As a kid, my only experience with Super Mario Bros. 3 was the SNES remake in Super Mario All-Stars. It was a great game, and that version had a save after each world cleared. I remember playing it a lot, but also having pause breaks, and saving the game to play again the next day.

However, after discovering the NES version, I found out it had no save feature. I always thought this game would be very hard for me as a kid. I would have to play for very long sessions, since the game has tons of levels, even if you count the shortest route (without warp whistles). This game can take over 2 hours to beat, and to think you can lose all your progress by turning off the consoles looks not fun at all.

Do you guys think this game would benefit from a save feature? Or a password system? Os it is fine the way it is?

I played it on Switch with save anywhere and instant replay features. Made the play through pleasant and breezy.

Beat it in one sitting

jk

Yeah the NSO version (or emulated) makes it easy to play but it really needed a save system like Super Mario World.

So...

I used this image to try to find the shortest route from start to finish. Assuming you don't use any warp whistles, hammers or clouds, excluding hammer bros. and piranha plants, it looks like you must play through 72 levels.

Remember that after losing a life in a Koopaling battle, it makes the airship fly through the map, and sometimes if it stops in a locked path, you must play through the level blocking it.

Getting a game over undoes every level in the current world (However, if you beat a fortress, you get a shortcut, but it still makes you play a couple of levels again).

Yeah, this game was quite something.

I used to play through it a pretty decent amount as a kid. Then again, I did leave my Nintendo on overnight in order to keep playing so maybe you’re onto something.

It would have been great to have a save feature back then. But the game did have warping, so it was doable in a short period of time. Essentially, people played games a lot more because:
1. If you were a kid back then, you likely didn’t have a thriving career.
2. Games were much more expensive back then. Factoring inflation, they were the equivalent of about 120 to 200 USD, depending on where you purchased them.

So players got REALLY good at those games to the point of going through the levels were as much about memory as skill, if not more about memory.

No, part of the challange is to beat it in one sitting.

Retroarch solves this problem.

Yes.

It probably could have, but it never really dawned on me back in the day and playing the game lol.