This page contains a list of cheats, codes, Easter eggs, tips, and other secrets for Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES. If you've discovered a cheat you'd like to add to the page, or have a correction, please click EDIT and add it.
In Worlds 1, 3, 5, and 6, you can turn the wandering Hammer Bros. enemy on the map into a treasure ship loaded with coins. To do so, you must complete a stage while the following is true:
If all of the above is true as you collect the card and complete a stage, a Hammer Bros. enemy will turn into the treasure ship, and you have one attempt at the stage. You can collect a bunch of coins, and will face an enemy at the end.
You can make secret white mushroom houses appear in each of the first 7 worlds by collecting the required number of coins in the corresponding stage, as indicated below.
Submitted by: SuPeRMaRiOBrOs3 on Jul 15, 2005 Verified by: perogie41587, varunsharma563. 2-3 hidden coins and extra life mushroom. In world 2-3 you must have the tail to fly. Super Mario Bros. Crossover 3 with cheats: Cheat menu unlocked. (Options - Cheats). Now in its third major release, this platformer allows you to play as everyone from better-than-Boba-Fett bounty huntress Samus Aran to Mega Man 10's Bass, all with their iconic abilities intact, tearing up the classic Super Mario Bros. Levels you know and love.
Your reward in odd-numbered stages will be a P-wing, while your reward in the even-numbered stages is an Anchor item. You will typically have to work really hard to collect every last coin required in the stages, as some may disappear if you don't make the best possible use of a P switch.
This trick works a lot like the one you might remember from world 1-2. Play through world 4-1, until you reach the point where you find three large Koopa turtles in close proximity (one is on a block, one is on a cloud, and the other is patrolling on some bricks). Stomp on one and rebound into the air, then flap your tail quickly to slowly float and land on the next one. Repeat that as you head for the third turtle and do the same thing. By then, the first turtle you stomped should be close to emerging from its shell. You can stomp it again and repeat the pattern. As you do so, you'll gain more points and eventually start collecting extra lives. Naturally, this trick only works if you are Raccoon Mario or Tanooki Mario.
Submitted by: Halfawesomepossum12
Collect 78 coins while completing world 6-7 and a white mushroom house will appear on the world map. The chest holds an anchor. While playing through the level, remember that you need to be Fire Mario near the end, in order to unfreeze coins that are trapped in blocks near the pipe that leads to the area exit.
Submitted by: Halfawesomepossum12
Beat an airship battle at the end of a world while wearing a tanooki, frog, or hammer suit and the grateful king will say something different than usual to Mario.
Submitted by: halfawesomepossum12
Beat the game. Afterwards, play again without turning the system off. You should have 28 P-wings.
Submitted by: IGN Staff
Go to the first of the T-shaped pipes in World 1-2. Make sure that you have the raccoon suit, so you can flap your tail to slowly descend after a leap. At the pipe, Goomba enemies will periodically emerge from the pipe's right side. Let three or four of them appear, and head slightly right so that another Goomba starts down the hill toward you. Now you can jump on one Goomba and hold the button so that you bounce high into the air. Quickly flap your tail as you descend, to drop slowly and finally stomp on another Goomba. Hold the button so that you fly into the air again. Repeat the process, descending as slowly as possible after each bounce high into the air. The points you receive start to multiply, until you begin receiving extra lives with each new stomp, as long as you don't touch the ground. You can rack up a lot of lives.
Submitted by: IGN Staff
Here's the most seamless way to get from the first world to the eighth (final) world of the game.
1.) Play until you get to Level 1-3. Here, you should dash to the end of the level until you get to a white platform near the end. Stand atop it, hold down until you 'fall behind it', and run to the end of the level. You'll acquire a Warp Whistle.
2.) Play from there until you reach the World One Fortress. Make sure you're Raccoon Mario as you traverse the stage (ignoring the Fire Flower you are offered). At the end, you can go through a door, or you can fly high above and over the door. When you do, run to the right (you won't see your character) and press Up to enter a secret room. Within is another Warp Whistle.
3.) Now, select one of the Warp Whistles from your menu and use it. But don't select a destination world! Instead, use a Warp Whistle, your second, right after you use the first. This will allow you to access the eighth and final world of the game.
To easily beat the second stage in World 8, which features a fleet of Bowser's boats, just drop off the side and wim under them until you reach the end of the stage. Be careful that you don't plunge too low beneath the water, though, or Mario will drown. At the end of the stage, you'll still have to board the boat (from the right side) and defeat the boss, like usual.
Submitted by: IGN Staff
Go to the first T shaped pipes in world 1-2. You need to have a tail so you can float in the air. There will be little goombas coming out of the right end of the pipe. Go on to the ground near where all the goombas are coming out. Let three or four come out before you do anyhting. Then jump on one of them so you bounce up into the air. When you are coming down from that jump land on another one, and after you hit that land on another one. Keep doing this so you never touch the ground. Once you hit one goomba, you will want to flap your tail so that you will provide more time for more goombas to come from the pipe. Once you have stomped on eight in a row, you will get a one-up for every kill on after that.
Collect all of the coins, then finish the level. A white moving mushroom house should appear. In the house there will be a secret room with one treasure chest containing a P-wing.
When you get to the desert level in Mario 3 you can find a secret anchor. All you have to do is go to board 2-2. To do this right you have to get all of the coins. The only problem is that the last 4 or 5 are hard to get. You have to have a tail and you hit the brick with the p-block in it. Jump off of the flying log. Swim to the beginning of the water. There should be another log waiting for you. Be careful not to get hit the tail is very important! Get on the log and ride to the p-block. Jump on it and all of the bricks will turn into coins. Stay on the log until you come to the flying turkey thing. Jump on it and you should have the boost you need to get the last few coins. A white mushroom will appear on the first level in the desert. In it is a chest with an anchor. The anchor will keep the boat in place if you die while playing it.
When you get to the desert level in Mario 3 you can find a secret anchor. All you have to do is go to board 2-2. To do this right you have to get all of the coins. The only problem is that the last 4 or 5 are hard to get. You have to have a tail and you hit the brick with the p-block in it. Jump off of the flying log. Swim to the beginning of the water. There should be another log waiting for you. Be careful not to get hit the tail is very important! Get on the log and ride to the p-block. Jump on it and all of the bricks will turn into coins. Stay on the log until you come to the flying turkey thing. Jump on it and you should have the boost you need to get the last few coins. A white mushroom will appear on the first level in the desert. In it is a chest with an anchor. The anchor will keep the boat in place if you die while playing it.