In the "Special Zone", wait about 5 minutes and listen to the music. It should start playing variations of the original Mario Bros. song!
Extra Lives - First Ghost House
In the first ghost house, fly up to the upper left corner. You will see a ledge. Run to the right and you will fall. Ghosts will try to hurt you but keep on going. At the end of the ledge you will fall and there will be four extra guys. You will have to hit the boxes to get them. Go though the door. There will be a Moon (3 lives.) After you beat it there will be a level above the ghost house. Go to it. In it there is five boxes. The two left ones contain, flowers. The two right ones contain feathers. The middle one has Yoshi. If you already have Yoshi then it will be an extra life. To exit, run off the screen.
Extra Lives - Forest of Illusion 1
For a total of fourteen lives do this. Go to forest of illusions 1 and get to the half-way mark and then keep going untill you see a box with changing powerups. Now wait until you see a feather in the box. Then hit it and it should change into a star. If you get the star, run and kill all the creatures that come out of the yellow blocks untill you start getting lives. The turtles and other guys are worth one life and the wigglers are worth two lives. You can get 99 lives much faster this way.
Extra Lives - Vanilla Secret 2
Enter Vanilla Secret 2 and get to the half-way mark without killing any Koopa Troopers or the green jumping guys. Keep on going until you reach a pit with a lot of spinny orange guys. There will be yellow blocks right above the pit. Hit the blocks until you get a silver "P" switch.
Carry this switch a little past the half way mark until you reach two pipes with red guys jumping out of them. Put down the "P" switch, step on it, and run back to the start of the level. While your running there will be a lot of silver coins on the way. Get all the silver coins you can and you will gain 50+ lives!
Important: Be sure not to kill the Koopa Troopers (or the green junping guys) on the way to the "P" swich, those guys turn into the coins that give you the lives.
Extra Lives - Yoshi's Island 1
Get a cape and go to Yoshi's Island 1. There is an area with one Rex on the hill and three more below it. After killing them all, fly up and you'll find a Moon worth 3 lives sitting in the clouds.
Replay Castles
To replay any castle or fortress you've completed, hold L + R when entering.
Unlimited Lives
Go to the "Top Secret" level. Then, get the Yoshi from the block in the middle. Then, leave the stage. Finally, keep going in and out of the stage, getting the middle block every time. A 1up should keep coming out of it.
Unlock the Star Roads
Star Road 1:
Beat Donut Plains 1 the special way by getting the key.
There is now a spot in the water. Beat it by getting the key.
Then you go down to a Ghost House.
Proceed to first door. Go left until you find a P.
Take P back to door standing in mid air.
Don't enter door! Rather, jump up to the middle block above door. A bean stalk will come out.
Follow bean stalk up to ledge.
Cross ledge to blue door - hurry because the door will disappear soon.
Enter blue door and defeat Big Boo to get to Star Road.
Star Road 2:
Beat Vanilla Dome 1 by using the key.
Vanilla Secret 1 will appear - follow it.
Make your way up until coming to a spring pod.
Take spring pod to blue blocks. These are special blocks and must be filled in first. Put spring pad on the blue blocks.
Jump up - there will be a green pipe on your left.
Enter pipe and proceed to finish line. Your Star Road will appear.
Star Road 3:
Proceed to Forest of Illusion 1 and beat it using the key.
Proceed to the fortress and beat it.
Star Road 4:
Find the Cheesecake Bridge's secret exit.
Beat the water stage that appears.
The Star Road will appear on a nearby island.
Star Road 5:
Find the secret exit in Valley of Bowser 4.
A pathway will open up to the Star Road.
Star Road 6:
Find the secret exit in Star World 5.
A secret Star Road will open up, revealing 8 special levels.
Warp to Bowser Castle
On the last Star Road, press B. This will put you in the Valley of Bowser without beating castle #7.
How to get to 3rd Star Road Entrance
In the "Cheese Bridge Area" level, you must be equipped with a cape. Near the end (before the last set of saws) fly up using the log bridge as a runway. What you have to do is actually fly UNDER the goal (press right), then lift yourself back up so you don't go below the screen and die(press left to stabilize Mario). After reaching the platform behind the goal, fly to the right again to reach a second goal. You will be rewarded with 1-Ups, then gain entrance to a tough level called Soda Lake (the ONLY level in the entire game with underwater "Missile Bills") after beating this level then it's off to Star Road #3.
"Gem" Mario
Using your Game Genie, enter 0032-6DAD as a code. This will turn Mario's face an "emerald" appearance and Mario's hat and outfit will become "ruby"-like. Both Mario and Luigi will look the same, and you can't tell if Mario or Luigi has Fire Power.
How to find the green blue and red switches
Green Switch- In Donut Plains 2 there are some tunnels on the ceiling one of them leads to a place where there is a key hidden.
Red Switch- It is located in the Vanilla Dome. In Vanilla Dome 2 there is a secret area of water that you can get to by using the blue 'p' switch.
Blue Switch- In Forest of Illusion 2 there is a hidden key towards the end of the level.
Changes Made after beating the Special Zone
After you beat the special zone everything on the world map will change colors and some of the enimies will appear different as well.
