Leaving well enough alone (for the most part...)

It's been unspoken-but-widely-accepted for about ten years, so let's just say it explicitly: Super Mario Bros. 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System is one of, if not THE premier achievments in the history of video gaming. What twenty-something doesn't remember drooling over the advance footage debuted in the movie "The Wizard," blissfully ignoring the fact that the Power Glove was stupid and cumbersome, because that kid looked so cool playing it!? Okay, pardon my enthusiasm, but I, like most kids of my generation, have a special place in my heart for the first wave of truly exceptional console video games, especially those from Nintendo.

Nintendo of course recognizes this demographic dedication, and satisfies both our desire and their pocketbooks by re-releasing the original Mario games on various platforms periodically (Mario All-Stars for SNES, for example). The newest wave of these always-welcome re-hashes is the Super Mario Advance series for the Game Boy Advance system, of which Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 is the newest.

Those familiar with the Super Mario Advance series can probably anticipate my main complaints against SMA4: the essentially-worthless inclusion of the original Mario Bros. game (not Super Mario Bros, but the original arcade game), the sometimes-annoying overlaying of Mario dialogue, and the slight changes to some levels that stick out like a sore thumb to Mario devotees. Then again, if you're still familiar with the Super Mario Advance series up until this 4th entry, you're probably willing to overlook these slight annoyances in order to get this stellar game on your favorite portable system.

There are bona-fide "extras" in SMA4, not just purist-pestering "updates." Most significant is the game's compatability with the Nintendo e-reader, a device that plugs in to the Game Boy Advance and read bar code-like cards that add functionality to games. In the case of SMA4, e-reader cards add extra levels to the game which can be stored on the cartridge, most of which offer a heightened challenge (as if we needed something harder than world 7!). This juicy tidbit is appealing to those who already own the e-reader, but the overhead involved (purchasing the e-reader and cards) may not be worth it to people who don't own or want any other e-reader-integrated games.

The game itself is probably known to most of you. Simply put, Mario 3 is side-scrolling adventure gaming at its finest. You are Mario, the plumber with the mad ups, and it is your job to stomp on the bad guys' heads, beat Bowser, and save the Princess. Mario 3 was a significant advancement for the paradigm of adventure games, introducing a map-layout level selection interface, as opposed to the strictly linear succession of levels in previous Mario games. This interface is even better (although not radically changed, for posterity's sake) in SMA4 because you are now able to SAVE your game and pick it up from the same map location later, whereas on the original Nintendo you were forced to start from the beginning every time you powered off the system. The fact that this was an inconvenience speaks to the impressive length and depth of Mario 3, containing 8 worlds with around 10 levels in each, not counting the bonus games and individual battle challenges scattered throughout. Even more impressive is that this smorgasboard of levels does not get tiring or repetitive, even after multiple completions of the game. I myself have played all the way through Mario 3 for years, and still have fun every time I pick up the controller (or the Game Boy, now!).

In summary, this heart and soul of this cartridge of a game that most would deem in the top 5 of all time. If i were putting a single game in to a time capsule, it would probably be Mario 3. Mario fans, Nintendo junkies, nostalgic gamers, new-schoolers who missed it the first time around...basically EVERYBODY who has even a passing interest in video games should play Mario 3, and SMA4 provides that opportunity in a portable, user-friendly interface. Don't miss it!