The greatest Mario game ever made and also one of the most challenging games Nintendo has ever created. I’m sure that many of you are saying to yourself “I can beat that game without breaking a sweat! Why is this even on here?”.
I’ll tell you why. It’s because the game is freakin’ long. Super Mario Bros. 3 is the LOTR : Return of the King of past-generation video games. Concentrated awesomeness that goes on for what seems to be forever, and there’s a portly midget doing alot of ass kicking. Also, I’m talking about the original NES version where the only way to complete the game was to get through all 70+ levels while leaving your Nintendo system on. No save-files, no passwords, no auto-saves after plowing through a gaggle of goombas…nothing! You’d start the game and pray that while you were at school, your mom didn’t ruin everything by unplugging the Nintendo for a vacuum cleaner.
Of course, there were Warp Whistles (which a small, indie documentary titled The Wizard showcased in its finale), but the true hardcore gamers ignored them. Being only six years old at the time, I didn’t care much about my l33t status as a video gamer. Instead, I perfected the art of destroying the Koopa King under 20 minutes which left me plenty of time to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and gulp down several helpings of Trix cereal (The kind with balls, not the fruity shapes bullshit).
To be quite honest, I don’t think I’ve EVER succesfully played this game all the way through. I do remember Ice World being a pain and Pipe World being a damn nightmare, but I’ve never played it all the way straight. I believe that reasons like this is why God created something called Paid Time Off. Suck it, business world! I’m gonna take shrooms, dress like a frog, and hopefully figure out what the hell a Tanooki is.
(Past Entry)
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