A guide to completing World 8-4 in Super Mario Bros 1 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

World 8-4

This is the final world, and Bowser's castle is full of tricks and traps, including pipes that take you back to the beginning, and pipes you have to go down to avoid being sent back to earlier parts of the castle.

First, after the pit of fire, there is a Piranha Plant pipe. After that, there is another pipe, but it's a trap! Don't go down it, or you'll return to the first pipe.

Next, there are three Goombas and a large pit of fire with a moving platform just on the surface of the flames. Get on the moving platform to jump to the other side.

Next, you have to go down the Piranha Plant pipe to avoid being sent back to an earlier part of the castle, so go down it.

To the right of the pipe where you arrive, there is another pipe and two Buzzy Beetles. Don't go down the pipe after the beetles or you will be sent back to the first pipe in the castle.

Then there are two Paratroopas, a pipe, and a lava pit. Jump over the pit, then stand two squares to the left of the pipe above, jump straight up to reveal a hidden block, jump on the block, and go down the pipe. If you don't, you end up back in an earlier part of the castle.

Next, there is a pipe, and Cheep-Cheeps start appearing from below. Don't go down the second pipe or you will be sent back to the first pipe in the castle. After the pit of fire, you have to go down the pipe or you will be sent to an earlier part of the castle.

You end up in an underwater area, where you have to carefully get past fire bars and Bloobers. Go through the pipe on the right to exit the underwater area.

After you emerge, don't go down the next pipe or you'll be sent back to the first pipe of the dungeon.

Next, there is a Hammer Brother, a fire pit with a Podoboo jumping up and down, and finally, Bowser's bridge. Bowser breathes fire and throws a lot of hammers, and there is no platform above him. Hit him with fireballs if you're Fire Mario, or run under him or jump over him, but beware of all those hammers that he throws.

When you reach the right side, you finally find Princess Toadstool! Congratulations! You won! After the Princess tells you to "push button B to select a world", press B to return to the title screen. This activates Hard Mode, which causes all Goombas to be Buzzy Beetles instead, makes enemies move more quickly, makes some platforms and cloud heavens shorter, and some levels are replaced with harder ones. Good luck!