The Bitlands

The Bitlands is a location from Super Paper Mario.

The Bitlands is an extremely pixelated (to the point of it being named after such) dimension that has several references to other Mario games (most notably the previous two Paper Mario games). In Super Paper Mario, the Yellow Door (Chapter 3) takes Mario and Princess Peach to The Bitlands.

In Chapter 3-1 (also named The Bitlands), Tippi is kidnapped by a geek chameleon named Francis. She is then taken to his fort far away, across the Tile Pool and past the Dotwood Tree. In The Bitlands itself, Mario and Princess Peach discover that Bowser made a makeshift fort there. After a battle against the King of Koopas ("No more sequels!" Bowser says), Bowser joins Mario's party, but he is still reluctant about it.

The Bitlands is notable for a humorous instance in which a Koopa Troopa, upon seeing Mario or Peach, races to the right of the screen and hits a ? Block, receives a Mega Star, and becomes Mega Koopa, being largely identical to any other character under the effects of a Mega Star.

Stages in The Bitlands

 * Chapter 3-1: When Geeks Attack (The Bitlands)
 * Chapter 3-2: Bloops Ahoy (The Tile Pool)
 * Chapter 3-3: Up, Up, and a Tree (The Dot Wood Tree)
 * Chapter 3-4: The Battle of Fort Francis (Fort Francis)

References to Other Mario Games
The Bitlands (especially Chapter 3-4) holds many references and similarities to older Mario games or other Nintendo-related things. These include:
 * Francis has a Famicom (a Japanese NES), an SNES, a Virtual Boy, an N64, a GameCube, and (if the player switches to 3-D) a Nintendo Wii.
 * Francis has a huge amount of posters showing Lady Bow and Bootler (this marks Lady Bow's second cameo appearance in Super Paper Mario), Petuni, Princess Peach, and other, less identifiable characters.
 * Mega Koopa is identical to a Koopa Troopa from Super Mario Bros. on the NES. They are also huge, a possible reference to the Gargantua Koopa Troopa from Super Mario Bros. 3, and it is also a reference to the Mega Goomba from New Super Mario Bros.; a regular Goomba enemy that grabs a Mega Mushroom and gets big.
 * Mega Koopa may also be a reference to the giant Koopa Troopas in World 4 of Super Mario Bros. 3
 * A Blooper is a mini-boss in the Tile Pool; Bloopers have had at least a mini-boss role in every Paper Mario game to date
 * Bowser declares that there will be no more sequels; many Mario games have at least one sequel, and Bowser gets defeated in both Paper Mario sequels
 * The Bitlands are pixelated, making them resemble the graphics of Super Mario World and Super Mario All-Stars.
 * Francis is a big fan of Mario reference-filled TV shows, one of which involves Tubba Blubba (making every Paper Mario game to date have a giant Clubba at least mentioned in their corresponding Chapter 3s), another involving X-Nauts, the last of which involving and Sir Grodus.
 * In the Tile Pool, Mario, Peach, and Bowser receive the ability to Ground Pound (thanks to their discovery of a Pixl named Thudley), similar to Chapter 3 in Paper Mario.
 * The underground cavern in 3-1 is an almost exact replica of World 1-2 in the original Super Mario Bros. The only differences are some of the power-ups have been changed, and a small area has been removed.
 * The overworld music has several interludes in which segments of the Super Mario Bros. theme may be heard clearly.

Trivia

 * The Bitlands is notable for being the only stage in all of Paper Mario history in which Koopa Troopas without sunglasses and spiked necklaces can be fought. This is because, according to Super Paper Mario, Koopa Troopas without these features work for Bowser while those with them had previously been hypnotized by Nastasia and therefore forced to join Count Bleck's Army; past Paper Mario games stated that Koopas without sunglasses and spiked necklaces are friendly while those wearing them were the ones who worked for Bowser. The overall reason for Bowser's Koopas combating Mario and friends, though, was simply because the group was nearing one of Bowser's castles.
 * According to The InterNed, the overworld music of The Bitlands is titled "The Open Plane".
 * Once again according to The InterNed, the music in the underground beneath the two red pipes is titled "Nostalgic Underground", due to it being an altered version of the underground theme from Super Mario Bros.