Baddies: Goomba

Oh yes, this project isn’t falling apart after one week. Maybe two weeks yeah, but certainly not just one.

Ah the Goomba. You march onward and onward. If I jump over you, then you will just keep on going. Are you really my enemy? In another world we might have been friends.

Goombas were the first baddie we saw in SMB so it’s fitting they should be the first we see here too. Even in their giant world versions they aren’t particularly threatening but they are iconic.

In Japan the Goomba are known as Kurribo. That’s why when you see them riding in their secret weapon –the shoe- it’s known as Kurribo’s Shoe. It’s a miss translation, or rather, a non-translation. These weird little guys only show up in one level of the whole game. The level itself is actually kind of boring, but it’s crazy to see them try so hard to take you down.

We’ll see in the next few days that Goombas have gotten a lot more advanced since SMB.

The Other Brother, Luigi

I’ve spent the last week detailing how Mario moves and I’m dedicating the foreseeable future to Super Mario Bros 3. Today though? Today is for Luigi.

Luigi made his first appearance in Mario Bros the arcade game. (you’ll hear more about it here much later) In that he was a color swapped version of Mario. Same deal in Super Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros 2 though… wow. Luigi could jump higher and longer with his legs swinging the whole time. He was taller and and weirder, but almost certainly distinct. Too bad SMB2 was an aberration and these traits would take a long time to surface again in gameplay form.

Yep, Luigi is identical in every way to Mario in SMB3 except for color and even that disappears with the fire and tanooki suits. As such, he’ll likely never be mentioned again here. As an apology, here’s Luigi stealing Mario’s girl.

The Map

The last couple entries were crazy long and had no heart. Today I’m changing that. Today we talk about the map.

We have come to expect a map in games like these but up until this point all we had were linear level after linear level. The map introduces something very important to Mario Bros, skippable levels. Notice that from level 2 you can move straight to the fortress. You probably want to do level 3 to get the warp whistle and get into Toad’s first house, but you’ll also probably skip 4 altogether with it’s cursed moving level design. What’s really important is that you get to choose at all. Modern games would never let you skip sections at your discretion. No sir.

Doing the Mario part 2

I gave your a crash course in moving Mario Yesterday but there is still some stuff you need to know before we can move forward.

Speaking of moving forward, You need to know about the P-Meter. Running fast builds up your P-Meter letting you do the biggest jump in any Mario game. For the record, the ‘P’ stands for ‘Power’ in this instance. This lets you dash over small gaps in the terrain and it also enables the Jet-Coaster Jump.

The Jet-Coaster jump is a variation of the regular P-Meter jump that can only be used on a ramp at the end of a long slope. These spots are rare but must be used when you get to them. Otherwise you’ll end up in the drink. Anyway, you don’t want to miss it, as this is one of those fleeting tricks in the game that is too much fun to pass up.

To survive trickier areas you’ll need to know how to do a Duck Slide. When a you see an area that only tiny-Mario can fit through, but you’re big this is how you get through. Run right at it and then duck while still holding right. You should slide forward just enough to get through. Failing that if you stand up in an area you don’t fit then you’ll just slip toward the right till you get free.

You can also squat while jumping. The upshot of that is your hittable area is halved so you can dodge all those Bullet-Bills near the end.

Do The Mario

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.