I was learning how to use the D-pad with my left hand while tapping buttons with my right. The relatively minimalistic controls were still an uphill battle for me at the time, though.

3 sucked me into the rewarding process of trial and error, making it fun when I was young and had zero patience. Nintendo is known for this attention to detail, and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto has given interviews detailing his creative process for the original Super Mario Bros.’ first level. This airtight level design is no surprise. Later in the short level, a Koopa paced near a coin block on the floor, which taught me the value of throwing a shell to strike the block - and the terror, and ensuing heartbreak, of having the shell careen back at me. This same act of jumping taught me to hit my head on coin blocks, which yielded rewards like a Super Mushroom. In the first seconds of the level, a Goomba approached me touching it meant the level was over, but guiding Mario to jump on its head made the Goomba disappear. It introduced me to the basic concepts that govern Mario’s world (which I paid for in Game Overs). 3’s first level, with its jolly music, is seared into my brain. The game taught me to approach its levels like puzzles, each with a best path or strategy, and often with hidden rewards and sections - which is to say that it taught me how to platform, period. The game requires fairly precise platforming, forcing me to memorize the weight of Mario’s jump and skid landings when I played it as a kid. The reverence that some feel for Dark Souls games, with their accompanying baggage to “ git gud,” is close to how I feel about Super Mario Bros. And though the Switch doesn’t fit as well in my pocket, the game has absolutely stood the test of time - I’ve found myself once again toting it around with me everywhere, hellbent on beating the next level. The recent addition of Game Boy and GBA games to Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack has given me an excuse to revisit it. The handheld was the right size for my small hands and fit in the pockets of my favorite frock, making it easy to pull out and play a level whenever adults around me talked about boring adult things. 3 was first released in 1988 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, it was a perfect port for the Game Boy Advance SP.

3, a classic I would come to play over and over again - with equal parts love and frustration - as I was pulled inexorably into the spell of platforming. I received Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. My uncle gifted me and my cousin matching ones during the holidays in the early 2000s, along with our first games. I still remember unpackaging my purple, slightly iridescent Game Boy Advance SP.

Super mario bros 3 play online