Ice Land

"Be careful in the ice world. The creatures trapped in the ice will come to life if warmed."

- Princess Toadstool

Iced Land (known as just Ice Land in the original NES version, Winter Wonderland in the Nintendo Power Strategy Guide) is the sixth world in Super Mario Bros. 3. It is the largest world in the game, with ten levels, three Hammer Bros., three Fortresses, three Spade Panels, two Toad's Houses, and a Mushroom King's palace. As the name implies, it is a frozen wasteland covered with slippery floors and frozen lakes. Lemmy Koopa takes over this icy kingdom, by stealing the king's magic wand, and turning him into a seal (a Monty Mole in the game's remakes). The map in Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 shows that Iced Land is north of Bowser's domain, and east of Pipe Maze.

This stage can give the player trouble with traction, since its floor is covered in ice. This level introduces Ptooies, both in pipes and walking in the floor. There is a secret area in the first part of the level, that Mario can only access if he's Raccoon Mario or Tanooki Mario; It can be found during the encounter with the first walking Ptooie. In order to reach the secret area, the player must race back and forth on the stretch of land, eventually being able to fly up to a platform of wooden blocks; There is a door on these blocks. Inside, they must duck and slide under the large ice blocks to get to a P-Switch. When the P-Switch is activated, the player must quickly duck and slide out to grab the huge set of blocks-turned-coins below.

If Mario enters the level with the invincibility granted by a Starman, he can hit two blocks during the level, that contains two more stars; Otherwise they'll simply be coin blocks when hit.

In the first part of the level, the player must leap on moving clouds to stay balanced. A ? Block withholding a power-up can soon be found. The player must then, with the help of some clouds, jump over a few block towers. Soon, a huge tower of wooden blocks will be in sight. The player must leap on the clouds quickly to avoid being squashed. Afterward, two Ice Blocks lie stacked under a 10-Coin block. Two screens later, a pipe will take the player to the exit.

The player will once again be in the sky. They can hit the ? Block with a Koopa Shell in the first part of the level. Tiny pits and pillars of ice repeat monotonously like a checkerboard, but the player can run over all gaps without falling. The third Koopa Troopa in this level is the key to a secret: The player must stomp it, take the shell, and throw it at the nearest block. If done right, the block will expose a Beanstalk, which leads to a secret pipe. Inside, in a Giant ? Block, is a Tanooki Suit Mario can use to fly up the left side of the room and break all the blocks, leading to a cache of coins. The block all by itself holds ten coins, and the next block holds a 1-Up.

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This fortress mainly consists on riding a moving platform. On the moving platform, the player will go up to a room filled hovering with Lava Bubbles, and will later go down a corridor full of Roto-Discs and a Hot Foot. The player must go from the left block to the right block to avoid the Roto-Discs, and the Hot Foot that will fall down as soon as the player turns their back on it. The second room has many Roto-Discs, along with two ? Blocks with power-ups, and when two rows of ? Blocks are spotted, guarded by two Roto-Discs, the one to the farthest left has a Starman. The player will then encounter Boom Boom once again.

In this sky level, the first block seen conceals a 1-Up Mushroom. The player must then ride a platform past a ? Block containing a power-up. They then ride it back and jump just to the right of the ice to reveal a red ♩ Block leading to a Coin Heaven. If the player does not take the Coin Heaven route, they must leap onto some tightly winding wooden planks until a P-Switch is stomped. The P-Switch will allow the player to maneuver about the twirling platforms a bit easier, and collect a few more coins. The player needs to watch out for Fire Chomps about midway through the level.

In this stage, every pipe (except for the Venus Fire Trap-occupied one) leads to the same place – a small room with a power-up. If the player repeats continuously, unlimited power-ups are offered. This is necessary to clear the level, as only Raccoon Mario can pass the objectives (and snag a couple secrets into the bargain). The main level is a stretch of land with Buster Beetles and Koopas roaming about, with quite a few Ice Blocks and gaps in the ceiling, in which the exit and some bonuses are located. By flying up the second gap in the ceiling, the player accesses a room that has coins blocked off with blocks, which they can break with their tail. The third leads to a small alcove with two rows of blocks. In the higher, leftmost resides a 1-Up. To exit, Raccoon Mario must grab a Koopa and fly up the second gap from the right, then, at the top, let the shell go to defeat the Nipper Plants and break away a path to the exit pipe. 400 seconds are given for this level.

