**********##########**********##########**********##########********** # Super Mario World - FAQ v1.0 # **********##########**********##########**********##########********** Produced by Jon Thomson (edgeleypark#hotmail.com.invalid), (c) 2002 Table Of Contents 1) Version History 2) Introduction 3) Walkthrough 4) Credits *** Section 1 - Version History *** v1.0 - Full release of FAQ, with complete walkthrough, brief FAQ section. (4/9/02) v0.1 - Pre-release of FAQ, intended as a guide to getting 96 exits and nothing else. Not accepted to GameFAQs. (10/8/02) ################################### **** Section 2 - Introduction ***** There are already FAQs out there for this game, but frequent questions are still asked on the SMW message board. Maybe people just don't bother to read them, or maybe they're missing something out. Either way, I thought I'd create a FAQ. While this is a great game, it's flawed in that it's too easy. It's simply too easy to get dozens of lives. Pretty much every level gives up the opportunity to get more than one life, through the Yoshi coins, standard extra life, the "hit the three blocks in the correct order" bonus room which pops up even in castles. The 100 stars bonus game and Top Secret Area merely compound matters. And as for levels like Vanilla Secret 2 and Choco Island 4, they're just giving a license to get as many lives as you like. The cape is also far too powerful. Unlike in Super Mario 3 on the NES, it's possible to fly through whole levels in one go. All these add up to SMB3 being in my .sig under the "Greatest Games Ever" category, but not SMW. There's also less levels than its NES counterpart, 68 compared to 90. In my eyes, the Switch Palaces shouldn't count as levels, even though they count as goals. There are 96 *goals*, not levels. Some quick pointers - once you've completed a difficult level, go back to Donut Ghost House and complete that to save. Pressing L and R together when over a completed castle or fortress will allow you to play it again. Collecting 100 stars in total from end of level tapes takes you to a bonus round, where you can gain up to 8 lives. Just hit the blocks and keep a steady rhythm to keep getting the same icon. Having a cape in this hinders you slightly. If you are about to die in a level you've already completed (for example if you have the regular exit and are going back to get the key exit), pressing start then select will allow you to quit and not die. I'm assuming you've taken the time to read the manual and that you know what the buttons do. If not, practice on the easier Yoshi's Island levels until you're comfortable. Practice flying in the Donut Plains 1 coin room (this is the first level where you get the cape, and it conveniently gives you a generous coin room to test it out in). Answers to some frequently asked questions - for quick reference, the switch palaces are in Yoshi's Island (yellow, after YI1), Donut Plains (green, after DP2), Vanilla Dome (red, after VD2) and the Forest Of Illusion (blue, after FI2). You can only get 96 goals. There is no 97. If you think you've got 96 and your file doesn't show 96, you've missed something out. Most frequently, you'll have forgotten to do both exits to all the Star World levels, or forgotten to do both the key exits to Forest 1 and Forest Ghost House. Your map might look complete, but the exits to these levels will redraw paths you've already got. More infrequently, you might have missed Soda Lake, Donut Secret 2 or Choco Secret or the key exit to Valley Ghost House. ***** Section 3 - Walkthrough ***** The guide will show you the way I would try to complete the game and get all 96 goals. SMW is very non-linear, and although it is possible to complete the game only doing about 11 levels (YI2, YI3, YI4, IC, DP1, DS1, DSH, SW1, SW2, SW3, SW4 and then the front door), it's not as much fun that way. You might decide to do the Star World at a different time to me, probably earlier. That's OK, but I don't see the point unless we're trying to shoot ahead and finish the game. I only bother trying to do the Star World once I can use it as a short cut to get back to the Top Secret Area from the Forest and beyond. Having completed the Forest also means I'll have hit all of the switches as well, making getting some of the key exits a bit easier. On the maps, a symbol of xxx means that the map will pan out to elsewhere when you take that path. I'd like to do one big map but my ASCII art isn't great. And a * next to a level indicates a save point. ========= Yoshi's Island ========== xxx | | IC*-- YSP* | | YI4 | | xxx YI3-- | | | | YI1---YH---YI2 Key: YH = Yoshi's House YI1 = Yoshi's Island 1 YI2 = Yoshi's Island 2 YI3 = Yoshi's Island 3 YI4 = Yoshi's Island 4 YSP = Yellow Switch Palace IC = Iggy's Castle ========== Yoshi's House Left to - Yoshi's Island 1 Right to - Yoshi's Island 2 Nothing of any real use here. Eat the berries with Yoshi if you're bored. Yoshi's Island 1 (1 goal, 1 total) Up to - Yellow Switch Palace Right to - Yoshi's House Nice easy start to the game. The first flying block has a power up in it. One of the bushes also contains a mushroom if you run through it. Spin jump to break the blocks and go down the pipe to collect the third Yoshi coin. The fifth and subsequent Yoshi coins collected in each level get you an extra life. Hit the half way tape to start from there if you die (this will make you Super Mario if you are not big already). Throw the Koopa shell at the block above it for an extra life. The next ? block has another power up. Yellow Switch Palace (1 goal, 2 total) Hit the P, collect the coins. More easy lives. Go through the pipe and hit the big switch. Save your game. From now on, all yellow dotted blocks will now be filled in, and can be hit for mushrooms. Yoshi's Island 2 (1 goal, 3 total) Up to - Yoshi's Island 3 Left to - Yoshi's House Pick up the shell and knock over all the Koopas for an extra life. The fourth ? block contains Yoshi. The second ? block after the half way tape contains another Yoshi. Note that if you already have Yoshi, this will give you an extra life. A regular block soon after will reveal a vine to climb to get the fourth Yoshi coin. Hit the P switch near the end of the level to create a platform to make getting lots of stars easier. Yoshi's Island 3 (1 goal, 4 total) Right to - Yoshi's Island 4 Down to - Yoshi's Island 2 The second ? block has a Yoshi inside. After you see a blue Koopa, spin round with the next lift to see a pipe, leading to another Yoshi coin. The second ? block after the tape has a power up. With the Yellow Switch hit, there's nothing difficult about this level. Yoshi's Island 4 (1 goal, 5 total) Up to - Iggy's Castle Down to - Yoshi's Island 3 The first ? block has a power up. The blue pipe leads to a secret area, but keep going until you collect the third Yoshi coin and then go back to it. Hit the P, then get the star from the block. Run along and hit all the enemies and you should be able to pick up around three extra lives. Iggy's Castle (1 goal, 6 total) Up to - Donut Plains 1 Right to - Yoshi's Island 4 Kill all the Koopas you see. You should start collecting extra lives by the time you pass the little lava pit with the fireball, unless you did something silly like hit the P or touch the floor for any reason. There's seven easy lives here. Ignore the tape (if you die you want to be able to get the lives again). Go through the door. There's a power up in the flying block. Don't do anything silly with the mallets and get to the red door to face Iggy. Jump on him and he'll go downhill. Knock him in the lava to win. After completing this level, save the game and you should have around 30 lives, a lot more if you died in the castle and got to get the lives again. This should do you until the end of the game, so let's continue to Donut Plains. ========== Donut Plains =========== TSA | | ----DGH*----DP3--- xxx | | | | | | | | DP4--MC* GSP*--DP2 DS1--- | | | | --P2 | | | ----DP1 DSH*--P1 | | xxx S1 Key: DP1 = Donut Plains 1 DP2 = Dount Plains 2 DGH = Donut Ghost House DP3 = Donut Plains 3 DP4 = Donut Plains 4 DS1 = Donut Secret 1 DSH = Donut Secret House P1 = Pipe 1 P2 = Pipe 2 S1 = Star Road 1 GSP = Green Switch Palace TSA = Top Secret Area MC = Morton's Castle ========== Donut Plains 1 (2 goals, 8 total) Left to - Donut Plains 2 Up to - Donut Secret 1 Down to - Iggy's Castle Jump on any of the flying Koopas with a flashing cape to win that cape. The upside down blue pipe (above some yellow ! blocks) leads to a bonus room. When you leave, the pipe next to where you come out leads to another bonus