Download Super Mario Bros 3 Challenge ROM Hack

Don’t think this is gonna be a 100% Gold Remake, it’ll have its differences. Extra battles (some’ll be optionals, tough but rewarding), Hoenn Pokemon (in every area, and hard to find) New areas, Remapped some dungeons (so your old guides wont work) , Extra recurring characters (some’ll hate you, some’ll help you)

Note that the hack is incomplete but feel free to enjoy the hack as-is.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mario Bros. 3 Challenge! Are you up to it? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homepage: http://smb3c.darkmazda.com/ Email: [email protected] (You can join the FREE mailing list, or send feedback/comments! Also CHALLENGEs.) ............................................................................ Contents: 1) What is The Mario Bros. 3 Challenge? and Disclaimer 2) Requirements 3) Installation 4) Current Progress 5) Future Progress 6) The Story 7) The Levels 8) Tips and General Comments 9) CHALLENGES 10) Credits/Contact ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) What is The Mario Bros. 3 Challenge? and Disclaimer The Mario Bros. 3 Challenge is a freeware, not-for-profit new edition of the classic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) game, Super Mario Bros. 3. The patch was created using Mario Improvement 3. DISCLAIMER The makers of this patch are not associated with Nintendo or any other involved companies, nor are they affiliated with the makers of Nesticle, Mario Improvement 3, Snestool or any other programs mentioned in this document. If you install this patch on your computer, you do so completely at your own risk. The makers of this patch cannot be held responsible or liable for any possible damage that may occur from use of this patch, be it damage to your computer, or legal damage to yourself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) Requirements To use this patch, you will need the following: * A 386 or higher for absolute minimum performance (A 486 should do fine though) * A VGA video card * Some version of DOS or the Windows familiy * The NES Mario Bros. 3 ROM. (Don't ask me for this!) * A NES Emulator with mapper 4/mmc3 support, such as Nesticle or FWNES or the like * An IPS patch applier, such as Snestool. * An unziping program, such as PKzip or Winzip. If you are reading this document, it is assumed you have an unzipping program. :) * A sense of adventure and a lot of skill or patience! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3) Installation Installation is not hard, you just have to get the programs you need off the internet and then use them. :) Unzip the contents of this archive into a directory and then use the IPS program that you downloaded to apply the IPS patch included in this archive to your Mario Bros. 3 ROM. Then just configure and run your Emulator and select your ROM and you are ready to go! There should be readme files included with whatever programs you choose to explain how to do the above steps. The process will be different with each program, so there is no need for me to go over any other steps here. NOTE: You will want to back up your Mario 3 ROM! The patching is permanent and cannot be undone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4) Current Progress 4/1/00 On this first April fools day of the new millenium, Smb3C is finally finished. It has been nearly 8 months, and well over 160 levels, since I started this project, and I must say that I am very pleased with how it has come out. NOTE ON BOWSER: Many people do not know it, but there was actually two final Bowser rooms in the original Smb3. One was slightly harder to beat the game with, but not noticeably, and the ending remained the same. In Smb3C, the harder Bowser room is now MUCH harder, containing TWO Bowsers--one of which is invisible except right at first. This second Bowser moves around, smashing bricks and shooting (visible) fireballs just like the first Bowser does, and this is a challenge to overcome, indeed! The easy Bowser room remains the same, as there is little else that can possibly be changed. 