(upbeat guitar music)
- [Narrator] It was February 1990.
Nintendo of America was about to release
one of their biggest games of all time,
Super Mario Bros. 3, and the hype was real.
Super Mario Bros. 3 came out a year and a half earlier
in Japan, and even in a time before internet,
North American gamers knew all about it.
Throughout 1989, magazines printed previews and teasers.
A major Hollywood movie showed off the game.
Some stores even sold import
or bootleg versions of the game.
But Super Mario Bros. 3 was more
than just another game in the series.
It proved that Nintendo and Super Mario Bros.
were not a fad.
And even with competition from other companies,
Nintendo was still the king of video games.
This is the story of how one game captured the hearts
and minds of an entire generation of players.
This is the Story of Super Mario Bros. 3.
(video game beeps) (upbeat synth music)
By the summer of 1986, Mario fever had officially hit Japan.
(lively guitar music)
(kids speaking in foreign language)
Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. for the Famicom
was a smash hit, selling more than three million copies.
The country's bestselling book was
"Super Mario Bros.: The Complete Strategy Guide,"
which contained tips and tricks on how to beat the game.
The Mario Bros. theme song was given lyrics
and released as a single, "Go Go Mario."
(upbeat synth music)
- [Narrator] Super Mario Bros. even shifted
Japan's public perception on video games.
- [Man] "Before Super Mario Bros. came out,
"even the parliament had taken up the issue
"of the influence of video games on children,
"and newspaper articles were mostly negative.
"But Mario's bright atmosphere cleared away
"that prejudice against the Famicom."
Hiroshi Imanishi, Nintendo.
(contemplative guitar music)
- [Narrator] The game caused a sales explosion
for the Famicom system.
By June of 1986, Nintendo had sold
more than 6.5 million units.
One out of every five households in Japan had a Famicom.
And with Super Mario Bros. enormous success,
a sequel was never in doubt.
Super Mario Bros. 2 was released on June 3rd, 1986,
less than a year after the original game's debut.
Nintendo released the game on the Famicom Disk System,
a new add-on for the Famicom
that would play games using proprietary disks.
They were cheaper to make than standard cartridges
and could hold more data.
Nintendo hoped that all their future big releases
would be dedicated to the Disk System.
A sequel to the most popular Famicom game
would help drive sales.
Super Mario Bros. 2 would become the bestselling game
on the Disk System, selling more than two million units.
But players were hungry for more.
The game felt more like an expansion pack
than a true sequel.
Visually, Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2
were almost identical.
It was also an extremely difficult game,
which was a turnoff for new players.
Nintendo even advertised it as such,
slapping a "For Super Players" label
on the game's packaging.
And players weren't the only ones who wanted a true sequel.
Research & Development 4, the team
behind the first two Super Mario Bros. games,
were ready to provide the Famicom
with the ultimate Mario game, so Nintendo got to work.
A team of over 10 people at R&D4 would be responsible
for making Super Mario Bros. 3.
Their leader was Shigeru Miyamoto.
If Mario was Nintendo's Mickey Mouse,
Shigeru Miyamoto was Nintendo's Walt Disney.
He created Mario back in 1981 and, since then,
had seen his character become the face of the company.
Miyamoto took a step back
during the development of Super Mario Bros. 2.
He had recently become a father
and was involved in too many projects, but now,
he was ready to throw himself completely into a sequel.
He would oversee almost every aspect
of the creation of Super Mario Bros. 3.
Miyamoto's right-hand man, Takashi Tezuka,
was named the game's director.
Tezuka joined Nintendo two years earlier at the age of 24,
and was instrumental in the design and development
of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.
Following that, Tezuka was given
his first director job on Super Mario Bros. 2.
His work on that game, while facing a tight deadline,
proved he was more than capable of doing the job.
But Super Mario Bros. 3 would prove to be a challenge.
Toshihiko Nakago was the main programmer.
He began his career at Nintendo in 1983
by porting arcade games to the Famicom.