room with lots of coins. Practice your flying here and collect some more lives. When you leave this room, track back for the half way tape. The first bush after the tape holds a mushroom. The first block after the pipe mentioned earlier holds Yoshi. The fourth regular block after Yoshi holds a vine leading to a Yoshi coin. The regular exit is shortly ahead. To get to the key exit, you need to head up the green dotted blocks once they have been filled in. You can fly up now, or take the easy route once we've hit the green switch in a couple of levels time. Donut Plains 2 (2 goals, 10 total) Up to - Donut Ghost House Left to - Green Switch Palace Down to - Donut Plains 1 This level is an auto-scroller, similar to the second part of Iggy's Castle. As such, it's really annoying as you can't rush through it. The second ? block has a power up. The ? before the sandbank dropping from the ceiling has a power up, the one after it sometimes has multiple coins. You can go up the second green pipe to a bonus room. You will see four regular blocks, hit the highest one to release a vine which you can climb to get the key exit to the switch palace. Use the koopa shell if necessary (which is blue, so if you have Yoshi you can fly up). Otherwise, head to the pipe for the regular exit. This is quicker than doing the level the normal way. Green Switch Palace (1 goal, 11 total) Right to - Donut Plains 2 Hit the P, grab the Koopa shell and kick it left from the platform. Follow it right and get an extra life with a bit of luck. Go and hit the switch. All the green ! blocks hold feathers. Donut Ghost House (2 goals, 13 total) Right to - Donut Plains 3 Up to - Top Secret Area Left to - Donut Plains 2 Down to - Donut Secret 1 Bring a cape to this level. Note that you will leave Yoshi outside, probably because he/she/it's scared. Head to the first pit, run left and fly up. Run along the platform all the way to the end and drop down for 4 lives and the exit to the Top Secret Area. Otherwise, run along and go through the first two doors. Hit the block you see for a P switch. This is a red herring, you can go through the blue door it creates to the left for some coins if you like, otherwise go through the regular door AGAIN and hit the same block for a vine for the exit. Top Secret Area Down to - Donut Ghost House Middle block is Yoshi, left two are flowers, right two are capes. By this stage you should have 11 goals (or 12 if you went back and got the Donut 1 secret exit), over 40 lives and a nice easy way to save the game. We have a choice of paths now, we can either go and clear the Donut Plains levels up to Morton's Castle, or clear the Donut Secret levels. Just so we don't miss out anything (and gain access to the Star Road), we'll clear the secret levels first. Donut Secret 1 (2 goals, 15 total) Up to - Donut Ghost House Right to - Donut Secret House Down to - Donut Plains 1 The third ? block holds a power up. The pipe leads to a bonus room. Go up and left with the balloon for another balloon. The second block holds an extra life. Grab the life and the Yoshi coin and drop down the right hand side for a power up. The ? block as you come out holds a power up. To get the secret exit, carry the P block along until you see the keyhole. Hit the switch and then hit the ? block which was blocked for the key. Otherwise, carry on, going as high as possible shortly after (you'll see a tiny gap) for a possible sixth Yoshi coin. Donut Secret House (2 goals, 17 total) Down to - Star Road 1 Right to - Pipe 1 Up to - Donut Secret 1 The first section is pretty obvious. The block below the door that you can't reach right now holds an extra life, to get it you need to go through the "floating door" in the next area, then take the left exit. Grab the P switch and go back to the "floating door" area. Hit the P. Go through the blue door you see (assuming, of course, you grabbed the coins) for the regular exit, otherwise hit the block above the floating door for a vine. Quickly climb it and run along for another blue door to face Big Boo! Grab the blocks and lob them at him. He reappears in fixed positions (you can see him move anyway) so this isn't difficult. Just don't do anything daft like falling through the floor. Donut Secret 2 (1 goal, 18 total) Right to - Pipe 2 Down to - Pipe 1 This isn't on the map presented above, it's in the Valley of Bowser. The level is icy but pretty straight forward. The block on the floor holds a coin chain. Direct it and collect lots of coins. The block above the spring holds a vine leading to a star. Grab it and hit lots of things for points. I don't think a 1-up is on here. The green pipe leads to a secret room. Nip backwards after you leave it for the final Yoshi coin. Jump on all the Koopas at the end for an extra life. Pipe 2 will lead you back to Donut Plains 3 where we continue. Donut Plains 3 (1 goal, 19 total) Right to - Donut Plains 4 Down to - Pipe 2 Left to - Donut Ghost House Spin through the regular blocks to reveal a vine, leading to a Yoshi coin. Go back down and while on the lift, hit the switches to change direction. The elevated yellow pipe leads to a bonus room. Head back after leaving it to claim the fifth Yoshi coin. The end isn't far ahead. Donut Plains 4 (1 goal, 20 total) Right to - Morton's Castle Up to - Donut Plains 3 Kill the small Koopa before he gets in his shell, as the shell will become invincible unless you spin jump it. The blue pipe leads to a rather dull secret room. To kill the Hammer Brother, hit his platform from below. Kick a Koopa to the right on the hill off the brick to get an extra life if you're lucky. The second ? block in that section has a power up. The next blue pipe leads to another bonus room. The block after the half way tape holds Yoshi. When you reach the block where you can choose a power up, get the star and leg it to the right, hitting everything. You should get a couple of lives at least. Morton's Castle (1 goal, 21 total) Up to - Vanilla Dome 1 Left to - Donut Plains 4 At the start, you'll see a gap in the ceiling. Fly up there for a bonus room. You may need to run about a bit to get the Thwimps to go away to get a clear run up. Otherwise, just carry on until you get to a stony bit with moving platforms. You need to get to the top of this to face Morton. The fourth regular block in a row of five half way up conceals a vine which you can climb to get an invisible 1-up. Killing Morton is easy, just jump him three times. Be quick, or he'll climb the walls and drop on you from the ceiling. If he does that, jump out of the way and float down onto him (you did get that curiously placed feather right by the red door didn't you?) to hit him. Nothing too difficult, and castle 2 is out of the way. You're now almost a quarter done, and should have over 70 lives, even if you do lose silly lives on Donut 4 while preparing this guide. Even if you don't, by the time you get Vanilla Dome done, you'll have 99 really easily. Is this a design flaw? Probably. == Vanilla Dome and Bridge Area === P3 VGH*------ | P3--VS2--VS3--VF*--BB1--BB2--LuC*-- | | | | | | | | VD3 | ---CBA----CM | xxx S2--VS1 VD2-- | | | | | | | | | VD4 | P4 | --------- | | | | | SL --VD1-- RSP* LeC* | S3 | | | | | | xxx P4---- | ----- Key: VD1 = Vanilla Dome 1 VD2 = Vanilla Dome 2 VGH = Vanilla Ghost House VD3 = Vanilla Dome 3 VD4 = Vanilla Dome 4 RSP = Red Switch Palace VS1 = Vanilla Secret 1 S2 = Star Road 2 P3 = Pipe 3 LeC = Lemmy's Castle P4 = Pipe 4 VS2 = Vanilla Secret 2 VS3 = Vanilla Secret 3 VF = Vanilla Fortress BB1 = Butter Bridge 1 BB2 = Butter Bridge 2 CBA = Cheese Bridge Area SL = Soda Lake S3 = Star Road 3 CM = Cookie Mountain LuC = Ludwig's Castle ========== I've decided to group these two worlds together as it makes mapping easier - after Vanilla Dome 1, there are two distinct paths to Ludwig, one via Lemmy and one via the fortress. Also, just having a map of the bridge areas looks a bit daft without the later Vanilla Secret levels on. To make things absolutely clear, the map on the left is INSIDE the dome, the map on the right is OUTSIDE. ========== Vanilla Dome 1 (2 goals, 23 total) Right to - Vanilla Dome 2 Left to - Vanilla Secret 1 Down to - Morton's Castle The first couple of ? blocks you see contain power ups. You will see a large number of regular blocks ahead, in the third "compartment" there is a power up in the second block from the left in the top row. There is a Yoshi coin nearby if you still can't find it. The block one to the right of the orange pipe has an extra life in. The block on the floor by the red dotted blocks holds a power up. The