Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Game Boy Released in JP: January 21, 1994 Released in US: February 7, 1994 Released in EU: May 13, 1994 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prerelease article

Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 is the first game in the Wario Land series and the last game in the Mario Land series.

Debug Modes

Standard Debug Mode

A simple debug mode remains in the game, accessible by pressing Select 16 times while the game is paused. A blinking cursor should appear. Hold B and press Left/Right to move it. Press Up/Down to change the values of your number of lives, coins, hearts, and the timer.

Holding A + B and moving the cursor all the way to the left will highlight the Wario head; unpausing will change your current form (in the order of Small, Normal, Bull, Jet, Dragon).

(Note that pressing Select a 17th time will make the cursor disappear. However, if you press Select 256 times after the initial 16 presses, the cursor will appear again. This happens because memory address AC85, which stores the Select presses, loops after 256 presses.)

Hidden Debug Mode

A second debug mode is hidden in the game. To enable it, set memory address A8C7 to a non-zero value, or use Game Genie code 018-C75-E6A.

In the Course Intro screen a level select is enabled. The level ID is shown in the lower right corner.

Pressing Up/Down will cycle between all the valid level IDs; pressing A or Start enters the level. Note that the level will only be marked as completed if it is located in the same sub-map.

It's also possible to disable debug mode in this screen by pressing Select 10 times.

In a level, pressing Select while the game is not paused will change the current form in the same way the other debug mode does.

If the game is paused:

• Pressing Select will activate a free-roaming mode instead. Use the D-Pad to move Wario around the level. Note that the game checks all the time if the debug mode variable is enabled or not, so disabling the debug mode during this immediately disables free-roaming mode.
• Holding Down + B and pressing Start warps to the ending.
• Pressing Select (16) while the game is paused brings up the other debug mode, with a single difference: highlighting the Wario head clears the level instead of switching between forms.

(Source: McHazard, Original TCRF research)

Upside-Down Wario

The subroutine which handles the drawing of Wario's gameplay sprite has code to check if bit 6 of the address containing the sprite flags (0xA916) is set. Outside of glitch rooms, this bit is never set in-game.

If it is, the sprite is properly drawn upside down... but nothing else changes, leading to a plethora of visual oddities.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Bobo Scene

A significant number of tiles relating to Bobo are unused. Note that Syrup Castle is in the background. This makes up a very odd and interesting scene.

• Bobo never sits down.
• The emblem on Bobo's chest is different. The normal emblem has no horns and looks more like a skull.
• It's highly unlikely that Bobo even moved in this arena. The Bobo object actually moves around foreground tiles (a common trick that early Nintendo systems used) that compose the main Bobo body. Here, the background is far too complicated to have Bobo move around without severe graphical glitches.
• The overall design of this room doesn't really match the S.S. Teacup. It's possible that the Bobo fight was meant for Parsley Woods.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Tiles

Alternate Block Tileset

Two generic blocks are unused. The first is an intermediary cracked block that probably would have appeared as Small Wario (you'd have to hit the block two more times to break it), while the second is an alternate version of the skull that appears above stage entrance doors.

Unused Block Tileset	Used Block Tileset

They were replaced in the main block tileset with the switch block graphics.

Course 2

Ladder tiles using the Course 2 tileset. Interestingly enough, the empty tile is not the one used everywhere else.

Stone Tileset

The generic block isn't used here.

Platforms that can be jumped through are also completely absent.

Even this spike with unique graphics didn't make the cut.

Ladder tiles very similar to the ones in Course 2, but with different graphics.

Sherbet Land

Full	Used

The frozen platform used in the Sherbet Land boss area has an extra row of tiles that aren't used. The final game opts to use waterline tiles instead, which helps explain how the penguin boss is getting those shell helmets. Shelmets.

Parsley Woods

While these tiles are technically used, the lower half is always obscured by the status bar.

Syrup Castle

Syrup Castle has no spikes, but plenty of lava.

Final Boss

These tiles should have been put near the bed in the final boss' room, but they aren't.

The lower half of this block is obscured by the status bar. Again.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Unused Object Graphics

Turns out that the Wanderin' Goom may have had an attack at one point! This spitting graphic and projectile are all that remains.

A little boat that would have appeared in one of the areas in the world map, probably Rice Beach. Wario has serious arm strength.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Seems like the Stove Canyon boss Funfun was going to eat Wario at one point, since he has graphics for moving his tongue and Wario dying as a result.

The ghost boss in Parsley Woods also has graphics for throwing coins, not just spawning them out of thin air. There's an animation showing how they would have worked.

(Source: [1] ShyGuyXXL (More unused WL1:SML3 sprites))

Unused "W" Flag (Syrup Castle)

Using the Debug Mode, it's possible to display a "W" flag on top of Syrup Castle, which is normally not possible since the game doesn't save after you beat this level (it's the final level in the game).

Alternatively, the last bit of the value at A814 can be set, which displays the clear flag for Syrup Castle.

(Source: Dark Linkaël)

Unused Map Location

The value at A79F specifies where on the Kitchen Island map Wario is currently placed. While values 0 to 6 map from Rice Beach to Syrup Castle respectively, value 7 specifies the start of the bridge to Sherbet Land, behind Mt. Teapot. This results in layering errors if the teapot's lid is still hovering over the mountain.

This location contains a valid left-arrow moving the player to Sherbet Land (passing over the bridge). If this location is entered by pressing A, Wario enters Mt. Teapot from the left, the secret exit to Sherbet Land.

All values above 7 map to invalid locations, having no arrows to move elsewhere, showing repeated parts of the map, and/or placing Wario in an offscreen position. In these cases, pressing A does nothing.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Inaccessible blocks

After draining water from Course 31, some of the heart blocks become inaccessible. To stop Wario from hitting them, programmers put in four invisible blocks, but they're also impossible to hit.

(Source: Dark Linkaël)

Save Data Error

Every time the game is started, there is a check to make sure the save game data is not corrupted. If at least one file is corrupted (almost impossible to do on real hardware since each save game is stored twice and both have to be corrupted), the game displays the message at right and automatically clears the affected pipe(s).

To see this message, change the value at A0C0 (the checksum for the first pipe) to anything and restart the game.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Revisional Differences

Virtual Console Changes

The original Game Boy version had a glitch that made it possible to skip certain levels or worlds on the map screen. The 3DS Virtual Console version fixes this glitch so that it is no longer possible to perform.

(Source: Original TCRF research)