Super Mario Bros. 3 | Cheerful Ghost

Start the New Year Right by Watching Awesome Games Done Quick 2020!

Awesome Games Done Quick starts tomorrow at 8.30 am PT / 11.30am ET and will run all week day and night ending on Saturday the 11th. Like every year there are going to be some incredible games run such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Doom SIGIL, Doom 2016, Terraria, ActRaiser, Donkey Kong Country 3, the Fallout Anthology, Final Fantasy VIII, Zelda Ocarina of Time, NES Barbie and a ton more!

I'm excited to see the Terraria run which is a Moonlord Normal Seeded run and the estimate is an hour, which is wicked fast. If you are interested in watching the Terraria run it will be Tuesday at 4pm but for more information on the whole event clickety-clack or tippety-tap that link... Read All

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 57: Super Mario Bros. 3 and The Wizard

Travis gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Travis gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

Much like the Power Glove, this episode is so bad. Hopefully you'll think it's "bad" like the 90s slang, not like... actually bad. Come join us as we discuss one of the greatest games of all time, Super Mario Bros. 3, and the legacy it has left, including visual media like The Wizard and Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3!

Come play Super Mario Bros. 3 with us and pretend it's 1988 again!

It's that time again, Cheerful Ghost Games Club is back with Super Mario Bros. 3!

In season 3 of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we are starting our NES Classic reviews with Super Mario Bros. 1-3. We're finishing things off with Super Mario Bros. 3! Come play the game and discuss it with us, and we’ll include your thoughts in the episode!

And it's not like you need an excuse to play this incredible game, right!?

Super Mario Bros. 3 was the last game on the NES, and it pushed the system and the series to new heights with the new feature set, improved graphics, and new elements. The third game introduced some Mario series staples, like the overworld, power-ups you could use outside... Read All

Watch And Support Awesome Games Done Quick 2019!

Sorry I'm a bit late with this BUT Awesome Games Done Quick is still going strong and you should watch it and donate to benefit the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Right now Mitchflowerpower, Jabem and Gaiden are doing a race of Super Mario Bros. 3MIX which is a fun ROM hack mashup of all the Mario Games. At around 8pm PST they will start a run of Super Mario RPG where they estimate the run to take about 3 hours and 30 minutes. As always, Awesome Games Done Quick is an incredible charity event and afterward i'll be creating a few wrap up posts that highlight my favorite runs.

If you watched and saw something you want to highlight, drop it in the comments!

... Read All

Breaking Down The History Of The Super Mario Bros. 3 100% Speedrun

If you frequent this site you know I love watching speedruns. I think a great speedrunner is not only skilled at the game they are playing but can also explain the history of the run as well as how certain strategies were discovered. Certain YouTube channels do breakdowns of Speedruns and their history and Summoning Salt is one of the best. Check out the historical breakdown of the Super Mario Bros. 3 100% Speedrun above and learn about Mitch Flower Power and the rest of amazing runners that have traded the world record over the years.

If this speedrun historical breakdown isn't enough for you, strap in because in a couple days i'm going to post my final 2018 GDQ... Read All

Super Mario Bros. 3 Turns 30 And Fred Savage Can't Stop Celebrating!

Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in Japan in 1988 and later came to the United States a year later making it widely regarded as one of the most influential Mario and platform games. Back in the early 90's I played a ton of Super Mario Bros. 3 and loved it so much I constantly read the Nintendo Players Guide to the point of destroying the magazine binding requiring me to fix it with some packing tape. I still have my Nintendo Players Guide and was happy to see it largely recreated in the recent "Playing with Power" NES Classic guide.

A lot has been said about Super Mario Bros. 3 and I think a good way of shining a light on this classic game is through a recent series of... Read All Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in Japan in 1988 and later came to the United States a year later making it widely regarded as one of the most influential Mario and platform games. Back in the early 90's I played a ton of Super Mario Bros. 3 and loved it so much I constantly read the Nintendo Players Guide to the point of destroying the magazine binding requiring me to fix it with some packing tape. I still have my Nintendo Players Guide and was happy to see it largely recreated in the recent "Playing with Power" NES Classic guide.

