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.

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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!