This guide is a compilation I organized from the r.g.v faq, the snes
cheats list (maintained by ) all the relevant usenet articles in r.g.v and
r.g.v.n while I was working on SMW, and some personal observations from
my brother and myself. A quick grep of the headers of the raw data
reveals the following sources for credit:
Spots that start with a < or > are mostly from the SNES cheats list,
ones with an * are my own personal observations that I haven't ever
seen mentioned on the net. Personal observations and notes from the
above netters are also incorporated where they seem most appropriate.
1 - General Tips
2 - Stage specific tips
A - list of stages/exits
B - map of stages
1 - GENERAL TIPS
> Remember that pressing START followed by SELECT will drop you back to
the map screen, if you've completed the level before. Handy for collecting
a needed powerup near the start of a nearby level.
> Berries for Yoshi - 10 Red Berries will cause an egg to hatch into a
Super Mushroom. 2 Pink Berries will cause an egg to hatch into coins.
3 Green Berries will add 20 seconds to the timer.
> Yoshi and Shells - If Yoshi spits out a Blue or Green Shell before
swallowing it, it can be reused.
* Some times you want to fly, but have no room to get going. If you
hold the Y button down and keep changing directions, mario's arms
will eventually lift up. Now you can fly. This allows you to fly
in lots of places, but in really small spots it doesn't help (like
at the begining of TUBULAR).
> Yoshi and P-Switches - After stomping a P-Switch, use Yoshi to pick it
up. When Yoshi spits it back out, it will again be reusable.
> Mario can take a direct hit from any creature if riding Yoshi.
> Mario can hold 2 items at once by stacking one on the other then
picking up both.
> Magic Number 1-Up - If the tens digit of the star bonus achieved by
breaking the goal post tape matches both the ones and the tens digit
of the time remaining on the timer, you will earn a 1-Up. (seems like
a lot more trouble than it's worth)
> 1-Up Blocks - In the five tiered 1-Up chambers, Mario can collect all 5
1-Ups if he uses his cape. Spin jump and hit the lower corner of each
block with the cape. The first two block in each row yield coins, the
third will yield a 1-Up.
> Get Back Into Castles - To reenter castles once you have destroyed them,
press the 'L' and 'R' buttons at the same time while standing on
the site of the castle.
> Just what is the utility of a Firey Mario in SMW? - 3 of the
Koopalings can be beaten by fireballs. Hit Morton, Ludwig, or Roy 12
times w/ fireballs and they are history. This is particularly useful
against Morton and Roy who move pretty fast once you get them upset.
> Bonus Items - At the end of every world, carry a turtle shell, P-block,
or an enemy through the high bar. It will turn into a power-up item
that you can use in the next world.
> Power-Ups Between Stages - Carry a P-Switch or a Koopa Shell through an
exit gate and the power-up item in the reserve box will transform as
follows:
Mario Item In Reserve Box Transforms To
------------- ------------------------- ---------------------
Small Empty Super 'Shroom
Super 'Shroom 1-Up
Fire Flower Super 'Shroom
Cape Feather Super 'Shroom
Super Empty Super 'Shroom
Super 'Shroom 1-Up
Fire Flower Super 'Shroom
Cape Feather Super 'Shroom
Fiery Empty Fire Flower
Super 'Shroom Fire Flower
Fire Flower 1-Up
Cape Feather Fire Flower
Caped Empty Cape Feather
Super 'Shroom Cape Feather
Fire Flower Cape Feather
Cape Feather 1-Up
2 - STAGE SPECIFIC TIPS
> Yoshi's Island 2
1-Ups: For someone who hasn't advanced far in SMW, the easiest source of
one-ups is Yoshi's Island 2. Enter with Yoshi, then bumping the block
that normally gives Yoshi gives a one-up. Use START and SELECT to jump
out of the course and repeat as often as desired. It is a little
faster if Mario is caped and you enter at the middle of Yoshi's Island
2. Then one can get a life every 10 seconds or so with no skill
required. I generally run it up to the maximum of 99 lives in order to
pay for the increasingly long trip back to Yoshi's Island.
> Donut island 2
Secret Exit: Try jumping up every green pipe until you
succeed. Now, do not exit this room to the a normal looking goal
(it is not considered the second exit). There are about 4 yellow
blocks leading to the top of the screen, fly up and the the hightest
one with your head and vine will go up from it. No jump up the series
of yellow blocks and climb the vine. The key and hole is to the
left.
> Donut Ghost House
Secret Exit: Get a cape. Enter the first ghost house and walk to
the right until the first hole in the floor. Hold the Y button to spin.
