I dunno: I think SMB 3 gets plenty of plaudits and is widely agreed to be the best SMB on the NES.

Frankly, all three of the NES games hold up well even today, but 3 is for me the pinnacle even though very late in the life of the console, particularly in North America and Europe. This wouldn’t have helped sales with the SNES about to drop but it nevertheless was very successful.

Absolutely one of the greats.