Super Mario Bros. is over 40 years old, and is only 40K in size, and yet there’s still a lot of weird behaviors in it. The old infinite 1UP trick from bouncing repeatedly on a Koopa shell is pretty old hat now; the Minus World trick is slightly less known, but is still not much of an eyeopener these days.
Kosmic, general SMB expert, has a video that shows off ten really obscure tricks, the kinds of things even speedrunners tend not to know. (8 minutes) Note, the video has a sponsored section; if it bothers you, consider installing the SponsorBlock browser extension.)
An overview:
- If you’re about to trigger the Minus World glitch (entering the left-most pipe in the World 1-2 Warp Zone before the numbers and “Welcome to Warp Zone!” message appear), but instead of going into the first pipe instead go into the second, you’re sent to World 5. Also, if you have Fire power, and somehow take damage the instant the message appears, Mario keeps his Fiery colors.
- Bowser’s normal colors are actually a deeper shade of green, because his green color is the same as the darker color Koopas use in Castle levels. The palette, and this his color, are updated when the level-ending Axe is drawn by the level interpreter off-screen. Usually by the time you see Bowser the Axe has been placed, but if you scroll him on slowly you can sometimes still see him with the earlier color. This is why the extra Bowser in one of the Lost Levels is a different color.
- Enemies hit from below while near the left side of the screen turn into Koopas!
- Stomped Red Parakoopas are a different enemy type than normal Red Parakoopas, and will walk off ledges. Also Bullet Bills that come out of cannons are different from Bullet Bills that emerge from the side of the screen; screen-side Bills are vulnerable to Koopa shells, while cannon Bills are not.
- The bricks that form the walls in the water section of World 8-4 are the result of a special case in the code that draws those bricks if the world number is equal to 8. This can be seen in World 8 of Lost Levels in a pipe outside of a Castle area.
- There is a Koopa Troopa in Lost Levels that’s generated over a pit, and immediately falls down into it while offscreen, and so wasn’t known about for over three decades.
- There is also a green Cheep Cheep in 2-3 and 7-3 generated high up offscreen and wasn’t known about for a long time.
- The point/life award from stomping a Koopa is not awarded on the frame it’s earned, it takes a frame or two to get credit for it. If you stomp it again before it registers, the award will reset. This means if you stomp it very quickly (like if Mario hits his head from the bounce) it’ll look like you’re earning tons of lives but won’t get anything. Also, if you stomp the Koopa that fast, it’s possible to overflow the stomp counter, and go back to earning points (that, because of the first thing, are never awarded anyway).
- World 5 doesn’t start with a big Castle! It begins with a little Castle like you were coming into it after the first two levels of a world. Also, one of the bridges in 2-3 and 7-3 has a guardrail that extends an extra block beyond the bridge.
- It’s not explained why it happens, but an example is shown of shelled enemies hit from below sliding around on their own, slowly, with active hit boxes. It’s a strange sight to see!