Run to the left until able to fly, jump and fly up the left hand wall
until you can land on a ledge to your right. Run all the way across
the house, off the ledge, down the left side, hit each block for a
1-up mushroom (there are four, and exit out the door at the end.
> Donut Secret Ghost House
Secret exit:
>I found the second blue door (above the first one, you
>get there by flying and jump on the blue 'P' thing to make it appear,
>but once inside there doesn't seem to be an exit).
There's also a vine in one of the blocks. You can use this to climb there
if you don't happen to have a cape feather. Once you get inside the closed
room, kill the boss by throwing a purple block into him (three times),
and you will exit.
> Top Secret Area
Description - an area where you can fully power
up, get a Yoshi, and reenter for as many 1-UPs as you want (1 at a time).
> Vanilla Dome 2
Secret exit:
When you get to the area where you can decide to finish the level using
the high road or the low road, use the high road. Instead of going right,
jump across to the left. Push the P-block until it is not on any blocks,
and then jump on it. Now go left and knock out all the coins (do not
go over the edge). When the P stops you must now jump across to the
second drop off (you will be back towards the begining), and go down.
The key and key hole is some where down there.
> Vanilla Secret 1
Secret Exit:
when you are at the spring board, fly left. There is a pipe in the
upper left hand corner by the left wall and ceiling.
> Vanilla secret 3
1-Ups: You get 40-50 lives, a power-up,
and a Yoshi all at once. I kinda like it, and you are welcome to add
it to the list if you don't have it already.
In Vanilla Secret 3, go to the midway tape. Break the tape and leave
the world. Go back in the world, starting at midway. Go right, until
you come to a pipe. In a music box above the pipe is a power-up.
Continue right, avoiding paratroopers and spiked guys, over the
chasm, and to the row of blocks above a field of spiked turtles.
Hit the bottom of the SECOND block in that row. It is over the spiked
turtles, but with minimal practice you can hit it easily. In the
SECOND block is a P-Block. DON'T JUMP ON IT! Grab it, and take it with
you. While carrying the P-Block, return back to your left, over the
chasm, past the pipe you saw before, and past the midway tape. Continue
until you get BETWEEN 2 pipes on the same screen. Each pipe has a
villian jumping out of it, and there is a chasm just to the left of
the left pipe. Set the P-Block down here.
Jump on the P-Block, jump over the chasm on the left, and run as far
and as fast as you can left. Each turtle/villian has turned into a
coin, and after ~5 of them they are all 3-ups. Tons of 'em.
The P-Block power will run out about the time you get back to the Yoshi
block. Get Yoshi, and leave the world. ***NOTE: Don't leave the world
until the game has finished couting up your lives!!!! You get so many
you have to wait till it counts em all. Voila! Many lives and a Yoshi.
> Vanilla Secret Fortress
1-Ups: Just before entering the last area of Vanilla Secret Fortress (to face
Reznor), you can earn many 1-Ups by repeatedly stomping the Bony Beetles
at the Red Door (don't touch the ground - tread water). At first this
will just earn points, but the points increase and eventually become
1-Ups. This basic technique applies most places where an enemy can be
continually stomped w/o touching the ground.
< In Butter Bridge 1
If you jump straight up while on the sinking mushrooms,
they will rise while you are in the air. This effectively keeps them
from sinking off the screen.
< In Butter Bridge 2, there is one green pipe with a small log platform
on both sides (this is about 2/3 of the way through, also it's the
pipe you come back up through if you go down the second purple pipe
to ride the rope). If you have a cape (there is a feather in the
green "!" block right after the middle goal), get on the right log
platform trapping the koopa between you and the green pipe. Now, you
can use the cape spin trick to continuously knock the koopa shell
against the pipe to collect unlimited 1-Ups until the clock runs out.
> Cheese Bridge
Where is the second exit?
After the first exit. You can get there two ways.
1) become a very skilled flyer. Fly past the saws in the second half,
as soon as you are above the last platform before the goal, drop
below the goal's platform level. Just when you get below the goals
platform level lift again and keep flying under the goal. If you
can, fly higher until you are on the platform, otherwise, just
fly until you past the second goal. (this is very difficult,
it took me 30 lives to get it right).
2) get a yoshi and bounce off the saws in the second half until you
are on the last platform before the first goal. Now jump yoshi
off the platform, but DO NOT LAND on the goal platform, fall short.
Keep pushing right until the last moment yoshi goes off the bottom
of the screen, now spin jump off yoshi. You should be on the platform
past the first goal.
> Forest of Illusion 1
Secret exit: It is somewhere under the platform with the centipeedes.
after you go off the platform, get a balloon (from where?), and float
left back under the paltform (I think). The balloon may be before
the platform, in which case you float under the platform.
