Topic: Super Mario Bros 3: Incorrect map doesn't include secret path!

[jmo]

Very few people know about this secret in Super Mario Bros 3's Giant Land. At the coin that marks the halfway-point between level 3 and the first fortress of world 4 on the map, you can use a hammer to break the rock to your south and then you can skip the first fortress. The guy who made the map suggests that only one rock is breakable by tinting it red, but there should be two red rocks.

That's how big of a secret this shortcut is: pro's that have played the game for years don't even know about it! My mind was blown when I first found out about it!

[JonLeung]

Ah, so it takes you down to that bonus thing.  I see.  Neat!

It's a really simple fix, but we should let KeyBlade999 know.  Had you brought it to his attention yet?

[dark_lord_zagato@yahoo.co]

I just confirmed this is true. The rock above the slot machine does indeed break.

My guess as to why this is such an obscure secret is that hammers are in very limited supply, and most people who get to world 4 with a hammer in their inventory are probably going to use it to get to the mushroom house. I always do.

[Mike007]

It's not related, but that made me remember of another secret that I think not a lot of people know about. In the intro of Paper Mario when Mario is in Peach's Castle, there's a guard that prevent you from going into her bedroom. However, if you speak to him 5 times he'll actually let you through. There's nothing to gain out of this, but it's worth noting that it's the only time you can go in there while it's daytime. Unfortunately, the door to the balcony is locked. This room is notably missing from Peardian's map.

https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/N64/PaperMario-Prologue-PleaFromTheStars-PrincessPeach'sCastle(FirstVisit).png

[jmo]

I just confirmed this is true. The rock above the slot machine does indeed break.

My guess as to why this is such an obscure secret is that hammers are in very limited supply, and most people who get to world 4 with a hammer in their inventory are probably going to use it to get to the mushroom house. I always do.

Totally agree and you won't get the locked gate opened for beating the fortress, so if you get a game over then you wasted your hammer and you have to do the first three stages again.

The only reason you'd pick the second rock over the one that blocks the mushroom house is if you were doing a Speedrun.

The thing is it's apparent that most people don't even realize that there's an alternative path there. Even though it's not a particularly helpful shortcut, it still totally blew my mind.

[JonLeung]

Just looked over all the World maps to see if there are any other rocks directly adjacent in a cardinal direction to a space you can stop on, and I noticed one in World 1, in the space just before and just north of 1-5.

This is quite early, and you probably can't normally get a Hammer before this if memory serves.  But if you hacked the game or used a Game Genie code or something to get a Hammer here, could you break it to skip both 1-5 and 1-6?

If it does break, it might prove that all rocks are breakable.  Or if it doesn't, maybe there's an exception (because there's also another rock to the west of the same space, so maybe there's a conflict?), or that there are just rocks that are breakable and others that aren't (irrespective of their positioning).

[dark_lord_zagato@yahoo.co]

Just looked over all the World maps to see if there are any other rocks directly adjacent in a cardinal direction to a space you can stop on, and I noticed one in World 1, in the space just before and just north of 1-5.

This is quite early, and you probably can't normally get a Hammer before this if memory serves.  But if you hacked the game or used a Game Genie code or something to get a Hammer here, could you break it to skip both 1-5 and 1-6?

If it does break, it might prove that all rocks are breakable.  Or if it doesn't, maybe there's an exception (because there's also another rock to the west of the same space, so maybe there's a conflict?), or that there are just rocks that are breakable and others that aren't (irrespective of their positioning).

I have tons of cheat codes, including one for infinite hammers, so I took care of it today. I played through the entire game using a hammer on literally EVERY space on the map that Mario can step on. I found nothing of interest. The only breakable rock that is not listed in KeyBlade999's maps is the one that jmo pointed out in World 4.

I checked all the spaces in Warp World, World 9 too. Nothing.

I didn't bother with the canoe in World 3. You can (try to) use hammers in the water but since the ocean isn't a grid it would be tricky to check every last possible spot.

[TerraEsperZ]

I think it's insane that there are still secrets being uncovered or, in this case, being brought to light in a nearly 35 year old game!
I played this game so much back when I was a preteen and yet I never suspected that particular rock hid a path.

[YelseyKing]

This is quite early, and you probably can't normally get a Hammer before this if memory serves.  But if you hacked the game or used a Game Genie code or something to get a Hammer here, could you break it to skip both 1-5 and 1-6?

This is an old post, but... well, I don't come to the forums very often, so I just saw it. Despite that it very much looks breakable, no, it isn't. While this isn't possible to try in the NES version without cheats, you *can* go back to World 1 in the All-Stars and Advance versions with a hammer, and... still, no. There are actually multiple types of rocks in the data, two that break and reveal horizontal and vertical paths, respectively, and a couple others that are just decoration, which is what this one is. I assume the devs figured it'd be impossible to get here with a hammer, didn't make it breakable, then just forgot about the possibility to do so in later versions.

Bonus fun fact: If you were to use a "move anywhere on the map" cheat to access the pyramid on the first screen of the world 2 map, just above the first Toad house, you'd find it's... a duplicate of said Toad's house. Trying to enter the others on the map just glitches the game.

[JonLeung]

Bonus fun fact: If you were to use a "move anywhere on the map" cheat to access the pyramid on the first screen of the world 2 map, just above the first Toad house, you'd find it's... a duplicate of said Toad's house. Trying to enter the others on the map just glitches the game.

Do you mean the one directly north of it, two tiles up?

Do you think it has to do with it being lined up with all the enterable areas?  Because none of the other pyramids are... except for the one you actually do have to enter before going to the castle.  I'm surprised it doesn't lead to a duplicate of that pyramid stage, actually...

Are there any other off-path areas you can enter using that cheat?

[YelseyKing]

Do you mean the one directly north of it, two tiles up?

Do you think it has to do with it being lined up with all the enterable areas?  Because none of the other pyramids are... except for the one you actually do have to enter before going to the castle.  I'm surprised it doesn't lead to a duplicate of that pyramid stage, actually...

Yeah, that's the one. Like you said, it's the only one that adheres to the "grid", so I assume that's why it works, to a degree. The rest of the decorative pyramids *not* on the "grid" just glitch up the game. (See below.)

Are there any other off-path areas you can enter using that cheat?

You can "enter" quite a few map objects, some of which you normally couldn't in a normal game, such as the little water holes, the dancing flowers on the world 4 map, and the icebergs on the world 6 map... though most of them either freeze the game, lead to a glitched stage that usually kills you instantly or *also* freezes the game, or, and most bizarrely, lead to a weird "stage" that attempts to use the world map's graphics, but are horribly glitched. You can't do anything in them.

I tested every "enterable" area a long time ago, and *did* find a few that actually *led* somewhere (I recall one of the icebergs in world 6 led to a duplicate of... I think it was 6-8?, and another one led to a hammer bros. stage), though I can't recall the specifics.

Also, as an aside... if you use a Game Genie code that forces you to automatically enter levels, the START panel on world 1, oddly enough, leads to an unused stage.