Lesson time. If we’re gonna play Mario for real then we gotta know the man’s moves. The basics are simple B runs, A jumps, and the D-Pad moves you. Got that? Good. Those buttons are what makes this Mario.
 | Moving on we need to use some pipes. In SMB we could go down pipes and walk into pipes but now we’ve got to be able to jump into a pipe from bellow. Just hold up as you jump towards it. There will be some tricky pipe puzzle later on so get used to it. |
| Busting blocks works like it always did including the bop-under technique. You can now bounce off of enemies to get a huge boost into the air. Kicking shells works the same too. You shouldn’t have any trouble with these. |  |
 | Oh, and you can pick up a shell for the first time. Just hold B and try it. You’ll wonder how you ever got along without it. |
| Crazy as it seems another new addition in Mario 3 is slanted land. In SMB everything was flat blocks but here we can slide down slopes to take down enemies. (for extra fun face backwards and slide butt first) You’ll also need to master Climbing (hold UP at vines), Opening Doors (press UP in front of doors), ducking (press DOWN). Oh and be sure to dash over |  |
 | Swimming works just like in SMB except now you can jump out of the water. Whole levels had to be water before, now they can be small areas or much larger play areas. Jumping out of the water may not seem like a big deal but it opens up a lot of new gameplay scenarios. |
Much thanks to Nintendo for producing such an excellent manual for SMB3. I carried mine with me almost everywhere as a kid. The illustrated section of the bad guys is only topped by the Metroid manual in coolness.
