Hints & Tips

Mirror Room: Secret Star
Once you have gained access to the second floor, visit the Mirror Room with Luigi. Grab a flower and walk into the mirror to pass through it. Then go straight to the door in the background and it will open, bringing you to a totally white room with a star in it. To return the main area, grab another flower or go to the right to free Wario.

Classic Mario game reference
When the game starts, Make your way to the rec room. You will hear the level selection screen music from Super Mario Bros. 3.

Peach's Castle: Secret
Go into the room where you can change into different characters. Jump into the glass window of Peach next to Yoshi's door which is on the right. You will go into a Castle Secret. You can obtain three Stars here. Make it to the bottom of the slide to receive the first. Make it to the end of the slide in less than twenty seconds for the second. Get every coin in the level this includes blue ones for the third.

Easier Stars
Some really easy Stars appear when you talk to some Toads in different rooms around the castle.

Mushroom 1-Ups
When you receive a power-up mushroom, start runing down enemies, signs, etc. A number will appear after each object you hit. After the number "8" appears, you will earn a 1-Up for each enemy you hit.

Shortcut to King Bomb-Omb
When you get beyond the gate, you will see hill with a red coin. The only way to get up that hill is to hold Y (dash). Once in a while, switch the camera angle. A second way is by transportation. Proceed along the normal path of the level and you will see a hole in the wall in time. Stand in that hole and do not press even one button. You will be instantly warped to the second top layer of the mountain. The third way are the cannons. Just blast yourself up there, but use caution. Mario flies a bit below the target. Make sure you raise the cannon a little above your target. This will save a bit of time.

Ship: Secret
Reach the room on the first floor with the entrance to the level with the sunken ship picture. There are small square holes on the walls. Jump in the one on the left to receive a 1-Up. Jump into the one on the right to go into the Castle Secret. To earn a Star you have to swim through the tank and grab all eight red coins. To receive air, you must grab the other coins their is no way to get out of the water.

Beating the Goomboss
As Yoshi, run around the arena as quickly as you can and attempt to get behind the Goomboss. Swallow a Goomba that follows. Wait for it to become an egg and throw it at him. Redo this two more times.

Castle: Secret Star
Simply stand on the sun platform in the center of the main room in the castle as Mario. Gaze up at the sun above the last Boss door. You have to perform this trick with Mario because he is the only one that can fly. Inside, you must gather up eight red coins and a Star will appear on the middle platform. Note: You can only get this star after you get to a certain point in the game. You will know you have gotten to this point when the sun shines through onto the platform.

Fun with Goomboss
Go back to the place behind the Princess's Drawers to the door with an 8 on it with Mario. Go in to fight with Goomboss, and in time he will throw a mushroom. Touch the mushroom and Mario will become tall, just like in the old Mario games.

Beating King Boo
Reach King Boo by going through the Luigi picture in the Boo House. You can tell where he is when he disappears in the mirror by looking for his shadow on the floor.

Getting Wario
Play as Luigi in the Mirror Room. Jump into Wario's painting and beat the Giant Ice Bully to receive Wario's key.

Glowing rabbits
There are eight glowing rabbits in the game that randomly replace each of the character's mini-game rabbits. Once you catch all of them, you will get a key that has the white door to the right of Wario's open. You will get a Star.

These are the seven glowing rabbits. The rabbits have to be caught in order. The order is listed below.

Rabbit 1: Caught with Luigi. It is in the underground hallway near the Lethal Lava Land course.

Rabbit 2: Caught with Yoshi. It is in the garden on the outside of the castle near the bushes.

Rabbit 3: Caught with Wario. It is in the hall of the Tiny-Huge Island course.

Rabbit 4: Caught with Mario. It is on the staircase leading up to the Tick-Tock Clock course and the Rainbow Ride course.

Rabbit 5: Caught with Luigi. it is in the Bob-Omb Battlefield hall.

Rabbit 6: Caught with Wario. It is in the same place you found it with Wario. It is in the hall of the Tiny-Huge Island Course.

Rabbit 7: Caught with Mario. It is in the Jolly Roger Bay hall.

After you have caught all seven glowing rabbits you will receive a key that makes the door in the character changing room open.

Note: In order to locate the glowing rabbits, you have to find every regular rabbits for each character. Also, the glowing rabbits can be caught in any order you like.

Luigi: Rabbits
Make your way to the area with all the ghosts and where the door is at. Jump, then grab the ledge. Climb it, then jump up again. There should a green rabbit up there.

Beating Lethal Bombs
To kill the Lethal Bombs, either jump at them or punch/kick them before hand.

Getting Luigi
Make your way to the courtyard with the fountain and the ghosts. Search for one ghost that is larger than the others. Then use Mario to stomp him. Enter the small object that it drops to reach Boo's mansion. grab the first Star. On the second one, go up to the second floor. Continue on to beat Big Boo and receive Luigi's key.

