Super Mario Bros. 3/World 2

World 2 is called Desert Hill. As the name already says, the levels here are primarily desert-themed. Difficulty is starting to pick up slowly from this point.

There are two Boomerang Bros. in here. One awards a Music Box, the other awards a Hammer. There are also two Mushroom Houses in the left part where you have the choice, again, between a mushroom, flower and a raccoon leaf.

Using the hammer in the top right corner reveals a secret right part. Besides a Fire Bros. with a warp whistle, there is also another Mushroom House here which contains the Frog Suit, an item which will prove to be very helpful in the next World.

2-1

 * Right at the beginning you'll meet a new enemy, Pile Driver Micro-Goombas. They usually hide among brick blocks and look like one, but try to jump on you when you come near them. In the NES version, they can be easily distinguished from real blocks because they don't shine. You can easily take them out by jumping on them.
 * The first ? block contains a raccoon leaf.
 * After the brick walls, there are two ? blocks, the right one contains a starman.
 * Just before the violet structure you'll encounter another new enemy, Fire Snakes. They can only be killed by whacking them with Raccoon Mario's tail, so it's best to avoid them.
 * The brick block behind the first Fire Snake contains a leaf. Again, you can use the Koopa Troopa just a bit before to get it.
 * Once you're on the first violet structure, fly straight up to get to the bonus area 1 (see below)
 * You can enter the violet structures from the bottom right corner if you wish by breaking a brick block. The first violet structure contains a 1-up mushroom, the second one has many coins.
 * Between the two violet structures, the left wooden block contains another leaf (bump into it from the side). To get back up once you've fallen down, jump at the middle to discover a hidden note block.
 * At the end you'll see two pipes with Piranha Plants coming out of them. Go down the second pipe to arrive in bonus area 2 (see below).

Bonus area 1

 * This area is empty at first, but jump on the P-Switch to make 16 coins appear. Afterwards leave the area, you'll end up above the second violet structure.

Bonus area 2

 * This area just contains a single P-Switch. Step on it, then quickly get outside and all the brick blocks will be transformed into coins for you to collect.

2-2
This level is half desert and half water. In the beginning, you will encounter a goomba and a few fire-spitting piranha plants that come out of quicksand. You can then hop on a lift that will take you across the watery half. There will be Koopa Paratroopas and bricks that can knock you off the lift and into the water, which is patrolled by green Cheep-Cheeps. You can turn the blocks into coins by hitting the P-switch, which is in the right brick of the first two bricks you encounter. You must crouch down (if you are big) to get underneath the two blocks, quickly jump to bump the one on the right, jump from the lift to to switch, and jump from the P-switch block back to the lift in order to get all the coins.In this level, you can get to the White Mushroom House to get an anchor if you get at least 30 coins. In the second half of the route, try not to break any bricks that can turn into coins with the P-switch. before you activate the P-switch itself.

(Variant: In Super Mario All-Stars, 3 extra coins were added so that it can be possible to get the White Musroom House without getting the 4 coins far away from the P-switch.)

Fortress
This fortress has four rooms and introduces Thwomps and Boo Diddlies, which cannot be killed in any standard way. You can kill both of these enemies if you have a hammer suit in the Super Maro Advance 4 edition. You can start by killing 3 Dry Bones in the first room. Raccoon Mario can practice getting 1-Ups by stomping them repeatedly. You will then approach the first Thwomp, which will fall when you get close. You must quickly move under the Thwomp as it moves back up. The second Thwomp has a Boo next to it, and a Dry Bones walking down a staircase after that. The staircase leads to an upwards-leading pipe that will take you into the next room.

Most of this room's floor is covered in spikes. You must jump from platform to platform, avoiding the Thwomp and the Boo after him. There is a breakable block that conceals a mushroom/leaf power-up near the end. After this, there is a series of Thwomps, which you can dash under. They will fall too late to harm you, and also serve as a barrier to the Boo in the room.

In the third room, there are Spiked teeth that rise and fall. You can run below them as long as you don't get hit, or you can jump on top of the blocks above the spikes. There are two Boos in this room. The door to the third room will rise and fall with the spikes.

The final room is Boom Boom's room.

2-3
This level features Fire Snakes and Micro-Goombas. There are three pyramids of platforms with enemies that move from platform to platform. The first pyramid features a fire snake and a troopa, and the next two feature two fire snakes. At the top of the pyramids are two "?" blocks each. In the first pyramid, they are simply present at the top, but in the other two, there are bricks underneath them. The right-hand side boxes all contain mushroom/leaf power-ups.

