I am going to date myself a bit here, but I remember a time before Nintendo, before Mario. I was a paper boy and I had been saving all my route money to buy a Nintendo. However my family actually got me and my brother one for Christmas first. I was far from crest fallen.

I used my route money to buy a bike. However it was this first generation Nintendo that featured the game Super Mario Brothers. For the first time I didn’t have to pump quarter after quarter into an arcade machine. Alls I had to do was convince my dad that I should be allowed to use my Nintendo.

I am sure this story is no different than about a million other gamers out there. That is why I was not surprised over the positive reaction of Super Mario 3 on the Wii virtual console. Of all the Super Mario side scrollers this one without a doubt was my all time favorite.

I can’t even attempt to count the hours I spent giving my thumbs cramps, of leaning to one side or the other trying to encourage Mario to jump just that little bit further. I remember how amazing it was to have a side scroller that seemed to contain so many options and choices. It was an entire world to explore.

Looking at the game now, I am really surprised at how out of date yet fresh the graphics seem. I don’t know if this is because of the background, the nostalgia or what, but I have no problem with the fact the graphics are only 8 bit, in fact I think that makes this game rock even more.

What else I realized is that Super Mario 3 came out when story line hardly showed up in a game. What I find amazing about this is that I am one of those guys who lives for storyline. Yet if asked to rate my top ten games of all time this one would be there.

So if it isn’t awesome graphics, or a unbelievable story line, what is it that makes this game so great to so many gamers? My guess? Gameplay. I mean think about it. The gameplay rocks, it rocks so much in fact that it makes this game one of the best games ever to hit a console regardless of its graphical capacity, or its storyline deficiencies.

Its nice to have that actually. To many games lately rely on heavy graphics and over long cut scenes rather than focus on the core of every game. Thank you Super Mario 3 for reminding me what a real video game is supposed to be like.

In case you can’t guess I give this game a solid rating of 10 and that is something I don’t think will ever change. Enjoy your Mario!