A guide to completing the World 1 Airship in Super Mario Bros 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

How to Clear the World 1 Airship

Go to the right, but be careful of the cannons, which shoot round cannonballs at an angle upward every few seconds. After the two angled cannons, there is a horizontal cannon that shoots Bullet Bills. The airship is floating up and down, but the cannonballs and Bullet Bills don't change their path, so dodge them carefully (or just stomp on them).

Next, there is an angled cannon down below, then two angled cannons on the ceiling, and a Bullet Bill cannon.

Then there is a ? block that has a Super Mushroom or Fire Flower, along with a Quartet-Cannon that rotates and shoots cannonballs, but only out of two of the cannons. Watch it carefully to see which cannons are shooting cannonballs, and dodge accordingly.

Next, there is an angled cannon, a horizontal cannon, and another angled cannon. After that, you can go up the stairs and go down the pipe to face the boss of this airship.

Larry Koopa

Larry will shoot magic rings at you from the magic wand. The rings get bigger as they move farther away. Dodge the rings, and jump on top of Larry, or hit him with Fireballs.

After Larry is defeated, pick up the Magic Wand and you will clear World 1. You'll get a letter from the Princess, who gives you a P-Wing. This is an item that you can use on the World Map by pressing B. If you use it, you transform into Raccoon Mario with a P on your chest (only on the World Map), and when you enter a level, your P-Meter will be filled during the entire level, so you can fly the entire time (but you lose this ability if you get hit). This effect wears off after the level is completed, and you turn into normal Raccoon Mario.

Now you'll automatically go to World 2, where you can start things off with World 2-1.