35 Years Later, Super Mario Bros. 3 is Still the Benchmark for Platforming Games

Although it wouldn’t arrive in the West until two years later in 1990, October 23, 1988, is the official release date of Super Mario Bros. 3 in Japan. At the time when players in North America were experiencing the vast departure that Super Mario Bros. 2 represented, Japanese players were already getting their hands on Super Mario Bros. 3, which would serve as the template for all subsequent 2D Mario titles as well as significantly raise the bar for the platforming genre as a whole. On the title’s 35th anniversary and hot on the heels of the release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder, it’s remarkable how well the title continues to hold up as one of the best games ever made.