block in the sky which you probably can't reach now holds a vine which leads to the key exit. With Yoshi you can probably jump off in mid air and get up, but we hit the red switch in a couple of levels' time anyway. When you get the star, you can run along and hit all the enemies for an extra life, but you have to hit the koopa quickly or you'll end up in the lava. Having a cape helps here. In the next area the block after the Yoshi coin has a power up inside. Vanilla Dome 2 (2 goals, 25 total) Up to - Vanilla Ghost House Right to - Red Switch Palace Down to - Vanilla Dome 1 The second block from the left holds a power up. Make a mental note of the 3x3 block structure as you get the first Yoshi coin. The key to the Red Switch Palace is down there. Carry on and jump out of the water at the extreme left where you see three ? blocks to get an extra life. The block on the right of those three holds a power up as well. Continue and the next ? block holds a power up. Get out of the water and go left. Carry the P switch as far left as you can, grabbing the power up if you need it. Hit the switch and go through that 3x3 structure I mentioned earlier, which will now be coins. The key and keyhole are both down there. For the normal exit, go right where you left the water for the halfway tape. Get the star and run right hitting everything for lots of lives. Red Switch Palace (1 goal, 26 total) Up to - Vanilla Dome 2 Let the koopa get in the shell and become invincible. Hit the P and goad the shell to the right by walking along the platforms, hitting the other koopas as it goes and earning you an extra life. Try to trap the koopa between the last two coins as the P wears off so it doesn't get in the way of you getting in the pipe. Hit the switch and save the game. My method now clears up to Vanilla Fortress, but it makes sense to clear the ghost house, as it's a recognised save point. The way you go now until Ludwig is up to you, this is simply my preferred method. Vanilla Ghost House (1 goal, 27 total) Right to - Vanilla Dome 3 Down to - Vanilla Dome 2 The first block holds a power up. A block in the bottom row of the two where you meet Big Boo holds a vine to a Yoshi coin. There's a gap in the row above it which only gives you a couple to choose from. If you stay on the ground, the next ? block holds a power up. To get past the green ball things, spin jump off them. The middle block of the 3 holds the P switch you will need. Take it right, remove the 5 coins in a door shape, hit the switch and go through the door. Vanilla Secret 1 (2 goals, 29 total) Up to - Pipe 3 Left to - Star Road 2 Down to - Vanilla Dome 1 To get past the first bit, head to the right and find the vines. For the secret exit, get to where you have to springboard past the koopas, and fly up and left to a pipe. It's easier to get if you've hit the blue switch as there are a couple of blocks which you can put the springboard on, but that means coming back from the Forest. There's a power up to the right of the springboard in the rightmost block which will let you get hit when going through the koopas if you are taking the normal exit. Use the next springboard and jump around to get the final two Yoshi coins. Vanilla Secret 2 (1 goal, 30 total) Right to - Vanilla Secret 3 Left to - Pipe 3 The first ? block holds Yoshi who is incredibly helpful for negotiating your way past the koopas. Just swallow and spit out rapidly. Go past the tape until you see Lakitu in a pipe and some note blocks. The third note block holds a power up. Grab that, and let Lakitu throw out a couple of Spinys, preferably to the right. DO NOT KILL LAKITU! Keep going until you see lots of Spinys in a pit. Hit the second regular block you see for a silver P. Hit this and all the Spinys will turn to silver coins. Grab the lot and you will get three lives, run left and kill anything that moves for lots of 3-ups. The green pipe guarded by Lakitu holds a Yoshi coin and will launch you past the Chuck that splits into three. You'll still only have 4 Yoshi coins, the fifth is in the sky near the start of the level. It's not worth getting it, considering you'll have picked up over 10 lives in this level anyway. Vanilla Secret 3 (1 goal, 31 total) Right to - Vanilla Fortress Left to - Vanilla Secret 2 There really is nothing to this level. I don't like this level as it's so boring. Try and fly through it all, ignoring the dolphins. If you've got Yoshi, you can just bounce off the big fish if necessary. There's no point in collecting the Yoshi coins as you should be on 99 lives after the last level. Get in, get out, get on to the next level. Vanilla Fortress (1 goal, 32 total) Right to - Butter Bridge 1 Left to - Vanilla Secret 3 There are two ways to do this level, the "small" way and the "big" way. I'm not sure which path is easier, I'm tempted to say the "big" way, simply because unless I'm already small, I'm not going to hit something just to get under those spikes and miss out half of the first section. It doesn't save you much time, as the "big" way will drop you out half way through the second area with the red door, where as the "small" way puts you right at the start of it. If you take the "small" way, I think taking the top route in the second area is slightly easier but it's all personal preference. It's all fairly linear and pretty self explanatory, most blocks give you power ups. If you have a cape you can spin the Dry Bones and those weird bandaged turtle things whose names I forget right now. Just take your time and don't do anything stupid. To kill Reznor, just knock all four heads off their platforms from underneath. You'll probably have to jump onto one of the platforms to get rid of the last one as the floor disappears to try to dump you in the lava. Finish him off and save your game. You can carry on and take out the two Butter Bridge levels if you like, but I'm going to complete all of the Vanilla levels and come back to them once I've got to Ludwig via Lemmy. Vanilla Dome 3 (1 goal, 33 total) Down to - Vanilla Dome 4 Up to - Vanilla Ghost House This level is annoying in that it's not an auto-scroller, but it's very difficult to quickly fly through the level. The second flying ? block at the start of the level contains an extra life. The yellow pipe takes you to an icy bonus room. The block in it holds a power up. When you get to the stage where the lift goes under the platform that you have to stand on, use a Buzzy Beetle to clear the plants out of the way. If you fly up where you have to hit the hidden block to get past the orange pipe, you can find a bonus room. The ? block above the half way tape holds Yoshi. Vanilla Dome 4 (1 goal, 34 total) Down to - Lemmy's Castle Up to - Vanilla Dome 3 Once you get used to dodging the cannons, this level isn't too difficult. The blue pipe after the halfway tape leads to a secret room. Track back a short way and you'll see a row of ? blocks with a regular block in the middle. That holds an extra life. Lemmy's Castle (1 goal, 35 total) Down to - Pipe 4 Up to - Vanilla Dome 4 This level is horrible! Come in as Super Mario (preferably with a cape) to spin through the blocks and move to the right. Don't stop until you hit dry land. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for the magician to make a hole for you. His wand will hit blocks and turn them into koopas. Grab the P, run along until you can see the door in mid air surrounded by coins. Take away enough coins so you can get at the door once you hit the P (the right three in a vertical row should suffice - just make sure you leave the one under the door). Go through the door for the half way tape and an extra life. The next section is great fun, just wait for the gaps, or, if you're a bit of a daredevil, try to run through as quickly as possible. There's a feather right by the red door to make things easy for you. Lemmy isn't difficult - just don't do anything daft with the fireball, and don't worry if you don't hit him after a few goes. Three hits will do for you. Cheese Bridge Area (2 goals, 37 total) Right to - Cookie Mountain Down to - Soda Lake Left to - Pipe 4 Another fun level, with possibly one of the most infuriating secret exits in the game! Bring Yoshi into this level. The first section is just a case of setting all the lifts going, switching between them to avoid the saws and collect things. The first two blocks both contain power ups. Or, if you have a cape, just fly through this first section, with Yoshi you can bounce off the saws. Shortly after half way, you can get a power up, wings for Yoshi (which if collected will finish