Guide to Hardest Mario Level

(postnote - i've already completed this a long time ago, video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9JrEeS6484
yea so stop posting 'teaching' me how to clear it)

woo. ok for those of you who've watched that mario video i posted a few days ago.. you should know that the level is FREAKING HARD.
[go to google video and search 'mario frustration' , it's the first video on the list]

Guess what? i beat it!! yes yes yes :) so happy. now im stuck at stage1-2 .
Anyway im just gonna provide a guide for whoever wants to beat it, just to help people out. (if you have the patience)

WARNING: This game requires ALOT OF PATIENCE because i guarantee you you'll keep dying.

Ok first, get the game here:
http://www.terranwolf.com/main/random_stuff/Mario_Forever.php
Download the rom (click on the 'download it here' ) and also the emulator (Jnes) they provide. Then just extract both somewhere, and drag and drop the rom into the emulator. If you need help on installation ask me.


Ok ill do this guide in phases.. each phase is a continuous sequence which allows no rest (cannot stop). So you have to learn the entire phase and clear it at one shot.
i recommend you to save after each phase (f5) so you can load (F6) from that point after you die. (I divided the phases according to the recommended save points)


The keys are S for start (just use it at the start of the game) F for jump, D for run, and arrow keys. So to do a running jump it'll be holding on to D and run and F.
If you don even understand this, forget about playing mario, the whole game is about running jumps.
In general, do not release Run when doing running jumps.

(im more detailed in the first few phases, and after that i assume you get better)


PHASE 1 - In the hole!



1) Ok when the game starts, hold on to jump and forward (right arrow).
2) The moment your head touches the ceiling brick, release Jump but still hold on to forward.
3) Now hold on to Run as you're on your way down.
4) The moment you land on the brick, press and hold Jump (can release when you're sure of landing on the next brick)
5) The moment you land, press and hold Jump again.
(you may or may not have to release jump slightly as you're approaching the squid depending on your takeoff point. Sometimes you hold on to jump too long and you totally jump over the squid)
6) The moment you bounce off the squid, hold jump and forward too.
You should not let go of Run the entire time. And obviously hold on to forward too.
This should send you in the hole!



PHASE 2 - 1st Invisible Block and the Fire Stick


For those of you who have watched the video, you should be all-familiar with this first invisible block. it isn't that hard to clear, you just need a feel of when to jump
Basically all you have to do is a running jump, holding on to Run, Jump and forward at takeoff point until you land on the next part
You may have to press back (left arrow) the moment you land as sometimes you'll slide
The hardest part of this phase is probably WHEN exactly to jump. I've drawn a red arrow to indicate the ideal take-off spot in the picture above. (The gap between the last and 2nd last block)

Any earlier and you wont reach the other end, any later you'll hit the invisible block. Yea, it's tough initially, but as you practise more you'll get the hang of it.
(obviously you have to time your jump according to the firestick as well, but that's basic stuff i won't mention much)


PHASE 3 - The 2 Potted Plants


This part is easy, shouldn't take you too long to clear. You can take the mushroom, doesnt matter.
(time your jump to avoid the plant when it comes out of course)
Two ways you can do this - the slow safe way or the quicker-but-requiring-more-skill way.

Slow way:
1) Do a running jump, but dont overdo it (dont hold Jump for too long)
2) The moment you land on the platform like thing, keep pressing jump as it will drop and drag you down. You should be on the bottom pipe now.
3) Do a running jump up to the higher pipe.
Similarly, dont over-hold Jump, AND you may have to press back (left arrow) to prevent sliding off.

Quicker way:
1) Do a running jump and the moment you land on the smaller plant just jump again(hold jump) to the next potted plant. You should have to press back (left arrow) to prevent sliding off)

Hit the invisible block just in front of the taller pipe before saving.
(edge out step by step without falling off the pipe and press jump)


PHASE 4 - The Trampoline


I previously had alot of difficulty doing this and always just aimed to die so i can spawn at the new spawn point (covered in next part) , but after some practice i got the hang of it.

1) Do a running jump from the left edge of the tall pipe, (dont overhold jump) so you land on the (previously invisible) block just in front of you, and without letting go of Run, press and hold jump again (holding forward too duh)
2) This should bring you to the edge or if you're lucky, to the middle of the trampoline. Release Jump the moment you touch the trampoline
3) When the trampoline compresses, PRESS AND HOLD JUMP AND FORWARD. This should send you air-borne and land on the next platform with the Goomba (mushroommonster) which you squash.

