Early pre-release footage of the legendary Super Mario Bros. 3 has surfaced on the internet.
Super Mario Bros. 3 is one of the most iconic – and, some would say, one of the greatest – games of all time. It had an entire movie released to hype its 1990 release, and it gave us the Raccoon Suit, Kuribo’s Shoe, and the freakin’ Tanooki Suit.
To the right, you can see what SMB3 looked like before it ever released anywhere in the world. This footage comes from an episode of Famimanga, a TV series that was released on VHS as an accompaniment to issues of the similarly-named magazine, which seems to have been the Japanese equivalent of Nintendo Power.
It looks remarkably like the final version, though there are some differences that the YouTube uploader helpfully points out in annotated notes. There are also areas and levels that we never saw in the retail version, and some little changes in the HUD that frankly I would have never spotted.
Honestly, the biggest mind-twister for me is that someone used to mail bulky VHS tapes out alongside a videogame magazine. Geez, thank goodness we moved into the disc-based era.