A lot has been said about Super Mario Bros. 3 and I think a good way of shining a light on this classic game is through a recent series of interviews Nintendo did with the original developers of the game during the launch of the NES Classic. If you haven't played Super Mario Bros. 3 and have the inclination to i'd recommend picking up a NES Classic as it's one of the best ways to relive it.

"Super Mario Bros. 3 came out in 1988, three years after Super Mario Bros. How did that come about?

Miyamoto: The game before that, Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, had been Tezuka-san's directorial debut. That went well, so we decided to make a completely new game.

Tezuka-san, did you feel pressure as the director of Super Mario Bros. 3? After all, the original Super Mario Bros. was an incredible hit.

Tezuka: I didn't feel pressure from the original game so much as I felt like I needed to do a good job. But it wouldn't come together well and dragged on.

Miyamoto: And Nakago-san got angry. (laughs)

Tezuka: Yeah, he definitely got angry. (laughs)

What wouldn't come together?

Tezuka: At first, we were making it with a bird's-eye view rather than a side view.

The view was looking down diagonally from overhead rather than directly from the side as in Super Mario Bros.

Tezuka: Yes. But we couldn't do it well.

Miyamoto: He said he wanted to look from a little above. But in Super Mario Bros. it is important whether Mario's feet hit the ground or not, even barely. With a diagonal view from slightly overhead, you lost your sense of distance to the ground. So I told him that development would be difficult.

Tezuka: Yeah, it was. (laughs wryly) So partway through development, we switched to a side viewpoint, but there are relics of the bird's-eye view in the final product.

Miyamoto: Yeah.

For example, the black-and-white checkered floor.

Tezuka: Yeah.

Tezuka-san, what was your original idea for making Super Mario Bros. 3?

Tezuka: We made Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels by changing the original game's difficulty and stage design, but we couldn't do that again, so I wanted to change everything, including its general appearance."

If you want to read the rest of the interview and I recommend you do, head over to the Nintendo website!

https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/super-mario-bros-and-super-mario-bros-3-developer-interview

What Happened During That Mario 3 Race? - Summer Games Done Quick Wrap Up II

Here's another round of awesome SGDQ runs that you might want to check out. But... Jon why? Read on friends!

Super Mario Bros 3 All Forts Race of MitchFlowerPower v GrandPOOBear in 58:34 This run is embedded above and is not only an amazing test of skill by Mitch and PooBear but it also contains two really unfortunate soft locks. After Mitch's console soft locks the first time they are able to restart the run together but after that PooBear takes the win. It's hard to see this kind of thing happen in a race but both players are cool about it and you can see that in the interview afterward. It was reported that PooBear kicked Mitch's console but that's not quite what... Read All Here's another round of awesome SGDQ runs that you might want to check out. But... Jon why? Read on friends!

Super Mario Bros 3 All Forts Race of MitchFlowerPower v GrandPOOBear in 58:34 This run is embedded above and is not only an amazing test of skill by Mitch and PooBear but it also contains two really unfortunate soft locks. After Mitch's console soft locks the first time they are able to restart the run together but after that PooBear takes the win. It's hard to see this kind of thing happen in a race but both players are cool about it and you can see that in the interview afterward. It was reported that PooBear kicked Mitch's console but that's not quite what happened, it seems Poo stomped the ground as he was getting into the fun of the match and that may have rattled Mitch's console.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures by Zmaster91 in 2:08:59 I didn't know you could play Zelda Four Swords on Gamecube single player but Zmaster91 shows that you can and does it well. It's a really chill run to watch so if you're looking to relax and watch some Zelda, this is it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQvEQK8KMcU

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD by Linkus7 in 1:28:27 Linkus Wind Waker runs shows off just how crazy speedruns can get when the community finds amazing glitches. It's been recently found that if you pause buffer in Wind Waker that you can gain incredible swimming speed allowing you to swim to locations that previously required the boat. This allows runners to skip the first part of the game and other major parts making Wind Waker HD a run you can do in an hour and a half. If you watch anything watch Linkus setup the crazy pause buffering swim glitch then watch the rest because it's awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPLytsTfCcE

