Thursday, February 23, 2012

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-Fort

It's time for the first Fortress! Fortresses are vertical levels, like in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. There are Dry Bones here, as well as moving stone blocks that can crush you if they pin you to a wall. The first Star Coin is over the set of six vertically moving stones. We climb up more stones that form stairs and find another set above us, to the right of the pipe. This path will take you to the second Star Coin. We reach the end of the stairs, then go left to drop down to the pipe. The pipe acts as a cannon, firing us straight up. We can use it to reach a door to the third Star Coin. Here are several moving stones with no floor, so be careful when jumping. If we stand on one of the stones at about mid-height on the right, we can go to the right into a new area. Unfortunately, to fully explore the area, we need a Shell Suit. We return using the yellow pipe. We climb higher and find another pipe beneath two stones that move towards each other. We climb in the pipe when the stones are touching so we can be fired from the cannon through the gap when the stones are apart. The cannon will shoot us up to the boss door.
Inside is Bowser Jr. He's the boss of all of the forts. His bandana with the teeth is around his neck, so we can stomp him three times to defeat him. He'll go into a shell cycle after each of the first two hits. Alternatively, we can defeat him with fireballs. After his defeat, he hops out of the fort with Peach and carries her to the castle. At this point, we can now save. Let's keep going!

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-3

This level is full of platforming. The platforms are mushrooms, and some of them have springs on them. We can bounce from them into the air, then slowly descend while spinning. Pound the ground to land faster. We take the second spring to a pink, springy mushroom with the first Star Coin. While in the air, there is a trail of coins we can follow to the second Star Coin. We keep going and get a Fire Flower so we can deal with the Koopas and Goombas. Towards the end are moving mushrooms that tilt on their own. The third Star Coin is between the second and third tilting mushrooms. We get a 1-up from Red Coins and run up the last tilting mushroom to the flagpole.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-2

It's time for the first underground level. As the level is underground, it takes place on the Touch Screen, so you can't access your reserve item. We can pound the brick blocks to drop down for lots of coins. The first Star Coin is on a ledge to the right of the set of three brick blocks. As we keep going to the right, we'll find several brick blocks somewhat shaped like a tower. We can pound the top brick block to drop down to the second Star Coin. We take the first pipe to an area below and find more coins and a Koopa Shell, which we use to destroy the brick blocks under the pipe. This leads us to a new area with some Goombas and a Mega Mushroom. I got 2 1-ups from here. We go back to the main level through the pipe and use a tilting platform to reach an area on top of the rock that forms the ceiling. We run to the end to find the 3rd Star Coin and a pipe to the red flag goal. The red flag goal opens a shortcut to the fort, bypassing 1-3. It also opens access to a Toad House. To reach the regular goal, keep going right. It opens the path to 1-3.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-1

It's World 1, so we get a simple level to get us started. We find the first Star Coin over four brick blocks. In one of the nearby item blocks is a Mega Mushroom, which makes Mario grow to fill the whole screen. As Mega Mario, he's invincible and destroys everything in his path. If you time it right, you can destroy the stairs and the flagpole. At the top of the screen is a meter. If it fills up, you can get up to 5 1-ups. Destroying everything means you'll probably miss the green pipe to the second Star Coin, which is underground. The third Star Coin is in a gap under some brick blocks. We have to be Super Mario to reach them with a ground pound. From there, we reach the flagpole.

New Super Mario Bros - Save the Princess. Save the Kingdom

Mario and Peach are walking outside of the castle. A large storm cloud appears and strikes the castle with lightning. Mario runs toward the castle while Bowser Jr. sneaks up behind Peach, grabs her, and runs off. Mario starts chasing them. Bowser Jr. runs into the first fort with Peach.

Well, we know who'll we'll be dealing with. It's time for another adventure, this time on the Nintendo DS. We'll cover all levels and Star Coins. Stay tuned for more!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Super Mario 3D Land: S8- Crown

It's time for the last level! You can only access this level when you have five stars on your file. To get those stars, you need to beat every level with both Mario and Luigi, get all Star Coins, and get a golden flag on each level (get a 1-up at the flagpole). If you're not sure which levels you need to replay, have Mario or Luigi stand in front of that level's icon and check the lower right corner of the top screen, which has symbols to tell you who has completed the level and if you've gotten a gold flag.

I recommend having two Statue Leaves here. No Star Coins, midpoints, or power-ups here. We find ourselves in space with the Toads. Hammer Bros and a Boomerang Bro are here as well. Shooting stars rain down. We hop across the blocks to an orange Mystery Box. Pink Toad is in the next area, as well as Goombas. This is a platforming challenge from used blocks. The challenge continues on the walls. We bounce off of two Paragoombas and find a block snake. We hop up more used item blocks and continue. Toad is standing on one of the blocks. Double bounce from him to reach the pipe. Nooooo! Not Boom Boom and Pom Pom again! We defeat them and go through another green pipe. Next are green arrow platforms on tracks with Fuzzies. Be sure to land on the arrow of the direction you want to go in: there's nothing stopping you from rolling off the track. Bob-ombs with tails drop in. Next are fire bars. At the end is another Mystery Box, which takes you to more fire bars and donut lifts. The Mystery Box takes you to a maze area where giant Cosmic Mario appears. Flames make the walls, but you can go under some. It's a short area. The next area has green bridges that spell "THANK YOU!!" while you ride on a yellow platform. The last exclamation point has a Mystery Box that takes you to a flagpole with a lot of Toads and fireworks. We get a 1-up at the flagpole. Victory! We're done!