the level) and you can go down a blue pipe for a bonus room. Assuming you took the quick route to finish the level, you'll now have a handy blue Yoshi who's going to give his life so that we can get to Soda Lake. Get past half way, ignore the wings and you'll get to the rope and saw section. Using a cape, fly to the right and float down, using the last place you can for the run up to take off. You'll bounce off the saws and stay afloat. Now, when you reach the tape, don't hit it, instead float UNDER the tape and jump off Yoshi. Go to the right, collect 3 lives and go to Soda Lake. You can also get under there by flying regularly, but it's very difficult. Soda Lake (1 goal, 38 total) Down to - Star Road 3 Up to - Cheese Bridge Area This level is horrible. At times it's pretty much impossible to avoid being hit by the torpedos or the fish. There's no trick to it, just wait for the gaps and try not to die too much. Once you've done this, move back up to Cookie Mountain. Cookie Mountain (1 goal, 39 total) Down to - Ludwig's Castle Left to - Cheese Bridge Area None of the row of ? blocks holds anything special, but the one above this row holds a power up. After you have thrown the shell at the moles, fly up and run along the clouds for an extra life. Shortly after the halfway tape, there is a vine that leads up to an extra life. The next pipe leads to a nasty pointless bonus room, which puts you back to where I showed you the first 1-up was, so ignore it. The next ? after that pipe holds Yoshi. Eat the two pink berries to get a weird cloud thing, otherwise just grab the star and finish the level. Butter Bridge 1 (1 goal, 40 total) Right to - Butter Bridge 2 Left to - Vanilla Fortress This level is just horrible. It's an auto-scroller, and has some annoying jumps. Come in with Yoshi and a cape to increase your chances. Don't jump unless you know where you're going. To stop the platforms sinking too much while you wait for the next platform to appear on screen, repeatedly make lots of small jumps, floating if possible. Put this one down to experience and move on. Butter Bridge 2 (1 goal, 41 total) Right to - Ludwig's Castle Left to - Butter Bridge 1 The best bet for this level is to just fly right through it all. There are lots of caped koopas and koopas kicking shells at you, and it makes for an awkward level. If you decide to stay on the ground, the first elevated block holds a power up - use a koopa shell to get it. The second blue pipe after the half way tape leads to a bonus room. The block on the ground shortly after that holds Yoshi. Ludwig's Castle (1 goal, 42 total) Right to - Forest Of Illusion 1 Down to - Cookie Mountain Left to - Butter Bridge 2 At the end of the first corridor, jump through the roof, there's a hole in that small square stone. Go up and right to a pipe and a bonus room. After leaving, run like hell to the left, stopping only to hit the switch or to avoid being hit. In the net section, the first exit off to the right holds a power up. The red door is in the top left of this area. Ludwig is easy, run to the right straight away and jump him and you can get a hit in before he starts shooting at you. Once you've hit him, he'll duck into his shell and roll towards you. Try to keep him in the middle of the screen and quite close to you, so (a) he doesn't go off the screen when he jumps out - you can't hit him then, and (b) so you can quickly hit him before he starts shooting at you again. Three hits is all it needs, so get them quickly and head to the Forest Of Illusion. By now, you'll have 99 lives, give or take a couple, over a million points, three of the four switch palaces, three of the five Star Road entrances and four of the seven castles completed. We'll take out another 14 goals in the Forest, then the 10 in the Star Road (leaving the Special World for later), which will put us on 66, two thirds of the way there. ======= Forest Of Illusion ======== xxx | | ----FGH*--FI1--- | | | FI4---+-------FI2--BSP* | | | | | | FSA -----FI3--- | | x | xxx S4--FF*--x-- | x RC*------ | | CI1 Key: FI1 = Forest Of Illusion 1 FI2 = Forest Of Illusion 2 FI3 = Forest Of Illusion 3 FGH = Forest Ghost House FI4 = Forest Of Illusion 4 FSA = Forest Secret Area BSP = Blue Switch Palace FF = Forest Fortress S4 = Star Road 4 RC = Roy's Castle CI1 = Chocolate Island 1 (just included for clarity) ========== Forest Of Illusion 1 (2 goals, 44 total) Right to - Forest Of Illusion 2 Left to - Forest Ghost House Up to - Ludwig's Castle The first ? block holds a power up. The regular block you can see surrounded by note blocks holds a 1-up. If you can eat the two pink berries, you'll create that cloud thing again. When you reach the block giving you the choice of power ups, get the star (other people will describe the method of hitting the Wigglers for lots of points, but I don't bother) and run through everything. You'll go over the keyhole. The key is in the block next to it. To get there, drop off the platform you went over it on and grab the balloon from the ? block and float to the left. The conventional exit isn't too far to the right from there. Forest Of Illusion 2 (2 goals, 46 total) Down to - Forest Of Illusion 3 Right to - Blue Switch Palace Left to - Forest Of Illusion 4 Up to - Forest Of Illusion 1 This level is mostly linear and isn't too difficult, especially considering there's a feather right at the start. After the first real power up, go right to continue, but you can get an extra life by going down and then to the right. You'll see a small cubby hole with an entrance four blocks wide, the third block holding an invisible 1-up. Beware, the rest hold invisible coins, and hitting them may prevent the mushroom from dropping down to where you can get it (This happened to me - I had hit just one of the other blocks, I had to hit a third to launch the mushroom up and give it the angle to drop down through the only remaining gap). Going through the level the normal way, once you reach the yellow ! block by a sleeping fish at the bottom of a long drop, you can pass through the wall to the left to reach the key, or go to the right for the normal exit. Blue Switch Palace (1 goal, 47 total) Left to - Forest Of Illusion 2 Collect all the coins you can first, then hit both switches to drop the Spinys down, then turn them into silver coins. If you don't collect the coins first, some will be stuck. Forest Of Illusion 3 (2 goals, 49 total) Down to - Roy's Castle Left to - Forest Ghost House Right to - Forest Of Illusion 2 The first ? block contains Yoshi, who can collect two pink berries to get another one of those clouds. There's nothing important in this level, the key exit is in the tall pipe after the Chuck, although you will have to be big to get it. This is right near the end of the level. Forest Ghost House (2 goals, 51 total) Left to - Forest Of Illusion 4 Right to - Forest Of Illusion 1 Down to - Forest Of Illusion 3 The first section is pretty straight-forward, just remember to spin jump off the ghosts if you need to. The second ? block holds a power up. The flying ? block after you go through the door holds a power up, but I don't advise stopping around to get it. The same advice applies to the first normal ? block. Those ghosts can cause you more problems than you would envisage. If you are small, you can get in and under that block below the P switch for an extra life (be quick about it or you'll lose a life to the ghosts). Grab the P. The first door you see takes you back in the level and wastes your time, go into the second pit, hit the P and go through the blue door. Go left on top of the original corridor, and through the first door for the regular exit, or continue and collect the final Yoshi coin and go through the second door. This leads to the secret exit (which also has a 3-up moon). Forest Of Illusion 4 (2 goals, 53 total) Right to - Forest Of Illusion 2 Down to - Forest Secret Area Up to - Forest Ghost House If you grab the 1-up which Lakitu is dangling down, he'll start throwing Spinys at you. It's a matter of preference whether or not to get it, personally I find it harder to dodge the 1-up than dodge the Spinys so I just grab it straight away. The fifth ? block of six holds a power up. The elevated blue pipe after the half way tape leads to the key room. A Yoshi coin is high in the sky above the unoccupied blue Koopa shell. Forest Secret Area (1 goal, 54 total) Down to - Forest Fortress Up to - Forest Of Illusion 4 There's not a lot of interest in this level. Either get on the lifts, or ideally fly through the whole level in a fraction of the time. Forest