A guide to completing the World 5 Tower in Super Mario Bros 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

How to Clear the World 5 Tower

Go to the right and get past two Roto-Discs, then hit the ? Block that a Roto-Disc is spinning around, to get a Super Mushroom or Super Leaf. Then go past the next Roto-Disc and go up the pipe.

Go to the left and make the Thwomp fall, and go past it when it's going back up. Farther to the left, there is another Thwomp that you can go past the same way. Then go up the pipe.

You'll end up outside in the clouds. Go to the right and get the coins, but watch out for the Pile-Driver Micro-Goomba on the right side of the tower. The middle brick of this tower has a 1UP Mushroom in it, which you can get by hitting it with your tail (if you have one).

Go to the right, and there is another Pile-Driver Micro-Goomba. Before you go up the pipe, you can try to hit the wall under the pipe with your tail repeatedly to get coins from the bricks here. Each brick contains multiple coins, so try to hit them as quickly as you can to get them all. You'll be able to hit three of the bricks this way, but the brick on top of those three also contains coins. Read the next paragraph to find out how to reach that brick.

Before you go up the pipe, if you have the P Wing, or you're still Raccoon Mario, there are three hidden 1UPs to the right of the tower (but it might be impossible to reach them as Raccoon Mario). To try to reach them, you can try to break the second brick above the pipe, leaving the lower-left brick. Then try to break the brick above the one that you broke. The screen won't go up, so you have to just try to do it without seeing what you're doing. Then jump into that space and start breaking bricks until there is a long tunnel through to the other side of the castle. Or you can just slide and crouch under a brick, then stand up to be pushed out of the right side of the tower (but you should probably only do this if you have the P Wing). The diagram below shows the locations of the hidden 1UP Bricks (marked with a "1"). The dots in the diagram represent empty space. They're just there to help you figure out where the hidden 1UPs are. The pipe is represented by | and =. You can also try to break bricks to reach the coin brick mentioned in the previous paragraph.

bbbbbbbbbbbbb....1..
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb..1.. .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb    . .
bbbbbbbbbbbbb......1
  ||bbbbbbbbb
  ||bbbbbbbbb
  ==bbbbbbbbb

When you're ready to move on, go up the pipe.

Go to the right, make the Thwomp come down, then when it's going back up, and when the Roto-Disc is out of the way, jump over the spikes. Then go to the right and jump over the spikes, and go up the pipe. Then go to the left through this empty room and go up the pipe.

The bricks beneath the pipe each contain one coin, so hit them with your tail if you have one.

Then go to the right and jump on the clouds, get rid of the Red Koopa Troopa or just ignore it, and hit the ? Blocks, which contain contain one coin each. Then hit the brick to make a vine go up.

Jump on top of the bricks, collect the four coins, and climb up the vine. Jump up the clouds, then go up the pipe to complete the level (this level doesn't have a Goal Block).

After the Level

You will end up in the World Map, on top of the clouds. You can move on to World 5-4.