Proto:Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island/ys romX 0/World 3

This is a sub-page of Proto:Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island/ys romX 0.

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.

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A decent amount of levels in this build's World 3 directly correlate to World 4 levels in the final game, suggesting the two themes were swapped later on.

World 3-1

Became 4-1: GO! GO! MARIO!! in the final game.

The level itself is completely different, and takes place during the day, not the evening. The background of the mountains is also completely different, the layout of the world here is simple and linear, without secrets. Goombas do not appear in this level. The level is quite short, unlike the final version.

World 3-2

Became 4-2: The Cave of the Lakitus in the final game.

Actions begin immediately in the cave, near the abyss. The layout is similar to the final version, but the level is shorter. The descent in the second half of the level here involves breaking through a vertical tunnel, at the end the player must knock down the clouds to form a staircase in parts, which will take some time.

World 3-3

Became 4-3: Don't Look Back! in the final game.

There is an extra Koopa Troopa and a Koopa Paratroopa at the start of the level that were removed in the final. A number platform, a winged cloud, and an egg surrounded in sand were added here in the final.

Most of the first section is structured differently. The number platforms are arranged haphazardly with Koopa Paratroopas between them. In the final, the number platforms are arranged in a straight line.

The three tilting logs were moved further ahead in the final game. The second log was raised to the same height as the third log as well.

In the final game, balloons are used to get past this extremely tall pole. In this prototype, there is a spring ball that doesn't quite give the amount of height necessary to clear it. A deviously-placed Piranha Plant at the top of the pole was removed. To the left and right of the tall pole are two Flowers; the one on the right is in a ? Cloud. These were moved elsewhere in the final. Instead of continuing to the right, you drop down the right edge of the pole where the arrow points down.

This arrangement of number platforms is similar to the final, though some near the top were removed or moved around. Lava Drops and a Bill Blaster were added in the final, as well as a flower. The pipe leading to the helicopter room is not present yet.

This setup of eight Koopa Troopas to be bowled over with a shell for a 1-up is much simpler than the final game. It's also much easier for the shell to outrun the screen and fail to hit the last Koopa, so the setup was redone in the final game. An expanding block and a platform holding three eggs were added just before this section in the final game. In fact, there are no ways to obtain eggs in this level at all in this build.

The upwards platform climb is present but was reworked a bit in the final. The Koopa placement was adjusted and Wild Ptooie Piranhas and a tulip were added in the final. Two dotted line blocks with no apparent means of solidifying them were extended into several dotted line platforms leading up to the Flower. The Flower was placed in a ? Cloud in the final as well. The level ends with a goal ring at the first flatbed ferry; the final section with the Baron von Zeppelins and balloon pump has not been implemented yet.

World 3-4

The first section of this level, a Chomp Shark chase into a castle, was repurposed for 4-4: Marching Milde's Fort in the final game.

This level begins with some rough terrain that was flattened out in the final.

Notably, there's a Chain Chomp chained to a stake here. There's only one in the final game in 5-4, and falling Chomps were used in its place here.

Pounding the stake does nothing, but the Chain Chomp frees himself from the chain after a while.

The Chain Chomp is guarding a flower that was moved elsewhere in the final game.

The Chomp Shark chase went mostly unchanged in the final 4-4. Some small sand platforms were merged into larger shapes, and all the Koopas and the lone Stilt Guy were replaced with Mildes.

The Flower was moved slightly to the right as well. A green egg block was added at the end to prevent being able to reach the ? Cloud with no way to open it.

The castle entrance at the end of the first section is green instead of pink. This is because the invisible object that switches the palette when loaded is not present here, so it just uses the palette of the grassland tileset at the beginning.

Going back to the beginning of the level using the debug free movement tool reveals that only the tileset is changed.

The final game replaced the door with a pipe and spruced up the surrounding corridor a bit.

The level design inside the castle is completely different. Rather than being structured around a choice of four rooms with keys to collect in each, the level is a more linear design involving arrow lifts and lots of Koopas and Piro Dangles, neither of which appear in the final 4-4.