Kirby's Dream Land by eBloodyCandy in 12:51 Kirby's Dream Land isn't a very hard but BloodCandy's run adds quite a bit of strats to the game I wasn't aware of. I really love Dreamland and this was a fun run to watch because it's really quick and a fun game to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQylC7rt2E

Travis Admin wrote on 07/13/2018 at 06:56pm

It was beautiful to see him just sit there and wait for Mitch to catch up and opt not to use an item just so they’d be even. And maaaaaaaan he felt bad.

That kind of sportsmanship is great to see. But unsurprising. Everyone in the speedrun community seems to be awesome.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/13/2018 at 07:16pm

Also I felt really bad for Mitch. He caught up and then luck of the draw knocked him behind in world 8. But both of them were amazing.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/13/2018 at 07:18pm

Oh man... ANOTHER soft lock at 55. This has been a roller coaster of emotions.

Travis Admin wrote on 07/13/2018 at 07:23pm

I'm now seeing that you said "two really unfortunate soft locks" in your post. I'm glad I missed that the first time through. I felt that emotion hard.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/13/2018 at 10:16pm

Yeah, glad you liked it. Mitch and Poo are both great Mario players.

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My Review Of The 8Bitdo NES30 Pro

Recently I picked up 8Bitdo's NES30 Pro bluetooth gamepad. I have a bunch of PC controllers but most of them like the XBox 360 controller are great for PC shooters and other games but not great for traditional platformers or retro games.

The NES30 advertises support for the PC, Mac, Android, iOS & more recently the Switch. With some research I found out that the NES30 supports iOS through iCade which is a pseduo-standard that began with the iCade for iPad where the controller acts like a keyboard and games that support the iCade respond to certain keyboard button presses. It's an interesting work around to Apple not having a controller standard at the time until... Read All

Travis Admin wrote on 07/25/2017 at 03:40pm

I'm still torn on waiting for the SNES30 Pro or getting this.

Or maybe both :D

I definitely prefer the stacked shoulder buttons of the SNES30 Pro but I like the look of this one more. I guess I'll just wait and see how the reviews are for the SNES30 Pro.

Glad you like it and it feels right. The button action of the early systems is what stands out for me in your review-- nobody seems to have gotten that right until now.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 07/25/2017 at 04:24pm

I'd love to see if this is as beautiful in person as it is in the picture!

Travis Admin wrote on 07/25/2017 at 09:00pm

Check out some youtube reviews Adam-- it's not, not quite. But still quite nice. The lighting and framing in the pic above gives it a metallic look.

jdodson Admin Post Author wrote on 07/26/2017 at 08:25pm

Yeah, it's not quite as glossy but does look good.

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Are There Good Alternatives To Completing Your Retro Game Library?

For many the thought of building up a retro game library of the games you want to collect isn't easy or cheap. It seems like more and more people are trying to collect these old games making stock limited and driving up prices. Even when new opportunities to own these classics comes up by way of the Nintendo or Super Nintendo Classic those options aren't available to everyone as again... stock is limited so what's a person to do? Well Cygnus Destroyer as a video about solutions to these problems by way of flash carts and bootlegs. Seems a bit odd to to me to play a Nintendo Game on a NES recreation like the RetroN and a flash cart when you could just emulate... Read All

Portland TriMet Light Rail Map in The Style of Mario 3

Artist Dave Delisle has recreated the Portland Trimet light rail lines in the style of Super Mario Bros. 3. I find this particularly cool as I live in Portland and ride the MAX lines when I head into work. Dave has also created version of metro lines in other cities such as Washington DC Metro, Vancouver Skytrain, Pittsburgh LRT, Toronto TTC, Calgary C-Train & the Atlanta Marta.

http://www.imagekind.com/Portland-Trimet-MAX-Map-_art?IMID=a23c5985-1fe3-41e8-9b9f-c0ff73c52203