Nakago proved invaluable when he helped Miyamoto and Tezuka
bring their ideas to life by programming
The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros.
Working alone as the composer was Koji Kondo.
Before Kondo arrived at Nintendo in 1984,
music and sound effects were handled by the programmers.
Kondo was one of the first members
of Nintendo's dedicated music staff.
Along with veterans, Research and Development 4
had a group of young designers
and programmers eager to prove their value.
Among them was Kensuke Tanabe, a new hire
who not only had to design levels
for Super Mario Bros. 3, but was also directing
his own game, Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic,
Kazuaki Morita, a programming whiz
who helped program Super Mario Bros. at the age of 19,
Katsuya Eguchi, a graphic artist
whose talent caught the eye of Miyamoto.
He was brought on as a level designer.
And Hideki Konno, a designer who had dreamed of working
at Nintendo ever since he started playing Famicom games.
With his team assembled, Miyamoto could begin
production on his ultimate Mario game.
But making this new game would require a lot of power.
Luckily, it was available.
Although Super Mario Bros. 2
was released on the Famicom Disk System,
new advancements in cartridge technology
quickly made the Disk System obsolete.
Chip prices were coming down,
and storage capabilities were increasing.
Internally, Nintendo developed MMC chips,
multi-memory controllers,
which greatly expanded the Famicom's capabilities.
Developers made games never before thought possible.
Miyamoto credited MMC chips as the reason
the Famicom lasted so long on the market.
Super Mario Bros. 3 utilized the MMC3 chip,
which allowed better graphics, screen splitting,
diagonal scrolling, and more memory.
(video game beeps) (upbeat synth music)
With this new power, Tezuka was ready to try something new.
- [Man] "We made Super Mario Bros. 2
"by changing the original game's difficulty
"and stage design, but we couldn't do that again,
"so I wanted to change everything."
Takashi Tezuka.
(video game beeps)
- [Narrator] R&D4's first new idea
was to change the perspective.
They experimented with making a Mario game
using an isometric view, but Miyamoto wasn't a fan.
"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," he said.
R&D4 scrapped the idea
and went back to the standard side view.
(video game beeps) (upbeat synth music)
Nintendo referred to Super Mario games as athletic games,
games where players could move freely,
run fast, and jump high.
"It's a type of game that is easily approachable
"for younger, inexperienced players,
"but can also be played by experienced hardcores
"without getting tired of it," said Miyamoto.
(mellow guitar music)
This game philosophy reemerged.
R&D4 began brainstorming new ways
to make Super Mario feel even more athletic.
They could let Mario slide down hills,
pick up and kick objects, and even fly through the air.
Graphically, Mario could not stay the same.
The first two Super Mario games looked too similar,
so R&D4 gave the Mario universe a complete makeover.
Nothing from the first two games carried over.
Every single character, enemy, item,
and environment was brand-new.
There was a cutesy aesthetic to the graphics,
thanks to director Takashi Tezuka.
In the previous Mario game,
he added eyeballs to many objects.
He did the same thing in Super Mario Bros. 3.
"He wanted to add eyes to just about everything,"
said designer Katsuya Eguchi.
Colors were bright and varied.
Trees and bushes danced on screen.
The visuals had a theatrical element.
A curtain rose to introduce the game.
Hanging platforms and blocks bolted to the background
resembled set pieces.
Mario finished each level by exiting the stage.
R&D4 put these new visuals in an all new world as well.
Now, Mario had eight new areas to explore,
each with their own visual theme:
Grass Land, Desert Hills,
Ocean Side, Big Island,
The Sky, Iced Land,
Pipe Maze, The Castle of Koopa.
The designers cranked out levels.
Hideki Konno didn't remember the experience fondly.
"We laid tracing paper over graph paper
"and painstakingly drew levels every day," he recalled.
Once finished, the designers brought their levels
to the Map Room, a long narrow room where programmers
took the sheets of graph paper and programmed map data.
It was a long process.
Designers had to wait a whole day
before seeing their creation on screen.
