A guide to completing World 1-1 in Super Mario Bros 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Choose a Character

You can choose to play as Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, or Toad. You can complete every level with any character, but each character has different strengths and weaknesses.

Fall through the Sky

You start out falling from a door in the sky and you land on a tall hill below. Fall straight down from an edge of the hill, but beware of the Shyguy that is walking back and forth. You can stand on it and press B to pick it up and throw it, but this won't defeat it. You get a heart for every eight enemies you defeat, so you might want to pick up and carry this Shy guy. Then fall straight down again, throw your Shyguy at the other one to defeat them both, then go to the right and pull up the grass (press B) to get a large vegetable. Whenever you have picked up four large vegetables, the fifth large vegetable will be a stopwatch instead. The stopwatch will freeze all enemies for a limited time. You can throw vegetables at enemies to defeat them.

After you get the large vegetable, fall down below until you find a door on the right. Stand in front of the door and press Up to go through.

Walk on the Land

There are four tufts of grass, as well as two Shyguys and a Tweeter. The first and fourth tufts of grass have large vegetables, so be sure to pick them so you can get a stopwatch later. Throw the vegetables at the enemies, or pick up and throw the enemies at other enemies to defeat them.

Up ahead, there is a vine. Climb it, but only pull the rightmost grass (if you pull the other grass, you will miss out on some coins in a moment). The rightmost grass is a potion. Drop the potion on the same spot where you found it, then press Up to go through the door that appears, then quickly pick up the grass to get three coins (which give you a chance to win extra lives later) and pick up the Mushroom to add a mark to your life meter, and collect the cherry on the left. (If you put the door on top of grass, you can still pull the grass where the door is.) This dark mirror-image of the world is called Subspace. You will automatically return to the outside world about seven seconds after you enter Subspace. Or you can leave early by going back through the door.

After you exit Subspace, go to the right and get the cherries. For every five cherries you collect, a Starman floats up from the bottom of the screen. If you collect the Starman, you'll be invincible for a short time and you will instantly defeat any enemy you touch.

Next, there is a POW block. If you pick it up, then throw it, it will defeat all the enemies on the screen.

Next, there is another cherry, and a small veggie beneath that. Jump up the hills and use the veggie to defeat the Shyguy, then jump up, pick up another small veggie, then jump up to where there is a log with two small veggies, two Shy Guys, and a Tweeter.

After that, beware of the waterfall. If you fall down below it, you lose a life. Jump onto one of the falling logs, then quickly jump to the next falling log, then you can pull or ignore the small veggies on the hill to the right of the waterfall.

Next, there are several Shyguys on the hills. Jump to the top of the hills and throw the POW block to get rid of all the Shyguys in one go. Be sure to pull the grass to the left of where the POW block was, because it contains a 1UP mushroom. Then jump off the right to get a cherry.

Down below, the left tuft of grass contains a bomb, which you can throw at enemies to defeat them. Later, you will find broken rocks that you can bomb through. To the right of the bomb, there is a turtle shell. If you throw the shell, it will move along the ground in a line and defeat any enemies that it hits.

To the right of a hill, there is a cherry with a large veggie beneath it, so be sure to pick the veggie, since you the fifth large veggie you pick is always a stopwatch. Throw the veggie at the Shy guy, then get the next cherry. There are two small veggies beneath where the cherry was, which you can use to defeat the Shyguy and Tweeter up ahead.

Go across the log and you find a door, as well as a Shyguy and Tweeter. You can throw the Shyguy at the Tweeter to increase your defeated enemy count, since every eight defeated enemies causes a small heart to float up from below.

There is nothing else to the right, so go through the door.

Go through the Cave

To the left, there are two large veggies you can pick, as well as a Ninji that jumps up and down. Throw a veggie at the Ninji if you wish. (If you got all the large veggies on the way, one of the veggies will be a stopwatch that freezes the Ninji in place.)

Then jump up onto the ledge, and climb up the vine to the next area.

Optional Shortcut

If you don't mind missing a Mushroom, which adds 1 mark to your life meter, you can take a shortcut to skip most of this level and reach the miniboss sooner. If you want to do that, skip to Jump Over the Waterfall.

