Template:All Game Nav After a dazzling opening cinematic which features yet another abduction of the princess by Bowser, you'll find Mario racing into the castle on autopilot and giving you control in the hallway of Bowser's castle. Bowser's troops wander around at random, policing the doors and bumping into the statues on the wall, and you're thrust into the thick of things.
The point of this entire section is basically just a chance to get you used to the gameplay mechanics. You can't gain experience points, coins, or accumulate items, and the enemies are all fairly trivial to defeat. But on the subject of gameplay, there are a few things you should probably figure out.
Movement
Holy three-quarters perspective, Batman! Mario can face in exactly eight directions, the basic up-down-left-right, and four diagonals. You can hold down 
to run in the different areas, and press 
to jump. Occasionally you'll need to take a running start and jump at an angle to reach particular platforms or treasure boxes, so take the time to get used to running and jumping around.
In a particular area, you can press the A button to interact with things or talk to people, and you'll automatically enter into fights with a monster if you touch one. You can also press 
to bring up the menu.
Menu
You don't actually have access to this particular feature in this introduction segment, but in general it will take you to another screen filled with options, which you can press to back out of. These options will include:
- Items. Mario and company can store a whopping total of 29 items, which can do things like restore health/life, restore flower points, attack enemies, or induce special effects. With no way to store or keep items in reserve, you'll be feeling the limitations of the 29-item limit very quickly, so get used to selling items which you can buy anywhere, such as mushrooms, and try to keep valuable items which can't be found many places or are unique. (such as Rock Candy)
- Status. This option will let you see the basic stats for each character, what they would be with and without their current equipment, and how many experience points until the next level.
- Special. This option will let you view the special attacks each character has, use "healing" techs outside of battle, and see how many levels until the next special ability is available.
- Equip. Equip and use armor/weapons/accessories. Again, you can only store 29 things, plus whatever you equip on people. Accessories tend to be the rarest, so get used to selling old armor and weapons.
- Special Item. A list of various "quest related" items you may be carrying, serves no purpose other than to prove to the player that you actually are carrying that cricket jam somewhere.
Combat
You have four options in combat, corresponding to the four basic controller buttons.
: Defend/Run Away. Running away is risky since you may not succeed, and defend just raises your defense until your next turn.
: Item. Allows you to select an item to use in combat. Some items may be used repeatedly, some are one-time use only, and some are targeted at the enemy or a player character.
: Special Attacks. Many of these have special commands you can use to make them more effective, such as pressing a button as fast as you can, timing a button press, or rotating the control pad. These attacks use flower points, which are shared in common between your whole party.
: Regular Attacks. These are generally timed to hit "A" right when you attack the enemy.
Most attacks also let you do a "timed defense", where you can press A right when an attack hits you. Note that some special attacks do not allow for a timed defense.
Bowser's Castle
Right into the thick of things then. The castle halls are lined with TerraPins, little 10 HP monsters you should be able to kill with no trouble. If you used timed defenses you can make it through this whole section without taking any damage, otherwise just make your way through the doors, fighting the enemies you have to and avoiding the ones you don't.
You'll come face to face with Bowser atop two Chandeliers, with the princess looking on, tied from the ceiling. You can heckle Bowser if you want but it won't do any good. Just jump or attack the Kinklink to deplete its 65 HP and send Bowser's Chandelier crashing down. Mucho plot related stuff will happen, and you'll end up back at Mario's pad.
Mario's Pad
After meeting Toad you can hit to jump out of bed when you're ready. As a general rule, if you find yourself stuck in some situation where you can't move or hit 
, it's usually because you have to jump to progress the plot for whatever reason.
While at Mario's Pad, you can rest in the bed all you want by turning off the light, save your game, and eventually head back to Bowser's Castle to see what's up. Enjoy your first view of the minimap and select Bowser's Castle to find a giant sword announcing the arrival of the Smithy gang. The bridge to Bowser's Castle will be knocked out, and you should head back to Mario's Pad to meet up with Toad.
Toad will send you off to the Mushroom Kingdom after giving you a few mushrooms and a tutorial on items and timed hits if you want them. The item tutorial will make you lose one of your mushrooms, however you might want to check out the tutorials if this is your first game. After that, head on into the next chapter.