A guide to completing World 6-3 in Super Mario Bros 2 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Use the Shortcut, or Not

Go up the ladder. You'll see some quicksand on the left. This level is very long, but you can optionally take a shortcut now to skip most of the level. If you don't want to use the shortcut, skip ahead to Don't Use the Shortcut. If you do want to use the shortcut, walk into the quicksand on the left, and keep pushing toward the left wall while you sink. As soon as you start moving farther to the left, press the Jump button repeatedly as you move to the left, and you'll avoid sinking too far into the quicksand. On the other side, you find a door. Go through. Then make some running jumps to the left to jump from cloud to cloud. Enter the Pyramid at the end, and skip ahead to the miniboss.

Don't Use the Shortcut

If you don't want to use the shortcut, then pull the grass to the right of the ladder to get a Potion. Take it to the right, past two sets of bones, and if you want a Mushroom, drop it on the right side of the set of bones on the right, then go through to get the Mushroom. If you want a coin instead, take the Potion to the right, past a pink Shyguy on bones, a Pokey, and a Cobrat in the quicksand, until you find another tuft of grass. Drop the potion to the right of the grass, then go through the door and pull up the coin.

If you got the Mushroom, go to the right, past a pink Shyguy on bones, a Pokey, and a Cobrat in the quicksand. Go past the tuft of grass (it just contains a Bob-omb) then go through the cave door that looks like a scary face.

Explore the Cave

There are many Bob-ombs that come out of vases, but if a Bob-omb explodes on a vase, it destroys the vase. Bob-ombs also remove any sand that they explode near. Keep this in mind if you're having trouble.

Jump on the ladder to get the two Cherries. Then go to the right, avoiding the Bob-ombs that come out of the vases, and dig in the sand to get two more Cherries. If you get these Cherries, you can get a helpful Starman soon, so it is recommended to not skip them.

After stone platform, you can jump up the sand on the right, then dig down the right side of the sand, all the way to the bottom. Jump up the remaining sand, then go up to the tufts of grass. Pick one and drop it down where you dug away all the sand, and it will blow up the broken blocks on the right. Go down to where you opened a hole, go to the right, and jump up to get the Cherries. Get the Starman, then run to the right and use your invincibility to defeat all the Ninjis.

After that, there is an area with a lot of tufts of grass, most of which contain bombs, and a lot of broken blocks. There is a Mushroom that you can get from Subspace in this area. To do so, pick up the first grass and drop the bomb in front of the broken wall on the right. Then pick up the other grass that was to the left of that wall, go to the right and jump over the gap and throw the bomb at the next broken wall on the right. Then go to the left, but don't jump over the hole. Take the grass to the right of that hole, and go to the right and drop it into the shallower hole there. There is still a broken block beneath the one you just destroyed, so get another grass and drop it into the hole to open it fully. Then take one more grass and drop it down the hole that you opened, and it will break through the wall down below. Now, go back to the left, and this time jump over the hole and get the grass there to get the Potion. Take it to the right, fall down the hole that you opened, then drop the Potion to the right (crouch if necessary). Go through the door to get the Mushroom and all the coins from the tuft of grass.

After you exit Subspace, go to the right and climb up the ladder until you can go to the right. You will find a vine to the right. Climb up it.

Climb Up through the Clouds

You now have to climb up a lot of vines, all while avoiding Hoopsters that climb up and down some of the vines. Keep in mind that if a Hoopster is moving downward when you're in its line of sight, it will move more quickly.

At the top of the first vine, you can jump up the ledges on the right and jump on the Hoopster and let it take you up. Then go up the next vine, and try to get on top of the Hoopster on the left vine and let it take you up.

From there, you can jump to the right and get on the rightmost vine and climb up it. At the top, get on the vine to the left of the one that you're on, and go to the top.

There is a red Shyguy to the left. Get on the vine on the left and climb up, but watch out for the Snifit on the right. Keep going up until you can land on the Hoopster on the other vine (but you might need to jump to avoid a bullet from the Snifit) and let the Hoopster take you up. Avoid another Snifit on the way, then get on the cloud at the top.

Climb the middle vine to the top, then fall off to the right so you can climb the rightmost vine. Go to the top, then get on the cloud at the top.

Now you need to reach the leftmost vine. When you move left on a vine, be sure to press Up until you start climbing the next vine. Keep going left this way until you reach the leftmost vine, and be careful of the Hoopster on it. Climb to the top, then get on the cloud at the top.

You can either go up the left path or the right path. The right path has more vines that are closer together, but there are Hoopsters on the vines. The left path has fewer vines that are farther apart, but no Hoopsters. Choose whichever path you prefer, and go to the top.

When you reach the cloud at the very top, go to the right to find a pyramid. Go through the door.

Red Birdo

Go to the right, then jump on top of the mask gate to reach the platforms above. 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 down below, and go through the mask gate.

Tryclyde

Tryclyde, spits fireballs down at an angle. If you jump on the platform, you will likely need to jump or go down below to dodge the fireballs. You need to throw the Mushroom blocks at Tryclyde to do damage. After three hits, Tryclyde is defeated, and the door opens. After you play Bonus Chance, you move on to World 7-1.