3/23/00 Version 8.3 is released. This new version contains the first tank and the world 8 ship, as well as the three hand traps, which are now levels 1, 2 and 3. Watch out for the ending of the new 8-2. Whew! It can be done small, with a _lot_ of luck! 3/17/00 The first release of the new millenium! Whatever that means. . . . :) This is version 8.0, for the first time featuring a changed level 9 (now level 8 in Smb3C). The world 7 map has been changed once again, this time to make it so that you have to traverse all of the levels. This means that the order of levels 8 and 9 are switched. All-in-all, there are four devilishly new levels to play through! NOTE ON WORLD 7 BOSS: This boss level features the first ever holes in a world boss level. This is much harder than a normal boss, and adds in several new elements--the boss, Ludwig Von Koopa, can *not* fall down the pit, or you lose. Once you beat him, you also have to catch the wand before it falls down the pit. And, of course, you can't fall down the pit. In this battle, it's all about the wand. Good luck! 3/12/00 Platano17 of Daily Emulation News, an affiliate of CG, has conducted an interview of yours truly. If you want to check it out, you can go directly to http://dailyemu.virtualave.net/int3.html, http://smb3c.darkmazda.com/interview.html, or visit it from the link from the Daily Emulation News main page. Thanks goes out especially to platano17, but also to everyone who has supported myself and Challenge Games over the last seven months. 11/13/99 Well, this is a great coincidence--version 7.8 is released exactly 1 month, to the day, after version 7.4. Happy playing! 10/13/99 Ugh. Two days ago, I ws notified of a very serious bug that sprung up in version 8.0 that made most of Smb3c completely unplayable. For the past two days, I have been exploring my options to see if there was some "quick fix" for this problem that would not require that I completely redo all of the changes implemented in the game since version 7.2. Unfortunately, there is no quick fix that I can find. Version 7.4 is being released today, with levels 7-2 and 7-3 implemented into the old 7.2 patch exactly as they were in the 8.0 patch. The other levels from version 8.0 will follow shortly, but getting these levels transferred exactly takes some time. The good news is, the bug is gone--for good. 10/9/99 Version 8.0 is released. There are many new, extremely hard levels, plus there have been some background color changes and such from levels from previous versions. 9/6/99 Version 7.2 is released today, complete with 6 new levels, and hopefully the Wandering Hammer Bros. bug in World 4 and 6 has now been fixed, also. There have been some other minor bugfixes as well. One note: World 7-1 is only partially supported by the m3i editor, and so the level has only been made slightly harder. More changes will ensue on this level with future versions of m3i. 8/27/99 It has been exactly one week since the last release, but the time has been well spent. 6 hard new levels are out, bringing the game up to level 6-8! 8/20/99 Version 6.3b is out. This is a bugfix version, as indicated by the b in the name, and it fixes all the problems you've been having with the Doom Ship moving onto squares that you can't reach, as well as with the Hammer Bros causing problems with certain tiles. You should have no problems with the maps from now on, thanks to Mr. W! Also, the new World 7 map, this one created by Caith Sith 2, is now included. So I suppose it isn't a TOTAL bugfix...! 8/18/99 Version 6.3 is out! Grab it from the main page. There are 11 whole new levels to play through, all of them harder than almost any seen before! I hope you stocked up on items earlier in the game, by the way. ? ?For one level in world 5, you MUST have a P-wing, and for another you will probably need a raccoon tail (I sure can't beat it withour it!)--and neither are given to you either level! Finally, an actual use for those free items you get, other than just making my levels easier. If you squandered all your P-wings, you'll have to go back to get one! ? ?The good news is, I changed it so that you can now get the world 2 whistle again--this means you can go back to world 1 from a later world without having to restart your whole game. You can economise on points/items this way, and go back for that P-wing or raccoon tail you need. You can never warp forward at all. ? ?Some glitches have been fixed in this new version, and some stuff has been changed. There are lots of little surprises, some of which I have already told you about, some of which you will have to discover for yourselves, but as far as the "big secret" goes... you'll have to find that too! I'll give you a hint though: It lies on the World 5 Doom Ship. Only a select few people will ever find it, I think, and they will be VERY surprised! However, most people will never see it at all. I've never seen it in actual play, but I know if just the right timing and maneuvers are done in the level, it WILL show up! Don't waste your time looking for it, though. If you find it, cool, you'll like it, but it will probably end or restart your game, so make sure you did a savestate before entering the level. If you don't find it, you don't find it! It is very rare. Don't bug me about what it is, either. ? ?Enjoy the new version! 8/13/99 Version 5.4 is out! Many bugfixes from version 5.0 have been implemented. 8/9/99 Version 5.0 is out! You'll notice that the graphics and text for certain things have been changed. 