Get a Mushroom

You can get the mushroom and take the shortcut later, or get the mushroom and don't use the shortcut at all. To do so, go right from the vine that took you to the upper part of the cave, and go through the door at the end.

There isn't much to the left of here except a Shyguy, a waterfall that you can make a running jump over, another Shyguy and some veggies, one of which is a large veggie. If you went that way, just go back to the right until you go past the door.

To the right of the door, don't pick the grass except for the leftmost tuft. Carry the potion to the right until you're in the middle of the gap between tufts of grass. Try to drop it on top of the fourth wavy line on the hill after the leftmost grass. Go through the door, then take the mushroom and try to quickly pick the tufts of grass to get coins.

After you exit Subspace, pick the two tufts of grass to the left, because they are both large veggies. Then you can optionally use the shortcut mentioned above by going to the left and entering the cave. If you don't want to take the shortcut, skip to Go Up the Clouds.

Jump Over the Waterfall

In the cave, to the right of the vine that led to the upper area, you can make a running jump from the right to jump over the waterfall (Luigi can jump across without needing to run, and Princess Toadstool can float across if you hold B). Then go left and jump onto the ledge. Go up against the left wall and press Down to crouch, and stay crouched until you start flashing. This is called a Power Squat. When you are flashing from a Power Squat, your next jump will be higher than your normal jump. Use this to reach the ledge above.

Both of the plants on this ledge are bombs, so you might want to get the Shyguy out of your way first by picking it up and throwing it down the ladder or off of the right side of the ledge. Then you need to use a bomb to break through the broken blocks on the left, but you might want to pick up and throw the Shyguy out of the way, then throw one bomb to get used to the timing. When you're ready, pick up the other bomb, stand on the left side of the ledge, wait about 1.5 seconds after it starts flashing, and throw it. If you timed it correctly, the bomb will break through the broken blocks on the left, allowing you to reach the door on the other side. (The plant next to the door is another bomb, so don't use it unless you need it.) Go through the door.

Jump up the ledges (and if you can't jump high enough to reach the first ledge, press Down to crouch, then after you start flashing, jump up to the ledge above the door), until you're above the top of the screen. Go left and you will see a bird face on the wall, followed by the miniboss, Birdo.

Go Up the Clouds

If you decided not to take the shortcut, and you already got the Mushroom from Subspace, then pick all the grass to the right of the upper cave entrance (if any), then go to the right from the upper cave entrance, to where there is a vine with a Hoopster crawling up and down on it. You can throw a veggie or enemy at the Hoopster, or jump on it and throw it at an enemy (or just throw it) to get it out of the way.

Climb up the vine to reach the clouds.

Make your way up the hills and clouds, where you find Ninjis and Shyguys. There is an upper area with three tufts of grass, and the rightmost grass is a large veggie, or if you got all the previous large veggies, it will be a Stopwatch.

Jump up onto the cloud above the hill, and you find a vine. It doesn't have a Hoopster on it, so just climb up, then jump on the clouds to the left to reach the cloud above the vine.

There is a Hoopster on the vine to the right, but that is the vine you should climb up, so you might want to pick up and throw the Hoopster. Then climb up the rightmost vine.

Go onto the middle cloud and climb up the vine. There is no Hoopster on this one, so just keep going up until you reach the clouds at the top.

Go to the right, jump over the gap, then go right and jump up onto the ledge above to face the miniboss, Birdo.

Birdo

Stand on the blue blocks throughout the battle, and go to whichever end is farther away from Birdo. Birdo will move left and right, and will sometimes jump, and will spit eggs at you. Jump on top of the eggs before they go off screen, then pick them up and throw them at Birdo. Do this three times to defeat Birdo, then pick up the glowing orb to open the bird door on the right. Go into the door to complete the level.

Bonus Chance

To get the most extra lives, try to get three Cherries. If the first slot is a cherry, you get one extra life. If the first and second slots are both cherries, you get two extra lives. If you get a cherry in all three slots, you get five extra lives. Or you can match three of a different symbol to get one extra life. The number of coins you got in the level determines how many bonus chances you get.

After that, you can start World 1-2.