As a lifelong Mario Brothers fan I've had the unenviable task, many times over, of selecting THE best Mario game to grace a Nintendo console.
A difficult task. Whether two-dimensional or three, almost every iteration of the pesky plumber's adventures (with a few exceptions) have been stellar. I have no doubt that my opinion, laid down here, and now, will change again in the future.
Looking back, however, I think I enjoyed Mario's third adventure the most. I certainly played it to death over the years.
Super Mario Brothers 3 is still touted as one of the greatest games ever to exist. And who's to disagree with millions of fans worldwide? It's a great game. And the reason for that, I think, is a perfect balance of difficulty, innovation and just plain fun.
We'll start with the difficulty. Mario 3 starts off, like all Mario games, relatively easy. The first few levels are a cake walk. But as the level count climbs that cake begins to moulder and wither, and the true scope of your task sets in. More pipes, more ghosts, more goombas, more piranha petes, more everything. And you'd best get things right the first time, as there are a few dead-end spots in Mario 3 that can bring your journey to an abrupt, unwelcome and unavoidable close. (Anybody who's gotten to World 5 and failed to beat the airship a few too many times knows what I mean.)
But difficult does not mean impossible, and once you DO get past those tricky few levels you'll experience all the more satisfaction in getting to pound King Bowser and his extensive entourage of children to a pulp. Which is another reason I like Mario 3: it was the first appearance of the Koopa Kids, the rowdiest bunch of bratty rugrats ever to grace a gaming cart.
Nor were they alone. With the kids came a slew of new enemies and obstacles that continue to appear in moden Mario games: boos, flying goombas, dry bones, donut blocks, music note blocks and my ever-loved airships. Mario 3 took the Mushroom Kingdom and turned it into a much more dangerous place, especially compared to the first Mario (I have trouble comparing it to Mario 2, as it was a reprogrammed version of a different game altogether, Doki Doki Panic).
Luckily Mario also had new ways to surmount these dangers, all of them fun to play around with. Sure, the old mushrooms, fire flowers and bouncing invincibility stars all made a return, but with them came raccoon ears for flying, frog suits for swimming and tanooki suits for, well, turning into statues. (I think that was a cultural thing that didn't translate well for North America.) You could even take on the garb of those horrible Hammer Brothers and give them a taste of their own medicine by chucking hammers everywhere, a power I dearly miss since it was dropped after Mario 3.
More, though, Mario 3 imparted to me a sense of a large-scale war against Bowser, and I think that's what I liked most about it. You have to hunt down his young generals, one by one, stalk them in their airships, liberate the kings they've transformed and then, eventually, wage battle against the armies of Bowser himself. I absolutely loved the airship and tank stages found in the final world and took great delight in raiding Bowser's home turf. Super Mario World had a similar feel at parts but didn't quite recapture the militaristic flavor of Mario 3.
Some people may disagree with my choice, and to be honest I won't hold it against them. There are other Marios eligible for the coveted king of the hill spot, and my choice here wasn't an easy one to make. That said, Super Mario Brothers 3 is undeniably a fantastic game, and if you've not played it, well, you'd better grab a Wii and give it a download. You're missing out on a quality piece of gaming history.