Getting Mario
To rescue Mario, you need to have at least 8 Stars. Go into the castle version of the rec room, where Toad is worried about losing Peach's rec room keys. Now open the 8 Star door. Go forward, jump across the platforms, climb the pole, and get to the top of the huge tree. Jump down the hole on top of it. To beat the Boss, Goomboss as Yoshi, run behind him, swallow a minion, and throw it back at him. After evvery hit, he will grow and redden. After three hits, he will be destroyed and you will receive the key to Mario's room. Then, just unlock the door and go in.

Secret Star
When you go up the stairs and have one Star, you can pass through a door with a number one on it. When you enter it, go through one of the pictures of Peach. One of them has a level with a secret Star.

Make your way to the rec room where you play mini-games. Jump into the painting in that room. Collect the five Blue Stars to receive the real Star to appear. This is also a level that appears when you play in multi-player mode.

As Luigi, from the main hallway enter the door at the top of the first staircase. Go up the stairs and into the door at the top of this staircase. Then, go into the door with red carpet around it. There will be a room with a large mirror in it. grab a flower on one of the pedestals and go through the mirror. Go through the door in the reflection. You will be in a room that is all yellow, with a lone Star.

Secret area
When you have a large amount of Stars, go to the part of Peach's castle, where there is a flame-like painting on the wall. Then, go down the left hallway until you come to a dead end. Jump through the wall at the dead end. If done properly on the right wall, you will gain access to a secret level.

Character power-ups

Mario
Feather: Jump three times in order to make Mario fly.

Flower: Make Mario inflate and float slowly this handles easier than the feather.

Note: Mario is just the basic character and has no special abilities.

Yoshi
Flower: Makes Yoshi's mouth full of flame and can breath fire. If you ever see fire, like in the basement, you can eat it and can spit fire once.

Note: Kump and hold it for roughly a second. Yoshi will with kick his feet (quicker than Luigi) and hover for roughly two seconds.

Luigi
Flower: Makes Luigi invincible to many things. He can go through screens and other objects.

Note: Luigi can run on water for a brief period of time. Also, if you jump and hold it, he kicks his feet quickly and falls slower. If you attempt to do a triple jump with Luigi it can be difficult if you hold it for roughly one second, he kicks and you will not be able to finish the triple jump.

Wario
Flower: Metal Wario; this character is invincible and can remain underwater.

Note: Wario is the slowest character. He also has no jumping skills, but he is the best at Ground Pounds. He can also break black bricks.

Mini-game requirements

Yoshi
Hide And Boo Seek: One rabbit
Puzzle Panel: Two rabbits
Boom Box: Three rabbits
Tox Box Shuffle: Four rabbits
Which Wiggler?: Five rabbits

Mario
Sort Or 'Splode: One rabbit
Trampoline Time: Two rabbits
Shuffle Shell: Three rabbits
Bounce And Trounce: Four rabbits
Connect The Characters: Five rabbits
Shell Smash: Six rabbits
Trampoline Terror: Seven rabbits

Wario
Coincentration: One rabbit
Bingo Ball: Two rabbits
Psyche Out!: Three rabbits
Slots Shot: Four rabbits
Lakitu Launch: Five rabbits
Intense Coincentration: Six rabbits
Giant Snowball Slalom: Seven rabbits

Star bonus
Collect all 150 stars and go outside the castle. Then climb inside the cannon opening that is now where the grating was near the Fish Pond. Aim to land onto the roof, where you will meet Princess Peach and receive 100 lives.

Drain water under bridge and Star
After you get Wario, go to the basement type place. Then go though one of the doors with no star on it. You will come to a sign that says something about the two pillars in front of you. Ground Pound both of them, and the water will lower. After that, go outside close to under the bridge. There will be a one of those black brink type things just make sure you have Wario. Then, ground pound it. You have to collect all the red coins to receive the Star in that secret spot.

Mario loses hat
make your way to the level where you can see the snow level in the mirror. Then climb the mountain when you reach the head where the penguin is at. The snow head guy will blow you off. If you are Mario, your hat will fall off and you can leave the level without it.

More mini-games
In order to have more mini games in the rec room, catch a rabbit with the character you want more mini games with. For example, catch a rabbit with Luigi to get a second Luigi mini game.

After you have been in Princess Toadstool's (Peach's) room with the big dresser and all the drawers, go outside in the front yard of the castle. You will need to be playing as Yoshi. You will see three rabbits grouped together. If you get close to them, they will run away quickly. Run after them and catch them with your tongue. The rabbit will plead to be let it out. You will spit it out. After it complains about you almost swallowing it, it will hand you a key to the drawers, which will have more mini games in the rec room for Yoshi. You will receive three keys, because there are three rabbits.

