I still had a bit of time to kill before bed, so I figured I’d celebrate the release of Super Mario Galaxy (though I haven’t picked it up yet) by playing a bit of Super Mario Bros 3 via the ol’ GBA cartridge.

I last left off partway through World 3, and it didn’t take long before I remembered why — World 3-4 was a royal pain in the ass for me. Either the flying goomba or the Lakitu just past that would inevitably finish me off; SMB3 was a lot less forgiving about the temporary invulnerability you’d get after taking a hit, so I’d often die even if I was big when I’d take a jump only to hit a thrown spiny and then hit Lakitu himself a second later.

Tonight though, after failing 3-4 a handful of times, I was about to try 3-5 instead as an alternate path, but actually managed to beat 3-4 for once. The rest of the world was much easier, and now my game is saved right at the start of World 4.