Hidden Debug Modes in Super Mario 3! (NES, SNES, GBA)

Super Mario Bros 3 has hidden debug modes that have interesting features! In this video I'm taking you through each debug mode in the NES, SNES, and GBA releases of Super Mario Bros 3.

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00:00 - intro
00:40 - Super Mario 3 NES Debug Mode
00:52 - Debug Menu
01:59 - TCRF Menu Patch
02:23 - Debug Inventory
02:53 - Debug Powerups
04:19 - Infinite Time
04:35 - Super Mario All-Stars SNES Debug Modes
04:50 - SNES Debug Mode 1
05:02 - Debug Mode 1 Features
05:15 - SNES Debug Mode 2
05:23 - Debug Mode 2 Features
05:39 - Free Roam Mode
06:02 - Freeze Frame
06:22 - Super Mario Advance 4 Debug Mode
07:32 - Recap

#Nintendo #NES #SuperMario #RetroGaming #RetroGames #famicom #snes #gba #supermariobros #supermariobros3

[itsgruz]

I've talked about debug mode a few times now, but never really dug into it like in this one. Hope it's informative and see ya guys soon! :)

[vervalkon]

The SNES version's debug mode can be triggered on any legitimate SNES by chance if you're lucky. Its activation state relies on a byte in RAM that is essentially random on every power-on of the console. If you're very lucky, the byte is the one the debug mode expects and you're good to go! This is extremely rare, though!

I quote:
The "old-school" debug mode for SMB3 still works, and is activated by writing $80 to $7E0160, an uninitialized part of the stack. The original NES game sets this to 00 when you start the game, but SMAS does not do this! Theoretically, given the unpredictable state of RAM when the console is powered on, one could get lucky and wind up with a value of 80 at that address, thus enabling debug mode.
The game (and only this game) reads its debug flag from the stack area of work RAM, which is left uninitialized by the game. If this area happens to contain $80 after the console is powered on, debug features will be activated. This bug is present in all versions of SMAS, and is entirely dependent on your SNES (some consoles are more prone to setting this value than others).

Credit where credit is due - this was found in 2010 by Rachel Mae

[maverickREAL]

It's crazy to me, looking back, that the Goomba Shoe was in ONE level in Mario 3, because to me and probably a lot of people it's an iconic part of SMB3. Surely the Mario Maker people agreed because the Goomba Shoe was very much accessible in it and even had some unique mechanics- not bad for a single-stage gimmick.

[DavidWonn]

As the original discoverer of the 6-letter code on the NES, I posted a vid a while back with a description detailing the history on how it was discovered in the 90s, and how it was much later converted to the 8-letter version in 2001.

[devonm]

And of course, when Mario achieves ULTIMATE POWER (the free roam thing), he t-poses to display his newfound dominance over the natural world.

[mr.voidout]

I've been playing some Mario 3 in my downtime, and as an adult, I'm trying to experience the entirety of the game. When I was a kid, there'd be all sorts of older kids (sons of dad's business partners) that came over and taught me all the classic tricks. So whenever I played, I'd just get the warp flutes, get to world 8, and not being skilled enough to get through but a couple stages. Now, I'm going through every world, getting my hands on all those suits I never got to try. And I'm playing the Allstars version, so it's really cool to experience it with Super Mario World tier graphics.

[iCuMlOuD]

I'm telling you right now. You can access this WITHOUT a Game Genie. When I was a kid, me and brother went to go play the SNES All-Stars version of this game. We were messing around with button combos, and we somehow found this mode. We had no idea what it was or how we got to it, but we enjoyed randomly giving ourselves star power and random power-ups. We had NO IDEA what we were doing. We never were able to replicate that. I've looked online for a long time about this kind of "cheat code", but I never stopped to think it was a debug mode. There must be a way to access it without extra hardware as I was able to in the past.

[JosiahGould]

My kids have a Famicom version of SMB3 that someone wrote the Game Genie cheat on with marker on the back. They love that game and I couldn't imagine having the debug menu when I was a kid. What a treat.

[hyper]

Oh the nostalgia! I remember messing around with those debug modes back then. I remember that my first knock off NES console had SMB3 with the debug mode already activated from the start, and it was pretty broken having all the power-ups at hand

[kbramlett]

I've known about the DEBUG mode for the NES version of SMB # for many years, but I was totally unaware that the SNES All-Stars had a DEBUG feature as well. Thanks for the info.

[neojakemcc]

All these years after the game came out and we are still finding stuff like this! Wow. At times like this, I wish YouTube still have a FAVORITES feature.

[MickRocc]

4:06 Censor Bar Mario
4:12 This looked like the high heel from Super Mario Maker 2 at first.

[nthgth]

I had no idea about these! Always loved messing around in debug mode in Sonic 2 and 3&K, so the SNES one is my favorite. With the ability to free roam.
In Sonic, I usually pick the first Zone anyway and just play through the game with all kinds of wacky stuff happening.

[seriousnorbo]

5:48 i love how the movement synced with the music

[mrs]

I would mess around with the NES one tons as a kid lol. It's worth mentioning though that with debug mode on during the tank levels the game would start sputtering and glitching out and then freeze on me. Never could get through it without turning the code off

[MotherKojiro]

I've messed around with the NES version the most, since that's the only one I even knew about, but I love the All-Stars version because switching power-ups doesn't change the character palette, so you have blue tanuki and the blue and red hammer brother suit.

[Thecappy]

Your the best YouTuber as a Mario fan/nintendo I can’t wait for you to post again so here you go have 2 bucks❤

[lucasmatos]

6:10 In my childhood, I got an fake portable Nes with a SMB3 Debug Menu enabled rom, and I usually turned onto this statue, so during this, I could press "select" to change my power-up, Mario would still be gray like a "stone mode" and he would become invincible and do an one hit kill because of that, to turn it of, it was simple, just navigate through power-ups until he came back to normal, because he can't enter pipes in this "stone mode", this made easy to explore all levels

[repyukJC]

I like all these different ones you showed us, didn't realize how much effort there was on their end in some of these.

Love you gruz thanks for the upload

[thedutchgoonie]

wow 😱 i was 13 when mario 3 came out and bought it a few days after its release. after all those years still to learn something new is amazing!

thanks for the tip, i'm going to
test this right away 🎉