Super Mario Bros. 3 (history and reception)

Famitsu's database gives 23 October 1988 as the date Super Mario Bros. 3 came out on the Famicom in Japan. The staff's letter that closes the Japanese manual is dated the same day. super-mario-bros-3-history/release

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Nintendo of America's list of NES games dates the North American release February 1990, and Electronic Gaming Monthly's April 1990 review gives 15 February. super-mario-bros-3-history/na-release

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Mean Machines, a British magazine, wrote in July 1991 that the game would come out in Britain in early November, and its review in the October 1991 issue gives the release as November. super-mario-bros-3-history/uk-release

Disputed: A date of 29 August 1991 for Europe circulates online. No source found here gives it, and both British issues read give November; a Nintendo of Europe document or a mainland magazine of 1991 would settle whether August belongs to another market.

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The game has eight worlds, which the North American manual calls the eight kingdoms of the Mushroom World. A Koopa Kid guards each world, and Bowser waits at the end of World 8. super-mario-bros-3-history/worlds

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The North American manual lists the items that change Mario's form: the Super Leaf makes him Raccoon Mario (spelled "Racoon" there), the Frog Suit Frog Mario, and the Tanooki Suit Tanooki Mario, besides the Super Mushroom and the Fire Flower. super-mario-bros-3-history/suit-items

The list doesn't include the Hammer Suit.

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Both manuals close with a letter from the staff naming what is new against the earlier games: a map screen between the action scenes, on which the player charts progress, and a new two-player game. The Japanese letter likens the map to a board game. super-mario-bros-3-history/new-features

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On the map screen the player picks the next level by walking to its panel and pressing A. Some paths are blocked until an item clears them, such as a hammer for a pile of rocks, and items Mario has collected can be used there before a level. Enemies roam the map, and meeting one starts a fight that wins another item. A mini-fortress stands partway through each world. super-mario-bros-3-history/map-screen

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In the two-player game each player can continue separately. Electronic Gaming Monthly's review describes claiming areas of the map and fighting over them in a game derived from Mario Bros. super-mario-bros-3-history/two-player

Nintendo Power's January 1990 feature on the making of the game names Shigeru Miyamoto as project head, Takashi Tezuka as a director and planner, Mr. Nakago as coding director, and Koji Kondo as the composer. It credits the design and programming to the staff of the Research and Development departments of Nintendo's Kyoto headquarters, NCL. super-mario-bros-3-history/makers

The feature gives Nakago's surname only. No source read names a producer, and the manuals carry no staff list.

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In Nintendo's 2016 interview, Miyamoto and Tezuka put the team at 20 to 30 people. Miyamoto describes a "Map Room" where programmers entered map data from paper sheets every day, and Kondo says he was alone on sound. super-mario-bros-3-history/team

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Miyamoto says work began in the spring of 1986, after The Lost Levels, and that a spring 1988 release slipped by another six months. Tezuka says the game was first built with a view from above at a slant; Miyamoto told him that view lost the sense of distance to the ground, and the game became a side view. super-mario-bros-3-history/schedule

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Nintendo Power's making-of feature says a power-up turning Mario into a centaur was rejected, and the team settled on a tail and flight instead. super-mario-bros-3-history/tail-origin

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Famicom Tsūshin's cross review gave it 35 of 40, which placed it in the magazine's Platinum Hall. One reviewer called it close to the best form a sequel to Super Mario could take. super-mario-bros-3-history/famitsu

{
 "review": "Famitsu",
 "of": 40,
 "score": 35
}

The page gives the total but not the four reviewers' scores, which are in the print issue (no. 60), not read here.

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Famicom Tsūshin's staff named it the action game of 1988, citing the leaf that lets Mario fly. super-mario-bros-3-history/famitsu-award

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Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers each scored it 9 of 10. One called it the best Nintendo game ever made, another the best game ever made for the NES, and a third one of the best Nintendo games ever made. super-mario-bros-3-history/egm

{
 "review": "Electronic Gaming Monthly",
 "of": 10,
 "reviewers": [
  9,
  9,
  9,
  9
 ]
}

The four scores are red numerals that the OCR drops; the scout read them from the page image. The reviewers are Steve Harris, Ed Semrad, Martin Alessi, and Jim Stockhausen; the first quote is Semrad's, the second Stockhausen's, and the third Alessi's.

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Mean Machines scored it 98% overall; its reviewer Julian called it the finest video game he had played. super-mario-bros-3-history/mean-machines

{
 "review": "Mean Machines",
 "of": 100,
 "score": 98
}

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Nintendo Power's readers' chart had it at no. 1 by the May/June 1990 issue, with about twice the points of Tetris in second place, and still at no. 1 after 26 months in December 1991. In December 1994, after 63 months on the chart, it was no. 2 among NES games. super-mario-bros-3-history/chart

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The Chicago Tribune reported in March 1990, citing a Nintendo spokeswoman, that more than 250,000 cartridges sold at about $50 each in the game's first two days in stores. super-mario-bros-3-history/launch-sales

Value: 250000

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David Sheff's book Game Over says the game sold 7 million copies in the United States and 4 million in Japan, more than any video game until then. super-mario-bros-3-history/sales

{
 "us": 7000000,
 "japan": 4000000
}

The 1999 edition repeats the first edition's count, so it dates from the early 1990s and isn't a lifetime total.

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Universal's film The Wizard, released on 14 December 1989, ends in a tournament played on Super Mario Bros. 3, two months before the game's North American release; Nintendo Power promoted it as a preview of the game. Sheff writes that Nintendo was paid a licensing fee and approved the script and the game footage. super-mario-bros-3-history/the-wizard

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Sheff writes that Nintendo of America's television commercial for the game showed no game footage, only crowds of children chanting "Mario". super-mario-bros-3-history/advertising

A remake for the Super NES came in Super Mario All-Stars in 1993, and the NES game is one of the games built into Nintendo's Classic Mini NES of 2016. super-mario-bros-3-history/re-releases

Electronic Gaming Monthly's 1997 list of the 100 best games ranked its All-Stars version no. 2 and called it the best platform game of all time, crediting among much else the map that spread the levels out. IGN's list of the 100 best NES games ranks it no. 1, as the greatest NES game. super-mario-bros-3-history/legacy

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