Since 1985 with the release of Super Mario Bros., the Mario series has delivered some of the most consistently fun, puzzling, and frustrating video games in the industry. Nintendo truly struck gold in the 1980s, and they haven’t looked back since. The company has been able to keep Mario on top by constantly creating new and innovative games that have fans talking and playing for years—the Super Mario Bros. series, Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy. No matter the platform or the series, gamers know what kind of game they are getting when they pick up something with Mario’s face on it, even when each new iteration is full of surprises.
Mario games have a reputation for their hours of gameplay, but also their hidden secrets that go way beyond the main levels. Over these last 30+ years, we have seen all kinds of bonus stages, extra levels, and secret exits. To find every one of them, collect every coin, and locate every star is often impossible, but the most dedicated gamers stick it out until the very end. Until you find out that there’s another adventure after that. Here are 30 areas in the Mario game series that you had no idea you could reach—until now!
30 Only Super Players Can Get Here
When Nintendo returned to Mario for a sequel, the company released a game in 1986 that was thought to be far too frustrating and too similar to the first game to be released in America. What eventually came to be known as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels included far more secrets than anything else before it.
This game has a plethora of secret worlds, but the first one, World 9, is only unlockable if the player can basically make it through the entire game perfectly. To reach the ninth world, you have to clear all 32 of the game’s standard levels and defeat Bowser in one playthrough. What’s worse is that you can’t even use Warp Zones. There’s a reason this game has an agonizing reputation among gamers.
29 The Criteria For This One Is Out Of Control
Don’t think that the newer Mario games are letting players off the hook. Super Mario 3D Land was released for the 3DS in 2011, and it contains a few secrets of its own. After the player completes all eight worlds, you gain access to the Special Worlds.
The final stage in Special 8 is the hardest in the game and the most difficult to unlock. You need five stars on your profile, which can be gained by fulfilling five different conditions. You have to beat all levels in the first eight worlds, defeat Bowser in World 8-Castle 2, clear Special 8, then beat Bowser again in World 8-Castle 2, collect every Star Medal in the game, and hit the top of the flagpole in all levels.
28 Highway To The Special Zone
Anyone who has played Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo in the ‘90s probably knows all about Star World, but did you also know about Special World? Just when you thought you completed every bit of the game, the designers threw in another secret for you to unlock.
You can only gain access to this world by completing all the levels in Star World, and then taking the secret exit from Star World 5. Special World will have eight more levels to complete, consisting of some of the most difficult and challenging courses in the game, all named after outdated and cliche ‘80s slang. Once you manage to clear all these stages, you will be teleported back to Yoshi’s House and the season will change to autumn.
27 You Don't Want To End Up Here
One of the most infamous secret locations in the Mario series is one place you don’t actually want to end up. In Super Mario Bros., there is a glitch the player can trigger that will send Mario or Luigi into what fans have dubbed Minus World. This level looks just like World 7-2, but it can’t be completed like the normal version can. The warp pipe at the end of the level just takes the player back to the beginning in an endless loop!
Gaining access to Minus World is tough. Go to World 1-2 and find the pipe that leads to the Goal Pole. By executing a well-placed jump from the pipe you will be transported beyond the wall and into a room with a warp that takes you there.
26 The End Is At The Beginning
2006’s smash hit Mario Galaxy comes to an end right where it all began—in front of Peach’s castle. Once you collect all 120 Power Stars with both Mario and Luigi, the Grand Finale Galaxy becomes accessible. The player must talk to the fourth Green Luma on the Planet of Trials in order to gain access to the final stage of the game.
The Grand Finale Galaxy is the Star Festival in the Castle Gardens, which was where the game started in the first place. The town is now populated by other creatures from throughout the game. Collect all the Purple Coins on this stage and you can get your hands on the 121st Power Star for both Mario and Luigi. There are no enemies on this level, so it’s nearly impossible to die.
25 You Weren't Supposed To See This
Video game aficionados have cracked every secret in Super Mario World by even exploring some of the unused data left in the final game. By accessing the game’s ROM, players have gained access to leftover graphics and several remnants of unused levels. The most famous of these stages is a test stage labeled as Level 0x30200 in the pointer table.
The level itself is set on a simple plain with turn blocks positioned to spell out the word TEST overhead. There is also an arrow pointing down into a small hole. This stage seems to have been used to test various actions in the game, and was likely last used to test the secret 1-Up Mushroom mechanic because a 1-Up will spawn by touching certain points on the level.
