Author's Note: This essay is my entry into community member Conrad Zimmerman's
Corrective Lenses Competition. Click that link for more details. Now, the 500 words:
I know what you're thinking: Why would someone bother to write an essay or article about a game like
Super Mario Bros. 3? It's been out for close to 20 years or so, and you'd figure that everything that needs to be or can be said about the game has probably already been done. But today I'm going to tell you about a memory I have of this game that I never hear get mentioned:
The Frog Suit.
In case you need a reminder, the Frog Suit usually first becomes available somewhere in World 3, which I guess you could classify as
The Water World. My fondest memories of this game take place in this world. I can remember that sense of wonder I got as a kid the first time I opened up one of Toad's chest's (The one's inside the giant Mushroom huts) and found the suit. I thought it was the coolest power up Mario had ever used, and I still do to this day. How can anything compete with a combo of Mario and Frogs? Not only was it adorable, but it was a blast to use, at least when I was a child.
You see, I always failed at water levels in Mario. I could beat them, but I always had difficulty. Not so with the Frog Suit. Mario could hang with any fish in the sea when he had this suit on. It's speed was particularly useful for avoiding those damn jellyfish enemies, but overall it just kicked ass when used properly. Of course, as I grew older I started to see through my nostalgia and have realized that the suit is almost completely useless if you're
not underwater. It's just plain awful trying to hop around as a frog when a pyschotic Sun is chasing you through the desert (Love those levels too!).
Every time a new Mario game is released, I feel a twinge of disappointment that there is no Frog Suit to be found. I am not a fan of swimming in most games, as I find it’s one of the hardest mechanics to nail. Even Nintendo is not immune to this problem, as you’ll see if you play any 3D Mario title. It’s not bad, but not that great. But I can tell you this: If
Super Mario Galaxy would have given me the chance to use the Frog Suit, my head would have exploded from the rush of nostalgia, especially considering how obvious it is that SMG was inspired greatly by SMB 3.
But I'll always remember the Frog Suit. To this day my loser older brother and I can still have a huge arguement about the merits of the Frog Suit as opposed to his favorite power up, the damn Tanooki Suit. I know in my heart it's true that the Frog Suit just doesn't cut it next to the Tanooki, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
It still fills me with childlike excitement whenever I see it.
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Yea I'm definitely a Tanooki/Bear Suit guy now. But the Shoe was the coolest one when I first played it in Super Mario AllStars as a kid.
The Shoe! You could jump on the spiked enemies with that one, correct? That was an interesting one, that little green boot.
This was beautifully written. Props to the boogie nights pic too. PT Anderson is my favorite writer/director.
Beautifully written eh? Wtf you smoking? j/k thanks.
Also, I feel the same about PT Anderson. It's a shame I haven't seen There Will be Blood yet. Kids got in the way.
The show, although awesome, is over hyped. Just one level with the damn thing :(
This is true CTZ. Good to see you remember it so well.
Great post! I always hated the Frog Suit as a kid, but thats probably because I never thought to use them on water levels. xP I always did love the hammer brother suit though.
@ Scary Pig: Dude, you got the Frog Suit in the Water World! How could you not think to use them?
Of course, being blinded by my love of the Frog, I would horde them and save them for use in later worlds, usually to horrible effect. I loved it anyway.
Nice write EDS. I agree about swim levels. But not only in the Mario games, in every other game as well. Also I completely forgot about that Frog Suit. Thanks for the memories!
Funny we should be talking about swimming in games. I just completed God of War for the PSP recently, and man, the swimming fucking sucks hard in those games. It's barely competent. At least Mario is decent.
@EternalDeathSlayer
Heh, In my first playthrough of SMB3 I almost never used items , because I was always afraid that there would be a better time to use them and then I'd reach the final level with a whole treasure trove of goods that I would use about 2% of. I did the same thing the first times I played Earthbound and FE7 to equally disastrous results :p
@EDS
I'm going to write a blog about swimming in games. I hate it so much. The one on God of War wasn't good but at least you don't have do hold your breath. Only thinking about the underwater levels in Sonic makes me aggressive. The music speeding up! The Horror! The Bubble! The Bubble! Come on Bubble! Come on come on! *waiting for the bubble* Noooooooo! At least something like that.
Well, in God of War you usually can't go underwater until you've acquired an item, Posiedon or Triton's spear, shit like that. They let you breathe underwater.
Basically, it's an excuse for the developers to make sure you don't have to worry about breathing. You can't have a bad-ass like Kratos going and drowning on you. It would take you out of the experience.
Also, it's a good excuse for a puzzle, finding the spear or whatever. There's one in all 3 games I think.
Nice, when I was little it was a definite tie between the tanooki suit and the frog suit. The frog suit was so much fun to play, though.
I hadn't missed it until now, though. That would've been a nice Mario Galaxy addition.
ARE YOU CALLING ME OLD FUCKER?!?!?!?!!!!!
Pixel Blue: No tie! Fuck the Tanooki.
lol no CTZ. Aren't you like my age? lol. I'm 21, how fucking old are you then?
Sometimes people forget the small details. I wasn't aware that you're a Mario fan, so it was surprising to see you knew it all so well.
I'm happy.
Wow, EDS you're 21 I'm 21 but I thought you were in your late 20's to be honest.
Nice write-up, EDS. I always hated the underwater portions of the old Sonic games, because I never found those damn air bubbles in time.
@Samit
Read my comment
We're in the same team :)
@ Samit: Holy fuck, good memory! I forgot all about that. That shit was awful. Poor Sonic drowned so many times.......
Or s in ON the same team...
OK I need a new keyboard...
@EDS
Read my comment
We're ON the same team :)
EDS: It's called a joke. Clean your nose.
I know CTZ, I just can't help myself from explaining things. I know, it's sad. I'm still learning the internets.
Three words: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Underwater Bomb Stage. Was Evil.
I too hated the underwater Sonic parts..everything was cool and then BAM!! you're underwater and the game that was cool turned to garbage.
Nice write-up, EDS. I always hated the underwater portions of the old Sonic games, because I never found those damn air bubbles in time.
same here, sonic is my favourite game of all-time, but how I hate those water-levels!! I love the pinball-levels though :-)
As a challenge to myself, I beat the last level of Super Mario Bros. 3 with a Frog Suit on my DS at work. That suit makes everything more challenging.
if your looking for terrible underwater level design, look nofurther then DMC1. It was done from a first person perspective which was so damn hard to move the right way