And even then, there were plenty of bugs to work out.
To connect all the levels,
the development team added an overworld map.
Levels were no longer played in a linear order.
Now, players could choose their own path
to the end of each area.
(video game beeps)
(mellow guitar music)
How did Research & Development 4
come up with these new worlds?
They may have gotten inspiration
from the most magical place on Earth.
In 1987, Shigeru Miyamoto and other members
of the Research & Development 4 team needed inspiration,
so they took a trip to the United States.
(engines rumbling) (vehicles honking)
They visited several places, including New York City,
San Francisco, and Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
(fireworks crackling)
Disney World had several unique areas,
and it felt like a fairytale land.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was similar,
with its eight different colorful worlds.
Cinderella's Castle sat in the center of the park,
connecting everything together.
(kid screams)
It was similar in Super Mario Bros. 3.
The white castle in each world
helped guide the player along,
and was the key to getting to the next area.
No one at Nintendo has ever confirmed
that Super Mario Bros. 3 was inspired by Disney World,
but the similarities are interesting.
(video game beeps) (upbeat synth music)
New graphics and levels weren't
the only addition to Super Mario Bros. 3.
R&D4 added new power-ups as well.
(mellow guitar music)
One of Miyamoto's ideas was to have Mario ride a dinosaur.
He had wanted to do it since the original Super Mario Bros.
But technical limitations prevented it from happening.
To compromise, director Takashi Tezuka pitched the idea
of Mario transforming into animals rather than riding them.
It was a good idea.
Mario could get different power-ups and suits
that would transform him into animals
with their own powers and abilities.
The super leaf turned Mario into a raccoon
and gave him the power to hit enemies with his tail
and fly completely over a level.
But the ability to fly was initially too powerful.
Head programmer Toshihiko Nakago voiced his concerns.
"If we had gone with that, all of the obstacles
"and the objects on the ground that we managed to create
"would have been wasted," he said.
But Tezuka insisted they come up with a way to make it work.
To compromise, the programmers made some restrictions.
Mario could only fly if he took off from a runway,
and even then, the flight was temporary.
The frog suit let Mario jump higher and swim faster,
but he slowed down when using the suit on land.
The hammer suit gave Mario
the ability to throw hammer projectiles
and protect himself with a fireproof shell.
There was also the Tanooki suit,
based on a mythical Japanese creature.
It was identical to the raccoon suit,
except it also let Mario transform into a statue,
granting temporary invincibility.
Miyamoto loved the Tanooki suit.
"Even though I knew it wouldn't make sense
"to non-Japanese players, I was so excited about it
"that I left it in," he said.
At one point, someone pitched the idea
of Mario turning into a centaur.
It got rejected.
With new power-ups came a cast of enemies
for Mario to defeat.
The usual suspects were still around:
Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Hammer Bros.
But there were a ton of new faces as well:
Boom Booms, Spikes, Big Bertha.
A few enemies were based
on staff members' personal experiences.
The Chain Chomps came from Miyamoto, who had
a bad experience with a neighbor's dog as a child.
Boos were supposedly based
on director Takashi Tezuka's wife,
who was normally a shy woman
but got angry when he worked late.
The seven Koopaling bosses were modeled
after the young designers at Research & Development 4.
It was Miyamoto's way of rewarding their hard work.
Along with new power-ups and enemies, new items were added
that Mario could use throughout his adventure.
The idea was to give less experienced players
more opportunities to get past tough levels.
The music box put Hammer Bros. enemies on the map screen
to sleep, allowing Mario to sneak past.
A warp whistle, taken from the Legend of Zelda series,
let Mario skip ahead to new worlds.
It also served as a way to get around
not having a battery save on the cartridge.
A hammer broke obstacles and revealed
shortcuts and secrets on the map.
Jugem's cloud, also known as Lakitu's cloud,
allowed players to skip a level.
The P-Wing allowed Mario to fly completely through a level,
a holdover from the original raccoon suit idea.
