Super Mario Special 3

Super Mario Special 3
Super Mario Bros. 3 on the Game Boy Color? Cool idea, but horrible execution.
Genre(s): Platform Platform(s): Game Boy Color Release: 2000 Developer(s): Makon Soft Publisher(s): Makon Soft Country: China

Super Mario Special 3 is a bootleg platform game developed by Makon Soft in 2000 for the Game Boy Color. It is an unlicensed port of Super Mario Bros. 3.

A hack by the same company, Pokémon Diamond, was released in 2001.

Why It's Not Special

1. Despite being taken from Super Mario Bros. 3, the graphics are atrocious. While the sprites themselves aren't much of an issue, the main issue is the choice of colors. Only three colors were used for sprites, such as red, green and blue in levels 1-4, which is not a good mix. Not to mention, sometimes it can be seizure-inducing. Additionally, one of Mario's sprites was not even ripped correctly (which can be seen in the infobox), as the sprite features something weird on the back.
   • Some colors in the game's hack, Pokémon Diamond, are even worse, such as the bricks of yellow, maroon and dark green, which looks very ugly, even for a Game Boy Color game.
2. Horrible soundtrack that sounds like it was high pitched in an audio editing program. Most of the themes are way too loud and sometimes can even annoy the player very easily.
3. Absolutely horrendous and stiff controls. Sometimes, they stop responding even if you press a button, which can lead to cheap deaths. Not to mention, running is not applied for any button. Instead, Mario just goes faster after the left/right button on the D-pad is pressed, as the B button is only used for the super leaf. In most Mario games, there's a button applied for running and for using some power-ups, but in this game, we have Mario who moves faster whenever he feels like to.
4. There are no power-ups besides the mushroom and the super leaf. Surprisingly, the super leaf is almost useless, as you cannot even fly up in it, nor hit the enemies with it. Instead, it is used only for falling down slower.
5. Lots of bugs. Sometimes stomping an enemy can make them float in mid-air, you can pass through boomerang bros sometiemes, and you can even fall through the ground if you touch a block. In level 4, instead of a mushroom that ends the level, there's a super leaf, making the 4th level impossible to complete. Additionally, sometimes the game crashes after you complete a level for no reason.
6. The note blocks are pointless in this game. In the original Super Mario Bros. 3 and other Mario games, the note blocks are used to jump higher, similar to springs, but in this game, they are instead just regular blocks.
7. The ending screen is rather mediocre. It just shows two Raccoon Marios on an orange background with the words "THE END".
8. The game is way too short. There are only 5 levels in the game and each stage if you skip level 4 can be beaten in less than 15 minutes.
9. You cannot interact with the hammer bro on the map. Instead, you can only select any of the five levels, which makes the hammer bro completely pointless to even be included on the map.
10. The game's hack, Pokémon Diamond, starts on level 4, which makes the game impossible to beat unless a cheating device is used, due to the non-functional end block not being fixed.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The "Special" icon on the title screen looks fine.
2. Level 5 features a nice-looking enemy, although it functions like roto-discs.

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