Super Mario Bros. 3/Version differences

Level intro
In the Japanese version, a fade-in starts when the level appears, similar to the fade-out that normally occurs when you enter a level. This fade-in was cut out for the American version, which reduces the wait time by around one second per level.

Damage system
In the Japanese version, when you are hurt and not Small Mario, you always return all the way back to Small Mario. Apparently this was deemed too hard for the American audience, so it was changed: Anything above Super Mario reverts only to Super Mario when hit, then to Small Mario.

Visual effects


When you are Frog, Tanooki, or Hammer Bros. Mario and get hit in the Japanese version, the suit flies off and makes a "bloop" sound effect. This was removed for the American version, but was reinstated in all subsequent re-releases.



If you wear Kuribo's Shoe and get hit, it flies off just like in the American version, but in the Japanese version the shoe gets a red tint as well. On top of that, you also reverted to Small Mario when you were hit while in a Kuribo's Shoe, while in the American version you leave the shoe unharmed.

World 1 Fortress
The spike room of the World 1 Fortress was changed. The spikes no longer continue past the door, and the gap is now right where the door is. This made the part slightly easier.

King's chamber
The king's chamber underwent a remake in the American version. The cyan stairs and throne were changed to a more royal-looking gold, and the stairs were lengthened slightly. The orientation of the room was also changed. This led to the removal of the middle pillar, the mirroring of the shadows, the changing of the triangles in the background and the moving of the back pillar to the front of the stairs. Finally, Mario stands in front of the stairs, instead of on the left side of the screen.

World 5-1
In the Japanese version, 5-1 ends in a pipe which you have to enter to get to the final area. In the American version, the pipe was removed and the level leads seamlessly into the black area. This was done to fix a weird bug that happened if you used a P-Wing to fly over the blue structure at the final area (see below).

Battleship level
While the liquid in the battleship level may look like hot lava, it is actually perfectly fine to swim in. In the Japanese version, if you were to swim all the way to the end behind the last ship, you would be stuck, as the ship is too high for you to jump to, and due to the auto-scrolling nature of the level, you cannot swim back to get up. This was fixed in the American version by removing one tile.

Curtain Speed
After the curtains close, it takes a moment longer for the curtains to rise again during the Japanese ending.

28 P-Wings
In International builds of the game, pressing a button after the ending sequence will refresh to the title screen, whereupon starting a new game will give the player a full item bank of P-Wings. In the original Japanese release, this feature was not included and the game will remain on the final screen until the Famicom is turned off.

Card Game
One of the most famous differences between the two American versions. PRG0 is obviously grammatically wrong, as it should say Miss twice and you're out!. As there is no more space in the text box to do that, the PRG1 version simply reworded the sentence to fit it in. The Super Mario All-Stars version uses the PRG0 text.

Princess's letter
In PRG0, the Princess talks about the Kuribo's Shoe. In the PRG1 version, it was renamed to Goomba's Shoe. This however was a bad choice, as the item is called Kuribo's Shoe in the game manual and practically everywhere else.

Bowser's letter
In the European version, the author of the letter has been inexplicably altered to "Koopa Troopa".

Area names
The credits show the area names as well as some unique sprites. While PRG0 uses unique names, PRG1 changed them to generic XXX Land names.

The first set of names are also used for the Japanese version (except for Castle of Koopa, which uses the earlier romanization of "Kuppa"). In remakes, Ocean Side was changed to Sea Side, and World 8 became "Bowser's Castle" in English versions of Super Mario Advance 4.

Bugfixes
Some bugs were fixed in the American version:


 * In the Japanese version, World 5-1 has a different layout. If you use a P-Wing and then, in the final area, fly over the blue structure to your left, you'll actually trigger the treasure chest of the World 5-1 bonus room. Then, if you touch the Roulette Block, the treasure chest from the aforementioned bonus room will appear, and if you touch the Roulette Block just right, it will appear on the right side so Mario collects it while he walks off the screen. This will cause the graphics of the Course Clear message to be all glitched up. This bug was fixed in the American version by rearranging the level so the blue structure is no longer there.
 * In World 3, if you used a Warp Whistle while in the canoe, you could go off to the left and leave the Warp Zone map. However, you cannot get back and are stuck there unless you have another Warp Whistle. This was fixed in the American version.