Cool!  I look forward to seeing the pic.

And, as NGD suggested, it could be a variant on any number of international / Euro carts.

Another question:  Does anyone know the chain of distribution for Mario games?  What I mean is, does Nintendo Japan directly translate the cart for every market, or do they just do a generic English version and then someone else (NOA, for example) does the Euro work?

Just curious, because I (might) have a lot fewer to check if I could figure out the lines of distribution!!

Thanks for everyone's help on this.

What is different about it?

I knew the first 2 and didn't even pay attention to the placement of the one Jordon posted...very interesting for sure.

True.  But he does mention that there is a place in world 3-9 where you can walk through walls:

Quote:


I don't know what he's talking about, but I'm not 100% convinced yet.

I'm going to the public library soon and looking up a copy of the old "Best of How to Win at Nintendo Games" by Jeff Rovin and see if maybe it is in there.

cdb900 wrote on 04. Dec 2007 at 16:26:



Actually, that trick was sent in by a site reader (Victreebel64), not David Wonn himself (who unfortunately seems to have disappeared and is no longer updating his site.) It's a pretty easy trick I actually discovered on my own years ago when SMB3 was one of the few NES games I owned. Although that person is describing it in a different room of Bowser's castle from where I know how to do it. I don't even think you need a P-Wing for my version, but in the room that has some Bowser statues and a giant "staircase" like structure in the middle, when you get over it to the other side, you can find a hidden 1-Up mushroom block against the right wall. After getting it, jump up while in the ducked position and try to squeeze Mario between the block and the ceiling. When you stand up, he goes right through the wall, which (IIRC) makes it easier to get up on the higher donut lifts in the next. (This is what I did the time I beat Bowser with a Hammer Bros. Suit.)

There might have been a review-only version of SMB3, like we've seen with other games.  If someone wrote a guide based on that, or if someone based cheat/code/strategy research on a cart like that, it is the most likely to have had code and design rearranged or removed before the final version.  Remember a recent example of this is how SquareEnix removed the 2-player mode from Sword of Mana on the GBA after it was previewed/reviewed, because of a serious glitch.

Still, I remember that white block.  I remember wanting it to do something, anything, for most of my childhood(and whenever I happen to play the game again, as an adult).  I can honestly guarantee that I could find no secrets in that level via the white block, and I own a first release edition of the cart (got it the day it was released).