NOTE: If you're low on health or FP, do not hesitate to walk back to Mario's Pad to rest and save your game.
Mushroom Way
Select controller:The first area features an infinite supply of Goombas walking through. If you want to grind, you can do so here, but it will take a while. Otherwise, follow the way since it's pretty linear. Open the treasure box on the way, it contains some coins which will be helpful soon. Once you're around the corner, you'll see Toad being in trouble. While you do not need to rescue him (he will be fine on his own), you should do so as he gives you some useful items. In the first fight, you have two Goombas to battle against. Punch them into oblivion and Toad will give you a Honey Syrup as a thanks. This item restores flower points, essential for special attacks such as Jump. Collect the coins contained in this treasure box as well, then proceed into the next area.
If you walk forward you'll be ambushed by Goombas. Kill the Goomba resting on the spinning flower and you'll be able to use it yourself. Jump onto the left hill to find a treasure box containing a flower, which raises your maximum flower points by one. The middle hill is empty, so jump onto the right hill to find Toad being held captive by a Sky Troopa. Sky Troopas are formidable enemies, but are weak to jump attacks - use that to your advantage. Toad will then give you a Flower Tab, which raises your maximum FP by one just like the flower does, but heals it as well. Use it right now by pressing 
to open the menu, selecting Item, selecting the Flower Tab from your item list and pressing 
again to use it. Then, exit the menu using 
. Jump down to the right and open the Treasure Box there to get a Recovery Mushroom, which instantly fills up your HP. Then, proceed into the next area.
Here, you'll encounter Spikeys. These enemies are invulnerable to jump attacks, so you need to punch them. As a miniboss fight will soon follow, it is recommended to level up at least to level 2 or even level 3 before proceeding. Simply run back to the first area and battle against the infinite Goombas until you have reached your level, then return here. Run all the way through and if you rescued Toad before, he will be held captive here (if not, the boss will be standing here alone). After the short talk, simply approach him to fight.
mario: let's fight hammer bro? me: and mario's going use jump and hammer bro is going to use [hammer time let's throw hammers at mario] and mario's going to use the same thing and hammer bro is going to use [valor up that rasies his defense by over 30! WHOA! this might take a while if he uses valor up?
Mushroom Kingdom
| Item Shop | |
|---|---|
| Item | Price |
| Mushroom | 4 |
| Honey Syrup | 10 |
| Pick Me Up | 5 |
| Able Juice | 4 |
| Shirt | 7 |
| Pants | 7 |
| Jump Shoes | 30 |
| Antidote Pin | 28 |
You're now in your first town. There's lots of things to do here but for now, just run straight ahead and into the castle.
Now you need to watch out - there's a hidden Treasure Box that can only be collected once in the game, and that is now. Toad will talk to you and then start walking, once he does that jump onto his head and when he reaches the opposing door, jump up onto the door and jump again to uncover a hidden Treasure Box with a Frog Coin inside. These green coins are special and you'll need them later in your game. Once you've done that, follow Toad until you're in the Chancellor's Room. Mario will now retell everything that happened. Once you're done talking, try to leave and the Chancellor will stop you to give you a Map, a mildly useful utility you can access from your menu anytime. Try to leave again and the Chancellor will stop you again to tell you to head to the Vault Guard. To reach the Vault Guard, go back into the main hall, and go down the right exit. The Vault Guard will be waiting for you, so talk to him and he will allow you to open all the Treasure Boxes to tell you what's inside. Once you've done that, leave the castle.
Try to go down and a cinema will ensue which shows a little puff ball attempting in vain to follow a swift crocodile. He fails and starts to cry, so go down and talk to him to calm him down. During the little conversation you'll be asked to help the little puff ball, whose name is Mallow and who is apparently a frog, to follow the crocodile. Say yes and Mallow will join your party. Now, the building right next to you (with the star) is an inn, where you can sleep for a little money and most importantly save your game. The building further down with a mushroom is the item shop, where you can buy some helpful items for your party. Mallow will tell the shop owner his coin was stolen - he will then give you a Pick Me Up to help you. This item revives party members that have fallen in battle and will be something you will depend on. Talk to him again and you can buy stuff. At the very least get a Shirt and Pants, if you want you can also buy the Jump Shoes (but it isn't required). In any case stock up on Honey Syrups and Pick Me Ups.
