Super Mario Bros. 3 (8): World 8 - Dark Land / Castle of Koopa

"The Koopa Curtain Falls"
While we were away kicking the Koopalings out of the kingdoms of Mushroom World, Bowser hit the homeland and managed to capture Princess Toadstool again! What's a hero to do other than accept the King of the Koopas' challenge and take on an entire army by himself to finally save the Princess and the day?
Dark Land is no joke. It's very easy to be overwhelmed at first by the sheer amount of stuff on screen that wants you gone. You'll need a pretty high level of platforming prowess to be able to continue on through World 8, let alone reach and beat Bowser. For the record, Bowser's Castle is the name of this world in versions of the game past Super Mario All-Stars, so you GBA players probably know this one as that.
Either way, it's a final world that expects a lot out of players. I'd say that's fitting since this is one of the all-around hardest 2D Marios ever made, in my opinion. It's also one of the best because of all the neat stuff you can do, and I hope you all were able to enjoy this series as I think it turned out to be one of my favorites I've done on this channel because of how much I was able to show you all.
In any case, thanks for watching and interacting on these videos. It's fun doing stuff like this for you all even after all these years. Have a good time this holiday season, and I'll see you all next year. Peace, everyone!
Coins Collected in World 8: 233
SMB3 Total: 2863

[@pyramidhead138]

its beyond me how those cheep-cheeps can survive in hot lava

[@mjwatts1983]

3:20 I like swimming underneath the last ship because it makes it looks like Mario on an operation to assassinate the commander of Bowser’s naval forces

[@tanthemaker6956]

Lmao, I like to swim the whole stage.

[@Peter_1986]

It's cute how you have Mario goof around when you are waiting for something to happen. I always do that stuff myself when I play this game, like dig Mario's head to the music and jump around and things like that.

[@Bean1227]

Thanks. I just try to make them a little funny to watch at times. Also gives me a bit more time to throw in a text box if need be!

[@aaronflowers8881]

Lmbo I do the same thing!

[@user-rs1990]

Now I know the exact way through the World 8 Fortress by heart!

[@jaxxh6529]

the airship theme in the european version is better done. and here its named dark land. dutch: duister land.

[@Peter_1986]

The fight at 2:06 is almost like that "sword vs. gun" scene in "Indiana Jones - Raiders Of The Lost Ark". The Boomerang Brother is like "hey, let's fight!", and Mario is like "yawn, I don't have time for this, die now".

[@MichaelBrookham]

I like to pay attention to the background music. The #1 music is what I call the music from World 1 level 1. The #2 music is from World 1 level 2. #3 music is what is played when Mario goes underground and #4 music is what is played when Mario is on the ships. I noticed that Level 8 only has #3 and #4 music, and the #1 and #2 music end in World 7.

[@kc7108]

Well, I can’t even get beyond board 1, World 7. 😩😩 Glad to finally see what the end looks like after 30 years!

[@user-zf8yd4ul3l]

I almost beat Larry once, it was the closest i could get

[@MikePScott624]

30 yrs u never beat mario 3 even With warps, clouds , and p wings?

[@chrispearson2847]

The thing one notices about Dark land is the absence of Spade panels and toads houses.

[@kenhollis6197]

I hadn't thought about it before, but it makes sense, making the final world more challenging by limiting supplemental items and lives. At least you get Super Leafs in the three black panel levels, though.

[@RockaPete]

Great Series! I really enjoyed it. I remember having such a hard time with the air fleet level and if used all my P-wings before then, I was especially going to have a hard time. It was painful. Also, I look forward to the next game you play!

[@Bean1227]

Yeah, that air fleet level gave me a lot of problems back as a kid. Beating it the way I did in this vid felt like payback for all the trouble it used to give me. And thanks for watching!

[@luisclaudio3576]

Great game

[@AlexPitua]

Thanks Bean, you are great at this! As a kid, I cant beat the game, will try again now after few decades 😅, now wit my kids to play with me. They are amazed at SMB3 game, puzzles, etc, even on 8-bit, they said to me they now understand why I came to love this game. You are awesome!, thanks again

[@Bean1227]

You're welcome again. Hopefully you get through it this time. This one gets rough in the last few worlds.

[@redvanderbilt289]

When I played this game back in the old days, it was a hacked version with unlimited P-Wing. Playing this without that and without save/load state is difficult.

[@GalacticBaronOG]

Not sure if you knew this or not, but this game has one more post-game secret. If, after beating the game and unlocking the 28 P-Wings, you proceed to beat the game again and then start over a second time you get my personal favorite start: 28 Hammer Bro. suits. Requires beating the game twice in a row though, so unless you use the warp zone to skip through the game twice it's likely that you're not really ready for a third play.

[@Bean1227]

I've never heard about this, and after looking it up online, there are only a couple of topics on GameFAQs that even mentioned it at all. Those posts there say you only get P-Wings again for beating the game twice over in one sitting. If there was a video of this, I might've gone for it, but I've long since saved over my main run to do the multiplayer stuff. Dang. Well, I'll leave that mystery be for now. It's got me curious though!

