Perhaps some of the younger games here have not played Mario 3. Or they grew up during the end of the 16-bit or 32-bit era (when bits were still a relevant factor for games). Regardless if you have not played Super Mario Bros. 3, you must.
Besides Mario's jump to the N64 with a fully 3D world, I beleive Mario 3 to be the pinnacle of the series. The overworld map, the amount of powerups, multiple Koopa's, almost all of the enemies are back this time with Children of thier own. It shows a passing of time in the mushroom kingdom; it shows impermanence which is an important principle within Budhism. This was one of the first Nintendo games that really displayed the influence of Japanese culture (well one of the first to do this that reached us gamers in the US). The Tanuki suit (raccoons are magical creatures in Japanese mythology) is one example of the cultural influence. This was the very begining of the globalization of games that has gone so far these days to having a lot of US games retain thier Japanese-ness. Examples: (most of the recent Megaman games with Japanese dialogue, the sound bytes in most fighting games etc., and dont reply to that with a 'capcom is too lazy to change stuff' answer).
Mario 3 also had the biggest marketing campaign of any Mario game. If you can find the commercials on the net, they were great. One in particular had kids on different continents of the worl chanting mario. each continent of kids wore a differnt color T-shirt and when the camera zoomed out to view the entire earth you could see Mario's face created by all the kids on eatch chanting "Mario". Also, the move, 'The Wizard' was, for the most part, a 1 hour and a half long commercial for Mario 3 which was debuted at the gaming competition at the end of the flick.
So Don't doubt this game! yeah I just get real worked up over Mario 3. I'm glad its out. Can't wait to do some e-reader connectivity with it.
Thought everyone who wants a new Mario platformer is right. Miyamato needs to get his ass in gear and give the oldschoolers a new Mario game in the tradition of Mario 3/World.
