GAMEPLAY
I found that the pace of Super Mario Brothers 3 is very easy to fall into, and for most of the game manages to keep a strong balance between challenge and reward. Mario rewards players in many ways which are scattered around the game. Power-ups are very common to find in levels themselves, as are coins. In addition, power-ups can be given to a player by visiting one of Toad’s Huts on the game world. Super Mario Brothers 3 also has an overwhelming amount of secrets hidden in its walls; the player is bound to find at least a few of them in every world just by chance.
The game also manages to keep the extra lives coming pretty often. When you do inevitably die in a level, death is not met with too harsh of a penalty. You lose a single life and whatever special suit you had at the time of death, and must start your level over. In many cases, the frustration caused by dying itself over and over again in the harder parts of the game is punishment enough to the player in its own way.
As far as multiplayer gameplay goes, the game is fairly limited. From the main menu you have access to single player game, a two player version of the game, and a mini-game built for either one or two players as well. In the two player version of the main game, players switch off after every death or level completion, one player playing as Mario and the other as Luigi. In the Mario Bros. mini-game, players run through a level of floors split up by green tubes, turning monsters over and then jumping on them.
DESIGN
Overall, Mario is a game that is obviously meant to keep people happy. The game is accessible to people of all ages, it isn’t too difficult, and it has a very accessible aesthetic style. Its bright color palette is put to good use in all eight of the different worlds to play through. Though it isn’t particularly innovative in and of itself, I enjoy the themes provided in each unique world (Desert, Ice, Grassy, etc).
One of the very innovative elements of Super Mario Brothers 3 was the use of a game world map. In the first two Mario games, players would simply move to the next level in a shabby cut-scene, whereas in Super Mario Brothers 3 you actually move your avatar there. This allows for better gameplay because the player has a say now in how he or she accesses the game. Many of the levels in the game are mandatory to play, but there are many levels which are played solely to receive a Toad House afterwards, or perhaps there are two separate paths through the world entirely. This new use of choice in a platformer like Mario was quite innovative in its time.
Super Mario Brothers 3 keeps the player interested by providing a good pace to gameplay and a good rewards system. Individual levels in the game do not ever take too long to beat, so you don’t really get tired of playing the same level over and over very often (though I do admit that some of the end-game is quite difficult). The game also manages to add content at a good pace. As you play, you very often will be faced with something new. Often it is a block type or a new level design gimmick. New enemies and power-ups/suit types are also added very often, keeping the game interesting.
One other aspect of Super Mario Brothers 3’s design I very much enjoyed was its use of sound and music. The Mario soundtrack has always been very recognizable and fitting to the game. Its use of sound in the game is not very complex, and usually aids in alerting the player to what exactly is happening in the game world. If the player throws a fireball, a certain sound will be made. This happens also when Mario jumps or swims, when the player kills and enemy, when an enemy hits the player, when the player collects a coin or power-up and many other cases. Though it isn’t examined by the player very often, the game’s use of sound is very key in alerting the player to the events happening on screen.
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