Star Road (Super Mario World)



Star Roads are stars that act as warp points to other locations, most notably in Super Mario World.

Super Mario World
Star Roads debuted in Super Mario World, connecting five points in Dinosaur Land to Star World. They are unlocked by finding secret exits in different levels. When entering a Star Road, Mario or Luigi will spin around rapidly before moving upwards and teleporting to Star World.

When in Star World, the secret exit of each level will allow Mario or Luigi to move to the next Star Road, regardless of if they have encountered it in Dinosaur Land first. If the player goes to a Star Road in Star World without beating the level in Dinosaur Land that leads to it, the road will show on the map, but Mario or Luigi will not be able to move forward towards the unbeaten Dinosaur Land level. However, the Star Road in Valley of Bowser is an exception, and allows Mario or Luigi to enter Bowser's Castle this way.

Mario Sports Mix
In Mario Sports Mix, the Star Road also appeared as the Star Cup's alternate route. If players complete missions during the road, then it will become a big star for them to jump through, sending them back to the normal tournament for the final match.

Appearances in other media
Though never named, Star Roads make at least two appearances in the Super Mario World cartoon. They serve an identical purpose, being able to warp people to Star World (or "Star Path", as it was called on the show), and only appeared alongside Star Path itself. The cartoon depicted Star Roads as large, star-shaped structures found on high cliffs; the only major difference between the Star Roads of the game and those of the show were that the ones seen on the show lacked eyes and did not stand upright.

They debuted in "Send in the Clowns", where Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool, and Yoshi used a Star Road to access Neon Castle through Star Path. Their second and final appearance was in "King Scoopa Koopa", where Mario and Toadstool used a Star Road to evade pursuit from a group of cavepeople-turned-Chickadactyls.

The fact that both Star Roads featured in the show were seemingly found on the same cliff may indicate that they were the same Star Road, or perhaps that only one Star Road existed in the show. However, the former is more likely, as both Star Roads were shown to be near or within the limits of Dome City. Most of the Star Roads on Star Path itself (save for one seen in the episode "King Scoopa Koopa") were replaced with Warp Pipes instead. "King Scoopa Koopa" shows that the Warp Pipes act as the endpoint of Star Roads, while "Send in the Clown" depicted the landing point of Star Roads as a varying area on the Star Path. Both episodes show that these Warp Pipes have the same purpose as the Star Roads from the game.