Super Mario Bros. 3
Introduction
Super Mario Bros. 3 was developed by Nintendo EAD under director Shigeru Miyamoto and lead designer Takashi Tezuka, with development beginning right after 1986’s Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels and running roughly two and a half years before its Japanese release in October 1988; North America had to wait until February 1990. Miyamoto has said he conceived the whole game as a stage play, an idea reflected directly in the NES version’s title-screen curtain reveal and in-level objects that hang from visible catwalks or cast shadows against a painted-looking backdrop. Players guide Mario or Luigi across a Super Mario Bros.-style overworld map rebuilt into eight themed kingdoms, collecting a much larger toolbox of power-ups than the original game offered, including the Raccoon Leaf for flight and tail attacks and the Frog Suit for underwater stages, on the way to reclaiming each kingdom’s stolen magic wand from a Koopaling before finally confronting Bowser. Its expanded scope, inventive level gimmicks, and generous power-up variety are widely credited with elevating the platforming genre and are still frequently cited among the best games ever made for the console.