Fortress (1 goal, 55 total) Left to - Star Road 4 Right to - Forest Secret Area In the first section, stay as far to the right as possible, which will take most of the giant mallets out of the equation, just leaving you to deal with the saws. There isn't any real trick to the second section, just wait for the gaps to open before advancing. If you head up above the red door, you can fly across the lava pit and get a lot of extra lives, but considering we've got a ton of those already, it's not worth the risk. Just take the normal red door and deal with Reznor. There's no difference between this one and the Vanilla Fortress Reznor, indeed they're all exactly the same and all just as easy to kill. Roy's Castle (1 goal, 56 total) Down to - Chocolate Island 1 Right to - Forest Of Illusion 3 Stay as close to the front of the moving chain of blocks as you can, so you can anticipate its moves and react to them. The fireballs shouldn't get in your way. When you get off, DON'T hit the P, instead, carry it along and throw it away safely. Ignore the power up as there's too much trying to kill you at that point. Run along, dodging anything that comes at you. Having a cape helps a lot. Roy is exactly the same as Morton except the side walls move inwards to decrease the playing area, so hurry up and kill him. We've now hit all of the Switch Palaces, and have only one Star Road entrance to find (it's in the Valley of Bowser, conveniently next to the Front Door), so now is the time to get the first part of the Star World done. =========== Star World ============ ---S3--- | | S2-------SW2 SW3-------S4 | | | S6 | -----SW1 | SW4----- | | | | | | S1-----SW5-----S5 Key: SW1 = Star World 1 SW2 = Star World 2 SW3 = Star World 3 SW4 = Star World 4 SW5 = Star World 5 S1 = Star Road 1 S2 = Star Road 2 S3 = Star Road 3 S4 = Star Road 4 S5 = Star Road 5 S6 = Star Road 6 (to the Special World) ========== The Star Road is the quickest way to get from one side of the map to the other. Every level has two exits, one will take you forward, the other will take you back (except SW5, which is slightly different). These levels allow you to choose a colour of Yoshi, and get lots and lots of extra lives (I'm sure we'd be on 200 or so now, if the damn counter hadn't stopped at 99... suppose they were too lazy when programming this thing to use anything other than an 8 bit integer). ========== Star World 1 (2 goals, 58 total) Left to - Star Road 2 Down to - Star Road 1 For the key exit, simply go to the far right and spin jump down. The regular exit is right at the bottom of this level. After the second drop, spin jump 7 or so blocks in from the right to get an extra life. Having a cape helps in this level, as while spinning, you'll also knock out the blocks to the side of you, allowing you some lateral movement. Get the star when you see it, kill everything on this level before getting the other star (in the same place as the first, but on the opposite side). Move down, killing things for lives. Get the third star (I think that even if you lose the invincibility before picking up the third star, your "invincible points meter" will not reset, ie. if the last enemy you killed while invincible got you 8000 points, the next one will give you a 1-up, not 100 points). If you initially spin jump down where the right hand hole is (after getting the second star), you'll come across enough flying koopas to get you a life easily. When the stars all run off, just get out of the level. Star World 2 (2 goals, 60 total) Up to - Star Road 3 Left to - Star Road 2 When you come into this level, you'll see a baby Yoshi (unless you already have Yoshi) hatch and a star float down. Don't feed the Yoshi the star, take the star and move along quickly to the right. Carrying the Yoshi will give you enough speed to reach the second star (in the block) for lots of lives. Hit everything you can without stopping. If you already have Yoshi when you enter the level, you'll have to let the star bounce along for a bit in order to reach the second star in time. In any case, the pipe leads to the normal exit, or swim to the right under the pipe (through that small gap) for the key exit. Star World 3 (2 goals, 62 total) Right to - Star Road 4 Up to - Star Road 3 For the normal exit, run to the right. You can wait around and hit the P to get Lakitu to throw out silver coins, but I prefer to just lob a block up at him straight away. Get the cloud and head up to find the key and keyhole. You can fly up as well, which is easier with Yoshi. The only danger on this level is grabbing a block and falling through the floor. Star World 4 (2 goals, 64 total) Down to - Star Road 5 Right to - Star Road 4 If you decide to come into the Star World from the Forest Fortress, this is where you'll start. I went back to Donut Plains to do the levels in numerical order. There isn't much to find here, it's a simple case of jumping from platform to platform. Feed Yoshi if you don't have one already. When you get to the red shell, grab it, drop onto the ! blocks, throw it at the ? block and grab the key. Obviously, don't use the red Yoshi - he'll spit out flames which are no good. Use your cape if you have one. If you want the normal exit, there isn't any major obstacles preventing progress, and it's not far to go from there. Star World 5 (2 goals, 66 total) Left to - Star Road 1 Up to - Star Road 6 Right to - Star Road 5 The only confusing thing about this level is how to get across the large chasm once you've crossed the initial set of drop lifts. It's quite simple, set off the coin chain and send it to the right. Then, once it's stopped, hit the P and run along. If you want the normal exit, keep going to the right, using Yoshi to defeat anything in your way. There's a baby yellow Yoshi where you get off if you need one with easy enemies to eat. For the key exit to the Special World, you'll need a cape. Send the coin trail up and right at about a 45 degree angle until it is just off the top of the screen, then send it straight to the right. Run along and fly off the end. You should see/land on some ! blocks (if you miss the first time, you'll know where to aim the next time), carry on along these (I hope you've hit all the Switch Palaces, which you should have done) ducking under the blocks as appropriate for the key. You'll have to dump Yoshi if you have him but that's not a problem. After opening up an easy path around the game, we'll go back and do Choco Island and the Valley of Bowser before going to do the Special World. There's only 30 more goals to go now! ======== Chocolate Island ========= RC* | xxx CGH*--CI1 | | ---SGS* P5--+-- P6 | ------ | | | | | | | | ---WC* CF*--+--CI3---CI2 | | | | | | | | | ------ ---- CI5--CI4 Key: RC = Roy's Castle (again included for clarity) CI1 = Chocolate Island 1 CGH = Choco Ghost House CI2 = Chocolate Island 2 CI3 = Chocolate Island 3 CF = Chocolate Fortress CI4 = Chocolate Island 4 CI5 = Chocolate Island 5 P5 = Pipe 5 P6 = Pipe 6 WC = Wendy's Castle SGS = Sunken Ghost Ship ========== Chocolate Island 1 (1 goal, 67 total) Left to - Choco Ghost House Up to - Roy's Castle The first bush holds a mushroom. The flying block holds a power up. The yellow pipe will launch you across the chasm. The next flying block after half way holds a power up. The next ? block holds Yoshi. The grey pipe will launch you and you should hit the koopa and bounce to safety. Choco Ghost House (1 goal, 68 total) Down to - Chocolate Island 2 Right to - Chocolate Island 1 The best bet in the first section is to simply run like hell until you get to the power up, then keep going quickly to the door. It can get a bit hairy, but if you don't think about avoiding the ghosts and moving pit and concentrate on simply moving quickly it works out easier. If you time your jumps so that you avoid the Fishin' Boo (which is the REAL problem) you'll be okay. After the door, the ? contains a power up which will come in useful if you messed up the first bit. If you feel the need, there's a 1-up in the extreme right hand end of this room. Otherwise, simply get the "brick ghosts" to follow you and form a platform which you can use to get up to the door and exit. Chocolate Island 2 (2 goals, 70 total) Left to - Chocolate Island 3 Down to - Pipe 5 Up to - Choco Ghost House This is a fun level to explore and is one of my favourites. The info box should give you some clues. The first section holds a Yoshi, a coin box and not a lot else. There's a hidden block below and to the right of the coin box which will allow you to get in plenty of coins (around 20 if you do it right). Where