This Week in Retro: Super Mario Bros. 3 turns 30 (Patreon)

February 12, 1990: America Does The Mario

by Diamond Feit

Since there is no point in me explaining what Super Mario Bros. 3 is to paying subscribers of a retro video game podcast, let us instead examine what Mario's journey was like in Japan versus in the United States. (European readers, please adjust the years to match your own timeline and feel free to imagine I've put in all those superfluous letters Us you enjoy.)

In Japan, the Famicom launched in July 1983, and Super Mario Bros. was released in September 1985. That meant Nintendo had enjoyed two solid years to figure out what worked best on their own hardware as dozens of third parties rushed to cash in on the craze. Super Mario Bros. was a huge hit. Nine months later, Nintendo released a sequel on the Famicom Disk System for a measly 2500 yen*—nearly half-price vs. the 4900 yen the original game cost on cartridge—aimed at players looking for a new challenge. In other words, it was hard by design. Still, it would become the best-selling game on the Famicom's companion peripheral.

Jump ahead two more years to 1988. The Famicom was a full five years old, and its competitors were starting to catch up; Sega and Hudson had both released more advanced consoles. Still, Nintendo had a commanding lead in the Japanese market when they released Super Mario Bros. 3 in October 1988. Once again, the game was a hit. Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 3 would end up as the two best-selling games on Famicom.

Meanwhile, Nintendo launched the NES in the United States in October 1985. Super Mario Bros. was either a launch title or available soon thereafter (no one can be entirely certain of the precise date for either). Within a year, Super Mario Bros. became the pack-in title for the NES, and both the game and system exploded in popularity. Still, Nintendo of America took things slow, waiting until late 1988 as the system entered its fourth year in the U.S. to release Super Mario Bros. 2. (But not Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2.) Even in a pre-internet age, kids on the playground somehow knew we were getting part 2 as Japan was getting part 3, leading to rumors that Japanese kids already had multiple sequels to The Legend of Zelda that we wouldn't see for years.

Nintendo of America wouldn’t release Super Mario Bros. 3 until February 12, 1990, following a full year of discreet info “leaks” in Nintendo Power and a motion picture that showcased the unreleased game in its climax. If that date sounds earlier than you recall, keep in mind that day-and-date game launches were not yet a thing in the U.S. Between Nintendo's alleged chip shortages and the sheer size of the U.S. retail market, there wasn't a coordinated sense of the exact date a new game (or game console for that matter) would be available.

I can recall hearing Super Mario Bros. 3 was available second-hand from friends but never seeing it in stores—and not just game stores! The NES craze meant that all kinds of shops would carry Nintendo games. It got to the point that a friend's older sister swore she could get us a copy through a friend if we gave her $50*. When the deal fell through, I got a refund, but I was in tears. Eventually—months later, perhaps—I discovered a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 nonchalantly sitting in our local supermarket one afternoon and had to beg for an advance on my allowance for god-knows-how many weeks so I could bring the rare treasure home that day.

All this means that despite history's record of February 12 as Super Mario Bros. 3's U.S. release date, it's very likely many American fans didn't get the game until the 1990 holiday season (the 7th for the NES). Even though each market saw the Mario trilogy on a very different schedule, Super Mario Bros. 3 arrived as the flagship Nintendo title in both the U.S. and Japan just as the company faced external pressure from new, more advanced consoles. But, as it happened, the Super Famicom and Super Mario World debuted in Japan in 1990. Once again, American kids were playing an “old” Mario game as Japanese kids were playing its sequel. C'est la vie.

* Ignoring inflation, it should be noted that 100 Japanese yen and 1 U.S. dollar are close in value today. Back in 1985, the dollar was significantly stronger, equivalent to nearly 240 yen. I can recall buying early NES titles for $30 new in stores, sometimes less. By the time Super Mario Bros. 3 was released (in Japan) the exchange rate was more in line with modern values, hence the much larger price tag for the U.S. edition compared to the original Famicom cartridge prices (¥4900 for Super Mario Bros., ¥6500 for Super Mario Bros. 3).