24 Drop It In The Right Place
Super Mario Bros. 2 was released by Nintendo in 1988 as the American sequel to the original Super Mario Bros. title. However, it has very little in common with its predecessor because it was designed as an adaptation of the Japanese title Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic.
Because of this, the game itself does not include many of the secrets common in other Mario games. What the game does do a good job of hiding is the Warp Zones. Remember those potions? By dropping them in the right areas, players can enter Subspace and discover warps to different levels. The potion in World 1-3 can help you warp to World 4. The one in World 3-1 will get you to World 5. Find the warp in World 4-2 and reach World 6. Get to the warp in World 5-3 and find your way to World 7.
23 Go For A Ride On A Rainbow
New Super Mario Bros. 2 offers players several special worlds throughout the game. The only way to make it through to the final World Star is to beat each of the numbered worlds and possess 90 Star Coins to unlock them all. Each of these special worlds also has a secret Rainbow Course that can be unlocked if the right terms are met.
To unlock a Rainbow Course, you need to finish a course in the world with the last two digits in the timer ending in the number that represents that world. This means to gain entry into the World Star Rainbow Course, a player needs to finish one of the world’s levels with the time ending in 99. It’s a cool reward for the most devoted Mario fans, but it’s certainly no picnic to get to.
22 Go Anywhere You Want By Doing This
One awesome area you can traverse in Super Mario Sunshine is the bottom of the water in Delfino Plaza. There is a fun glitch in the game that will allow you to walk underwater and go wherever you want. To activate this glitch, the player must have cleared Episode 7 in every level, which will result in the Plaza being flooded.
Mario will drop from the sky into the water where the land used to be. Swim over to one of the floating logs in front of the Shine Gate and dive under the water. If you resurface under the log correctly, Mario will drop to the bottom of the water and be able to walk anywhere. As an added bonus, the Underwater Life Gauge will be gone, allowing you the freedom to roam.
21 Score The Points, Beat The Game
Yoshi’s Island DS, the 2006 sequel to Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, has many of its own secrets to unlock. The game contains five different worlds to play through, but each world has a secret level and an extra level on top of that.
You can unlock the secret level for any world by clearing all the normal levels in that world. To gain access to the extra levels, you have to score a total of 800 points in each world. Basically, you just have to beat every level in the game and be just about perfect in order to generate enough points to access everything. It sounds pretty straightforward, but it can be a real challenge. The cool thing is you get to ride a White Yoshi in the extra levels.
20 Reach For The Crown
Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U is packed with a grand total of 12 different worlds when everything is finally said and done. While the first three Bonus Worlds in the game can be accessed by the conventional means of simply beating the stages before it, you can only reach World Crown if you have collected everything in the game.
The player has a lot of work cut out for them because you must have grabbed all 380 Green Stars and 85 Stamps in the game. On top of that, you also need to reach the top of the Goal Pole on every level before entering World Crown. This world contains only three courses, but they are sure to be a real challenge for any gamer.
19 Collect Just The Right Amount To Get Here
Super Mario Bros. 3 added a lot of new concepts into the Mario franchise. One of them—the Toad Houses—contains a secret of their own. These mushroom-shaped houses provide Mario with useful items along his journey, but the secret white ones give him some of the rarest items of all.
In order to make the White Mushroom House appear, you have to collect a certain amount of coins on certain levels. On World 1-4 you need 44 coins, on 2-2 you need 30 coins, on 3-8 you need 44 coins, on 4-2 you need 24 coins, on 5-5 you need 28 coins, on 6-7 you need 78 coins, and on 7-2 you need 46 coins. The prize in each house vary, from a P-Wing in the odd numbered ones to Anchors in the even numbered ones.
18 Fight The Flies Where You Least Expect Them
Believe it or not, Super Mario Maker contains the Gnat Attack minigame that originally debuted in Mario Paint. Unlike the original, where you can start the game whenever you want, this new version can be triggered while you’re in editing mode.
At certain points, three flies will appear on the screen, signifying that Gnat Attack is ready to load. You can ignore them, or you can do something by using the touchscreen on the Wii U controller to swat them. Killing all three will trigger the game and transport you to a new screen that looks very familiar to longtime Nintendo fans. The game is now altered, considering you are using a stylus instead of a mouse, but it stands up to the original fairly well.