Through the flurry of changes, Miyamoto had to ensure
two major concepts were present in Super Mario Bros. 3.
The first was that players of all skill levels
could enjoy the game.
New players could find plenty of one-ups, coins,
and power-ups scattered throughout the early levels.
Mini-games and Toad Houses were placed on the overworld map,
giving players even more chances to earn items.
As the levels got harder, players would be well-stocked.
The second major concept was making a game
that was fun for two people to play.
In the original Super Mario Bros.,
players would take turns when the other died.
In Super Mario Bros. 3, players got a turn
after each level was completed,
and could either work together
or compete for the high score.
A battle mode was added as well,
based on the 1983 Mario Bros. arcade game.
Implementing all of the new moves,
graphics, levels, power-ups, and items
took a toll on the entire staff at R&D4.
They were exhausted.
(reflective guitar music)
Miyamoto would sometimes work through the night.
He kept a close eye on his designers
and wasn't afraid to make them fix the smallest detail,
even if it meant delaying the game.
"If it'll make the game even a little bit better,
"Miyamoto-san's always been unhesitant
"about making changes," said designer Katsuya Eguchi.
Director Takashi Tezuka recalled the struggle.
"It wouldn't come together well and dragged on," he said.
Perhaps no one struggled more
than the lone composer, Koji Kondo.
(upbeat synth music)
Two years earlier, he composed
one of the most iconic jingles in video game history,
the Super Mario Bros. theme.
Now he had to make the theme for Super Mario Bros. 3.
It was a tough act to follow.
"I couldn't figure out how to change it
"from the original Super Mario Bros.," he said.
When he made the first Super Mario Bros. theme,
Kondo simply made music that went along with the gameplay.
This time around, he focused on genre.
Kondo worked in lots of percussion,
resulting in a reggae sound.
By the end of development, he had composed multiple songs
and had Miyamoto and Tezuka help him pick the best ones.
By the spring of 1988, the game
was finally starting to come together.
(mellow reggae music)
Miyamoto was not bluffing when he said
he wanted to make the ultimate Mario game.
Super Mario Bros. 3 took what was great
about the previous installments and added more moves,
more power-ups, more characters, and more challenges.
It was also chock-full of secrets.
Many of the new features, such as auto-scrolling
and the overworld map, became staples in the franchise.
It took Research & Development 4
more than two years to make Super Mario Bros. 3.
It was also expensive,
reportedly costing $800,000 to develop.
At the time, the game was the biggest
and most labor-intensive Famicom title Nintendo ever made.
For comparison, the original Super Mario Bros.
took up around 320 kilobits of memory.
Super Mario Bros. 3. was 10 times larger, at three megabits.
(contemplative guitar music)
When the game was finally ready
to be released in the fall of 1988,
the video-game landscape in Japan had changed.
A new contender in the console market, the PC Engine,
was introduced a year prior by NEC
and boasted more colors and better graphics.
It was outselling Nintendo's Famicom.
Another company, Sega, was getting ready to introduce
its own new console, the 16-bit Mega Drive.
All of a sudden, Nintendo had to play catch-up
and begin developing a new console of their own.
Miyamoto's ultimate Mario game
had to be more than just a sequel.
It had to buy Nintendo time to develop
their new 16-bit machine, and prove to the world
that they were still the king of video games.
(dramatic synth music)
(announcer speaks in foreign language)
Video previews of the game debuted in September of 1988.
Players wouldn't have to wait long to try it out themselves.
(upbeat guitar music)
On October 23rd, 1988,
Super Mario Bros. 3 was released in Japan.
It was clear that the game was a labor of love.
Included inside the manual was
a note from Research & Development 4.
- [Man] "To Super Mario players, thank you
"for purchasing Super Mario Bros. 3.
"In response to the requests of so many Mario fans,
"Super Mario Bros. 3 is the newest game
"in the series that we've created to be
"so much more fun than anything before it.
"There are many puzzles and traps
"along your way through this journey.
"What sorts of wonders are waiting for Mario and Luigi?
