Warp Zone

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{{merge from}} symbol, compressed with SVGCrush It has been suggested that Warp Zone (Super Mario Bros. 3) be merged with this page. (discuss)

It has been requested that this article be rewritten. Reason: see Talk:Warp Zone#Add Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga?

This article is about the secret area first featured in Super Mario Bros. For the secret world in Super Mario Bros. 3, see Warp Zone (Super Mario Bros. 3). For Round 2 of Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!, see Warp Zone (Wario Blast: Featuring Bomberman!).

The Warp Zone is a hidden area that acts as a kind of teleportation system, connecting many worlds to one place. For the most part, they are sectioned-off areas containing Warp Pipes, although Super Mario Bros. 3 featured an entire island as its Warp Zone. Instead of Warp Zones, New Super Mario Bros. and two of its sequels feature Warp Cannons accessed from secret exits in certain levels, each of which would launch Mario or Luigi to a later world. Warp Zones were inspired by the arcade version of Excitebike in which the player can choose any track to begin playing from.[1]

Certain jars within Subspace in Super Mario Bros. 2 contain Subspace Warps, which automatically warp players to later worlds, without the use of an intermediary Warp Zone. In some episodes of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, King Koopa would similarly use potions to create portals or doors to make his escape.

In Super Mario World, players can skip directly to the Front Door of Bowser's Castle by accessing Star World via Star Roads connected to Donut Secret House, Vanilla Secret 1, Soda Lake, or Forest Fortress, and then clearing the paths to the final warp (itself directly accessed from Valley of Bowser 4).

Similarly, New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U have secret exits in some levels that allow users to skip to later worlds, as do New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. These special levels are the following (the first link of a pair indicates New Super Mario Bros. U level, the second link the New Super Luigi U level): Blooper's Secret Lair/Cheep Chomp Chase (in Acorn Plains) and Piranha Plants on Ice/Slippery Rope Ladders (in Layer-Cake Desert) leads to Soda Jungle, Skyward Stalk/Beanstalk Jungle (in Sparkling Waters) and Fliprus Lake/Fliprus Floes (in Frosted Glacier) leads to Rock-Candy Mines, Flight of the Para-Beetles/Para-Beetle Parade (in Soda Jungle) leads to Meringue Clouds.

History[edit]

Super Mario series[edit]

Super Mario Bros.[edit]

A Warp Zone from Super Mario Bros.
The first Warp Zone in Super Mario Bros., located in World 1-2 on the original (NES) version
Warp Zone
All-Stars (SNES) version

In Super Mario Bros., the zone is a sectioned-off area containing pipes to different levels. There are three of them; one located in World 1-2 and two in World 4-2. The first gives the choice to warp to World 2, World 3, or World 4, and is located behind the pipe that leads to the flagpole. In World 4-2, the zone behind the final pipe leads to World 5 only. Instead, the player must find a secret Beanstalk in order to warp to World 6, World 7, or World 8 (in VS. Super Mario Bros., the Warp Zone in that area only leads to World 6, meaning that there is no way for the player to skip all the way to World 8). The first Warp Zone also lets players perform the famous Minus World glitch.

In Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, the Warp Zones are replaced by additional level design in the game's Challenge Mode.

Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels[edit]

Backwards Warp Zone in World 3-1 of Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels
A backwards Warp Zone in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels

In Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Warp Zones function identically to those in Super Mario Bros. They no longer, however, give the player a choice of destination, as every zone contains only one pipe. Two Warp Zones send the player to an earlier World; for instance, the Warp Zone in World 3-1 leads to World 1-1, and the Warp Zone in World 8-1 leads to World 5-1. However, the backwards Warp Zone in World 3-1 has a gap that Mario can choose to jump into and lose a life to avoid the pipe. This time, to prevent glitching by jumping over the flagpole, some Warp Zones are located behind it.

Using Warp Zones voids access to World 9; this condition does not apply if the player uses a backwards Warp Zone, meaning that if the player warped backwards and then avoided the Warp Zone the second time around, they will still be able to access World 9. In Super Mario All-Stars, saving after doing this removes access to World 9 permanently for that save file. Due to World 9 (as well as Worlds A through D) being absent in the Super Mario Bros. Deluxe version, this condition does not apply in that version. Additionally, All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros. does not have World 9, but Worlds A-D return, so such does not apply in that game, either.

The following is a list of Warp Zone locations in this game in order of appearance. (Due to Worlds A-D also returning in All Night Nippon: Super Mario Bros., the Warp Zones leading to those worlds in that game are the same as in The Lost Levels.)