Getting to the Special World
In Star World 5 there is a key hidden towards the end of the level. You must have flying power to reach it. If you have found all four switches then the key will be much easier to get to. After you get to an area where there are 4 or 5 upsidedown pipes kill all of the enimies and fly off of the ground to the left. Go straight up there should be a small hole that you can fly through the key is just to the right of the hole.
Backdoor of Bowsers Castle
You can get to the backdoor of Bowsers Castle by finding a secret key in The Valley of Bowser 2 towards the end of that level you come out of a pipe and land on a yellow floor which starts to rise as soon as you step on it dash to the end of the first yellow floor and wait on the very edge. There will be a section of the floor sticking out so that you can jump on it. Jump on the yellow floor sticking out and jump up to the left off-screen. Keep going left there will be a key waiting for you on the other side.
Chocolate Secret
In Chocolate Island 2 get to the end of the first 2 screens quick enough and you will get access to an area were there is a key.
Re-enter Castles and Fortresses
On the map screen, stand on a defeated castle or fortress, and press L and R simultaneously to re-enter it.
Negative gravity
With Yoshi, you can slide uphill! While on a hill, just press diagonally down and either left or right, and he will slide in either direction.
Musical Coins
In the row of five Music Blocks in Funky, the first two blocks keep giving you Coins for however long you can stay on top of them. Unfortunately, as soon as you touch the top of one of them, an invisible block forms on top of the Coin-giving Music Blocks, forcing you to the left and off the row of blocks. (The same invisible blocks prevent you from jumping on the blocks again for more Coins...) Try this: when you first jump onto the blocks, if you keep holding Right, Mario will stop at the end of the row of blocks and keep collecting Coins until you stop holding Right or time runs out, whichever comes first. Note: If you are "big" Mario, you'll have to duck and jump onto the blocks.
5 for 5
Sometimes you'll come across vertical chambers with five platforms, each with three ? Blocks on them (the first one in the game is found up the first pipe in Donut Plains 1). Two Coins, and one 1-Up are placed randomly in the ? Blocks for each platform. If you don't hit the block containing the 1-Up last, the blocks will "expire" and you won't get the 1-Up. However, if you're Caped Mario, you can get the 1-Up each and every time. Starting from the left, spin-jump and smack the lower-left corner of each block with your cape. The last block in each platform will always yield a 1-Up!
Recycle P-Switches
Stomp a P-Switch, then quickly have Yoshi eat the bottom. Spit it out, and the switch will be restored! With this method, you can reuse the P-Switch as many times as you like.
Close encounter
If Mario stands one block-width away from a solid object and kicks a shell at it, the shell will ricochet off the object and pass through Mario without causing injury.
Cool lava
Vertical walls of lava are harmless. Experiment in Vanilla Dome 3.
Two for the price of one
If you put two items down on almost the exact same space, you can pick both items up at once by holding X or Y as you walk into them. You can throw both items up at a block that contains a item, and you'll get two of them! Or pass through the Goalposts, and you'll get rewarded for both items.
Carry-on
Put an item down where Yoshi is standing. Hold X or Y as you jump onto Yoshi. If the item was in the right spot, you'll now be carrying the item while riding Yoshi!
Quick points
Either be Fiery Mario with a Cape Feather in reserve, or Caped Mario with a Fire Flower in reserve. Find a high platform, get directly under your item reserve box, and keep pressing Select. You'll get 1000 points every time you get the Cape Feather.
Multiple 1-Ups
For each enemy you stomp without touching the ground, you'll earn more and more points, and eventually 1-Ups. The score for each enemy stomped will be: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1000, 2000, 4000, 8000, then 1-Ups for each enemy thereafter. Remember: Fences and vines don't count as ground! Similarly, when you kill enemies with a Shell, from invincibility, or when you go through Goalposts, the score for each enemy increases the same way. But when you activate a Gray P-Switch, Gray Coins collected will increase up to 8000 points, then a 1-Up, a 2-Up, and 3-Ups for any more you get.
Mega 1-Ups: Vanilla Secret 2
Get the Gray P-Switch from the second block by those Spinys, and take it back to the Midway Gate. Stomp it, and run to the left. All those Winged Koopa Troopas from the beginning become Gray Coins! Getting over 50 extra lives at once in this level is not uncommon.
Firepower
Mario's fireballs can take out three Koopa Kids: Morton, Ludwig, and Roy. This kills them nice and fast...
Memories...
Stay on the Special World map screen for a while, and eventually a steel-drum version of the famous Super Mario Bros. theme will play.
The magic number
For an extra 1-Up at the Goalposts, match the the tens and ones digits of the time remaining to the tens digit of the number of stars you got from breaking the tape.
Example #1: 133 left on timer, and 30 stars from the Goalposts.
Example #2: 200 left on timer, and 4 stars (equivalent to 04 stars) from the Goalposts.
Eight it up
When you get 100 stars total from breaking the tape at the Goalposts, you'll enter a bonus game. Look at the item that's in the middle, and keep pressing Start to see where it shows up in the other blocks. Then go to that spot, and when the blocks come directly above you, jump. You'll get the item you want every time, and eight 1-Ups every game!
Coin formations
Some groups of Coins take the shape of arrows. If you find one of these "coined arrows," follow it! The Coins at the end of Funky spell: YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!!