"Enjoy finding out the answer.
"Yours faithfully, the Mario Staff."
- [Narrator] Super Mario Bros. 3 was an enormous success.
Famitsu magazine, a popular publication in Japan,
gave the game a score of 35 out of 40 and called it amazing.
Micom BASIC Magazine praised the game as well,
calling it "the culmination of the genre."
By the end of 1988, there was a supply shortage of the game.
For five months straight, Super Mario Bros. 3 was
the number-one selling Famicom game in the country.
Super Mario mania once again swept over Japan.
Merchandise flooded stores.
The game's soundtrack was released on CD
and cassette, which featured remixes
and arranged versions of Koji Kondo's compositions.
There was even a cartoon.
The "Amada Anime Series: Super Mario Bros."
was a retelling of three fairytales,
featuring characters from Super Mario Bros. 3.
While Japanese gamers enjoyed
everything Super Mario Bros. 3,
the rest of the world waited.
(contemplative guitar music)
It would take more than a year
for the game to reach North America.
Europe had to wait almost three years.
All that waiting led to the most anticipation
for a video game ever.
(reflective guitar music)
Nintendo wasn't only succeeding in Japan.
They were in control
of the North American video-game market as well.
In 1988 alone, Nintendo raked in $1.7 billion
in revenue and had a whopping 80% share
of the video-game market, dominating rivals Atari and Sega.
In just over two years since launching
the Nintendo Entertainment System nationwide,
they had sold more than 10 million consoles.
- [Man] "It's a mania.
"The kids of America are saying, this is great.
"We've got to have one.
"For boys in this country between the ages of eight and 15,
"not having a Nintendo is like not having a baseball bat."
Rick Anguilla, Toy and Business World.
- [Narrator] Nintendo's success was in large part thanks
to the popularity of Super Mario Bros.
Nintendo of America packed the game
in their Control Deck Set.
It quickly became their most popular title.
Fans were eager for more.
In October of 1988, the same month
Super Mario Bros. 3 launched in Japan,
Nintendo of America released Super Mario Bros. 2,
only it wasn't the same game as the Japanese version.
Nintendo of America's product analysis manager,
Howard Phillips, who reviewed new games from Japan,
had famously rejected
the Japanese version of Super Mario Bros. 2.
The game looked exactly like the first,
and, more importantly, it was too difficult.
"I put down my controller, astonished that Mr. Miyamoto
"had chosen to design such a painful game," he said.
Releasing the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2 in North America
would not be a wise marketing decision, so instead,
Nintendo took another title and made it a Mario game.
(upbeat guitar music)
Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic, released in 1987
for the Famicom Disk System, was also developed
by Research and Development 4.
Shigeru Miyamoto had worked on the game,
and Mario 3 level designer Kensuke Tanabe was the director.
Graphically, it looked better than Super Mario Bros.,
and it fit the mold of an athletic game,
so Nintendo swapped out the characters
of Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic with Mario and friends
and released it as Super Mario Bros. 2
in North America and Europe.
Players were none the wiser, and Super Mario Bros. 2
became one of the hottest Christmas items
of the 1988 holiday season.
It sold out quickly, but popularity wasn't the only reason
the game was hard to find in stores.
(reflective guitar music)
That year, the entire electronics industry
suffered a chip shortage.
A new generation of semiconductor and chip technology
caused manufacturers to split their production capacity.
And demand was higher than ever, with camcorders
and portable telephones selling like hotcakes.
Prices skyrocketed.
Chips that were $2 in 1987, now cost $10 to $12 each.
Nintendo was hit hard.
To free up supply, they discontinued a dozen games.
And because Nintendo controlled
all manufacturing, including third-party games,
it caused tension with their licensees.
Companies were notified that they would be getting
fewer cartridges than initially ordered.
Some stores took advantage,
increasing game prices to $70 each.
Analysts estimated that video-game supply
would be up to 15% less than market demand.
When a reporter asked Peter Main,
Nintendo of America's Vice President of Marketing,
what they were doing about the shortage,
he replied, "You mean, besides hoping and praying?"