you go when you go through the pipe depends on the number of COINS you have - 8 or less will take you to a slopy area with some flying koopas and some awkward jumps, 9-20 will take you to an area with lots of Rex's, and 21 or more will take you to an easy bit where you simply have to fly across a big pit with no resistance. Once you've completed any of these second areas, the TIME you have left on the clock will determine where you go next - get in the pipe with 250 or more on the clock and you'll go to the key exit leading to Choco Secret, just miss it and you'll go to an area with lots of dinosaurs, miss by a lot (more than about 20 seconds on the clock) and you'll go to an area with lots of mushrooms in bubbles. If you didn't get the key, the final tape will be in the fourth section of the level. Chocolate Island 3 (2 goals, 72 total) Left to - Chocolate Fortress Down to - Chocolate Island 3 Up to - Chocolate Island 3 Right to - Chocolate Island 2 The first ? block you see holds a power up. The blue pipe leads to a bonus room where you can grab lots of coins. If you want the half way tape (this room cuts out a large chunk of the level) you'll have to track back, but you've missed nothing important if you simply continue. The first block to the right as you leave the bonus room holds a power up. Climb the vine you see for the fake exit (which sends you in a circle back to where you started), or fly under to the right for the real exit and three more extra lives. Chocolate Fortress (1 goal, 73 total) Down to - Chocolate Island 4 Right to - Chocolate Island 3 To negotiate the spikes, simply take your time and wait for the gaps. After the power up, don't try and run across the gap under the spike, jump. The easiest way to get past the first Thwomp is to get it to fall down then spin jump onto it and off to the right. The left block of the three is a power up - if it's a mushroom hit the right block and change the direction of it and try and send it through the gap, rather than mess around with the Thwomp and die trying to get it. To pass the Thwomp over the spikes, edge right until it drops and spin jump on and off it. To get past the next one, jump slowly right and whip back to the left when it drops, then spin jump over. Having a cape helps a lot. The same trick applies to the next one. Kill Reznor (using the generous feather right next to the final door) and move on. Chocolate Island 4 (1 goal, 74 total) Left to - Chocolate Island 5 Up to - Chocolate Fortress There's three extra lives stupidly left in plain view near the start of the level. Having hit the blue switch, getting them is easy. That's just the starter, though. The main course is down that grey pipe which is blocked off. Make sure you have a cape. The third block from the left in that diagonal row above holds the P. Hit it and go down the pipe. Hit the P and fall down the extreme left side and don't float or anything. When the P wears off, fly back up one level at a time, collecting about eight lives and loads of power ups. Your clock will probably be running low after you leave here, so when you leave ignore the power up that's in the block to the right (unless you went in without a cape, in which case wait a few seconds after you hit the P so that you can get it to change back before you drop all the way to the bottom, and hopefully land on a level with something useful) and keep heading right. It's pretty linear and easy, and there's not far to go. Chocolate Island 5 (1 goal, 75 total) Up to - Wendy's Castle Right to - Chocolate Island 4 The ? holds Yoshi, and the bottom right block of the 8 holds a power up. The yellow pipe leads to a bonus room. The yellow pipe before the big ocean leads to a bonus room as well if you ignore the first one. After you pass the trapped mushroom (if you ignored the first pipe), the bottom left block of the five on the floor holds an extra life. There's little of interest after half way, so try to keep the cape to make the trickier jumps easier and to help get past the Chucks. Chocolate Secret (1 goal, 76 total) Left to - Pipe 6 Right to - Pipe 5 To get here, take the pipe you accessed by getting the secret exit to Choco 2. Come in with a cape if you have any plans of survival. The green pipe leads to a secret room, but it's evil and doesn't hold anything useful, so ignore it. Slide the whole of the way down the second section. Having Yoshi helps in the third section, which is a test of how quickly you can run and jump. After the first multiple sandbank area, the block holds a power up, but ignore it if you're already fully powered, concentrating on avoiding the Chucks instead. You're home and dry after the second nasty sandbank bit. Wendy's Castle (1 goal, 77 total) Up to - Sunken Ghost Ship Down to - Chocolate Island 5 Left to - Pipe 6 Wait for the first spike to start rising before continuing past it. Don't try and cheat it on the way down. Duck under the first saw and spin jump over the second in the appropriate places. Take your time in the spike/saw section, especially if you can't duck under the saws. Take the quick moving spikes one at a time, jumping over the middle one, hit the half way tape and be glad you don't have to do that again. The second section is really easy so long as you remember that you can spin jump everything, and you don't try to cheat any of the moving platforms. Wendy is the same to kill as Lemmy, except all the pipes are the same height and there are two fireballs to contend with. Your priority here is not being hit by the fireballs, there's only one extra but it makes things a lot harder. Take your time and Wendy will soon be toast. Sunken Ghost Ship (1 goal, 78 total) Up to - Valley Of Bowser 1 Left to - Wendy's Castle Just one fairly easy level before we get on to the Valley of Bowser. The only block you can see in the first area holds a power up. In the next section, loads of Boos will drift in and out - just be patient and stay in the middle where the biggest gaps are. It's not hard, just remember to face the regular Boos when you reach them, as you might have to wait a while to get past the circle of Boos. Enter the pipe and you'll hit a star and begin a huge drop. Hit as much as you can for lives, but try to stay roughly central, maybe a bit to the right, in order to land on a platform and grab another star. I think that if you miss it, a star falls anyway to pick up. Hit the green sphere to complete the level. Head to the Valley of Bowser if you want, but my guide will now complete some unfinished business elsewhere, namely the Special World. ========== Special World ========== S7---Fun*---Out---Mon*---Gro-- | S6---Gna---Tub*---WC----Awe*-- Key: S6 = Star Road 6 Gna = Gnarly Tub = Tubular WC = Way Cool Awe = Awesome Gro = Groovy Mon = Mondo Out = Outrageous Fun = Funky S7 = Star Road 7 (leads to Yoshi's House) ========== Here come eight levels which range from the sublime to the ridiculous... ========== Gnarly (1 goal, 79 total) Right to - Tubular Left to - Star Road 6 Read the message box for an ego massage... then set off all four vines. Use the moving rope to get up, hitting the block on the right for an extra life. The block further up to the right holds a vine. Further up still, there are two blocks - one holds a vine, the other a P. Take the P right up to the top (there's one awkward jump using a note block that will take some practice) and set it off. Fall down the right side, hugging the right wall. You'll land on a ? block which the P created next to a pipe. Go through it. Get the Yoshi coins to the left and run along to the right for three lives. Hit the blue P and carry the silver P across. Kill the Hammer Brother and use the silver P where you find Lakitu. You probably won't get any lives here though. The exit is just to the right. Tubular (1 goal, 80 total) Right to - Way Cool Left to - Gnarly Contrary to popular belief, this is NOT the most difficult level in the game, I think Awesome is. However, Awesome is easily navigated with a blue Yoshi. In any case, this isn't too difficult if you know what you're doing. Come in with a cape. This can help you if a balloon dies near the tape and you can float across. Hit the P, drop onto the springboard and hit the ?. Get the balloon. Stay high above the Chucks. Hit the ? for another balloon. Let it run along a bit before getting it, ideally up to the koopas. Go in between the bottom two koopas and underneath the plants. The block that the bottom of the two Chucks is standing on holds your final balloon. You need to dodge the footballs and grab it. When you get it, you should be