8/9/99 Version 4.4 is out. You'll notice that the spade games were almost all taken out, as well as a few of the general mushroom houses. I know some of you are growling at this, but they were making the game easier than I would like. 8/6/99 What is this? Two releases in one day? Yep, version 4.0 is out now. Also, the message boards and the feedback forms are up on the website! 8/6/99: The Official Homepage has been improving over the last few days, and people having been pouring in from Zophar's Domain, off the internet, and from the ZSNES Message Board. Today version 3.4 is released! 8/3/99: Today the webpages have been put up! No graphics or anything yet, but I kind of hope to do that later on. Right now it was just important to get all the sections open and running. not only that, but there is a new version of the game, version 2.3! New in this version is level 2-2, 2-3, and the World 2 Fortress. See the levels section for more info on the levels. 8/2/99: Woo hoo! Today I was pretty busy. I re-did level 1-6 and the World 1 Doom Ship (which is awesome), and I edited to World 2 Map and completed level 2-1. anyway, the big news is that today I am releasing the first version of the patch, version 2.1! (World 2, level 1 is where the version number comes from, by the way. This will make it easy to tell what progress has been made at a glance on the web.) 8/1/99: So far the first 5 levels of World 1 have been completed, as well as the World 1 Fortress. 7/31/99: Today I and The_Ren flew through the creation of levels 1-2 and 1-3. These levels were a fun challenge to create and to play. We had so much trouble beating level 1-2 that we had to tone it down a slight bit. Now it is possible to beat, but still really really hard! 7/30/99: Today I discovered the new version of Mario Improvement 3, and now that the editor supports enemies, I've decided to start the Mario 3 Challenge Project. After much hassle and learning the keys, functions, and millions of quirky things about the editor, level 1-1 is complete! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5) Future Progress Aside from any bugfixes that may need to arise (hopefully not, though), Smb3C is finished, and another update to this hack should not be expected. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6) The Story Hearing a call of distress from Princess Toadstool through the pipes leading from the Mario Bros' Plumbing Shop to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Luigi leapt into action, heading through the pipes and straight towards the Mushroom Kingdom Palace. Upon arriving, they found the place a complete wreck (Once again). Recognising King Bowser Koopa's handiwork, the Brothers knew what they had to do. The trail of destruction led to an area that the Brother's hadn't visited in ten years or more--The Grasslands. Just as they had all those years before in their third adventure, Mario and Luigi set out to cross the eight worlds, heading for Bowser's Castle to rescue the Princess. However, a lot can change in ten years, and a lot has. Though many things were the same or quite similar to what the Brothers remembered, many others were quite changed. Koopa has had ten years to beef up every area between the Mario Brothers and his Castle, and he has used the opportunity well. The Mario Brothers are in for their toughest challenge ever. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7) The Levels NOTE: Many people do not know it, but there was actually two final Bowser rooms in the original Smb3. One was slightly harder to beat the game with, but not noticeably, and the ending remained the same. In Smb3C, the harder Bowser room is now MUCH harder, containing TWO Bowsers--one of which is invisible except right at first. This second Bowser moves around, smashing bricks and shooting (visible) fireballs just like the first Bowser does, and this is a challenge to overcome, indeed! The easy Bowser room remains the same, as there is little else that can possibly be changed. Level 1-1: Lots of surprises here. The very first little area should tip you off that this game is harder than the origional. Hammer Brothers are involved!? Level 1-2: This area is a regular battlefield now. HINT: Run fast or you're meat. Level 1-3: Still a haven for Boomerange Brothers, but it is a lot harder now. Not all places lead where they seem to. Sometimes things that look good are really traps! Also, you won't be getting any whistles in this game. HINT: If you run into some hidden surprises that you can't figure out how to get past, go back a bit and look for another way! Level 1-4: Stick to your old tactics. This level is still easy, but you'll have to try serveral times if yo wish to find all the items. HINT: Sometimes when jumping it is better to be late than early. World 1 Fortress: Don't go looking for a whistle here either. No