[@GalacticBaronOG]

Bean1227 Strange; I seem to recall pulling it off but can find nothing online supporting me. Interesting... I'll have to test it again sometime once I get my NES back in February.

[@buggyboy1356]

GalacticBaron you get 25 p-wings after beating the game!?

[@tazmanianchic9425]

​@@GalacticBaronOGwell?!!!

[@Robert-nu4vc]

That is an absolute lie. You do not get hammer bros suits no matter how many times in a row you beat the game.

[@NitrosS]

My favorite Game of all time

[@neoluminoscalvaros8130]

Country in the darkness: castle of koopa 8-tank stage 8-warship stage 8-hand trap 1 8-hand trap 2 8-hand trap 3 8-high speed airship stage 8-1 8-2 8-fort 8-2nd tank stage 8-castle of koopa

[@Qwertyexists]

Diagonal Thwomps are cool but even Nintendo forgot about them

[@jackape1]

dark land looks like hell

[@carltoncoleman454]

The names of the worlds were changed on the credits. Anyone notice that? I've seen some endings have world 8 titled Dark Land while others were titled Castle of Koopa.

[@Bean1227]

Yeah, they changed the names depending on the release version. SMB3 on the NES had two different versions. Believe it or not, the first one had the Castle of Koopa naming scheme. By the time we bought the game, it was Dark Land and the like. I did a bait and switch with the ending when the world list rolls to show the version's ending I'm more familiar with. Super Mario All-Stars and Mario Advance 4 would go back to the original naming scheme. You can find out more about this at The Cutting Room Floor or Mario Wiki sites if you want. Hope that explains it though!

[@lunastifaliamusic]

Ohhhh, that's why all the levels are tanks and airships in the overworld. You can't escape Hell no matter what.

[@ImmortalfireTheMod]

Always use a P Wing during the flying battleship level, what a nightmare.

[@Bean1227]

That level is kind of nuts. It and the fortress are pretty noticeable difficulty jumps over everything else in World 8.

[@migosp43]

I always thought the water in the battleship was orange juice or something

[@teeslea9345]

Dude you're so good

[@RichardDong68]

I always thought it'd be cool if using a warp whistle in world 8 teleports you to a secret world, like world 9. I guess that's not the case since the NES only holds so much?

[@migosp43]

In the hand traps i always wondered what could be in the 2nd and 4th square thing

[@bhvm333]

Awesome music.

[@4stylegrafix]

I wish they did the credits in Mario Maker 2

[@xaviervandusen1751]

Mario, I heard that the penultimate area is so dark, you'll need a candelabra just to see where you're going because it's pitch black without one.

[@Alexs23743]

What I don't understand is why there are only two regular levels. There should have been seven, with the other five also referencing a previous world (so 8-3 would've been a water level, 8-4 would've had big enemies, 8-6 would've been icy, and so on). That was a bit of a missed opportunity by Nintendo.

[@Peter_1986]

Yes, I have always thought the same thing myself; the stages 8-1 and 8-2 are clearly very accurate representations of Grass Land and Desert Land, so it makes sense.

[@hajimenolagrin2149]

8, because, with only 7,the game will end with 1 end-level card missing for the final 1-up in the game.

[@matheus5230]

Numerical stages reset whenever you get a game over. Not the case for the tanks, battleship and airship. I guess that's why Nintendo made World 8 relatively short, and with few numerical levels. To make beating the game a bit easier.

[@QariMurKalot]

Make a video with you moving across the board left and right I love the beat when it cuts in and out

[@johnathanquach]

Anyone think it's pretty badass that Mario got Bowser to commit suicide

[@olihurault9740]

Thank you! 😉

[@raiwserkoopa2221]

wow, you didn't glitch trough, congrats!

[@bearcattony00]

You can actually play a hand trap stage by pressing level select

[@anthonyholmes195]

I killed Bowser with fireballs & hammers

[@javiertapia2650]

Easier than world 7

[@logan5205]

Does it work on WII

[@popiyola4669]

Keren Ngapa gak jatoh?

[@sakhaYT123]

Ok

[@popiyola4669]

No deths

[@arte0021]

6:19 i cant pass that goddamned level. Its too fast

[@Simp4Anya]

don’t use the p wing. it’s considered cheating. use the traditional way

[@continuethecycleofhate6015]

@@Simp4Anya that's fine bro

[@Simp4Anya]

@@continuethecycleofhate6015 OK

[@Robert-nu4vc]

​@Simp4Anya it's not cheating. The game gives you those so you can fly through entire levels. Cheating would be to use Game Genie.

[@davidnec571]

lol 2:04

[@ritaszalay4921]

Ft

[@MikePScott624]

I used alot of pwings.. then cloud skip to pass the fortress