In the meantime, Nintendo of America had received
a copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 from Japan for analysis.
Internally, the company knew the game would be huge.
When product analysis manager Howard Phillips
played the game for review, he was blown away.
- [Man] "For me, when I saw it,
"I thought this is not just another game,
"and it's not just a fun and challenging game.
"It was truly a quintessential video game," Howard Phillips.
- [Narrator] However, a few changes needed to be made.
The game wasn't as hard as the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2,
but it still proved to be a challenge.
In the Japanese version, when Mario got hit
while holding a power-up, he shrunk.
In the North American version,
Mario would stay big when hit.
The names of enemies had to be changed
as well, most notably the Koopalings.
Dayv Brooks, a localizer at Nintendo of America
and an avid music fan, gave the Koopalings
their names based on famous rock stars.
When he set eyes on a Koopaling with wild hair,
he immediately thought of Ludwig von Beethoven.
Thus, Ludwig von Koopa.
Wendy O. Koopa was inspired
by punk rocker Wendy O. Williams.
Iggy Koopa?
Punk star Iggy Pop.
Bespeckled Roy Koopa got his name from Roy Orbison.
Lemmy Koopa was inspired
by the legendary Lemmy from Motorhead.
But not all the Koopalings were based on musicians.
Morton Koopa Jr. struck Brooks as a wise guy,
a big talker, so he named the character
after the talk-show host Morton Downey Jr.,
a so-called trash TV pioneer.
As for Larry Koopa?
That name just seemed like a good fit.
Meanwhile, industry insiders wondered,
when would Super Mario Bros. 3,
the best selling game in Japan, come to North America?
(reflective guitar music)
Nintendo of America was in a bind.
With a chip shortage, they couldn't even make
enough games to meet demand.
But experts predicted the shortage would end in 1989.
Super Mario Bros. 2 had just been released
and was selling well.
It would be premature to bring over Super Mario Bros. 3.
There was also the Game Boy, Nintendo's new handheld system.
The plan was to release the system in the summer of 1989.
A game like Super Mario Bros. 3
might overshadow the release of the Game Boy.
Rather than simply wait around, Nintendo took advantage.
They planned to release the game
in the first quarter of 1990.
Historically, the first quarter of the year
had strong software sales.
They would spend 1989 teasing the game
and building a $25 million advertising campaign.
In January of 1989, 700,000 Nintendo Power subscribers
saw the first tease of Super Mario Bros. 3.
(upbeat guitar music)
And it was merely a sentence.
In issue number four, an advertisement
for the PlayChoice-10, an arcade cabinet
that featured select Nintendo titles,
mentioned that Super Mario Bros. 3 was on the way.
Nintendo teased it again in issue number five,
when they talked about a contest to win a trip
to the Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.
Players wrote in to Nintendo, asking about the game.
In issue number six of Nintendo Power, a reader asked
if Nintendo would ever release Super Mario Bros. 3.
The reply confirmed it was coming to PlayChoice-10,
but that "there are no immediate plans
"to release it for use with the NES."
But in the Pak Watch section in the back,
where Nintendo teased future releases,
Super Mario Bros. 3 was listed.
By the summer of 1989,
magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro
imported the game from Japan and wrote up
extensive previews with screenshots.
For many North American players,
this was their first look at the game.
But by July, a few people were playing Super Mario Bros. 3.
On July 15th, 1989, Nintendo released the game
for PlayChoice-10 arcade machines.
A Nintendo of America executive called it
"the best we've ever produced for the system."
Although there were far fewer PlayChoice-10s
than Nintendo Entertainment Systems,
word seemed to spread quickly.
Operators reported earnings of PlayChoice-10 cabinets
with Super Mario Bros. 3 had tripled.
Meanwhile, in Nevada and California,
Universal Pictures was shooting a film
that would make Super Mario Bros. 3
the most anticipated video game of all time.
