NES Why did Super Mario Bros. 3 take so long to reach overseas?

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Obviously, there was the Mario 2 debacle, but is there any reason for Mario 3 not to have released in 1989? Is it perhaps the chip shortage from the late 80’s? Is it oversaturation of the Mario brand at the time?

And what of the PAL release? It came in 1991, more than a year after the NA release. What would have needed to be changed to make the game playable in those regions? Of course, the first game came to PAL regions in 1987, but what would stop them from brining things over sooner?

 

[Bakuma1997]

Maybe they took the wrong warp pipe in Albuquerque

Jokes aside according to TV Tropes' Trivia page on the game, it did was the case of both the chip shortage and wanting to give Mario a waiting room, apparently they wanting to keep it a surprise for The Wizard movie's big twist

 

[RestoredaftrLostv2]

Multiple Reasons. Even the original Dragon Quest/Warriors took over 3 years to be released...

One infamous reason was that Nintendo wouldn't allow companies to release no more than 3 games a YEAR, so Konami made the ULTRA brand.

 

[Jeff]

Four reasons. 1. Nintendo of America wanted to put some Quality of life in the game such as not to shrink to regular Mario after getting hit, translate all the text, and have all the US players to get to know more about Nintendo.

2. Localization from the Japan to the US were brutal in the 80s because there were less translations for US to translate Japanese which Japan has three (Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana), and the US has different hardware than Japan

3. Nintendo of America wanted to keep a secret from their fans, so they ask Universal to make a commercial tie-in movie to advertise the games and the reveal of Super Mario 3 known as The Wizard or aka, The Super Mario Bros. 3 Nintendo Direct. Finally, McDonalds wanted to join the marketing bandwagon with Nintendo to release a Mario 3 Happy Meal set for the release of the game.


So to answer the question, it's because of Localization issues and Marketing.

 

[χKai]

Hey, it's not that bad; it's nice to not go back to small Mario after one hit, and I kinda like having the game in English!

You know there's much larger gaps in sequel releases right? If not I could share with you some.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Hey, it's not that bad; it's nice to not go back to small Mario after one hit, and I kinda like having the game in English!

You know there's much larger gaps in sequel releases right? If not I could share with you some.

*grimaces in Final Fantasy III*

 

[χKai]

*grimaces in Final Fantasy III*

Only a year and a half there.
Think, kid, think! Us old folks have been stuck with Double Dragon III being the latest in the series for over 20 years!

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Only a year and a half there.
Think, kid, think! Us old folks have been stuck with Double Dragon III being the latest in the series for over 20 years!

No, I’m thinking about how FFIII didn’t get an official English release until the DS game. A 16 year wait.

Technically, we’ve never gotten an official Famicom translation. The closest we’ve gotten is the HD-2D remake.

Of course, we have the far better game, Final Fantasy III*

Which, yeah. You’re right. FFVI took only a little bit to get over here. But the Famicom game is still a question mark in the west in regards to official releases.

Post automatically merged: Friday at 7:45 PM

Also, yeah. Double Dragon. Pain.
Gotta love confusing naming conventions, wild genre changes, and constant changes in series ownership. Even fans of Gimmick and Hebereke got modern releases and new games, and those series are only known about by Famicom diehards!

 

[χKai]

No, I’m thinking about how FFIII didn’t get an official English release until the DS game. A 16 year wait.

Technically, we’ve never gotten an official Famicom translation. The closest we’ve gotten is the HD-2D remake.

Oh you mean actual III. Yeah, that doesn't really fit the formula here; the game was released, but only in Japan, it's not like a lot of these games that have decades between sequels while fans wait eagerly for over 10 years.

Of course, we have the far better game, Final Fantasy III*
View attachment 127481
Which, yeah. You’re right. FFVI took only a little bit to get over here. But the Famicom game is still a question mark in the west in regards to official releases.

Post automatically merged: Friday at 7:45 PM

Also, yeah. Double Dragon. Pain.
Gotta love confusing naming conventions, wild genre changes, and constant changes in series ownership. Even fans of Gimmick and Hebereke got modern releases and new games, and those series are only known about by Famicom diehards!

Sugoi Hebereke in the Nintendo Online service has been the best decision I've seen Nintendo make in over 25 years.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Sugoi Hebereke in the Nintendo Online service has been the best decision I've seen Nintendo make in over 25 years.

Oh, 100% agree! I was super happy to see it around, since it’s a cute and fun game that always deserved to be available to many people!

