Super Mario Bros. 3: ElSMB3

ElSMB3, short for "ElBlocko's SMB3", is a complete overhaul of the original game in terms of level design and in-game text.

It starts out pretty easy, but by World 5 you'll notice an increase in difficulty, and by World 7 the levels can be downright cruel. Like the original game, there are still some Warp Whistles, P-Wings, Hammer Bros. Suits and all the rest of the powerups to help you along the way.

***ElSMB3 Readme***

Current version: 1.0

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this text file. Here's a bit of basic information regarding ElSMB3 that you may or may not find interesting. Let's get it over with.

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Table of Contents:

1. Applying the IPS Patch
2. Playing the game
3. The YouTube Videos
4. Warp Whistles
5. Miscellaneous
6. Bug reports

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1. Applying the IPS Patch

Once you've downloaded ElSMB3.ips, you'll need to patch an existing Super Mario Bros. 3 ROM to actually play the game. Download an IPS utility (I personally use Lunar IPS) and patch the SMB3 ROM to play it. If you see "2011 ElBlocko" on the title screen, then you know it worked!

The IPS patch works with standard American editions of the SMB3 ROM, and NOT the Japenese version.

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2. Playing the game

So, what exactly is ElSMB3, anyway? The title is short for "ElBlocko's SMB3", so it's not a Spanish ROM or anything. In a nutshell, it's a complete overhaul of the original game. It starts out reasonably easy, but by World 5 the difficulty starts to rise considerably, and by World 7 some levels can be downright cruel. Almost all of the in-game text has been changed as well, including a little note from yours truly once you beat Bowser.

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3. The YouTube videos

If you've followed my YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/ElBlocko), you'd know that I've been posting ElSMB3 levels since 2008. Some of the levels have been modified as my standards for level design have changed since three years back, and others have been modified as a result of fixing bugs or other nuances that needed to be addressed. In short, some of the levels may appear different from the videos.

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4. Warp Whistles

Ah, yes. Regarding the Warp Whistles: like the original SMB3, there are three of them. They're in Worlds 1, 4 and 5. The first one isn't hidden too well, but the other two... you'll have to search pretty hard to find them.

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5. Miscellaneous

-You can find P-Wings from white Toad Houses by collecting ALL the coins from certain levels in Worlds 1, 3 and 5. You don't necessarily need to collect coins from any bonus areas you may encounter; its the main level that counts.

-Regarding the odd "level 8" in World 3: This is a level that's impossible to die on. The reason it's there is so that if Mario takes the boat shortcut, he won't fly away back to the start if he decides to visit the fortress and die. The boat won't fly back with you, so you've wasted the shortcut. This shouldn't happen, so if he dies at the fort, you'll fly back to level 8 rather than the start.

-You'll find a hammer from the Piranha Plant on the map in World 4. Surely you don't want to waste it on that nearby Bonus Spade, do you? There's something better in World 5... or perhaps even further along!

-The closest this game gets to being Kaizo Mario is during the second fortress in World 4. Let's just say you shouldn't collect the end orb TOO quickly...

-Chompers, those black plants that sit around and try to, well, chomp Mario to death, are everywhere in the later levels. You can neutralize them by hitting them with Raccoon Mario's tail, and you can also turn them into coins with a P-Switch.

-The card flipping minigame has entirely new layouts for its cards, so any cheat sheets you may have from the original game won't do much good here.

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6. Bug reports

If you happen to find a bug that prevents you from finishing the game, such as a pipe leading to the wrong location on the map screen, or if you find a broken level or one that has weird/missing enemies or goal cards, then please report it to hollanderm12@gmail.com so I can promptly update the IPS patch to fix it. I've tried to bugfix it as best as I can, but a couple of things may have eluded me.

(NOTE: the messed up tiles on the World 4 and World 6 maps are not bugs. Those are deliberate. Play the levels they point to and you'll understand.)

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Anyway, that's it. Have fun!

~ElBlocko

Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG0) [!].nes - GOODNES 3.14
CRC32: 85A79D9C
MD5: BB5C4B6D4D78C101F94BDB360AF502F3
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SHA-256: 6EA0777CA520BA7AD7B0EA0F6452140D59AA0B1DFFE5045CB1E8020DDE10C267