(mellow jazz music)
In 1989, President of Universal Studios,
Tom Pollock, was in a pickle.
Their Jetsons movie wouldn't be ready
in time for the holiday season.
Pollock had to come up
with an alternative family-friendly movie.
Throughout the year, he had witnessed
the popularity explosion of Nintendo
and thought a movie about video games would be a hit.
So Pollock met with Nintendo marketing executives Bill White
and Peter Main about a collaboration.
His idea was a kids version of the movie "Tommy,"
a rock drama film about a disabled boy
becoming a pinball champion.
Nintendo couldn't have bought a better ad.
In exchange for using their products in the movie,
Nintendo received a licensing fee
and approval over the script and game footage.
Bill White frequented the film set to oversee production.
"All we were worried about was just making sure
"that the game footage was spectacular," he said.
The movie was called "The Wizard."
It told the story of Jimmy, a quiet boy
who is obsessed with getting to California.
His half-brother, Corey, breaks him
out of a mental institution to get him there.
Along the way, they meet a girl named Haley.
Corey and Haley soon discover that Jimmy
is incredibly good at video games.
They decide to enter Jimmy
into the Video Armageddon tournament at Universal Studios,
and split the cash prize of $50,000.
They set out for Los Angeles, with their family
and a bounty hunter at their heels.
The movie was filled with Nintendo products including games,
the Nintendo Power Line, and even the Power Glove.
"The Wizard" was released on December 15th, 1989
in North America.
It was panned by critics.
Roger Ebert called it "a thinly disguised commercial
"for Nintendo video games and the Universal studio tour."
But that didn't matter to any kid who watched the movie.
The biggest draw was near the end of the film,
when the contestants in the Video Armageddon tournament
played Super Mario Bros. 3.
(audience cheers) - So I give you,
Super Mario Bros. 3!
(audience cheers) (video game beeps)
(upbeat synth music)
- [Narrator] For the majority of viewers,
this was the first time they saw
actual gameplay footage of the latest Mario sequel.
(mellow guitar music)
Nintendo's dominance in the video-game market
and its establishment in pop culture continued to grow,
and there were no signs of slowing down.
In 1989 alone, Nintendo grossed
$2.7 billion in retail sales.
The NES was, once again,
the number-one toy for the third year in a row.
The console was in 22% of US households,
with 20 million units sold.
The Game Boy, Nintendo's new handheld system
released earlier that year, was selling out in stores.
Merchandising exploded
with more than 200 licensed Super Mario products.
World of Nintendo departments
popped up in stores around the country,
dedicated to selling Nintendo products.
Nintendo Power magazine grew to 1.8 million subscribers.
The Nintendo Power Line, where players could call in
for game tips, received 140,000 calls a week.
The excitement around Nintendo
and Super Mario Bros. 3 reached a boiling point.
Children asked for the game for Christmas
despite not knowing when it would be released.
They didn't have to wait long.
(mellow reggae music)
In January of 1990, Nintendo Power subscribers
received a brand-new issue.
Inside was something they'd been waiting for,
an official preview of Super Mario Bros. 3
along with a behind-the-scenes look
at the making of the game.
History had shown that a preview of a game in Nintendo Power
meant the actual release was not far behind.
The very next month, in February,
Super Mario Bros. 3 popped up in stores
across North America at a retail price of $49.95.
There was a frenzy.
Within two days, 250,000 units were gone,
sold out everywhere.
Nintendo couldn't make the game fast enough.
Stores sold out within a day.
"Every other call we get is about Nintendo
"and Super Mario Bros. 3,"
said one Toys "R" Us employee in Chicago.
"We never know when we'll get it,
"but we'll sell out as soon as it gets here."
But for anyone that managed to find a copy, it was easily
one of the greatest games Nintendo had ever released.
- [Man] "If Super Mario Bros. 3 was a movie
"instead of a computer game, it would be up for an Oscar."
Paul Franklin, The Courier News.
- Mario, Mario! (upbeat rock music)
- [All] Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario,
Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario, Mario!