hints for this place. Level 1-5: Don't ever rush things. With good timing, lots of luck, and maybe a mushroom or better to start with, you shouldn't have *too* much trouble finishing this level. No new puzzles involved here, just skill and luck. Level 1-6: This level has always been too easy, and I'm afraid that was pretty hard to change. There are a few surprises, and in the origional game this level would now be considered decently hard, especially for World 1, but in Mario 3 Challenge, this is one of the breeziest levels. World 1 Doom Ship: Thinking about a shortcut? Chances are you should forget it. Bowser has packed a lot of new, high-tech weaponry into this new Doom Ship, including some revolutionary lasers. Level 2-1: Fire Snakes!! This under-used monster is out in force in this level, and you will find that they are much stronger in groups than alone. Don't let them gang up on you! Also, watch out for spots of erosion where the ground has caved in. Level 2-2: Be on awares. The hills and the oasis alike are infested with pirhana plants. World 2 Fortress: I don't like to brag, but I must say that this level is ingeniously laid out! Thwomps don't just go down, dry bones roam and run in packs, boo buddies get in just all the wrong places, and you had better be able to brawl in confined spaces at the end. Oh yeah, and you'll definitely need to time all your jumps just right, too. This level is as fun to play as it was fun to make! Level 2-3: This was an interesting level to redo. For some reason, when I tried to put in missle bills at the end of the level, certain enemies disappear, including the missile bills. I tried and tried to fix this problem, trying everything I could think of over an hours time. I couldn't (and still can't) figure out how to fix this problem, so to give myself a break I decided to play the level. The exclusion of the six enemies that were the problem created an interesting puzzle of how to exit this level. After much thought and many tries, I figured out three distinct ways to beat this level, two of which require the racoon tail, which can be found, as small mario, in this level. One of the ways is rather obtuse. CHALLENGE: Can you find all three ways to beat this level? E-mail me to find out if you are correct! Level 2-4: Chain Chomps! Yikes, these guys are nasty, and in some pretty tough places, too. Good luck! World 2 Quicksand: The angry sun is still angry after ten whole years, and now he has a much better chance of catching Mario on account of the much harder terrain below him. Level 2-5: As you will notice, levels 4 and 5 in world 2 were swapped, so this used to be 4. Now there are holes all around, 2 new puzzles of sorts, and a heck of a lot more challenge! World 2 Pyramid: These ancient pyramids have been turned upside down! Well, not the pyramids themselves--just the inhabitants. Beetles fly from the sky, and Mario had better be quick or he'll be dead instead. World 2 Doom Ship: I like the Doom Ships a lot, from an editor's point of view. This one has swarms of the horrid Missile Bills that Mario must brave, and just as the World 1 Doom Ship is, this Ship is armed with some... innovative weaponry. The Boss room is also changed so the Morton has the distinct advantage over Mario. This Doom Ship actually lives up to its name! Level 3-1: This level is still very easy if you know the shortcut, but if you don't... it can be harder. Either way, you'll be in for a nasty surprise by the end. NOTE: Due to a problem with the spikes found in release 3.4 of this level, in release *** the spikes were changed to electric jellyfish. Level 3-2: This level has only been edited slightly, but the effects are far-reaching. This level kicks butt--Mario's! Level 3-3: What's meaner than a Boss Bass? Not much... except three Boss Bass! World 3 Fortress 1: Remember how hard this level used to be to figure out? Well, unless you have a much better memory than I do, you'll have to figure it out all over again--but this time with harder roto-disks, more thwomps that move in frustrating formations, cheep-cheeps that get in your way on the surface of the water, and (get this) no power ups this time. But that's not all. Once you muddle through and finally find the Boss room, you are in for the challenge of Mario's career. NOTE: It CAN be done! Level 3-4: This level is insanely hard, I think! Lakitu follows you through the whole level, chucking spiny eggs at you the whole time. At the end, he is joined by his brother, who chucks some too. If you can't kill Lakitu early, which is hard to do, then this level can be VERY trying! ...That's all! The levels have descriptions only throughout the first two public versions' levels. After that, you'll have to discover everything for yourself! