned, the powerups are all unique and useful, the worlds each have a distinct look and feel which keeps the game fresh, the levels are all unique and memorable, and finally, the game's difficulty is tuned perfectly to not be too easy or hard, and certainly beatable.
All of these things about Super Mario Bros. 3 have been said before, but did you know that Super Mario Bros. 3 was also a technical marvel of its time, and one of the first games to feature diagonal scrolling? See, the graphics hardware in the NES has two modes-- one for vertical and one for horizontal scrolling, but it was incapable of doing both. While Super Mario Bros 3. uses the NES hardware's capabilities for vertical scrolling, the horizontal scrolling is implemented in software. That is why you will see the left side of the screen pop in as you are running along; because the software is drawing those blocks into the PPU on the fly. Being able to move not only left or right, but also up and down-- and simultaneously while flying in a racoon suit was the coolest thing ever.
So yeah, Super Mario Bros. 3 is awesome. Go play it.
The Good:
- The game's controls are near perfectly tuned
- Tons of powerups-- not to mention you get to save some powerups and use them later!
- Eight worlds, each with a distinct look and memorable stages.
- Perfectly tuned difficulty.
- DIAGONAL SCROLLING WHILE FLYING IN A RACOON SUIT IS BANANAS, EVEN TODAY.
The Bad:
- The game has an ending, and in fact does not go on forever.