Boos appear in one room guarding a key. They're dynamic sprites that rotate to face the direction they're moving in, and shrink when looked at.

The key is used to unlock a door leading to another room with Koopas and arrow lifts.

There is no boss fight; the level ends with a goal ring in this room.

World 3-5

Became 4-5: Chomp Rock Zone in the final game.

All Chomp Rocks in this level are grey in this build. In the final, brown versions were added, which don't despawn offscreen.

A tall pole blocks off the cave with the 1-up shell puzzle near the beginning. It and some smaller poles near it were also removed in the final.

The winged cloud near the second flower that's supposed to create a bridge (to catch the Chomp Rock) doesn't do anything here. A pole was erected to the right of the flower as well.

These two sand blockades were fused into one, and a red coin was added underneath. An alcove with a Shy Guy-spawning pipe was added above the two Paratroopas, and a third, horizontal-flying Paratroopa was removed. A section with multiple Fly Guys over sand, a Chomp Rock, and a middle ring was added between this area and the next.

The hollow tunnel underneath the Tap-Tap was removed when the preceding section was added in the final, and a winged cloud was added above the arrow sign. The three thin wooden platforms were replaced with a single red bridge. A poundable stake was placed next to the green Paratroopa on the stair-like rock formation, a tall pole was placed on the edge of the right incline, and the Melon Bugs on the left incline were replaced with Mildes. An alcove at the bottom containing a Bill Blaster was removed in the final; a thin wooden platform was placed where it used to be.

The next section is rather different here; where you're meant to bring a Chomp Rock to reach an alcove with a flower is instead an entire upper route. The final game cut this entire section and made the lower path the main route instead. There is a Cactus Jack on the point of the path split as well; this enemy type does not appear in this level in the final.

The upper route is mostly made up of generic stone blocks, with checkered platforms used to ascend higher, with Bill Blasters as hazards. There are some blocks that spell "GO" with an arrow pointing left, along with an orange Bill Blaster.

The cave with the 1-up shell puzzle near the beginning is accessible from the upper route. It's harder to keep up with the shell as it hits the Koopas underneath because there are four Tap-Taps along the way; these were reduced to just one in the final. The flower was replaced with a row of coins and two red coins.

The lower path is superficially similar to the final, having poundable stakes between dotted line blocks. A floor was added underneath the dotted line blocks in the final, and the entire setup was turned into a Chomp Rock puzzle. Here, it's just a simple platforming challenge to get a flower, and a spring ball leads back to the upper route above.

World 3-6

Became 4-6: Lake Shore Paradise in the final game.

World 3-7

Became 2-5: Watch Out For Lakitu in the final game.

The level begins with a vertical climb using spring balls. A Chomp Rock is then used to reach the top of the right ledge, or a crate full of coins on the left. The right ledge leads to a vertical tunnel filled with sand, coins, and a Flower, which then opens out into an early version of 2-5 at the bottom.

Like most of World 3 in the prototype, this level is full of Koopa Troopas of every kind. When the level was repurposed for World 2 in the final, it was thoroughly de-turtled, with only shells remaining.

The roughly fork-shaped sand formation extends all the way to the floor. A hole was put through it in the final. A large spring ball on a block of sand was replaced with a winged cloud, coins were added to the upper part of the sand formation, the coin rows underneath the formation were removed and replaced with dotted coins, and the Koopas were removed and replaced with Shy Guys.

The crate under a triangle of sand was moved closer to the previous sand formation, mowing through two Pokeys in the process. The sand triangle was made much thinner in the final, and the Koopa on top of it was replaced with a Woozy Guy. In the final, the crate holds a key, but here it's just some coins. The crate also has poundable stakes underneath it; in the final, the crate sits on sand instead, so it has to be pushed onto a nearby wooden platform to be able to safely break it.

The second sand triangle with the flower is not present in this build, so both the Pokey and the winged cloud are closer to the crate. The alcove with the lower door is also larger, and the door is free to enter; it was made smaller in the final and the door was given a lock.