under the firing arc of the higher Chuck, so kill him from below and do the same to the next two plants, the only thing standing between you and the end of the level. See, that wasn't too hard, was it? Way Cool (1 goal, 81 total) Right to - Awesome Left to - Tubular There are two ways to do this level - the hard way and the easy way. The hard way involves going past all the switches, hitting that ? block to release the wings, wonder why you haven't got Yoshi and continuing right past a really hard rope section, or hitting the switches in this order - ON, ON, OFF, ON, going down the pipe, getting Yoshi, coming out where the aforementioned ? is and getting the wings to finish the level. You decide. I chose the easy way. Awesome (1 goal, 82 total) Right to - Groovy Left to - Way Cool There's no trick to this, it's just really hard. Come in with a cape and blue Yoshi from previous level. Keep eating koopas and flying through the whole level. If you decide to do it the hard way, the only thing to remember is not to go berzerk when you get the star, and that you need to bounce off one of the koopas onto an incredibly small icy block, which you will kill straight off if invincible. The jumps are simply too hard, especially if you try without a cape to stabilise yourself. Groovy (1 goal, 83 total) Left to - Mondo Right to - Awesome Looks familiar? It should do. The block on the floor holds Yoshi, which you should know from the title sequence. There's nothing difficult in this level, just get to the star and then run through everything. The only difficult bit is right at the end where you have to pass a couple of awkwardly placed Chucks. Mondo (1 goal, 84 total) Left to - Outrageous Right to - Groovy Having Yoshi is a big help on the final three Special World levels. The strong current makes this level awkward. Kill the Hammer Brother, then get onto dry land. Wait for the water to rise and grab the power up just before the blue pipe. The highest of the next three ? blocks holds Yoshi if you lost him, and the lower of the next two blue pipes leads to a bonus room. Near the end, there are two long rows of ? blocks, the sixth block in from the right on the top row holds a power up. Kill the Hammer Brother, get in the pipe and you're done. Outrageous (1 goal, 85 total) Trying to do this level without Yoshi is asking for trouble. If you lost Yoshi on the last level, go back to Way Cool and get one. Come in with a cape as well if possible. Eat all the Wigglers and large flames, you can't eat the small ones and they still cause damage so you'll just have to get around them. Swallow the springboard when you reach it, and try to jump from cannon to cannon. Two things can go wrong here - you could fall off onto the floor (get back up very quickly - spit out the springboard and eat anything in the proximity if necessary), or Yoshi could start to eat the springboard. If he does, spit it out and eat it again. You need it to clear the large orange pipe. Clear it, kill the Hammer Brother and eat anything that moves in the "exploding enemy block" section. There's another Yoshi ahead if you lost him in this area. Keep moving forward, the middle of the three ? blocks holds a power up (keep your cape if you have one). Kill the Hammer Brother at the end of the level very quickly before the Bullet Bills become a factor. Funky (1 goal, 86 total) The first thing to realise is that you only have 200 seconds on the clock. The second thing to realise is that Yoshi can eat the green berries to give you an extra 20 seconds. The high ? block holds him if you don't have one. The P you can find doesn't appear to do anything constructive. The high flying block above the rows of blocks you can pick up holds a 1-up. Get past the Chucks and read the You Are A Super Player !! sign. Just don't run out of time whilst gloating. Once completing this level, all the map colours will change and a lot of the enemies will have changed. ======== Valley Of Bowser ========= DS2---P2 S5---FD BD | | | | | | | | P1 VB4--LaC* VF* | | | | | | x VB3--VGH*-VB2--VB1---x x P6----CS----P5 Key: P1 = Pipe 1 P2 = Pipe 2 P5 = Pipe 5 P6 = Pipe 6 DS2 = Donut Secret 2 CS = Chocolate Secret VB1 = Valley Of Bowser 1 VB2 = Valley Of Bowser 2 VGH = Valley Ghost House VB3 = Valley Of Bowser 3 VB4 = Valley Of Bowser 4 S5 = Star Road 5 VF = Valley Fortress LaC = Larry's Castle FD = Front Door BD = Back Door ========== Valley Of Bowser 1 (1 goal, 87 total) Left to - Valley Of Bowser 2 Right to - Sunken Ghost Ship Two things to remember - your goal is in the bottom right, and you can safely stand on the giant moles. Go down at the first fork for a Yoshi coin. After collecting that, keep taking the top route until you find the half way tape. From there, head up and use a mole to cross the munchers, and jump across to the right to find a 3-up moon. There's nothing worth backtracking for, so drop down and continue to the right. Take the second path from the bottom for a Yoshi coin, and fill in the gap in the path above by hitting the invisible coin blocks. The second path from the top also leads to a Yoshi coin. The bottom and middle paths will allow you to continue. Find the vine (shouldn't be too hard), climb it and enter the pipe for a bonus room. Otherwise, take the top or middle paths for another Yoshi coin, or the bottom path to exit. Valley Of Bowser 2 (2 goals, 89 total) Left to - Valley Ghost House Up to - Valley Fortress Right to - Valley Of Bowser 1 The first block holds a power up, but beware as the invincible koopa shell will be coming for you. If you are small, hit the half way tape before collecting the mushroom so you can have it in reserve. When you leave the pipe, jump up and go up and left as far as you can, then jump for a power up. The Yoshi wings will allow you to skip the rest of the level if you have Yoshi - which is useful. To get the key exit, you need to traverse this moving maze of sand, which will crush you if you don't think. The golden rule is that there's normally a place to stop and think out your next move. There's only normally two choices - to advance when it's going up or down. Look to which one doesn't kill you and take the other one. You're going to have to run in places to avoid being squashed. When you go through the pipe, head right STRAIGHT AWAY as you'll immediately set the floor off rising, then fly up and left onto the ceiling at the first opportunity, carry on to the left and find the key. The normal exit is shortly ahead to the right, although I'd just get the key, do the level again to the half way tape, start and select and go back and get Yoshi from somewhere. We now have a choice of paths. I'm taking out Valley Fortress first, as it can be a bit annoying and I want it out of the way. Valley Fortress (1 goal, 90 total) Up to - Back Door Down to - Valley Of Bowser 2 Run past the first three spikes straight away and get the feather. Take the next four as one group and pass through the yellow spiky section with care (if you're going to die, at least die on a "proper" bit of the level). Take the next spike as soon as it starts to go up then wait. Do the same with the next one. Press R to see that there's a group of spikes ahead. As soon as the first one starts to rise, hop onto the platform, jump onto the next one and do a big jump and float to safety. Don't do anything silly in the fireball bit. The first two spikes are okay to get past, just mind the fireball on the second one. The next two pairs are tighter, and the second adds a fireball into the equation. The final spike is easy to clear, then go and kill Reznor. Valley Ghost House (2 goals, 92 total) Left to - Valley Of Bowser 3 Up to - Larry's Castle Right to - Valley Of Bowser 2 The block in the green ball area holds a power up. Remember that you can spin jump onto them, but the last one is the only one that could cause you trouble. Go through the door and you'll see a P. Hit it and head right quickly. Going left will take you to the key room, but you can't access the P so it's a waste of time. Go right and you'll see doors and lots of coins. Run right as fast as you can. The first door will take you right back to the start of the level. The second door will take you to the key room, but again you can't access the P. The third and fourth doors will take you to the normal exit, and the fifth door will lead you to the key room and the hallowed P. Carry the P along until you see a couple of ghosts and a ? block. Put the P down and hit the ? block. This activates a coin chain - immediately send it right, and keep changing the direction up and then right every 