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8) Tips and General Comments This new Mario Brothers game was made in the image of the origional Mario Bros. 3. However, this game is much, much, much, much harder. Some of the levels remain almost identical to their older counterparts. Some others may be hardly recognisable to you. My best advice is to take it slow and remember that this is a game. Don't get frustrated. I know that now that people have Save States of Nesticle, a lot of the harder NES games can be beaten easily merely by doing each level in small chunks over and over again--saving right before the hard part and doing it until you get it right, then saving afterwards. While I don't condone saving in the middle of the levels in Mario 3 Challenge, I don't particularly mind you saving in the overworld right before a level--in fact, I reccomend that for the average player. This will, in a sense, give you unlimited lives/tries, and this will prove almost neccessary for the average player to finish the game (or even the first world, in some cases). For the truly skilled player, I challenge you to beat the game without saving at all! Quite a challenge, isn't it? Mario 3 Challenge was built entirely to give the Emulator generation of players a good challenge. If you get stuck or need some tips, you can E-mail me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9) CHALLENGES This is a new section that includes extra challenges for certain levels. To meet these challenges, you may have to use exceptional playing skill, brain power, or both. Good luck! E-mail me to get your name into the Challenge Board on the official Super Mario Bros. 3 Challenge site! For a full list of challenges, and the lists of players who completed the challenges, visit: http://smb3c.darkmazda.com/smb3c/challenge.html World 1 Score: Starting a 1-player game from scratch, what is the highest number of points you can rack up getting to the castle at the end? To do this challenge, enter the first world, then play through all the levels to your satisfaction until you reach the castle at the end. Enter the castle, and take a snapshot by pressing the F9 key. Make sure your score is visible in the snapshot. Also, don't be a lamer and forge the snapshot, or use a save and load. You're on your honor. Put the snapshot in a .zip file and e-mail it in. The 1-3 Time Challenge (Founded by Phantom): Phantom says: "The 1-5 Challenge involves dashing madly through the level and beating it in the shortest time possible. The Catch is that you have to be Small Mario!" The World 1, Level 5 CHALLENGE (Found by Mr. W): Mr. W says: "The challenge is to go into 1-5 small and come out alive, period. What you did to that level was nasty (in a good way). I haven't done it." The W1ND CHALLENGE(Founded by Evil Ryu): This is the World 1 No Deaths Challenge. The point of this challenge is to make it all the way through world 1 without dying once. You may pick up power-ups and use items; you just can't die. Level 2-3: There are three distinct ways to beat this level. Can you figure out and execute all three, entering the level as small mario? (There are, of course, many slight variations of my methods, but there are only 3 distinctly different ways to beat this level. I have managed to do it all three ways entering the level as small mario, so I know you can too! HINT: For two of the methods, having the raccoon tail is an absolute must. World 3 Fortress 1: This time the challenge is all skill. The Boss room of this fortress is the hardest Mario has ever laid eyes on. It is beatable, but it is very, very hard. The level itself is no cream pie, either. Can you, starting the level as any size Mario, play straight through the level and beat the bosses without dying, or saving and loading. If you can, catch it in a Nesticle .NSM movie and send to to me by e-mail. I'll watch it to make sure you did it, and then put your name on the Challenge Board! The Lakitu CHALLENGE (Found by Evil Ryu): The Lakitu Challenge is World 3-4, where there are two Lakitus that pelt you with Spiny Eggs. Enter Small, and beat the level. Level 3-6: Once again, the challenge is a skill one. The flying cheep-cheeps in this level are murderous, and paired with the other obstacles, this can be one tough course to tackle. Can you, entering the level as small mario, and going through the level without picking up any powerups, beat this level without dying, saving, or loading? If you can, catch it in a Nesticle .NSM and send it to me by e-mail. I'll watch it to make sure you did it, and then put your .NSM and you name on the CHALLENGE Board! World 4 Fortress 1 (Found by WhooHooD'oh): This is... "basically what Everdred did, with a twist. I beat only the bottom Boom-Boom in the first fortress in World 4. Small. This takes precision fighting just below the platform, since you're toast if the top one falls off... World 4 