I still remember unpacking my purple, slightly iridescent Game Boy Advance SP. My uncle gifted me and my cousin matching games over the holidays in the early 2000’s along with our first games. I have received Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3a classic I would play over and over again – with equal parts love and frustration – as I was drawn inexorably under the spell of platforming.
although Super Mario Bros. 3 first released in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, it was a perfect port for the Game Boy Advance SP. The handheld was the right size for my small hands and fit into the pockets of my favorite dress, making it easy to get out and level up when adults around me were talking about boring adult stuff. The recent addition of Game Boy and GBA games to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack has given me an excuse to revisit. And while the Switch doesn’t fit in my pocket very well, the game has definitely stood the test of time – once again I found myself taking it everywhere, determined to beat the next level.
The reverence some feel for Dark Souls games, with their accompanying baggage to call “git gud” is close to how I feel about Super Mario Bros. 3 for GBA. The game requires fairly precise platforming, forcing me to remember the weight of Mario’s jump and skid landings when I played it as a kid. The game taught me to approach the levels like puzzles, each with a best path or strategy, and often with hidden rewards and sections – that is, it taught me how to platform, period.
Photo: Nicole Clark/Polygoon
Super Mario Bros. 3‘s first floor, with its cheerful music, is etched in my mind. It introduced me to the basic concepts that govern the world of Mario (which I paid for in Game Overs). In the first seconds of the level, a Goomba came up to me; touching meant the level was over, but making Mario jump on his head made the Goomba disappear. This same act of jumping taught me to hit my head on coin blocks, giving rewards like a Super Mushroom. Later in the short level, a Koopa paced near a coin block on the floor, teaching me the value of throwing a grenade to hit the block – and the fear, and ensuing heartbreak, of having the grenade thrown at me. to fly back.
This airtight level design is no surprise. Nintendo is known for its attention to detail, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has given interviews about his creative process for the original Super Mario Bros.’ first level. It is clear that this process works. Super Mario Bros. 3 sucked me into the rewarding process of trial and error that made it fun when I was young and impatient. However, the relatively minimalistic controls were still an uphill battle for me at the time. I learned how to use the D-pad with my left hand while tapping buttons with my right hand. Hand-eye coordination isn’t really great when you’re 9 years old.
But the game kept pushing me with new obstacles and powers. Floating platforms fell, quicksand pulled me in, fish chased me underwater. But I could jump on the head of a flying Koopa for extra jump height, or dress up Mario in a frog suit for precise swimming. I noticed patterns in boss fights, including mini-forests, like a Hammer Bro on a ledge. In world 4, I made my way through difficult levels and returned to previous overworld maps to revisit Toad Houses. I had become the girl on the playground the boys reluctantly handed their Game Boys to when they couldn’t pass a level. Some of these guys even “paid” me in intermission snacks to beat the whole game for them – fresh strawberries were my currency of choice – so they could go back and play any level they wanted. I have an extra copy of it Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island which I forgot to return to my BFF’s younger brother in elementary school.
But even this level of fond memory couldn’t prepare me for the fun I had when I jumped back in Super Mario Bros. 3 last week, even with dozens of other platformers under my belt. Nostalgia can easily obscure mistakes, and I’d played this game about eight times as a kid. But I wasn’t prepared for how many intricate hidden passages and sections I’d find this time around – things that were totally invisible to me when I played the game 20 years ago, in the era before computer access for guides and before YouTube existed.
As a kid, it wasn’t until about World 5 that I really understood how the P-Wing mechanic worked – the one where you hold the right trigger so Mario sprints, allowing him to fly into the air in Tanooki form. At that point I had banked Tanooki power-ups won at Toad Houses and used them to fly through challenging levels. But I had never tried it in previous levels, assuming I never “needed” it to beat those earlier challenges. See, when I reopened the game last week to play on Nintendo Switch, I discovered that the first level in the entire game has a hidden section in the sky. And that was just the first of many surprises I encountered during this playthrough – like hidden pipes leading to other secret air sections, dozens of “P” buttons that turned blocks into coins, and other secrets I had completely missed as a kid.
After years of playing video games, I often forget how difficult it can be to learn the game control scheme for beginners. That Super Mario Bros. 3 is suitable for both a new player and longtime fan, speaks to the enduring level design – and its place in video game history.