Now, equip the Shirt and the Pants and leave the Item Shop. To the right is an excited Toad who has seen the crocodile running past but failed to stop him. This crocodile will then swoosh past you, so leave the area and follow him into Bandit's Way.
Bandit's Way
A short discussion will start after which Croco runs away. The area does not contain anything spectacular (but there's a Save Point in the bottom left corner if you feel the need to save again), so just run down and into the next area.
In this area, jump on the flower and onto the hill. Then, you will need to jump on these blocks to collect coins. If you fall down you'll find some tougher enemies for you to battle against. Anyway, jump all the way across and walk down the hill and you'll find another spinning flower. Jump to the right to uncover a hidden Treasure Box with a KerokeroCola inside. This is a very good item which heals all HP and FP of the entire party, so it's best to keep it for late game. After that, proceed to the next area.
Walk through this area again, there are some enemy ambushes here with more powerful enemies so watch out. (This is probably a good area to test Mallow's Thunderbolt special attack in.) Just follow Croco all the way to the end and into the next area.
Here, you'll see Croco being impatient and running off. The Treasure Box contains an invincibility star - this is a very good item as it allows you to kill any enemies just by running into them, and you're awarded the full experience points. So get it and run into all enemies you see and you may get one or several level-ups. Once you've done that go into the next area.
This is a dead end, so Croco will have to hide. There are some Sky Troopas in here if you still need some EXP. (The Treasure Box at the beginning contains a Recovery Mushroom for you to heal afterwards) You will need to ambush him from behind and surprise him three times, and once you've done that, you'll engage in battle with him.
Miniboss: Croco
This fight is actually pretty tough. If Mario's level 3, use Fire Orb on Croco which will cause significant damage and also force him to skip a turn. Mallow should either use Thunderbolt or heal/use items. Croco's physical attack does quite a lot of damage so watch out for that. Once you've dished out a large part of his health, he will use a Weird Mushroom to heal. He skips the following turn so try to dish out a lot of damage. The bombs he will throw occasionally can easily knock out a weak party member in one shot so beware and use Pick Me Ups if a party member faints. Just continue to dish on him and heal when needed and hopefully you'll survive this battle.
You'll get a Flower Tab from beating this battle. You'll also get a Wallet. A springboard will drop to the sky and return you to the save point. From here, leave the area and go back to Mushroom Kingdom.
Mushroom Kingdom
In Mushroom Kingdom, you'll notice the entire area has been infested by weird monsters on jumping sticks. You can go straight ahead into the castle to fight the boss, but you're probably too low leveled to do so now. Go south and rescue the blue guy. He will notice you have his wallet. You can give it to him and get a Flower Tab in return, or sell it later for 123 coins, it's your choice. In any case, go into the westernmost building and you'll find a family whose house is infested by these jumping things. Kill each and every one of them and they'll give you a Flower Tab as a sign of their gratitude. Now, go heal and then return to the castle. Go to the right and rescue the Toad being attacked by two Shysters, then go down and grab all the Treasure Boxes. Then, run up and through the door. Go to the right and you'll find the Vault Guard, talk to him and he'll give you the Wake Up Pin, which protects against sleep attacks.
Equip it to someone, then return to the main hall and rescue the Toad being chased by the Shyster. He will run up, so follow him through the left passageway. Walk all the way through up to the door, where two Shysters will challenge you to a battle. Inside, the Toad will give you another Flower Tab. You can talk to the Grandma here who will heal you, you can also save here. Walk back to the main room and grind until Mario is at level 5 and Mallow is at level 4 (You'll need it), then proceed to the throne room, where you will have your first boss fight in the game.
mario: let's fight mack and the shy guys on stilts? me: and mario is going to use the fire orb and mallow is going to use thunderbolt and the shy guy on the stilt will use [drain] and mack is going use the most powerful magic attack in the game? [flame wall that it attacks all characters at one time] and if your still on level 1 this attack will kill you in one hit and you will get the most and deadly game over ever