Fortress 2: Can you, entering this level as Small Mario and picking up no powerups, navigate through the level and beat the two Boom Booms at the end without losing a life, or saving and loading? If you can, make an .NSM of it and send it to me. World 5 Fortress 1 (Found by Evil Ryu): As Evil Ryu puts it, "world 5 fortress 1 nuff said." Indeed. You have to enter Small, and don't try any funny business. World 5, Fortress 2 (Found by Evil Ryu): This task is relatively simple; beat World 5 Fortress 2. Level 6-1 (Found by Mr. W): "I have another challenge, and I have already completed it, it's on 6-1. starting off small, using no items, beat the level. This requires a precise takeoff, a very precise landing, and a precisely timed chasing of an enemy, and those are just the hardest parts. Not anything easy here. After it I opened the pockets so you all can see what worthless items I was left with." World 6, Fortress 2 (Found by Quietust): Here, you must complete World 6 Fortress 2 with Small Mario. World 6, Level 8 (Found by Quietust): Your mission in these quarters is to complete World 6 Level 8 with Small Mario Game A: Game A is?undeniably the hardest challenge possible for Smb3C. Why is that, you ask? Well, the task is to?record an NSM of your having played all the way through the game, from the opening scene, to the "The End" screen (beat either bowser room, but which one you take will be noted). You have to use one player only, you cannotdie even once, and you must never lose your "small mario" status. A player who achieves this challenge is a true power player! Game B: Game B is?the second hardest of the Smb3C challenges, depending on how you play it.?The task is, once again, to?record an NSM of your having played all the way through the game, from the opening scene, to the "The End" screen. You still have to use one player only, but you can die as many times as you want, and you can use all the powerups you like (beat either bowser room, but which one you take will be noted). If you use any powerups, that will be noted on the board (not what powerups, however), and please include the number of deaths mario experienced when you submit. Thanks, and good luck! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10) Credits/Contact x-4000 : I'm the nearly sole maintainer of the webpages, with limited help from Darkmazda, and I both had the idea for Smb3c and have organized/run/created most of the project, other than what is listed on this page that other people have done. Darkmazda : I owe a lot to this guy in relation to the webpages. He's the one who gave me this great subdomain to use, with matching E-mail, and he redesigned the main page so that the site is MUCH easier to navigate! Maybe I'll incorportate his design into other pages, but I don't know. Abe of Lincolnsoft : He is the creator of the Mario 3 Improvement editor, without which none of this qould have ever happened. He has also been very generous in giving me some help with various things. Mr. W : This is the "Map Man," as I call him. He redid all my maps so they work, and made a few changes of his own on some. This is the man that figured out how to fix the problems with the Doom Ship, the Hammer Bros., and the ex-mushroom/spade houses. Mr. W has been a serious bug-tester in many other ways, too. The_Ren : A friend of mine who helped with Levels 1-2 and 1-3. He had some pretty nasty plans for the levels, and they devloped nicely! He really helped set the pace of the game, how hard it was going to be. 1243Wen : Another friend of mine, he helped create the World 4 Doom Ship. Not only that, but he helps me bugtest a lot. Cait Sith 2 : He created the World 7 and 9 Maps, and the World 9 Warp Zone map was an especially vital bit of hacking that I didn't think too much about until he brought it up. He has also been yet another invaluable bugtester. Curtis Himel : He has been an extremely helpful bugtester, and has probably pointed out more design problems and bugs than anyone else. Lucky : Bugtester Darkwraith : Bugtester DarKnight13 : Pointed out a few things to me for text hacking the game. Zophar and his Staffers : They post on Zophar's Domain every time a new version comes ?out (almost), and it is thanks to them that most people know of my site (and hundreds of other emulation projects, of course). Bloodlust software : For making Nesticle, which is a great NES emu--and especially for the .nsm recorder, which allows for me to do a good portion of the Challenge Board! The Makers of Thingy : For making such a great text utility! The Makers of Tile Layer : For making such a great ROM graphics editor! (If I missed anyone, I'm very, very sorry. As you can see, there are about a billion people who have decided to help me out in some way or another. :>) Finally, thanks to all you players for your great support!