As for NES games that have a long distance between releases, I have my ultimate example:

Xevious. 1984 in Japan. It didn’t hit it off in the west, but it still did okay. At max, it should be a 1986 game and be in the first year of the NES’ wide release.

1988.
In PAL regions, it was 1989, over a year after the U.S. release.

WHAT. THE HELL?
What do you even need to translate?? Its XEVIOUS! The only reason I can envision this taking so long is Nintendo of America’s crappy business practice of limiting yearly game releases. If you’re Namco, using Bandai to release your games in the states, with Xevious’ lack of western hyper popularity in consideration, I can imagine it taking a bit for it to come over. But if you’re going to release it THAT LATE…?

 

[χKai]

Oh, 100% agree! I was super happy to see it around, since it’s a cute and fun game that always deserved to be available to many people!

As for NES games that have a long distance between releases, I have my ultimate example:View attachment 127488
Xevious. 1984 in Japan. It didn’t hit it off in the west, but it still did okay. At max, it should be a 1986 game and be in the first year of the NES’ wide release.View attachment 127489
1988.
In PAL regions, it was 1989, over a year after the U.S. release.

WHAT. THE HELL?
What do you even need to translate?? Its XEVIOUS! The only reason I can envision this taking so long is Nintendo of America’s crappy business practice of limiting yearly game releases. If you’re Namco, using Bandai to release your games in the states, with Xevious’ lack of western hyper popularity in consideration, I can imagine it taking a bit for it to come over. But if you’re going to release it THAT LATE…?

It's weird how some things will be absurdly popular in Japan, and then they're surprised when American audiences don't have s8milar enthusiasm for the thing. I have seen too many times where a game is super popular in Japan only to have very few fans outside the country. Conversely, all the anime-themed games and RPGs that could have actually done really well in the states. I know they didn't consider Western audiences to appreciate anime, but there have always been American fans of the genre. If they'd just learn to start out slow with production, and produce more to meet supply and demand, they wouldn't make such horrible video game business decisions, instead of..
Oh! This series is popular AF in Japan, let's translate to English and produce 100,000 copies to send statewide!
Like dude come on. Start small and see if people like the product, test the waters some before you jump right in.

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

Maybe it was because of the PAL format for TVs?

On a side note SMB3 is a masterpiece so even when it released later it shouldn't shy from Mario World nor even Genesis' platformers from later.

 

[TamagotchiTamaHero24's icon TamagotchiTamaHero24 TamagotchiTamaHero24]

Maybe it was because of the PAL format for TVs?

On a side note SMB3 is a masterpiece so even when it released later it shouldn't shy from Mario World nor even Genesis' platformers from later.

In all territories, it really laid the land for the “late life” NES/Famicom experience. It would even become a bundle game in NES bundles released after the 1991 holiday season.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

It's weird how some things will be absurdly popular in Japan, and then they're surprised when American audiences don't have s8milar enthusiasm for the thing. I have seen too many times where a game is super popular in Japan only to have very few fans outside the country. Conversely, all the anime-themed games and RPGs that could have actually done really well in the states. I know they didn't consider Western audiences to appreciate anime, but there have always been American fans of the genre. If they'd just learn to start out slow with production, and produce more to meet supply and demand, they wouldn't make such horrible video game business decisions, instead of..
Oh! This series is popular AF in Japan, let's translate to English and produce 100,000 copies to send statewide!
Like dude come on. Start small and see if people like the product, test the waters some before you jump right in.

You know, for years I was unimpressed with Mario 3 for being a late famicom release

1990ish? There were games much more tecnically impressive around then , like Gun Dec or megami tensei 2; but then I found out it was 1988! That really put it into perspective

I know about xevious in the states, man that totally killed any understanding how much it means to the genre outside of japan; it mustve just looked like a very basic shooting game

I think dragon quest 3 also went from 1988 to 1990 in the states, unfortunate

 

[Ikagura Ikagura]

I know about xevious in the states, man that totally killed any understanding how much it means to the genre outside of japan; it mustve just looked like a very basic shooting game

I do agree that Xevious looks really antiquated when it came in the west. It's like releasing Space Invaders in 1981 when Galaxian and Galaga already were out.

 

[TechBlisSTer]

and the US has different hardware than Japan

Some of our first games were famicom pcbs slapped into a 60 to 72 pin adapter inside our NES cartridges. The only hardware differences were purposeful regional differences.