1-Ups: Go to the first world in the forest (the one next to the Ghost
House). Play through that World and touch the midway goal (the small goal
post, ya know what I mean, right?). Then exit the world (start to pause,
select to bail).
Now go back into the world. You'll start at the midway post. Run to the
right and you'll find a block that alternates between the different pow up-s
in the game. Hit the block when it's a feather and you'll catch the invinc
star. Now run to the right and hit every monster along the way. Soon, you'll
start to earn 1-Ups and 2-Ups (from the centipede-like creatures). You should
be able to get 15 lives or more before the star fizzes out.
> Forest of Illusion 2
Secret exit: Just before the normal exit, swim left and down, it
doesn't look like you can go through at first, but you can.
> Forest of Illusion 3
Secret exit: Go to the end, but do not break the goal. Go left, and
go down the first or second Green pipe.
> Forest of Illusion 4
Secret Exit: Just past the middway gate, there is a koopa in a purple
pipe throwing spiked turtles. Get a cape, jump and spin by the pipe
to kill the koopa, and then go down the pipe.
1-Ups: Where there is a koopa "fishing" with a green mushroom. Ignore him.
Get a shell and run to where you find the first pipe. There is a monster
that comes out of the pipe and throws creatures at you. There is a depression
in front of the pipe. Take the shell and throw it at the pipe, it will start
to bounce back and forth. Everytime the guy in the pipe throws a creature
the bouncing shell will kill it. Further, you can now "take the bait" from
the guy in the cloud. He will also throw more creatures giving you more guys.
It is possible to get 40-70 guys (depending on how good you are at getting
the guy in the cloud to constantly throw in the depression) in one play of
the scene.
> In Chocolate Island 1 there is a 3-Up Moon just beyond the midway
gate, but to get it you must pickup and carry the springboard which is
left of the midway gate (means you cannot reach the tape to break it).
Carry the springboard to the level area left of the big crescent-shaped
section. If you jump as high as possible and then go right while in
the air, you can land on a set of clouds where the moon is.
If you don't use the angled green pipe to launch Mario forward in
Chocolate Island 1, then you will not get a midway gate.
> On Chocolate Island 2 - the first red dot after the Ghost House
>where is the second exit? (The one where they talk about the amount of
>coins and time left changing the outcome).
Go fast. If you get to the place where you would normally reach the
section with the regular exit, but have 250 or more (or maybe more than
250...I don't know if this is a "greater than" or a "greater than or
equal" test), you'll get access to the second exit.
< Chocolate Island 4
1-Ups: You must have a
cape. Get the first P-block and go down the grey tube. Once in the
tube, grab the second P-block and jump off the edge. Hug the right
wall until you see the seventh opening in the wall that is filled with
1-UP mushrooms. Float into the passage and grab the 1-UPs. When you
come out of the tube, go back to the left and repeat as many times as
needed.
> Sunken Ghost Ship
There's a place where you can get unlimited lives
(well, I guess up to 100, I never actually saw how far I could go) in the
Sunken Ghost ship. Just before you enter the pipe to go the second portion
of the ship, go to the left and up. There will be two bullet things that
will keep shooting and they will hit your feet. First, you get 200, 400,
800, ...., up to 8000, then you get 1-ups for every hit. So, I just sit
there for a minute and rack up lives.
> Valley of Bowser 2 (i think - the one before castle 7).
>Can't find the second exit here either...
After the place where you go up and down and up and down and get squashed,
there's a place where you can jump up and go off the top of the screen.
Jump to the left there, and you end up on a ledge that is off the top of
the screen. Walk or run (or fly, I suppose) to the left for a while, and
you will fall down into a room with a key and keyhole.
> Valley Ghost House
>I can see the key and hole when flying up in a
>certain room but the entrance is too small for me to get in since flying
>Mario is big).
Ride the coin/block snake. A lot of people don't know what this is, so
I'll elaborate. You know those blocks that when you hit them yield a
line of coins? What many people overlook is that you can control the
direction the line forms in with the control pad. Most (all?) of these
coin lines are like this.
The way to ride one is to hit the block, so the coins start coming out,
then stomp on a switch block to turn the coins solid, and then hop onto
the now solid coin snake. The snake keeps growing, although as long as
the switch block effect is still going, it grows by adding solid blocks.
In the Valley Ghost House, do this, and use the control pad to make the
block snake go up to the key in a stair step pattern so you can ascend it.
>Valley of Bowser 4 (the one where to football players throw rocks).
