Upon its 1990 NES release, Super Mario Bros. 3 flew in on the P-wings of critical raves, intense popular demand, and the most sophisticated marketing campaign Nintendo of America had ever attempted. Shigeru Miyamoto's ultimate 8-bit platformer lived up to all the hype and elevated Mario from mascot to icon. But what exactly made this game the phenomenon it was?

With the help of her friends and family, critics inside and outside the realm of gaming, and former Nintendo of America employees, Alyse Knorr traverses the Mushroom World looking for answers. Along the way, Knorr unearths SMB3's connections to theater and Japanese folklore, investigates her own princess-rescuing impulses, and examines how the game's animal costumes, themed worlds, tight controls, goofy enemies, and memorable music cohere in a game that solidified Mario's conquest of the NES era.

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Alyse Knorr is an associate professor of English at Regis University and the co-editor of Switchback Books. She is the author of the 2023 Boss Fight book, GoldenEye 007, as well as the poetry collections Mega-City Redux, Copper Mother, and Annotated Glass.

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"Alyse Knorr has written a wonderful book about Super Mario Bros 3, and even if the reader has never played the game they will be charmed, delighted, and intellectually stimulated. Knorr’s work has given me new understanding and appreciation of the game because of how passionate she is about video games.  I can’t wait to reread this book." - Joshua "Jammer" Smith

"10/10 – Fun and informative, but also humbly moving. For me, the strongest of the Boss Fight Books, and as good a piece of writing on video games as anything I’ve read so far!" - The Bookwarm Mage in The Pixels

"Unlike typical university lectures, this book won't bore you. Like a good game designer, Alyse intertwines information-rich parts of the book with her own stories from childhood, making the book fun to read." - Khud0

"Super Mario Bros. 3 is worth a look, especially if that mustachioed plumber holds a place of reverence in your own nostalgic heart." - ZAM

"It really opened me up to a different way of considering the game. [...] a fascinating exploration of a game that is the root of nearly every game since." - Eric's Binary World

Named one of Dennis Cooper's Favorite Nonfiction Books of 2016

"Knorr’s writing is so pleasant, her stories are so heartwarming and engaging, and her persepctive so refreshing, that it seems obvious that I have to recommend this book." - Derpy Calamity

Excerpt: Kotaku

More Reviews: Goodreads