After these three pyramids, there are two more made of bricks. The first one will have a Koopa Troopa walking downwards. The top brick of this pyramid conceals a micro-Goomba, so be careful. There are three unbreakable blocks that connect the tops of the two pyramids. When you reach the middle one, a micro-Goomba will launch itself onto it from the ground, and the micro-Goomba on the third block will jump down to the ground. You can jump from the top of the second pyramid to the left to reveal a (normal) hidden music note block, and from there to the left to reveal a hidden coin block. You can jump from the hidden coin block to an above-ground cloud platform with coins.

After the second brick pyramid, there are more stacks of bricks with a micro-Goomba at the top of each. Just run straight forward, wait for them all to jump, and jump over the stack on the ground to climb the half pyramid that holds the pipe that leads you to the Goal Panel. There will be two Koopa Troopas walking back and forth in the middle of the half pyramid. Send one of the shells flying to smash the bricks you need to get to the pipe.

There are no enemies near the goal panel.

Heat Wave
This level features a new enemy; the Sun! The Sun can be killed either with a Troopa shell or by waiting until the end and getting the card.

You will begin with a few Venus Fire Trap-infested quicksand pits, then a Troopa climbing a very small hill. Then, a whirling tornado will appear. you must jump into the middle of the tornado to be shot out the top: otherwise, the tornado will carry you back to near the small slope.

Shortly after, the sun will begin to attack. He will begin whirling around in circles at the corner of the screen. He will then swoop down and move about towards the bottom. Green Paratroopas will bounce around in front of you. The ground is covered with two sections of bricks; therefore, if you try to hit the Sun with a shell, be sure you are on a section of bricks and throwing the shell, left, or it will bounce around in front of you, making passage difficult.

There are two quicksand pits between you and the goal panel: one rather small and one only just clearable with a normal jump. This level has a rather large dark space before the goal panel; however, the only enemy at the end is the Sun itself.

2-4
This level has 2 routes. The upper one can be gotten to with Raccoon Mario only. He must break bricks near the upper left to get there.

The first thing you will encounter in this level is a Para-Goomba. After that, there are two Troopas on stacks of unbreakable blocks, with a bottomless pit in between the two. In the middle of the pit, there is a "?" box. To get the power-up in the box, grab a shell, stand on it, and throw it to the left. The power-up (a mushroom/leaf) will appear right below your feet, ensuring that you get it.

This particular level is infested by Boomerang Brothers. The first one will appear directly after a "?" box located directly on the ground. Your best bet is to use the shell of the Red Troopa that appears earlier to dispatch the Boomerang Brother, then to use the shell of the Green Paratroopa that appears directly afterward to activate the "?" box for another mushroom/leaf.

After a couple more enemies, there will be a solid platform with a Venus Fire Trap in a pipe on top. There is also a "?" box directly to the left of the upper left corner of the platform. Small Mario will be able to stand safely under the "?" box without getting hit by fireballs; larger forms of him will need to jump.

At the end of the level, a Boomerang Brother appears in front of the Goal Panel. His position makes it hard to get a star, unless you can fireball him while running.

2-5
This level introduces Chain Chomps. Use a Troopa Shell to get a Vine in the middle of the game, and climbing it will take you to a secret room with bricks that can turn into coins with a P-switch.

Pyramid
This level starts by entering a door (you don't have the option of passing it.) It has walls of bricks that you must either use a Raccoon tail or a Buzzy shell.

To find your way, you must first smash the wall of bricks in the middle path. Then, after the Piranha Plan, go up and the left, then up and to the right. You will then spot a pipe that leads to a small coin room, with a 1-Up block just out of sight at the top of the screen. To get into the pipe, you must find the hidden coin block that will allow you to jump over the wall that guards it. Players of the original NES version (such as people who are playing the game on the Nintendo Wii) will be able to search for a discolored spot in the background that represents the blocks; players of later versions will have to jump around blindly to the right of the small wall.

If you do not choose to take the shortcut, you will encounter a hill with Buzzy Beetles making their way up. Be careful sliding down; there is a bottomless pit at the end. On the other side of the pit is an uninhabited pipe that will you will emerge from if you entered the coin room. Up another hill is a series of Buzzy Beetles, both on the floor and ceiling. Those on the ceiling will drop down and whirl towards you as soon as you get close. After the Buzzies, there is another wall of bricks you need to break. Get past one last Piranha Plant and you're home free.

At the end, just after exiting via a pipe (not below the cards unlike a few earlier levels,) there is a single Boomerang Brother.

Secret section
One of the Boomerang Brothers will give you a music box, which will put the other to sleep. The other, however, will give you a hammer, which you can use to get to the upper right corner and break a rock. After breaking the rock, you can get access to a Toad's House with a Frog Suit, as well as Fire Brothers, which will give you the third and final whistle!

Airship
The king has been transformed into a spider. This green airship has the same enemies as the previous one, plus Rocky Wrenches. At the end, enter the pipe and stomp on Morton Koopa 3 times or pelt him with fireballs and you'll get his wand and receive a message from the Princess and a Jugem Cloud.