As the underground part of this level begins, Mario can take the upper route to find a ? Block with a power-up, and a dead end. The player must backtrack to find the right way, take a Starman from the wooden block, and avoid the enemies until Mario comes across a large pool of water. Once again, the player can take the upper route to find a pocket of air, and an invisible block with a 1-Up one block's width from the right wall. In the upper part, embedded in wooden blocks, two ? Blocks, one with a coin and another with a power-up, are stationed. Mario must then continue on, past Cheep-Cheeps, Piranha Plants, and Spike to the exit pipe.

If the player collects all 78 coins in this level (a task only Fire Mario can fulfill) he or she will be rewarded with an Anchor. The first ? Block has a power-up, and the player must continue on, past a Fire Chomp and several Donut Lifts, hitting every ? Block, brick, and gathering all coins along the way, until they reach the exit pipe, which they must fall on a lift to reach. Afterward there lies a huge formation of frozen coins only Fire Mario can thaw. The player must start to throw fireballs at the coins, unfreezing each one. If the player gets all the coins before hitting the Goal Panel, they'll find a White Toad House on the map, containing an Anchor.

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This Fortress is made of blocks of slippery ice. The player is forced to duck and slide on occasion, as the side-sliding Thwomps skid back and forth. Other enemies in this fortress are Boos and Roto-Discs. All the ? Blocks in the fortress contain power-ups, and there are no secret rooms. The door at the end leads to Boom Boom. Apparently, the Boom Boom battle room is made out of slippery ice cubes, like the fortress.

This level has more spring-like weather. There are, however, many Ice Blocks that come in handy to the player; however, they are also handy for the Buster Beetles who use them as weapons. It is possible to earn 1-ups on this stage. At the beginning, the player can pick up an Koopa shell, and throw it into the Nipper Plants to the right and follow the shell to earn 1-ups. When the player comes to a formation shaped like an H, he or she can stand on the right side of the formation and jump to hit a concealed block with a 1-Up. Immediately after a Nipper Plant encounter, a P-Switch can be discovered under a block that's currently blocked by ice, but the player can pick up the frozen brick and fling it away, then duck and slide under to expose it. Then, Raccoon Mario can fly up to a large mass of coins that used to be blocks. To the right is the Goal Panel.

To quickly complete this level, the player can use a P-Wing to fly right over the huge pile of ice blocks, on top of which is a 1-Up. Then, if the player wishes, he or she may run right to the Goal Panel. If Mario does not have the P-Wing, he must dive deep into the murky depths. Taking the top route after the Blooper Nanny, the player can find a ♩ Block with a power up. After the Big Bertha, the player can take the lower route, leading to a pipe; this pipe takes the player to a room with a block containing three 1-Ups! After coming out, the player must take the top route to get to an area with a lot of Munchers. By a pipe is a block with a P-Switch in it, the player must expose an invisible block on the wall beside it to reach it, though. When stomped, it will turn all the Munchers into coins, allowing for safe passage. The pipe above a Venus Fire Trap leads to the exit, and out of the freezing water.

At the huge tower of bricks, the player must remove the two Ice Blocks under the two standalone bricks, then hit the right brick to grow a Beanstalk. After climbing up, hitting the block to the far left on the ice platform yields a P-Switch. If the player stomps it, several coins are instantly produced and the Munchers will also become coins. If the player has fire power, they can turn the frozen Munchers into more coins and enter a pipe for a Hammer Suit. Afterward, there are some frozen Munchers and Coins that Fire Mario can access. There are several frozen coins, so Mario can earn quite a few 1-Ups.

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This short, but brutal castle has Boos and Stretches patrolling the icy corridors, and the conveyor belts prove to be strong obstacles as well. In the second part, the player must ward off the Boos until the door comes low enough for them to enter. Once again, the player must battle Boom Boom.

The player must maneuver on Bolt Lifts and Rocket Engines. In the battle with Lemmy, he will throw circus balls that bounce around, much like Wendy O. Koopa, but they can be jumped on.

Appearance in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
In The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Iced Land only appeared in the episode "Life's Ruff" where its ruler was named King Windbag. He bullied his servants and never said "please", but when Hip and Hop came, they stole his wand and turned him and Luigi into dogs and harassed them for a bit, but were eventually defeated and returned to Dark Land.

Iced Land reappeared in the first episode of Super Mario World TV series, "Fire Sale". Here, it is under the control of Kootie Pie, who had stolen Mama Fireplant to make it warmer. Unfortunately, Iced Land started to melt because of the heat, but the Mario Bros., Princess Toadstool, and Yoshi soon saved Mama Fireplant and Iced Land and froze Kootie Pie.

Trivia

 * The overworld theme from this world plays whenever Jolene (going by the name of X) e-mails Mario in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door.
 * In the level 6-4, a Christianity cross made of Brick Blocks appears in the sky. To reach the cross, Mario or Luigi must fly up there in the Raccoon Form.