Level Destination Type Location
World 1-2 World 2 Forward Past a staircase behind the exit pipe
World 3 Forward Via a beanstalk to the right of the second pipe underground
World 4 Forward Past a hidden water-filled area (lava in the SNES remake) taken via a pipe behind the exit pipe
World 3-1 World 1 Backward Via either the underground bonus area or over the flagpole
World 5-1 World 6 Forward Via either Coin Heaven or over the flagpole
World 5-2 World 7 Forward Behind the exit pipe
World 8 Forward Via a beanstalk to the left of the elevators
World 8-1 World 5 Backward Via the underwater bonus area
World A-2 World B Forward Behind the exit pipe
World A-3 World C Forward Over the flagpole
World B-4 World D Forward Via the last pipe before the fake Bowser

Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]

Main article: Warp Zone (Super Mario Bros. 3)
The Warp Zone as it appears in Super Mario Bros. 3
The Warp Zone in Super Mario Bros. 3 on the original (NES) version
The Warp Zone as it appears in Super Mario Bros. 3 (SNES version)Super Mario All-Stars (SMB3)
All-Stars (SNES) version

In Super Mario Bros. 3, the Warp Zone is an island that can only be accessed via Magic Whistle, and is treated as the game's World 9. Like other games' Warp Zones, it connects to the other kingdoms of the Mushroom World, although the zone itself is not completely interconnected; to access the top row, the player must warp from World 1; to access the middle row, the player must warp from Worlds 2-6; and to access the last row, the player must warp from Worlds 7-9 (using a Whistle while already in the Warp Zone will send the player directly to the last row to enter World 8).

Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 shortened the text at the top of the Warp Zone from "Welcome to Warp Zone" to "World 9 Warp Zone!" It cannot be selected from the World Select map, but it is most likely the small island near Desert Land, Water Land, and Giant Land, due to this being a small island with the same coloration as Warp Zone.

Additionally, the original Super Mario Bros. Warp Zone is replicated in Classic World 1-2, though all three pipes only send the player to one room with a Fire Flower in a chest.

Super Mario 3D Land / Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury[edit]

Main article: World Warp Pipe

Warp Zones also appear in Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World. In both games, the courses that have Warp Zones are analogs to the ones with them from the original Super Mario Bros. – World 1-2 and 4-2. Unlike in previous games, there is only one pipe in a Warp Zone, called a World Warp Pipe, and it only brings the player character to the immediate subsequent world.

Super Mario Bros. 35[edit]

In Super Mario Bros. 35, instead of sending the player to the beginning of a world, the pipes in the Warp Zone, from right to left, skip 1, 2 or 3 levels respectively in the randomized level order[2]; this means they may also warp to an earlier level, or loop through the current level, similarly to backward Warp Zones in Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels.[3]

Captain N: The Game Master[edit]

Characters in Captain N: The Game Master frequently used Warp Zones for means of rapid transit, with the Warp Zones of Super Mario Bros. even being referenced to in the show's first episode.

Super Mario-kun[edit]

The heroes at the Warp Zone
“ここは一 ワープゾーン。ちがうゲームにいっちゃうよ。(This is a Warp Zone. It will take you to a different game.)”
Sign, Super Mario-kun

A Warp Zone appears as a lake in chapter 4 of Super Mario-kun volume 4 that connects various Super Nintendo Entertainment System games.

While traversing the Valley of Bowser, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi find a natural spring. Mario and Yoshi decide to dive into it to rest, while Luigi checks a sign, which says that it is a Warp Zone to other games. He tries to warn his friends, but Mario and Yoshi have already dove deep into the pond and find themselves in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, with Mario armed with the Kinoko Sword and Yoshi in a shield form. Luigi is able to communicate to them, see them, and pass objects to them from the Super Mario World side. He tells them that they should be looking for another Warp Zone situated somewhere in Hyrule. After facing many Zelda enemies, Mario and Yoshi find Hyrule's Warp Zone and dive into it, but they end up in F-Zero.

Super Paper Mario[edit]

A model of a Super Mario Bros.-style Warp Zone can be found in the underground section of Chapter 3-1 (itself a recreation of Super Mario Bros.'s World 1-2) in Super Paper Mario, though this Warp Zone takes the player to other parts of the current level rather than different worlds. It does not serve any real function other than to take the player back to the overworld. The Warp Zone is also mentioned by the defeated Warping Pipe Sammer Guy in Super Paper Mario, who believes it to be a fabled place where great warriors (apparently people with incredible skill over Warp Pipes) tread.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie[edit]

Wide shot of a warp zone.
The Warp Zone in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the Warp Zone appears as the dimension Mario and Luigi cross when they enter the mysterious pipe.[4] The Warp Zone contains multiple clouds with Warp Pipes emerging from them. While most of the clouds are pink, the cloud with the pipe that takes Luigi to the Dark Lands is a stormy, black cloud.

The Warp Zone later reappears when Mario leads the Bomber Bill into the mysterious pipe. When the Bomber Bill enters the zone, it explodes, causing a shockwave of a massive interdimensional collapse that pulls objects from the Mushroom Kingdom into Brooklyn.

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese ワープ ゾーン
Wāpu Zōn
Warp Zone

Italian Curvatura spaziotempo (The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!)
Zona Warp (Super Mario Bros. Enciclopedia)
Portale saltamondo[5]
Zona Teletrasporto (The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Monopoly)
Spacetime curvature
Warp Zone
World-skip portal
Warp Zone
Portuguese Zona de urdidura (The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3)
Warp Zone
Romanian Conductă interdimensională (The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3a)
Interdimensional pipeline
Spanish Zona Muelle (Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3)
Spring Zone

a - Replaces an instance of "Warp Zone" in the episode "Oh, Brother!"

References[edit]