Super Mario Bros. 3+ is one of the most elaborate and well thought out romhacks I’ve ever seen. And it makes massive improvements to a game that was already top-tier.
The romhack’s creator, infidelity (all lower-case, that’s important!), just never seems to run out of ideas for adjustments to make to the game and ways to make it more enjoyable.
And as you can surely guess, all of the changes make the game feel like a pretty modern experience.
Super Mario Bros. 3+ Details
Super Mario Bros. 3+ combines a lot of the best elements of the Mario franchise, even some of the modern entries.
Compiling a list of everything that has been added and improved would be a project of its own.
So to help break down some of the main improvements, we reached out to the creator of Super Mario Bros. 3+ directly.
Let’s get a little insight into the creation of this amazing romhack, and also learn a little more about its creator!
Interview with infidelity
Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?
I have a family and work a full time job, love retro games from the 80s to 2000, I play guitar, love to solder/modify retro consoles.
What got you into romhacking in the first place? And how did you learn programming to accomplish these goals?
I got into romhacking from seeing modified hacks of Super Mario Bros. in the very early 2000’s.
Then I played a romhack of Mega Man II called Rockman Exile; that was when I decided I wanted to get into romhacking.
A romhacker by the name of kuja killer taught me how to code in 6502 assembly, and over the course of many years, users over at nesdev showed me more about how the NES operates, and now I’m at the point where I can write NES games, and modified current games to my liking.
I know it would take all day to list the many changes, but can you give us some of your favorite modifications you made to Super Mario Bros. 3?
the changes I’ve made are…
- 1st & 2nd player can select Mario, Luigi, Toad, Princess Toadstool, before any stage on the world map.
- Luigi, Toad, Princess Toadstool have unique abilities. Luigi can jump very high, big Toad can kick enemies/bricks/ice blocks, Princess can hover just like she does in SMB2.
- Can save your progress on the world map.
- Developed custom intro/ending cut scenes.
- Player 1 can share player 2’s inventory items on a 1 player game.
- Players can kick shells/white blocks/bob-ombs vertical, can even place them on the ground.
- Players can jump off of vines.
- Players can carry objects while climbing vines.
- Players can wall jump.
- Players can ground pound.
- Created new feature to the Hammer Suit, can dash through enemies and bricks while in shell form.
What’s next for you in terms of both personal projects or romhacks? Anything we should be keeping an eye out for?
At some point I’m looking to do my own SNES game, but will probably do some more special things for the SNES, before my own game.
I’m moving on from NES, and want to work on the SNES, especially after the success of my Mega Man IV port I released a year and a half ago.
Conclusions
Super Mario Bros. 3 is already thought of by many (including myself) as one of the best Mario games ever created.
And the level of improvements & growth from Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros. 3 was massive.
Well, infidelity managed to use the advantage of hindsight to curate some of the coolest improvements to be layered onto Super Mario Bros. 3.
For fans of the original, who have surely played it hundreds if not thousands of times – we now have a totally new way to experience it in Super Mario Bros. 3+.
With all of the recent Mario excitement, here’s one more thing to get your mind ready in anticipation of The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
If you’d like to check out SMB3+, head over to infidelity’s twitter account and start checking out his many posts about his work on the game. It’s a pretty fascinating read.
And of course, download the romhack and try it for yourself.
Anthony has been a video game lover ever since he can remember. He became a fulltime nomad in 2018, living throughout most of Asia. He focused his passion in retro gaming and began creating a game for the Game Boy Color while living in Nara, Japan during the 2020 pandemic. He is now in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he spends most of his time gaming, going on long walks and meeting as many stray dogs as possible.
