Play Super Mario Bros 3
And then, there was Super Mario Bros. 3! This also came out around 1988 in Japan (a bit later elsewhere), and man, oh man, a lot of people will tell you this is hands-down one of the greatest video games ever made. Period. No arguments. This game masterfully brought back that classic side-scrolling platforming action from the original Super Mario Bros., but then it just blew the doors off by adding a huge, explorable world map, a ton of incredible new power-ups, and incredibly diverse and imaginative level designs. It felt absolutely massive at the time!
You could get all these awesome new suits and power-ups, remember? Like the Raccoon Suit (or Tanooki Suit) that let Mario fly (or at least glide down slowly after a running start), and the Frog Suit, which made swimming a breeze and way more controlled. Those were game changers! And this is the game where we first met the Koopalings, Bowser’s seven mischievous kids, who acted as bosses at the end of each of the different worlds. Each world itself had its own unique and memorable theme, from sandy deserts to lands where everything was gigantic. It kept the whole adventure feeling incredibly fresh, exciting, and super engaging from start to finish.
Super Mario Bros. 3, with all its groundbreaking features, that incredibly polished and responsive gameplay, and just the sheer amount of content and secrets packed into it, absolutely cemented its status as a timeless classic in the annals of video game history. You can see its fingerprints and influence all over so many platformer games that came after it. It’s still a deeply beloved title among gamers of all ages all over the world, and for very, very good reason. Just an unbelievably fantastic and influential game.