20th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. 3

I saw this on pastemagazine.com. I can't believe I forgot about the BEST game in the world... Super Mario Brothers 3! I remember logging hundreds of hours with my brother playing this game. Once we got to the last level.... the game would always freeze! But you still have to give it up for the best game in the world on its 20th anniversary!

This month is the 20th anniversary of the U.S. release of Super Mario Bros. 3. Yes, a mere two decades ago we were tearing apart that iconic yellow packaging with the grinning, raccoon-tailed Italian plumber on the cover. SMB3 was one of the most revolutionary games of its time, but more than that, it’s just damn fun to play. Here’s five reasons why this charming little game has aged so well.

1. Flying!
That’s kinda what the whole raccoon tail thing on the cover art is all about. According to a Japanese legend, some types of raccoons can actually fly short distances. So it makes perfect sense that whenever Mario touches a leaf, he grows a raccoon tail and can fly. Yeah. Still, the ability to make Mario fly changed the way we play games; players now could journey along the Y axis, a feat that had never really been attempted in game design.

2. Costumes and power-ups
Besides flying, there was the classic fire flower, the mostly-useless frog suit, the somewhat baffling raccoon suit, and the incredibly badass kuribo shoe. You were never really required to use any of them, but there was a palpable sense of satisfaction to seeing Mario dodge enemies by turning to stone. And you could save powerups in your inventory and ration them for later stages, which added a layer of strategy.

3. (Semi) open world
Another revolutionary first, your path through the game wasn’t completely side-scrolling and linear. You now moved Mario around a world map from stage to stage. But it was more than just a graphical upgrade for the sake of distracting the player: you could unlock secret areas, play minigames, hunt for the airship and dodge the Hammer Bros. And don’t front like you don’t start bobbing your head a little bit when you hear the world 1 theme music:

4. The Hammer Bros.
The perennial Mario villains return, this time as mobile obstacles on the world map. You need the patience and tactical planning of Sun Tzu to beat them in the later stages, so it’s a good thing there’s some rocking 8-bit blues to soundtrack the battles:

5. Secrets, everywhere
This might be the most rewarding part of the game. Nearly every stage has at least one hidden cache of coins and 1up mushrooms tucked away somewhere. You don’t really need them, but the thrill of the hunt for these little minutia was what kept players coming back long after they found the damn “another castle” that the princess was in.