3 or 4 coins. Keep going until the music stops. Hit the P and climb the coin chain. You'll see a key, a keyhole and an incredibly tiny gap which you've got to get through, and, knowing your luck, you've probably blocked it. It's possible to get in even if you haven't lined up the coin chain for a run and duck - just jump and duck repeatedly and try and head right when the bricks turn back to coins. This is easier if you are small or have a cape to slow your descent. If you get in slightly, keep jumping and pushing right to get through (if big, don't worry about the ghosts hitting you - it will help). This is not easy to do so be patient. Valley Of Bowser 3 (1 goal, 93 total) Up to - Valley Of Bowser 4 Right to - Valley Ghost House Spin jump the first two koopas in one go when the first one is just about to hit the floor. The first block hides a power up. The numbers on the lifts indicate how long it takes for it to drop off the screen, so prepare to get off the 1 lifts quickly, and also get off the 4 lifts soon after they hit 1. The block just after the half way tape holds a power up. There's nothing overly difficult from here on in, just make sure you activate as many of the lifts as possible to make it easier to dodge obstacles like the giant Bullet Bills. Surely they should be giant Pidgit Bills? Valley Of Bowser 4 (2 goals, 95 total) Right to - Larry's Castle Up to - Star Road 5 Down to - Valley Of Bowser 3 The green pipe leads to a bonus room. Climb the vine and get Yoshi. Take the spin jump option of descent. Set off the 1-up, and float down and right. Actually getting the extra life isn't easy and probably isn't worth the risk. Yoshi can eat the rock things that the Chucks dig up, and I think they can be caped as well. There's a power up in the ? block above the yellow ! block. The key exit is in plain view, the only way to get it is to keep Yoshi up to there and get him to swallow it. The trick to this level is to tactically use the cape to get the Chucks to dig the rocks, and only drop on the "target" platform once they're out of the way by floating. If you die after half way, go back to the Top Secret Area or wherever and get Yoshi and a couple of capes. Larry's Castle (1 goal, 96 total) Bring two capes. This is the hardest level in the game excepting some of the Special World levels, and without a cape it becomes very hard. Use a running jump to get off the moving platform onto the stationary platform above right at the start. Rejoin the moving platform when it comes round (it will approach from below and nip up to the left). DON'T go through the first door, stay on the lift and go down for the half way tape (you don't know how useful that is - there's no real way to do the first part of the level any quicker, and the second part can take a very long time if you lose your cape), a couple of Yoshi coins and a mushroom (ignore it if you still have two capes). Go through the door to the really really horrible bit. Spin any Dry Bones or other spinnable opponents with the cape and kill the magician quickly. You'll come up against several vertical walls of blocks which, without a cape, the magician will have to remove for you. They normally turn into koopas, but they can turn into Thwimps as well. Spin the blocks and move on. You might be under time pressure if it's still your first attempt, but take your time and don't lose the cape. If you lose your cape, pray. Killing Larry is the same as Iggy, except there's fireballs to deal with and the platform seems to tilt more. You've now done 96 goals! Wahey! But we've still got the unfinished business of Bowser to deal with. Go in the Front Door, or, if you're a woos, go in the Back Door (which is so incredibly nice to you - it even gives you a half way tape right before the final door). Front Door Left to - Star Road 5 Down to - Larry's Castle This level consists of six stages - stages one and three require you to pick a door. Stage One has a choice of four, numbered 1-4, Stage Two is the area relating to that door, Stage Three gives you doors 5-8 to choose from, Stage Four is the area relating to that door, Stage Five is an easy section (which is where the Back Door starts) and Stage Six involves taking out the big fella himself. Easiest path is to take door 2 then door 5. Door One involves a nasty little auto-scroller with lots of mallets and fireballs. This is, in my opinion, the hardest of all eight doors. Door Two is a really really easy net section - all the koopas are on the other side of the net, and the fireballs are easy to avoid. Door Three is an easy maze with a few Mechakoopas to avoid. There's an extra life in the top left corner of this room. Door Four is an annoying platform/fireball section similar to the bit in, for example, Wendy's Castle. If you have a cape it's really easy, just fly up and right (that's the only way to get the extra life) and then fly across the whole room. It's not too difficult otherwise. Door Five involves lots of spikes and Thwomps - edge up to the first spike while it is in the floor then run to the right as fast as you can once it's cleared the floor and don't stop until you reach the door. Door Six is a water section, with moving spikes and Dry Bones. It can get hairy, but there's a power up in there. The ball and chain section isn't difficult, despite the large number of them, but getting out of that section can be as there's not a lot of room to manoeuvre. Door Seven involves lots of those fire breathing stone koopas like in Roy's Castle, some of which jump. It's not very nice. Door Eight is filled with lots of Chucks that do big jumps at you. With a cape this is a doddle (there's a cape half way through this room), otherwise they could take some dodging. After this, you enter where the Back Door joins us. Hit the block to turn on the light. There's just a few Ninjis and Mechakoopas to deal with, so get past these and go through the red door. Ah, the familiar final boss music. He'll come down in a giant helicopter type thing. The blade will hurt you, but the side of the device won't. The first stage will see Bowser repeatedly move in a semi circular arc. I like to press up while he's doing this for comedy value. Eventually, he'll throw down two Mechakoopas. Jump on them and throw them upwards. You need to hit Bowser twice. Easiest way is to stand dead centre and throw up when he's at the zenith of the arc. He'll fly down and meet it perfectly. If you hit him only the once and lose the koopa, spin jump one of the two he'll throw down later. You don't want the other one to be interfering with your throw. Get two hits and he'll fly off. Stand about left-centre. Lots of fireballs will rain down - just stand in between two of them. Bowser will return and the Princess will pop up and throw a mushroom down to you. This time Bowser flies higher and moves more or less laterally, following your movement. Run from side to side. After a while he'll stop, turn upside down and drop a giant ball on you. Spin jump over this a la Vanilla Ghost House. Repeat this with the second one. He'll then throw two more Mechakoopas at you. It's harder to hit him now for two reasons, first he is flying higher so you'll have to jump, and secondly he trails your movement, so you'll have to move out to the side and quickly get the Mechakoopa up before he gets there. It's harder than before, but it shouldn't take too long. The fireballs will come back again and the Princess will throw down another mushroom. This time Bowser starts bouncing all over the place, but he moves so slowly he's easy to dodge. I prefer to force him to make two bounces one way then two the other, by simply moving from one side to the other of where the middle bounce will be. To hit him with the Mechakoopas, throw it just to the side of where he'll bounce, so he goes up as the Mechakoopa goes down. Two hits and you've saved the world again. Watch the average ending, find out what a Blargg is and then repeat this with your other two save files. ################################### ******* Section 4 - Credits ******* Thanks to Nintendo for producing yet another fine Mario game. Thanks to gamefaqs.com for hosting this guide. Thanks to The Strokes, The Coral, Doves, System Of A Down and other great bands for not being crap. Thanks to all those who have also written full Mario World FAQs, and other FAQs in general which we all find helpful, and to those on the SMW message board. Thanks to the ZSnes team for continuing to improve their emulator. And I do own the original game... Why not check out my Lost Levels FAQ? Dig out my contributor page.