If you can't do this, just try to hit the trampoline and land in the gap in front so you'll spawn at the new spawn point.

PHASE 5 - The New Spawn Point


If you landed on the platform after the trampoline and killed the goomba, just save and continue from there.(skip to next section below) This part is just in case you fail to do that, or you accidentally override your save later when you die.

1) Hold jump and back. Dont overdo it or you'll slide off the block. Rest on the block and take a breather :p
2) Jump backwards (hold jump) (you may want to do a slight Run but i find sometimes ill just run off the damn block ) and then press forward quickly when you reach the peak of your jump. This will bring you back to the block and
3) THE MOMENT YOU LAND press and HOLD jump. This should bring you over to the next platform with the goomba. kill it.


PHASE 6 - Two Fire Sticks Zomg!



This part is easier than it looks.
Firstly, if you are a big mario (taken mushroom), You can just running jump up to the firestick. It'll hit you and you become small mario, but this also means invincibility for a short period of time (3 seconds? ) So just hold jump over that wall and ull land safely for your next phase.
However, if you are small mario, it's slightly tricker

1) Do a running jump up when the first firestick is away (dont overdo your running jump or you'll just jump into the stick) and HOLD RUN and run into that small crevice (gap)
(may have misspelt)
2) When the 1st firestick goes away, come out so you're ready to jump over that wall.
3) This part is tricky - the position of the 2nd firestick seems to vary all the time.
If it's on the way up, you're lucky, just quickly jump (hold) and run down to safety.
If it's on the way down, coming from the right side, you have to wait about 1-1.5seconds for it to clear the wall before jumping.
It's all about timing, very hard to explain here. Just practise and you'll get it :) you can save at the crevice if you have difficulties with the 2nd firestick.


Phase 7 - The Moving Platform




Ok this is in my opinion the hardest freaking part of the entire game. Once you clear this, the rest of it is just practise to get your fingers to perform a fixed set of tasks within a time limit since you have to chase the stupid moving platform.

There is virtually no rest from here to the end of the game, so i recommend you save the game somewhere later (quickly press F5 the moment you reach that part) so it's easier.

Ok, now on how to clear this stupid wall. That platform which you jump to will move the moment you land on it.


The idea is to clear the 2nd wall by landing on it, and jump again to hit the trampoline and to the flying turtle and back to the moving platform (according to the video)
Then there's that irritating piece of crap of an invisible block (i hit it in the screenshot so you can see it) which prevents you from making a jump easily onto the wall.

Some of you may try to tunnel through the wall initially, but this wont work, as the firestick covers the entire moving platform so you HAVE to jump onto the wall. (*exception below)
(ill explain how to tunnel through later as you'll need it)

I don't know how the guy in the video does it, i think he releases Run or something when he lands (as he doesnt slide when he lands) but ill describe my method.

1) From about the 3rd last block (around where i am in the 1st screenshot in this phase), do a running jump to the moving platform
YOU CANNOT HOLD ON TO JUMP as you'll hit the ceiling or hit the first wall. If you hit either things, you have failed, there's no way you can clear the 2nd wall.
But you cannot TAP jump (just press and release staight away) either, you wont even reach the moving platform.

The ideal is to press and hold Jump for 0.1-0.5 seconds (yes i know this is ridiculous but you have to!) (along with Run and forward duh)
What should happen is that you do a small jump, without hitting the 1st wall nor the ceiling, and land on the moving platform straightaway.

Now if you think that was tough, this next part is tough too.

2) YOU HAVE TO PRESS JUMP AND FORWARD IMMEDIATELY WHEN YOU LAND ON THE MOVING PLATFORM.
This is a must, if you land and run for a SPLIT SECOND or 1millimetre on the moving platform, you're sure to hit the invisible block. You HAVE to press jump straightaway to successfully land on the 2nd wall.

