Super Mario Bros. 3/World 8

You've made it quite far, and this is the final world: World 8, known as the Castle of Koopa. This world features some of the hardest levels in the game, which require very great Super Mario Bros. 3 skills to beat.

This world map has multiple pipes to confuse you, similar to the preceding world 7. There are no Hammer Bros., mushroom houses or spade panels, leaving you largely on your own in this world.

In the second part, when you walk over the tiles marked by fireplaces, there's a random chance you may be dragged into a level by a hand. These levels are thus known as the Hand Trap levels. For the purpose of this strategy guide, they're all discussed. The third part of the level is completely blacked out, with only a small lightcone at Mario's position, preventing you from seeing the complete map.

Tanks

• In this autoscroller tanks come rushing to you. It is very common for diagonal and forward cannons and Rocky Wrenches to be placed such that bouncing off one usually leads you right into the other, so watch out for this.
• There are some new things here: for one, you'll find cannons that shoot Bob-ombs. Since they walk around before exploding, they're a bit more dangerous. Another thing you'll see here is red Rocky Wrenches - these don't regenerate, so stomp on them once and they're gone for good.
• As Raccoon or Tanooki Mario, these levels provide easy ways to get tons of 1-ups if you're very good at bouncing off cannonballs repeatedly. Otherwise, you should probably not try it since it's too dangerous.
• In the middle there's a ? box with a raccoon leaf inside. But because you need to duck to get it and there's a cannon shooting right into this space, it is very hard to get.
• When you see lots of empty space and then a small tank, watch out - the next one has a big cannon that's going to hit you right in the face if you don't duck in time.
• At the end, if you don't jump over to the pipe in time you can actually get stuck down there with no way to get out. Going down the pipe leads to a lone Boomerang Brother, defeat it to make a treasure chest appear. Open it to get a starman and to end the level.

Battleships

• The battleships here move up and down. If the heat on the surface is too much for you, you can just swim under all those battleships, but prepare to mash the A button a lot.
• At the beginning, there's a heavily guarded block with a Fire Flower inside. If you really dare, you could try to grab it, but good luck defending against all the cannons.
• At the end of the first battleship, wait until the next one is visible, then do a large jump over, avoiding that big cannon. There's a small cannon on the other side which you have to avoid immediately after the jump though.
• The Rocky Wrenches on the second battleship can be really annoying. it is best to wait on the topmost part (where you can hardly be hit) until the big cannon is visible. Then get to the cannon, and when the next battleship is visible, jump over. But watch out because there's another big cannon on the other battleship, which is shooting right in your direction.
• You'll probably want to use a large jump to clear that pit with four cannons. On the other hand, you can accumulate many 1-ups here easily as Raccoon or Tanooki Mario.
• At the end, directly jump over to the pipe when it's visible to avoid the last big cannon. Go down the pipe to meet your old friend Boom-Boom. Stomp him three times, feed him five fireballs or lob a single hammer at him to defeat him and to finish this level.

Hand Traps

In this area, you cross three tiles. As you cross, a hand may appear and pull you down. If it does, you will enter a level that will reward you with a Raccoon Leaf if you clear it.

In the first of these, it reviews all the kinds of Koopa Bros., first a Fire Brother, then 2 Hammer Brothers, then a Boomerang Brother, and finally a Sledge Brother. At the end is a pipe that leads to a Raccoon Leaf.

The second practices your skills with avoiding Podoboos when leaping over pits.

The third deals with flying Cheep-Cheeps.

Airships

A P-wing is definitely good for this level. It means you can fly over the entire level without having to land on the parts of the airship. It scrolls by quickly! At the end is a pipe, which simply takes you to Boom Boom's room.

8-1

If you have a P-wing, you can enter a pipe and get into a room containing 3 1-Ups. Just avoid the enemies and get to the end of the level.

8-2

Just either enter or leap over the quicksand. If you leap over the quicksand, the Sun from the middle of World 2 will reappear. If you enter the quicksand, you just enter one of the pipes and it'll take you to a coin room. After exiting the coin room, just follow to the end, trying to avoid entering the bottomless pits. If you don't have exactly 2 star cards at this moment, I'm sorry to say it's too late to get a 5-Up. This is your last chance to get one if you do.

Fortress

There are 2 rooms, one is blue and the other gray. Most of the doors can be entered from either room. If you're Hammer Mario, kill the enemies that you see, otherwise you'll have to avoid them. Near the end of the gray room is a P-switch that will open a door on the far right and take you to Boom Boom's room. Duck to get past the spikes and you'll get there.

(Variant: In Super Mario All-Stars, both sides are blue, making it more difficult to tell which side is which.)

Super Tanks

Last vehicle in this world. Just follow the screen, avoiding or killing enemies, and enter the pipe to get to Boom Boom.

Bowser's Castle

This is it! The final level! Take the high path whenever you have a choice, and stay away from any statues of Bowser you find, as they can shoot laser beams diagonally. When you reach Bowser, he cannot be killed the way his kids and Boom Boom are killed. You must stand in one spot on the bridge as he jumps, avoiding the fireballs he spits at you, and get out of the way just before he lands. His impact will smash a hole partway through the bridge; three hits in one place will drop him off the screen. The door will flash, and now you get to meet Princess Toadstool. After that, you just watch the credits, showing you pictures of things that happen in all 8 worlds. Then you can re-do the game with 28 P-wings!