17 Let Nintendo Know About This One
Even after all these years, Paper Mario still has some surprises in store for us. Through a glitch in the original game, the player can gain access to the Southern part of Toad Town before they are really supposed to be there. The glitch essentially allows Mario to skip the remaining portion of Chapter 1.
The hilarious thing about this glitch is that the characters seem to know that Mario is someplace he’s not allowed to be yet. Characters in this part of Toad Town will tell you that you shouldn’t be there, and that if the player is here, they should notify Nintendo about the error. Clearly the company saw the possibility of players gaining access here and decided to have some fun.
16 Visit Wario's Home For The First Time
Mario & Wario is essentially a game where Wario sticks a bucket on Mario’s head, so he needs someone (read: you) to lead him through different obstacle courses. It was released in Japan in 1993, but never saw release in America. This means very few Americans have actually had the opportunity to play this game.
The game is initially comprised of eight different worlds, but other secrets emerge. When you clear them all, a ninth world is accessible, followed by a 10th, which is actually Wario’s house. When you complete this level, the game shows you finally defeating Wario, but there’s one more level to play. An extra stage becomes available, and when you beat it, Nintendo tells you that you are a “super player.” Beware: if you die after unlocking World 9, you start back at 9-1.
15 Your Gift At The End Of The Game
In Super Mario 64, there are a whopping 120 Power Stars throughout the game. While you don’t need to find all of them to complete the game, if you do, Nintendo gives you a nice reward. A cannon outside Princess Peach’s castle will become accessible, which can shoot Mario onto the roof. Yoshi has been secretly hanging out up there the whole time. If you talk to him, he will give you 100 extra lives and improve your triple jump.
While many people know all about this part of the game by now, did you know you can actually get up there without collecting all those stars? By executing the perfect triple jump against the hill next to the castle, and then sliding at the right angle, you can jump up and grab the ledge of the roof!
14 No One Knows Where This Place Is On The Map
Super Mario fans know all about warp zones, but in Super Mario Bros. 3, the game has an entire island devoted to warp pipes. Known as World 9 Warp Zone, this secret island has no levels of its own, but it does allow the player to warp to different worlds.
The only way to access this secret location is to use a Magic Whistle, and there are only three in the American version of the game (four in the Japanese version if you perform a specific glitch). By using a Magic Whistle in World 1, you will be able to access World 2, 3, and 4. By using one in World 2 through 6, you can warp to World 5, 6, and 7. You can also warp to World 8 in World 7, 8, and 9.
13 Don't Scare Yourself Looking For These Rooms
When you’re on the hunt for ghosts and jewels inside a creepy haunted mansion, it makes sense that there would be some secret areas along the way. Luigi’s Mansion has two secret treasure rooms in the game, and the only way to find them is to check every nook and cranny of the house.
The first secret room is on the first floor where you collect Shivers the butler. Use the Game Boy Horror to find a mousehole and activate it to get inside. You can find the second one on the roof if you drop down into the chimney. These secret treasure rooms are stuffed with gems and money for you to collect, so it’s a good idea to pay these areas a visit.
12 Don't You Love It When They Add More Content?
Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3 may be a port of an older game, but Nintendo made sure to add something new before the release. The game includes the 54 levels from the original SNES version (which includes the extra levels), but also added six new Game Boy Advance secret levels to give the game a total of 60 levels in all.
By beating Baby Bowser at 6-8, you make a GBA-exclusive level in each world accessible to play. Nintendo made these levels bigger and trickier than the normal ones, if you want to collect 100 points in each. Every new stage also has their own specific gimmick that should make them fun new additions to a classic. Watch out for Endless World of Yoshis, the last secret level, and the most difficult.
11 Yes, Even The Mobile Game Has Secrets
Super Mario Run represented the series’ first leap into mobile gaming, and it turned out to be a massive success. The game consists of six normal worlds, and will now have a seventh called World Star added in the app’s September 2017 update. Super Mario Run will have nine new levels added, but there are more courses than you think.
Even when the game is on a smartphone, Nintendo added hidden features. In the game, you can collect pink, purple, and black coins. There are 120 coins of each color hidden within the game, so if you manage to collect each set, you can unlock a new Special Course. Collecting all pink coins unlocks Chase the Snake Coins, the purple coins unlock Piranha Plant Field, and the black coins give you access to Make the Cut!