The upper ledge is harder to access in this build. A thin platform was added to help Yoshi up. The path leading up to the door was made more elaborate, with the door being raised into a ceiling alcove and a Chomp Rock being added to access it.

The purpose of the two doors was swapped; the upper door leads to a bonus room while the lower door progresses further in the level. The final switches the two.

The bonus room accessible from the upper door is a puzzle involving using a Slugger to reflect a thrown egg into a Flower. However, actually getting the Slugger to reflect the egg in the direction of the Flower takes a lot of finagling and is generally not very intuitive; the Slugger usually just reflects it straight back at Yoshi and misses the Flower entirely regardless of player setup. There's an egg pump in the middle of the room, as well as a crate hidden atop a block of sand on the ceiling.

The Koopa Troopa in the hole above the door was replaced with a Crazee Dayzee, and the big spring ball was replaced with a beanstalk.

A whole unnecessarily elaborate chain of directional clouds to hit a Winged Cloud was removed. The door in the alcove was replaced by a hidden winged cloud with a switch that reveals a secret entrance.

The bonus room accessed through the above setup is a duplicate of the earlier bonus room, but with a Green Glove instead of a Slugger, making it considerably easier to obtain the Glower.

The terrain along the main path in this room was flattened a bit in the final. In addition to the Koopa removal, a stack of three Cactus Jacks (unused in the final) was replaced with a Shy Guy-spawning pipe.

The spot where Lakitu appears has an object that was removed from the final game; a brown version of the spring ball that disappears after it is used once. In the final, zero-shaped sand rings were added in the sky here, along with a winged cloud with a switch that reveals a secret entrance in the ground. The spring balls, directional clouds, and egg pump were removed.

The winged cloud containing a flower was raised into the sky in the final.

Around the solo Cactus Jack are more directional clouds that were removed in the final. The winged cloud was moved slightly and its contents were changed from a 1-up to stars.

The long row of coin outlines at the end was removed in the final.

The Bandit who swaps Baby Mario with a Shy Guy and flees at the end is a lot less good at its job; Yoshi usually ends up retrieving Baby Mario instantly, knocking the Shy Guy off while the Bandit runs off empty handed...or sometimes gets killed by the Shy Guy colliding with it.

World 3-8

Became 4-8: Hookbill the Koopa's Castle in the final game.

Ironically for this build's World 3, this level has way less Koopa Troopas than its equivalent in the final. There are no Boo Guys or Hot Lips in the first corridor either; instead, there are Tap-Taps.

The overall structure of this corridor was changed extensively as the design shifted to different enemies. Still, the spinning maces and bucket stayed in roughly the same positions.

This bridge over the lava was made safer in the final. The Lava Bubbles were removed and replaced with two Koopas that drop from holes in the ceiling, the bucket was moved further back, and a Boo Guy-spawning pipe was added.

There are five cracked blocks surrounding the second falling mace, which were brought down to three in the final game.

There are more cracked blocks underneath the third falling mace; there is only one in the final. A winged cloud on the way down was also removed.

The Piro Dangles and middle ring in the corridor after the third falling mace were replaced with five Koopas, and the solid platform was replaced with a bridge that connects to the nearby ledge.

The blue arrow lift was moved up into its own section. Everything between it and the locked door is very different; the large open space was filled up with various more compact setups, and the Tap-Tap, flower, and orange Bill Blaster were removed.

The door in the lower left leads to a room full of cracked blocks, color tiles, buckets, and Lava Bubbles, as well as a flower.

The room accessed from the door under the third falling mace is completely different, with a brown arrow lift, sand walls, and several orange Bill Blasters. There's a door on the lower right corridor that leads back to the large open room from the main area, which was somewhat kept in the final, though a one-way flipper prevents you from going back through it.

In an odd oversight, there doesn't seem to be a single spot in this entire stage where Yoshi can gather eggs. Since Yoshi's eggs don't transfer from level to level in this build, this keeps him from accessing the key required to get through the locked door to the goal. Fixed in the ys_rom_0_D build.