A guide to completing World 5-2 in Super Mario Bros 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Cross the Forest

Go to the right and go up the ladder.

To the right, the hill has four tufts of grass on it. The leftmost tuft is a Bob-omb, and the rest are small veggies.

Go to the right and you find Hoopsters going up and down the trees. They will move faster they see you. After that, there is a Shyguy on an Ostro. Just beyond that, there is a tuft of grass you can pull to get a large veggie. There are five total large veggies in this level, so be sure to pick this one now so you can get a Stopwatch from the fifth one later.

On the ledge above, there are Hoopsters going up and down the trees. After that, there is a vase, but don't pull the grass around it, because you can use them to get coins in Subspace. So go down the vase.

In the vase, pick the grass and drop the bomb on the broken blocks, then go down to the next screen. Leave the rightmost grass alone for now. Pick the leftmost grass to get a large veggie, and throw it at the Porcupos.

The rightmost grass gives you a Potion, but don't drop it here. Instead, take it with you up and out of the vase. At the top, drop the Potion on the right side of the ledge. Go through, pick the grass, then go down and get the Mushroom below.

After you exit Subspace, pull the rightmost grass to get a large veggie, then go back down into the vase. You can actually get infinite Potions from the vase, but since you can only get coins from your first two visits to Subspace, and there are only two Mushrooms in this level, you don't need more than two Potions.

Take your Potion up and out of the vase, then go to the right, and jump on the Shyguy on the Ostro to avoid the Porcupos below.

To the right, go past the first Hoopster, but you will have to jump on top of the second Hoopster to reach the ledge above.

After that, you need to jump across two Hoopsters to reach the other side.

Then there are two Hoopsters with a grey Panser between. Carefully jump from one Hoopster to the other without getting hit by a fireball.

Next, you reach an area with two Ninjis and some tufts of grass. If you got a second Potion as instructed above, try to drop the Potion halfway between the leftmost and rightmost grasses. Go through the door, get the Mushroom, and try to pick as many of the grasses as you can before you get kicked out of Subspace.

After you exit Subspace, get up on the hill and pick the left and right grass to get two large veggies. If you got all the large veggies previously, the fifth will be a Stopwatch. You can then safely pick the remaining grass on the hill, because it's a Bob-omb, which would normally explode soon after being picked, but the Stopwatch will prevent it from doing anything.

The two tufts of grass to the right are a small veggie and a POW block.

Go to the right from there, and dodge the Porcupo and the Shyguy on an Ostro, then jump and climb up the vine to reach the next area.

Climb the Clouds

Keep climbing the vine. You will need to dodge Beezos and Snifits as you go up. Eventually, your vine will have a Hoopster on it, so you will need to fall and catch the other vine to continue. As you go farther up, you will need to switch vines again as you encounter more Hoopsters. Finally, at the top, go through the door.

Fall Down the Pit

Go to the middle of the bridge, where there is a POW block. When you pick it up, you will fall down a tall pit, with spikes on the edges. Stay near the middle, but watch out for a spike platform in the middle that you have to dodge. The pit keeps getting narrower, so position yourself carefully as you fall. Eventually, the pit becomes wider again. At the bottom, try to land on one of the platforms or on a Trouter. Then go to the right and go through the door.

Red Birdo

To the right, there is a Red Birdo. There is also a Trouter that jumps up and down while you fight the Birdo. Red Birdo spits several eggs in a row, and sometimes spits a fireball instead, so pick up an egg, but before you throw it, wait for Birdo to stop spitting eggs for a moment. Throw eggs at Birdo until the Crystal Ball comes out. Take it and go to the right, go through the mask gate, play Bonus Chance if you got coins, and you continue to World 5-3.