Super Mario Bros. 3Mix
A major overhaul hack of Super Mario Bros. 3 by Southbird
Release 1.0 (May 30, 2014)
http://www.sonicepoch.com/sm3mix


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Patching Information
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The IPS included in this distribution is specifically for Super Mario 
Bros. 3 USA PRG1, often titled as:
Super Mario Bros. 3 (U) (PRG1) [!].nes

Use any of the following validation values to verify that your base ROM
is the correct one:
CRC32: 0B742B33
MD-5: 86D1982FEA7342C0AF9679DDF3869D8D
SHA-1: 6BD518E85EB46A4252AF07910F61036E84B020D1
SHA-256: 4377A7F5E6EB50BDD2AC6F249BF1A7085500ACA8EB41F38545C3A2731C51A579


AFTER PATCHING, your ROM should match these values:
CRC32: A28E6F1C
MD-5: 443691C38BA3D96DB6FC8EE7E42EDD1F
SHA-1: 7D1D3055B480D5D8483808B21A5C9EEA47A81650
SHA-256: D4F5F3CD438A6D91CBEA1C413B983D709953C21C396FBBD186FFF31B03D11ACB


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Background and Description:
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Inspired by work done by Darkdhaiz for Mario Adventure and his other
hacks, plus the disassembly of Sonic the Hedgehog performed by Sonic
Retro, I set off to do a full disassembly of Super Mario Bros. 3.
Obviously something epic had to be done with it.

Super Mario Bros. 3Mix is a large-scale hack that changes and adds lots
of features to Super Mario Bros. 3, and pays homage to many past and 
(relative) FUTURE Mario titles, although it was always intended to remain
somewhat faithful in spirit to the look and feel of Super Mario Bros. 3.

I originally intended to call it "New Super Mario Bros. 3", a play on
"New Super Mario Bros. Wii", which was the current Mario platformer at
the time I started work on this in its infancy. My brother suggested
"3Mix" instead (a play on the word "remix"), and it stuck.

But enough of that history, what can we expect? Well:
- All new levels (and a few "remixed" Mario 3 levels somewhere in there)
- Many new songs added from other Mario games (kept some SMB3 classics!)
- Play as Mario, Luigi, or Toad (cosmetic only) in any configuration
- New power-ups (Penguin replaces Frog, Carrot replaces Tanooki)
- Star Coins (which are used to unlock portions of the game!)
- Ability to re-enter past worlds (with level completion intact!)
- Ability to re-enter past levels (to get all of your Star Coins)
- Alternate exits in some levels
- Ability to save progress
- Many new enemies, typically some special ones for the world theme
- All new bosses (many are "remixes" of bosses from other Mario games)
- All kinds of gameplay changes to meet the theme of a level/world!

Each World carries a theme and often even directly references another
specific Mario title:
- World 1 is based on the original Super Mario Bros.
- World 2 is based on Super Mario Bros. 2 (USA)
- World 4 is based on Super Mario World
- World 6 is based on Super Mario Sunshine
- World 7 is based on Super Mario Galaxy 

World 3 and World 5 are just theme worlds, and World 8 is set up as a 
sort-of "final exam" that tests you on elements from the previous worlds.


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Important info on some new features
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While I don't need to describe ALL the new stuff going on (some of it's
obvious, some of it is just worth experiencing instead of reading it),
I should at least describe some new and important features in gameplay.


== STAR COINS ==

These should be familiar from later Mario platformer titles. Star Coins
are star-faced coins that are generally out-of-the-way in levels (often
hidden in bonus areas for example) that are sort of "trophies" for the
level. Three of these are in every single normal level. For a level to
be truly "complete", you must find the three Star Coins within it.
Gathering all of the star coins in all of the levels is the key to 
unlocking some parts of the game... good luck!


== STAR ROAD ==

"Star Road" is accessed by pressing START on the World Map and selecting
the menu option for it. Star Road is basically just a way to access
worlds you've previously been to so you can come back at another time to
finish finding Star Coins, alternate exits, etc.

Every time you complete a world, a new path on Star Road is opened. So
once World 1 is complete, you can visit Star Road and access either
World 1 or World 2. All level completion data is retained, so it's
completely safe to jump around as you desire. In fact, if playing a Two
Player game, each player can actually be on a different world! This may
allow for tag-teaming Star Coin hunting and other activities.


== SAVE DATA ==

Save data has been added. Data recorded includes levels completed, Star
Coins collected, item inventory, score, etc. 

There are three save slots available to choose from. Simply select the
desired slot on the title screen. You can also erase an existing save
by following the instructions on the title screen.

Saving is (mostly) NOT automatic! If you want to save your game, simply 
press START any time and select either "SAVE & CONTINUE" (writes save
data and resumes the game) or "SAVE & QUIT" (writes save data and returns
to the title screen.)

Obviously if you are playing on an emulator with save states, you
probably don't care much about this feature. However, it is still 
required for progressing through the entire game, so just be aware that
it exists.

PLAYING ON HARDWARE NOTES: Save data CAN work on a RetroUSB PowerPak, but
(as of this writing, where the current release is 1.34) you need to use
Loopy's Mappers in addition to the ones provided on retrousb.com. Note
that Loopy's mappers are a subset of what you get at RetroUSB, so you
still need the RetroUSB ones as a base and only overwrite the specific
ones that Loopy replaced. (Very specifically the MMC3 one for 3Mix, but 
might as well do them all.) This situation may change with future 
releases from RetroUSB, so try those first!

You can get Loopy's Mappers here: http://home.comcast.net/~olimar/NES/

For any device being used, testing whether or not save data is working 
is simple. Start with an empty slot. Immediately "SAVE & QUIT" from the 
world map. The game should reset and a slot occupied with "W1 *000" 
should be displayed. Follow the procedure appropriate to your device to
commit save data (if any) and then power off the NES. Power on and follow
any steps to load save data on the device (if needed) and the game should
start with the same display of "W1 *000" on the title screen save menu.

For the RetroUSB PowerPak, the bugged out mapper in release 1.34 will NOT
store the save data (in fact, it is not storing ANY data), and the title
screen will still have three "EMPTY" save slots.

An external source has verified that save data is working on a TKROM board
(i.e. Nintendo's official cartridge hardware), so that means the 
implementation is correct. If your device or emulator is not persisting
data, then it's the fault of the device or emulator.


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Good luck!
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Hopefully everything else should be pretty straightforward as you play
the game. For contact info or to find the Super Mario Bros. 3 disassembly,
use the URL at the top of this document.

Enjoy!
