Super Mario Bros. 3 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Magic Wands

Alas! Princess Toadstool has been taken in this game, and it's up to Mario to save her yet again. Worse yet, all of the monarchs of the kingdoms have been transformed into animals, so to progress and find the Princess, wherever she may be, he'll have to collect Magic Wands to bring them back to their normal selves.

It's not for naught; fixing the monarchs will allow them to hand over letters from the Princess, leading Mario onwards to his goal at the end of the eighth world.

Answer: Leaf

Upon course clear, as Mario crosses the threshold between the stage presented and the offstage part of any given level, he'll come across a box levitating in the blackness containing a rotating shape of some sort-- a mushroom, a flower, or a star. All he needs to do to finish the stage is hit the box and draw the shape into his inventory. If he can get three of those shapes, he'll get a 1-up, but a three-of-a-kind in three consecutive levels will get him higher denominations-- a 2-up for mushrooms; a 3-up for flowers; a 5-up for stars.

These do not appear in boss levels or fortresses.

Answer: Boom Boom

In every kingdom, Mario will need to aim for the castle located at the end of a series of stages, but between the start and the end of any given world he'll encounter at least one fortress, a smaller castle that he'll have to navigate as somewhat of a checkpoint for the larger area.

At the end of each of these fortresses is a foe named Boom Boom who, like the Koopas, just needs to be hopped on three times. The catch is that after each hit, he'll move into a spiky, defensive position Mario will need to wait out and, occasionally, he'll take on a new ability (like flight, or jumping high). With clever timing, Mario can make quick work of Boom Boom, collect the explosive he possesses, and continue on, usually with a new shortcut in hand in case he runs out of lives.

Answer: No

You can get Raccoon Mario early in the game-- as early as World 1-1, in fact-- by picking up a leaf and transforming into a creature with ears and a tail. A classic Mario upgrade, this form allows Mario to spin and hit some enemies to ward them off and, if fast enough, to fly into the air.

Tanooki Mario is a bit different as it allows him to transform into a bear-like creature. Tanooki Mario can fly just like Raccoon Mario, but in addition he can also harden into a stone-like form for a short time. Mario can start using this outfit as early as World 4.

Answer: Angry Sun

The fifth level in World 2 doesn't come with a number, and that's because it's a unique stage all on its own in which Mario has to brave the heat of the desert in a unique way. About halfway through the stage, Mario will need to run and jump through a desert sandstorm, and when he gets to the other side, the Sun will swoop down, attempting to fly into Mario as he makes his way across the hot dunes. Mario can stop the Sun with a Koopa Shell.

It returns to fight in World 8-2.

Answer: A memory game

Mario has a lot of opportunities to collect advantages to help him navigate the four Worlds of the game, and most of these come in the form of extra lives and actual items that he can equip from the map screen.

Toad Houses, for instance, allow him to choose from one of three closed treasure chests, each containing a random item. Spade Panels are a game of timing, allowing Mario to win extra lives if he lines up three sliding images.

The third of these bonus games appears semi-randomly, and is a memory game wherein Mario must flip over pairs of matching cards to win the items, lives, or coin values he finds. If Mario fails twice, the game vanishes until the next time.

Answer: A tower

Though World 5 starts on terra firma, Mario will need to ascend into Sky Land proper after only a few stages, and to do that he'll have to step into the game's only Tower level, a unique stage in which the only goal is to ascend into the sky via any means necessary.

There's no formal goal marker in this level, so when Mario gets to the end he'll emerge onto a new part of the map up in the clouds, full of new obstacles to overcome.

Answer: It'll fly elsewhere on the map

Reaching any castle in any World will allow Mario to help the local king in reverting back to their true form (as a Koopaling has used a wand to transform them into a creature of some sort). To do this, Mario has to ascend into the sky and fight his way across an airship to the end, and when he does he can fight one of Bowser's Koopa underlings to collect what he came for. They're the same as any typical boss/mini-boss; you have to jump on their head three times to put an end to them.

If you fail to make it to the boss or you die in that battle, the airship will jet off somewhere else on the World map, potentially behind a route you chose not to pass through earlier.

Answer: False

Bowser is the only boss in the game who doesn't follow this plan. Instead, when you reach the end of this castle at the end of World 8, you'll end up in a final boss area whose floor is covered in breakable boxes. Bowser will shoot off flames, but periodically he'll leap into the air intending to crush downward on Mario. If Mario can dodge out of the way, Bowser will instead crush through a layer of the floor. Doing this enough will force him to fall through entirely, ending the battle and finishing off the adventure.

Answer: Magic Whistle

There are three hidden Magic Whistles in the game-- two in World 1 and one in World 2-- and these can allow you to skip over entire worlds if you decide to use them. The catch is that playing this item will have different effects depending on where you play it. Playing it in World 1 takes you to Worlds 2, 3, and 4 at your leisure; playing it in Worlds 2-6 will take you to Worlds, 5, 6, and 7, and playing it in World 7 or 8 (or even the Warp Zone) will take you to World 8.