Wet Dry World: Flood
After grabbing the key from the second Bowser, go upstairs and walk through the door that leads to the room with all the pictures. Now stop when you get through it and look around. In front of you is a picture of a spider. It is Wet Dry World. To flood it, jump high into the picture. If you time the triple jump well, you will cause flooding in Wet Dry World.

Wet Dry World: No water
This trick is similar to the "Wet Dry World: Flood" hint. The difference tho is instead of jumping high into the picture, jump low into it. You should attempt to jump straight into the bottom of the picture.

Easier health refill
When Mario's energy becomes low, locate water, swim underwater, then go up for some air. Also to regain health, just collect coins. You can also attempt to destroy an enemy to see if an item appears.

Easier lives
Just play a level with a 1-Up, like Bomb-Omb Battlefield. gather up the 1-Up mushrooms, leave the level, then go back in and redo it. You can do this as many times as you like.

Stop the clock level
To stop the clock level on the third floor of the castle, jump in at precisely 12 o'clock. Enter in at 3, 6, or 9 o'clock to make it slow, medium, or fast.

Shifting Sand Land
To obtain to Shifting Sand Land you must go through a wall hidden down close to the Lethal Lava Land level.

Tall, Tall Mountain: Mysterious mountainside
Make your way to the top of the mountain and retrieve the Wario hat. Jump down until you see a group of coins on the side of the mountain. Jump through the wall to go into a secret slide game, in which the reward is a Star.

Drawing
When the game starts and Mario's head appears, touch him. The screen will draw Mario. To draw your own picture, touch the pencil on the bottom-right. You have a paint meter at the bottom. This will determine how much you can draw before it makes it into an object on it's own.

If you cannot figure out what to draw, press R or L before you start drawing. A faded image of Mario will appear. The same happens for Yoshi if he was on the screen that was touched at the start.

Drawing controls

Erasing: In order to erase what you drew, press Left. To put it back, press Right.

Thicker lines: In order to make your picture's lines thicker, press Up.

Thinner lines: In order to make your picture's lines thinner, press Down.

Reviving: If you accidentally press the pencil and want the same one back, just click the glove. Your picture is redrawn.

Switching: You can also switch the image in the background by clicking on the Yoshi square on the other side. This also applies by clicking on the Mario square for the other side.

Keeping picture still: If your picture starts moving around weirdly, press L or R to snap back in place.

Stretch: Press Left or Right to spin the image(s) to the left or right in a cyclone pattern. If you happen to press Down, the image stretches apart. If you press Up, the images will come together.

Grabbing your drawing: You can use the touchpad to play and animate the drawing.

Mario's basic techniques
Note: This is based on standard mode.

Run: Press any direction then Y to accelerate. Then hold Y to stay that way.

Dash: Do not press any direction and hold Y. Mario will charge up and run in place. Then, hold any direction to dash off.

3 hit combo: Just press A(3x's) while standing still to preform two punches and a jump-kick.

Double Jump: This takes timing. When standing still, press B to jump. Just as you land, jump once again. You should go even higher. Note: It will not work a third time.

Triple Jump: You have to be moving. Do the same thing as the Double Jump, but time it properly one more time to preform a super high jump.

Triple Jump Dive: Perform the Triple Jump, then press A.

Ledge Grabbing: When you grab a ledge swiftly press B to get up or R to descend.

Run Dive: Start running then press A. Mario will do an instant dive, then slide on his stomach. While sliding it would be a good idea to press B to hop swiftly back on his feet.

Run Jump Dive: Start running, then press B. Mario will jump with medium speed. Then, press A and Mario will dive in mid- air. Note: This will work best for gaps that you can get the triple jump to work. Then as you slide on your stomach, press B.

Tree Climbing: When your climbing on a tree, hold Y to accelerate up. When your at the top of the tree, do not move then press Up. You will do a hand stand on top of the tree. Press B to go flying high into the air. Note: This is really useful for places that you cannot reach by foot.

Power Dunk: When your in mid-air at almost any time, press R. Mario will stop in mid-air for a full second, curl up, then descend at a good speed straight down. This is really useful for boxes that need smashing.

Crawling: Hold R and press in any direction to crawl. Crawling will work best in small narrow spaces where it is easy to fall.

Super Backflip Somersault: Hold R and make sure you are crouching, then jump. You can maneuver a bit while in the air.

Super Hop: Long jump when needed to get to the other side of a gap. Run or jog, then hold R and jump.

Wall Jumping: Jump on a wall at a certain angle. Mario will slide down the wall. Press B to jump very high off of the wall.

Breakdance Sweep Kick: Remain still, then hold R and press A. Mario will sweep his feet around, then get back in crouching position.

Running Slide Kick: Start running, then hold R and press A while still moving to do a sliding kick towards an enemy.

Ducking: Press R to duck, crouch, or get down.