Super Mario Bros. 3 Launches In Japan
One of the advantages to living in Japan is that the video games are often two to three years ahead of the ones we’re receiving in America. While all of the good little boys and girls are wishing for Super Mario Bros. 2 to be under the Christmas tree this year, Japanese gamers are already snapping up Super Mario Bros. 3! We have some early looks at the new Famicom (Japanese NES) game via an animated commercial and some gameplay shown off via a video tape titled Game TV (included with some of the Japanese video game magazines). Sure, the videos are completely in Japanese, but don’t let that stop you from gazing into the future at what will surely be the biggest Super Mario game yet!
Super Mario Bros. 3 | Japanese Commercial from Nintendo Times on Vimeo.
Super Mario Bros. 3 | Japanese Gameplay (Game TV) from Nintendo Times on Vimeo.
Doesn’t Super Mario Bros. 3 just look amazing? Mario has all sorts of new moves and he can even fly! He turns into some sort of raccoon and can take to the air and flap his tail to glide around. It appears that he can even use the tail to spin and attack enemies and break blocks.
Speaking of blocks, it looks like Super Mario Bros. 3 is returning to its roots with the familiar question mark blocks and power-ups, including the Super Mushroom to make him big and the Fire Flower to allow him to throw fireballs. Of course the worlds look to be filled with all sorts of new enemies and other exotic things like springy Music Blocks and even the land now has hills that Mario can slide down. Also shown off is Mario’s ability to stomp on Koopa Troopas and then pick up their shells and kick them to break blocks and reveal new secrets. If there was one thing missing from Super Mario Bros. 2 it was the sense of secret areas and invisible blocks and it appears that will be remedied with the sequel. While we see both Mario and Luigi as playable characters, no word yet if we’ll see Princess Toadstool or Toad as playable options, although they do both appear on the cover of the game cartridge below!
The print ads for the game promise eight huge worlds to explore with many different environments. From the small screens we can make out an underwater level, an ice stage, a world up in the clouds, and even what appears to be a stage where Mario has been shrunk (or has the stage been enlarged?) leaving him with enemies double his size and huge blocks to try and destroy. Each world will feature its own overworld map where you’ll be able to decide which levels to tackle in what order. One screen even shows off what appears to be a remake of the original Mario Bros. with both Mario and Luigi on the screen at the same time. No word yet on what this is (a game within a game?), but sign us up! We can’t wait to play this one. No word from Nintendo on when this one will make it to our shores, but with the chip shortage in full effect and games already delayed by 6 months or more, we’re not holding our breath. Our best guess is 1990 at the earliest, but we’ll keep you updated!
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