>At the end of this one, you can see the key and hole, but the key is
>surrounded by solid rock - how do you get it?
Yoshi can reach it for you. He's not bothered by solid rock.
>> Bowser
> OK, I'm in the Browser castle. I can't seem to kill the boss. The
> boss sits on that floating thing and never seems to get harmed, whether
> I spin him with the cape or shoot him. Also, where exactly is the
> secret area in Chocolate Island 2? There doesn't seem to be any place
> on top of all the areas in CI 2.
You have to throw the little wind-up toys at him.
I assume you're talking about Bowser in his Clown Copter(tm). If you
notice, he throws out two MechaKoopas every so often. Stomp on them
and throw them so that they arc over and hit him on the head. You know
that you hit him when he goes all loopy. It takes 2-3 hits to send
him away. Watch out for the fire that falls from the sky. The
princess will shout help and throw you a mushroom. Repeat the process
until the third time. Watch out though since he gets tougher with each
defeat. The first time he returns, he will occasionally flip over and
drop a bowling ball in your direction. Use the spinning jump to avoid
taking damage. The second time he returns, he will start hopping
around in his Clown Copter(tm). Watch out for the fan blade. He still
uses the bowling ball attack so stay on your toes.
> Tubular (in special world)
>I've tried everything, but I can't seem to get past Tubular of Super Mario
>World. To refresh your memories, it's the level where there are several
Take the P balloon from the first ? block. Float past the next
? block (this one right above a dragon coin), past the next ?
block (which has a Chargin' Chuck throwing baseballs) and wait
above the next ? block until your P balloon runs out.
The ? block you are now on contains another P ballon. Hit the R
button to get a look at what you now face -- a line of Koopas.
Become one with their rhythm, grasshopper, and take the P balloon
and float past them. You'll then have to get past a couple of
lava plants.
Eventually, you'll come to a ? block with a Chargin' Chuck on top
throwing footballs. There will be another one of these to your
right. Hover above the first until your P balloon runs out, knock
him off of his block, and land on it.
Now you've got to deal with the C.C. above you to the right who is
throwing footballs right where you need to be to grab the P balloon
that is in the block you are standing on. Press the L button (twice
if you are still scrolled from the R press I recommended a while back).
With the C.C. off the screen, he will stop throwing footballs. You
can now take the P balloon and float on. You might want to use R to
get the screen scrolled back, so you can see what's coming up (a couple
more lava plants to dodge). You will then easily reach the goal.
There are probably other ways to get through here. In particular, I've
come real close a couple of times with a Yoshi, bouncing off of various
things. I've often reached the line of Koopas that way. If the Yoshi
were a blue Yoshi, it would probably be possible to grab one of the
Koopas and just fly with Yoshi the rest of the way.
< AWESOME (in special world)
Here's how to beat AWESOME without having to worry with jumping on koopas
and bullets and all those nasty things at the end:
1. The goal is to cross the whole section at the end (where all the fish,
bullets, etc start coming at you like crazy) using a flying blue yoshi.
2. You may get blue yoshis very easily down on starworld 2 or 3 (the one under
water where the egg hatches -- small blue yoshi will eat a power star and
immediately turn into big blue yoshi. At this point, press pause-select
to get out.
3. The hardest part is probably getting blue yoshi in AWESOME over to
the last pipe before the nasty section. Once you get him there, try to
eat one of the turtle shells and/or turtles. BUT HERE IS THE TRICK:
You will never make it over the gorge to the end by flying at normal
speed. You have to fly fast just as you would run fast by holding the
Y button down, while flapping "your wings" with the B button. But
watch out, if you press the Y-button AFTER you eat a shell, yoshi will
spit it out. You must press Y before eating the shell, and never let
up again until you get to the end. Flap like crazy and you will make
it over the gorge.
> Special world 5 (groovy?)
In regards to extra lives, I found the best way is using (as someone
else mentioned) the star. I use the 5th special world (I'm pretty sure
it's the 5th), I'm not sure what it's name is, but I can tell you that it
is the one on ice, with lots of Rex's. What you want to do is go until
you get to the platform that has 5 coins and a ?-box above it. You must
carry the Power button with you to this point. Hit the P, and get the star
from the ?-box.
Then jump up and down and touch all the cheep-cheep's that are flying back
and forth. When the P-power ends, and you fall (because the ledge turns
back into coins) run to the left and kill everybody in your path. I can
consistently get 17-20 lives from using this method.
< Funky (in the Special World)
Ah, this was truly a nasty level. Get equipped with a Yoshi and a Cape from
the level two spaces to the right. Then, at the very beginning, run to one
block before you meet the first wiggly, then fly with Yoshi. When it looks
like you're coming down, DON'T let go of any buttons. You will
automatically get kicked further by the bullets firing off the canons. Keep
this up till you reach the springboard next to two pipes.
