Super Mario Bros. 3 wasn't just a game, it was an epic saga, a ritual, and a right of passage for every little boy who was born in the late 70s or early 80s. If you didn't beat Mario 3, you were a loser who wasn't allowed to sit at the cool table during school lunch.
Hey, that's just how things were way back then, pal.
In 1990, when Nintendo released Mario 3 in the United States, I was 8 years old. Beating Mario 3 was the only thing that mattered that year. If you were alive and well and under the age of 18 in 1990, you remember how monumental this was.
There was nothing like Nintendo; the original NES, that is. There have been impressive advancements in video games over the decades, for sure, but there was nothing like living through the dawn of the video gaming era when uncertainty about this new technology was still cascading over the hills.
Back then, we had no idea that we were living through the most amazing time that civilization has known or ever will know. To have been a "big kid" in 1990 was priceless.
At 8 years old, I wasn't the best at video games, but I was decent enough to be up for the challenge of beating Mario 3. I loved every second of it. It's still the greatest video game of all time.
The first time my brother and I made it to the Doom Ship on World 1 (Grass Land), we were filled with an enchanting and thrilling fear. The doom ship! Holy cow! Larry Koopa was tough, but surely his siblings would be much harder to beat.
And they were, but that didn't stop us from playing the game. Until we got in trouble for playing video games so long that our lips were turning blue from severe dehydration. Then our mom made us stop for a while.
These days, if a kid's lips turn blue from severe dehydration, they say you should take them to the hospital for emergency medical treatment. However, in 1990, your parents just handed you a glass of water and told you to stop being an idiot.
In our defense, it was Saturday night. Like virtually every kid back in those days, we spent most of the day playing outside, riding our bikes and playing baseball and whatnot. We didn't play video games endlessly the way kids do now. Our bodies weren't used to staring at a screen for 3 hours straight with no consumption of water, I guess.
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Anyway, we got back into the game the following Saturday. My older sister had her friend over, geared to spend the night. They were on the top floor and my parents were above us talking with our grandparents who lived nearby and would visit frequently. We were in the basement (a nice, finished basement in suburbia) with no one to bother us.
We had all evening of free, uninterrupted Super Mario Bros. 3 time. That was a little boy's dream come true; a distracted big sister and no parents bothering them.
It was time to play! And we got into it hard. (Remembering to pause for water here and there this time.)
Toppling world after world, we drew closer to the final world; Dark Land.
There wouldn't be a scarier moment in video gaming history until the release of Silent Hill 3 (PlayStation 2) ) in 2003.
Dark Land was freaking scary. The eerie, ominous music and the morbid imagery. Wow. So great. Can you really find a better game than Super Mario Bros. 3? You really can't.
To our dismay, we weren't able to beat the game that night. We were so close, but it was time for bed.
Man, no kid wants to be told that it's bedtime when they're getting close to beating a video game. I sympathize with kids, even today, because of that moment in 1990.
Weekend after weekend passed, and we just couldn't seem to beat World 8 in Super Mario Bros. 3.
We got to the point where we exhausted all our pre-stage add-ons and opted to completely start over. Only this time, without using any whistles. (Or at least not all of them.)
See, back in those days, you couldn't save your video game. If you didn't beat it that day, you pretty much had to start over.
I think that's why the developers added in the whistles. Whistles, if you don't know, (of course you know) allowed players to warp to other worlds, effectively bypassing good chunks of gameplay.
I loved the game so much that I didn't mind starting over and just playing through. Even to this day, I love the game and will play it now and again.
But let's get back to 1990, and the night that we finally beat Mario 3 on the 8-bit NES.
The airship was the stage we were having enormous trouble beating. The airship is the level in World 8 that goes super fast. Luckily, our older cousin was visiting that day and showed us how to beat the level. (Hint: just use the P Wing add-on, duh.)
Once we beat that level, it was only a matter of time until we faced King Koopa and rescued Princess Peach.
And then, after all the fear and pandemonium of scaling his castle, we arrived, face-to-face with the big boss. I could feel my heart thumping through my chest.
I was terrified.
And trembling.
The controller was covered with palm sweat.
It was a thrilling terror that you won't forget. It was fascinating and bizarre. A kind of terror you only feel a few times in your life. It's the kind of terror that one day, when you're old and turning into dust, with all joy and excitement sifting through your fingers like hourglass sand, you will miss.
You will miss that thrill.
But you will never forget it.
That's why, at 42 years old, I still remember it. I still remember the jubilation and wild excitement we experienced when we saw King Koopa falling through those pixelated red bricks to his demise.
It was one of the greatest days of my entire life. I'm filled with a nostalgic reverence just thinking back on it. I'll never experience that moment again. It's long gone. But it's a victory that is forever etched into the chronicles of our youth. And for every boy (and for the few girls who played) in 1990, we shared in that victory. It's ours, and no one can ever take that from us.
We beat Super Mario Bros. 3 in the same year that it was released in the United States. That's a priceless memory and an epic moment that I will be forever grateful for.
Victory!
Now, I think I'm gonna go play Super Mario Bros. 3 (haha.)
Until next time, happy gaming!
Thanks for reading! Before you go, check out our Nintendo Trivia for Old School Gamers!