* a slight problem arises at this part. If you watched the video, you'll know that the firestick is 'in the correct position half the time and half the time it's not'. This is very true, sometimes the firestick is swinging towards you as you land on the moving platform. If this occurs, you cannot load from the previous phase, you have to die and then play from the 2nd spawn point and reach this phase again. Hopefully this time round the firestick is in the correct position (swinging away)
In addition, sometimes the firestick is in a particular position where you can just tunnel straight through without it hitting you. (search youtube for the speed run of this, they all do that)

3) The moment you land on the 2nd wall, i guarantee you u'll be so happy that you'll be busy cheering in glee and panic and die to the firestick. So just reload and try again. :p
When you land on the 2nd wall again, take a small step back and do a running jump. You'll land on the trampoline, and hold jump and forward
(you need to do this quickly otherwise you'll not catch the moving platform. Also sometimes you wont land on the trampoline, just directly onto the moving platform. That's ok)

4) If you're somehow luckier than i am, youll reach the top gap and you can jump on the flying tortoise twice like the guy in the video then catch the platform. However, i've never been able to do that no matter how many times i try, so i just tunnel through that wall just infront of the flying tortoise.

HOW TO TUNNEL?
Just press left right left right as you touch the wall. Shouldnt be that hard.


Phase 8 - It's all the way now.



Ok there is actually NO rest at all, but i highly recommend you save the game the moment you tunnel through that wall. STRAIGHTAWAY OK. The screenshot i gave was slightly too late, you should save it when the moving platform is still under the flying tortoise (ideally, slightly later is ok but definitely not when the platform is under the gap as in my screenshot, that's too late)
If you dont save, you have to repeat that stupid tough part of Phase 7 every time, .. so.. yea.

1) The moment you load, (which should be around the gap) press left and back. Dont hold Run! If you do you'll just hit the invisible block above you and drop down and die.
2) When you land quickly run backwards (yes Run now) and jump over that miniwall and run and jump to catch the moving platform


(i died cos i was busy pressing Print Screen)
This next small section is pretty complicated, i usually skip it by tunneling the wall you see in the screenshot.

The ideal is when you running jump and you land on the platform, hold Run and jump again (Dont overhold jump). You'll land on the short wall in front of the [?].
Remember there is an invisible block right above you. You can choose to hit it or not, but hitting it wastes precious milliseconds. So i'd choose to edge slightly to the left, then hold run and jump right, which will bring me above the [?] and i can catch the moving platform.

(The [?] is a mushroom, dont take it or you'll be too big and hit the ceiling when you jump for the platform)

ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF WINNING FROM HERE:
Take the mushroom, and break the ceiling. Jump onto the ceiling and run straight all the way, you'll end up at the flagpole.
This is stupid and pointless and not challenging so.. :p



Ah, the last tough part of the game.

If i'm not wrong, because of the bricks above the pipe, the plant does nothing (you can land on it and not die) You just have to avoid the Bullet Bill coming at you. It is pretty random, sometimes bullet bill comes from the top sometimes in the middle (same as the previous part)



This is very tricky-

What you have to do here is hit the invisible block on the left of the [?] next to the pipe,
(you have to stand at the front of moving platform so that you hit it at the earliest time possible, otherwise you'll be late and land and get stuck and get pushed out by the pipe.)
then quickly jump on the [?], then small jump (dont hold jump or you'll hit the top invisible block and waste precious milliseconds) up to the (previously invisible) block and jump onto the pipe
Running jump to catch the moving platform.

There are other possible variations, but you must be fast enough to catch the moving platform.

Once you catch the moving platform... you are just one step away from victory!
Hop onto that staircase like thing.


this is the last part of the level. For a clearer picture:


You just have to touch the flagpole to win! (the higher up you touch, the higher your points, but who cares)

This is extremely easy considering what you've been through. If you still need a guide on how to clear it:
Start from the edge of the 4th block (see above screenshot). Do a running jump to land on the top block, and jump and hold jump again the moment you land on the top block (dont slide off)

You should reach the flag easily. Yay!! You have beaten the hardest level of mario!!

yup i got 400 points for the flagpole. cos bullet bill paid me a visit in midjump, the bounce off him sent me slightly higher. :)

~~~~~~~~~~


I am currently on stage 1-2, stuck at this seemingly impassable part


That stupid brick wall covers the entire screen so i have no idea how to get past it. I've tried run jump at every single brick hoping one of them can be tunnelled through.. but i cant! argh!

If i ever clear stage 1-2, ill write a guide for it too :p

Hope you enjoyed this post! If you have any questions or comments, just click on the 'Comments' button below to post them. Thank you and have a nice day playing Mario! =D

[post note] if you refer to the newer blog entries, you'll see that i've completed the game =)