Forest of Illusion



The Forest of Illusion is the fifth world in Super Mario World. It is the eastern portion of Dinosaur Land and is part of the same landmass as Cookie Mountain, which is the northeastern part of the map. The forest contains one fortress, one Ghost House, one Star Road, the Blue Switch Palace, and many secret paths.

This world is unique in that beating the regular exits will only take the player in a circle, hence its name. To find the way out of the forest, the player needs to find the secret exit in one level. Forest Secret Area, #5 Roy's Castle, and Forest Fortress are the only levels without multiple exits. When any level is beaten, in addition to a path appearing, trees will disappear.

A world in New Super Mario Bros. U and New Super Luigi U known as Soda Jungle features a similar haunted area. In this area, the player must beat a level via the secret exit to create a pathway that will allow the player to proceed through the world.

Levels
Levels that are marked with an asterisk (*) feature a secret exit.

Appearances in other media
A forest named Enchanted Forest, presumably the Forest of Illusion, is featured in the episode "Ghosts 'R' Us" from the Super Mario World animated series, where it is the main setting and the greater location of Wizenheimer's haunted house.

Similar forested areas are also seen in the episodes "King Scoopa Koopa", "The Yoshi Shuffle", and "Mama Luigi", appearing closer to Forest of Illusion's in-game appearance. The distinctive trees with faces also often appear in the background in several episodes. Here, they more closely resemble coconut trees, and their faces lack cheeks. In "Party Line", one of the trees is used to send the caterpillars into space.

In Super Mario Maker 2, there is an additional sprite for a larger variant of the trees showing that the cheeks are actually fruits.

Trivia

 * The Japanese name for the Forest of Illusion is the same as that of the Lost Woods, a recurring location within The Legend of Zelda series; the concepts of both areas are also the same, involving the player getting lost.