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RTTP: Super Mario Bros 3

jholmes

Member
The greatest ever. Crazy that this was the same hardware that was doing stuff like Clu Clu Land earlier back in the '80s.
 

enigmatic_alex44

Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
I'm glad people are finally realizing that Super Mario Bros. 3 >>>>> Super Mario World.

It's like top three of the series imo:

1. Super Mario 3D World
2. Mario Galaxy 2
3. Super Mario Bros. 3
 

RagnarokX

Member
Anything similar to this for like other levels of each game?

I feel like the first levels are always designed to be short, but where SMB 4-1 feels like the same length as 1-1, SMB3 4-1 feels twice as long as SMB 1-1.

Actually, the first levels are about average from what I looked into. 1-1 of SMB is actually longer than quite a few levels. Some levels are longer and some are shorter.

Here is my post from that other thread where I went into detail on measuring levels:

This is a site that has maps for every level in SMB, SMB3, SMW, and NSMB DS: http://www.mariomayhem.com/downloads/mario_game_maps/.

SMB, SMB3, and SMW are all at the resolution of 256x224. This is a single screen.

SMB: Most levels seem to be around 10-14 screens. 1-1 is 13 screens long in the original resolution. The longest level is 8-1, which is 24 screens long. One of the castles had a "maze" that would loop horizontally forever unless you chose the correct paths (Some of the NSMB games did this, too). All levels are 1 screen tall.

SMB3: Most levels are around 11 screens long with less variation in length than SMB. However a lot of levels are at least 2 screens tall. Some levels are 1 screen wide and more than 2 screens tall instead, and some levels that autoscroll are able to have varying widgths and heights.

SMW: Most levels seem to be around 20 screens long in original resolution. Like SMB3 some levels are more vertical, but they can be 2 screens wide (There are 10 levels with segments higher than 2 screens). A lot of levels are still 2 screens tall, but be aware that the site I linked to shows most levels as being 2 screens tall when they are not in the actual game. For example this level does not scroll up: http://www.mariomayhem.com/download...erMarioWorld-TwinBridges-CheeseBridgeArea.png

Now the difficult question is NSMBU. First of all nobody has made maps of any games after NSMB on DS. Secondly, NSMBU is at a different aspect ratio AND the game is zoomed out compared to the other games. So I took it upon myself to compile a map of the first level of NSMBU:

PJCZDo2.jpg

I scaled it down to the same zoom level as the other 3 games, and then going by the 256x224 aspect ratio it is 27 screens long. Also, unlike the other 3 games, the NSMB games do not have a scrolling limit. For example they often have levels like this, this, and this.

I made a nice little comparison image of the first levels of each game here:

So to wrap up, in terms of the 256x224 aspect ratio of the NES and SNES games:
SMB: 13
SMB3: 11
SMW: 20
NSMBU: 27


Super Mario Maker is in 16:9 aspect ratio like NSMBU, but not zoomed out. So in widescreen:
SMB: 10 screens
SMB3: 8 screens
SMW: 15 screens
NSMBU: 20 screens
SMM: 12 screens

Unfortunately nobody has made maps of NSMBWii, NSMBU, or NSMB2. I had to make my own map of 1-1 using my Wii U to take screenshots. In the spirit of Mario's 30th anniversary I am thinking about expanding on this analysis for its own thread, but I will have to make more maps for NSMBU and that will be challenging since most of the levels aren't as easy to take nice screenshots that can be matched up on as 1-1.

Nah, SMW > SMB3. Reason why? Gigantic Bullet Bills and Yoshi, they set the stage for the game when your first encounter them, you knew shit was going to be awesome afterwards.
SMW always felt like a step backwards to me. Sure it had some nice new enemies and ideas and longer levels, but SMB3 had far more variety and challenge and levels. For example, the world map was cool, but the levels themselves reverted to SMB1's themes (plains, underground, underwater, castle, bridge, mushroom, and forest) plus ghost houses and didn't really do much with them. Yoshi and the cape were fun but overpowered compared to SMB3's powerups and much easier to get.

For me it's NSMBU > NSMBWii > SMB3 > SMW > NSMB2 > NSMB > SMB2 > SMB1
 

ReyVGM

Member
I just had the strangest desire to replay Mario 3 while going through every stage. No warps no stage skipping.

I don't think I've ever done that, and if I did, it was over... 25 years ago :(
 

Greenzxy

Junior Member
Yea SMB3 and World were ahead its time.

Both games were made in 1 and a half years like it was nothing and they still remain GOAT status to this day.
 
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