Then, the procedure I followed to carry the springboard to the next pipe
was to first swallow the wiggly in the next area, pick up the springboard,
run with it, jump, etc....
This level gets my vote for MOST ANNOYING. Especially when that idiotic
Yoshi runs away so many times. Talk about loyalty!
Apendix A - list of stages and exits
> All Stages, All Exits (Yes, Virginia, there are 96)
(NOTE: exits marked with '*' do NOT contribute to the *96 total)
Stage Exit 1 Exit 2
---------------------- --------------------- -------------------------
Yoshi's House *Yoshi's Island 1 *Yoshi's Island 2
Yoshi's Island 1 Yellow Switch Palace
Yoshi's Island 2 Yoshi's Island 3
Yoshi's Island 3 Yoshi's Island 4
Yoshi's Island 4 Iggy's Castle
Yellow Switch Palace Yellow Switch Palace
Iggy's Castle Donut Plains 1
Donut Plains 1 Donut Plains 2 Donut Secret 1
Donut Plains 2 Donut Ghost House Green Switch Palace
Green Switch Palace Green Switch Palace
Donut Ghost House Donut Plains 3 Top Secret Area
Top Secret Area
Donut Plains 3 Donut Plains 4
Donut Plains 4 Morton's Castle
Donut Secret 1 Donut Ghost House Donut Secret House
Donut Secret House Donut Secret 2 Star Road 1
Donut Secret 2 Donut Plains 3
Morton's Castle Vanilla Dome 1
Vanilla Dome1 Vanilla Dome 2 Vanilla Secret 1
Vanilla Dome 2 Vanilla Ghost House Red Switch Palace
Red Switch Palace Red Switch Palace
Vanilla Ghost House Vanilla Dome 3
Vanilla Dome 3 Vanilla Dome 4
Vanilla Dome 4 Lemmy's Castle
Lemmy's Castle Cheese Bridge Area
Vanilla Secret 1 Vanilla Secret 2 Star Road 2
Vanilla Secret 2 Vanilla Secret 3
Vanilla Secret 3 Vanilla Fortress
Vanilla Fortress Butter Bridge 1
Cheese Bridge Area Cookie Mountain Soda Lake
Soda Lake Star Road 3
Cookie Mountain Ludwig's Castle
Butter Bridge 1 Butter Bridge 2
Butter Bridge 2 Ludwig's Castle
Ludwig's Castle Forest of Illusion 1
Forest of Illusion 1 Forest of Illusion 2 Forest Ghost House
Forest of Illusion 2 Forest of Illusion 3 Blue Switch Palace
Blue Switch Palace Blue Switch Palace
Forest of Illusion 3 Forest Ghost House Roy's Castle
Forest Ghost House Forest of Illusion 4 Forest of Illusion 1
Forest of Illusion 4 Forest of Illusion 2 Forest Secret Area
Forest Secret Area Forest Fortress
Forest Fortress Star Road 4
Roy's Castle Chocolate Island 1
Chocolate Island 1 Choco-Ghost House
Choco-Ghost House Chocolate Island 2
Chocolate Island 2 Chocolate Island 3 Chocolate Secret (FAST)
Chocolate Island 3 Chocolate Island 3 Chocolate Fortress (ALT)
Chocolate Fortress Chocolate Island 4
Chocolate Island 4 Chocolate Island 5
Chocolate Island 5 Wendy's Castle
Chocolate Secret Wendy's Castle
Wendy's Castle Sunken Ghost Ship
Sunken Ghost Ship Valley of Bowser 1
Valley of Bowser 1 Valley of Bowser 2
Valley of Bowser 2 Valley Ghost House Valley Fortress
Valley Ghost House Valley of Bowser 3 Larry's Castle
Valley of Bowser 3 Valley of Bowser 4
Valley of Bowser 4 Larry's Castle Star Road 5 & Front Door
Valley Fortress Back Door
Larry's Castle Front Door
Back Door *END
Front Door *END
Star World 1 Star Road 1 Star Road 2
Star World 2 Star Road 2 Star Road 3
Star World 3 Star Road 3 Star Road 4
Star World 4 Star Road 4 Star Road 5
Star World 5 Star Road 1 Star Road 6
Gnarly Tubular
Tubular Way Cool
Way Cool Awesome
Awesome Groovy
Groovy Mondo
Mondo Outrageous
Outrageous Funky
Funky Star Road 7 (Yoshi's House)