- [Narrator] By March, 700,000 copies had been sold.
Nintendo of America unleashed
their $25 million advertising campaign.
(mellow guitar music)
Commercials aired on TV.
There were cross-promotions with other companies,
including Popsicle and Nabisco.
NBC aired a Saturday morning cartoon,
"The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3."
McDonald's released a set of Happy Meal toys.
Meanwhile, competitors released new consoles to the market.
Sega had just launched their 16-bit Sega Genesis.
And after the success of the PC Engine in Japan,
NEC brought it over to North America as the TurboGrafx-16.
But it didn't matter.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was the talk of the schoolyard.
Kids bragged about how far they could get in the game
or shared secrets about where to find
warp whistles and new power-ups.
The game was so big and so full of secrets,
Nintendo worried it would overwhelm some players.
So in July of 1990, Nintendo Power put out
their first full strategy guide,
featuring Super Mario Bros. 3.
It had maps of every level, information on every enemy
and power-up, and revealed every secret in the game.
Fans of all ages were obsessed with the game.
One group of adult fans loved the game so much,
they ported it to the PC and sent it
to Nintendo, hoping to secure a license.
Nintendo was impressed but declined the offer.
That didn't faze the team of John Carmack,
John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack.
They were excited about their work,
and the following year, they formed a company, id Software,
the makers of Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.
By 1991, Nintendo sold more than eight million copies
of the game in North America,
grossing more than $400 million.
If Super Mario Bros. 3 were a business,
it would have ranked in the top-10 US toy companies of 1990.
At the time, it was
the bestselling standalone video game ever.
(reflective guitar music)
Before Super Mario Bros. 3, critics questioned
whether Nintendo was just a passing craze.
Electronic Arts President Trip Hawkins
compared the NES to Cabbage Patch dolls.
"This is a toy and that means it's a fad," he claimed.
After Super Mario Bros. 3, there would be no more doubts.
Nintendo reaped the rewards.
Their estimated revenue for 1990 was $3.4 billion,
which gave them a dominating 88% market share.
In 1991, they surpassed Toyota
as Japan's most successful company.
Nintendo earned $1.5 million per employee.
But it wasn't all roses.
The Federal Trade Commission investigated Nintendo
on allegations of antitrust violations,
such as price-fixing, in order to beat the competition.
Nintendo denied any wrongdoing but was ordered to send out
up to $25 million worth of rebates to customers.
The rebate took the form of a $5 coupon
that consumers could only use to buy more Nintendo games.
In total, Super Mario Bros. 3 sold
more than 17 million copies worldwide.
When combined with re-releases,
it's estimated to have sold more than 30 million copies.
But it was bigger than just money and sales figures.
Super Mario Bros. 3 was further proof
that home video games could be huge, sprawling adventures,
and even better than arcade games.
Shigeru Miyamoto became a superstar.
Celebrities like Paul McCartney
and Steven Spielberg flew to Japan to meet him.
His success ensured he would either produce
or direct all future big Nintendo releases.
His next Mario game, Super Mario World,
was a launch title for Nintendo's new 16-bit machine,
the Super Famicom, also known as the Super Nintendo.
With the updated hardware, Miyamoto was finally able
to let his hero ride a dinosaur.
Other companies took notice of Mario's success.
Sega saw the power of a flagship franchise
and began working on their own mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog.
His debut in 1991 on the Mega Drive and Genesis
created legit competition in the market,
leading to the great console wars of the '90s.
Even after Nintendo came out with the Super Nintendo,
people continued to play and love Super Mario Bros. 3.
It was listed in the top-20 NES games of Nintendo Power
until the system was discontinued in 1995.
When people look back on their childhood memories
with the NES, they almost always, without fail,
think of Super Mario Bros. 3, a game that felt nostalgic
yet revolutionary at the same time,
a game that lived up to its unparalleled hype.
(upbeat guitar music)
- [Announcer] Funding for Gaming Historian
is provided in part by supporters on Patreon.
Thank you.