Super Mario Bros 3

Guess the top three best selling NES games.

Have your picks? This is what they are:

1. Super Mario Bros.
2. Super Mario Bros. 3
3. Super Mario Bros. 2 (or Super Mario Bros. USA in Japan)

I'm going to talk about the second best selling game, Mario 3.

Whether you are playing it old-school on your NES, or on the Virtual Console on your Wii U, this game is still amazing.

Released in 1989, this was the last Super Mario game on the NES, as the Super Nintendo was released two years later. This was the biggest Mario game of the decade! It introduced the World Map, added a whole bunch of power-ups, and even was the first game to have the Koopalings! My point is, this game is massive for the NES! It's also my favorite game in the series. 

Super Mario Bros 3 (1989)

In 1989, North America got Super Mario's true sequel, Super Mario Bros 3. In this game, Mushroom World is invaded by Bowser's several children, the Koopalings. The kids conquer each world by stealing the King's wand, and turning them into animals. Princess Toadstool sends the Bros. to return the kings to normal, but in the process Bowser kidnaps the Princess. Mario and Luigi travel to Dark Land to rescue her. 

Super Leaf

This game introduced seven new mechanics. You could slide down sloped floors, pick up and throw special blocks, and with power-ups Mario can fly and float. Each world has it's own theme, and is divided into levels (Example: World 2 is Desert World, and covered in sand and pyramids). The over world showed the paths to castles, and has action-boxes (Levels). This allows players to find secret paths to get extra lives, or short cuts to get to the castle faster. The level play field is the same as past games. Blocks and enemies.

There are also some new power-ups. There is a Super Leaf which turns Mario into a raccoon, and allows him to fly and float. There is also the Tanooki, which turns Mario into a Tanuki and gives him the same abilities as the Super Leaf, except he can also turn into a statue. 

There is also a Frog Suit, which improves Mario's swimming and jumping abilities. The Hammer Suit turns Mario into a Hammer Bro, and allows him to throw hammers at enemies. This power-up is also resistant to fire attacks.

This game also includes the option for '2-Player', which lets two players take turns at navigating the worlds. In this mode, there is also a remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game, where the loser loses their turn. Player 1 plays as Mario, and Player 2 plays as Luigi.

Super Mario 3 (All-Stars 1993)

This version includes improved graphics, updating the game to 16-bit. It also has improved soundtracks, and parallax scrolling. This version also includes a save feature.

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros 3 (2003)

This version is the exact same as the SNES version, just since the GBA has two buttons (A and B), it has the same button mapping as the NES version. Surprisingly, this game was announced in Europe first, at E3 2002. This version also has e-Reader functionality. Using the e-Reader, you can access 32 extra levels, be able to turn enemies into coins, use projectiles from Super Mario Bros 2, and even get the Cape Feather from Super Mario World.

Cape Feather, only obtainable through the e-Reader

SMB2 Projectile e-Card for SMA4.