SMBX 1.3: SECRET NPCS

Super Mario Bros. X's NPC window lets you select various enemies and objects to place in your Mario levels from across a wide variety of old Mario games. But there is one special tab that can't be accessed normally. This guide tells you how to find it and describes some uses of the NPCs it contains.

To start with, open the NPC window and select an NPC. It doesn't matter what you choose. Set the Lakitu box in the bottom left corner to 'Yes'.


So far, so good.

Next, change to another tab. Again, it doesn't matter which. Just change it. Then place the Lakitu in the level and test it.


Oh, the humanity!

The Lakitu you placed should throw more Lakitus, which also throw Lakitus. Escape out of it before your machine lags to oblivion.


Hello, what's this?

The next time you pull up the NPC window, you'll see this special group of objects that aren't normally available! What a shock!

Unfortunately, most of them are kinda useless. Almost all of them are NPCs that are created by other NPCs. I'll discuss briefly what they do when placed in the game.

The first six are the various projectiles Mario and co. chuck at their enemies, typically received from powerups. If these are placed in the level as is, they will drop to the ground and disappear, clobbering any enemies they encounter along the way. None of these work when thrown by Lakitu. The fireball, sword beam, hammer, and boomerang all kill him the moment he throws one. The ice ball collides with him, but he's unaffected by them, so the ball just disappears in a puff. Lakitu can successfully throw heart bombs, but they don't affect Mario. Setting Lakitu to 'Friendly' would let him throw these to perhaps help the player!

The ice block and the static-looking screen next to it are the combined effects of the ice flower. When placed in the level, the ice block does nothing and cannot be interacted with. If you place the static screen, you'll see it sparkle, but it won't have a graphic of its own. It can be picked up and thrown, though. If Lakitu throws the ice block, it will kill him. He can throw the sparkle screen, but the worst it can do is bump Mario's head mid-jump.

The fireball beneath the ice block is the one Yoshi spits when he eats a red shell. It flies straight forward when placed in the level and kills any foes in its path. It kills Lakitu when he throws it. The blue piranha plant is the one that springs out of the rainbow pipe pickup. When placed alone, it disappears instantly. Lakitu can't throw it at all.

Next, we have the bubble. This is the bubble NPCs can be set to appear in on the left. Placed alone, it drifts slowly and pops on contact with Mario. Thrown by Lakitu, they pop on contact with their creator. Similar to the bubble, the plant top behaves like a buried item would. When you pick it, though, nothing comes out because it has no registered NPC. Lakitu can plant them in the sky, where they'll hover and accomplish nothing.

All the fireballs beyond here are those spat by Bowser and his minions. The first four hang in the air, perfectly still, wherever they're placed. The Metroid fire O pauses a moment and then rushes at Mario like normal. The lava lotus fireball drifts down off-screen. The Koopa Kid spell bubble starts small, grows to normal size, and remains hanging in place. Touching any of them causes damage to Mario. Thrown by Lakitu, all these NPCs fly off the top of the screen, never to be seen again.

Taking a small step back, we have quicksand. It behaves exactly the same as the SMB2 sand that you can dig through. It is no different. They hang in the sky if Lakitu throws them.

The next four NPCs are Wart's bubbles, the Hammer Bros.' hammers, the Snifits' bullets, and Birdo's eggs. The Snifit bullet hangs in the air when placed, while the other three drop off the screen. Like the fireballs, touching any of them will damage Mario. The bubbles and hammers can be thrown down by Lakitu, but the egg will move straight horizontally at a slow pace, and the bullet flies off the top of the screen.

Next is the Koopa that appears when you stomp it out of its shell. There is no difference between it and its shell-less SMW counterpart. Likewise, the Lakitu pictured here is the same Lakitu-throwing Lakitu that made this tab appear in the first place, and the next two NPCs are the boss Koopa Kids in their shells. They'll behave like Larry and Ludwig would when they enter their shells, and eventually pop out and return to being normal bosses.

The last NPC on this tab is very strange. It appears to be part of a tank, and may have been an experimental way to let Mario control a tank in the level. As it is, it's like a mini Koopa Clown Car. Mario can walk through it, but if he jumps in the top, he can control where it moves. It can go any direction and doesn't collide with solids like it should. So, if Mario tries to fly up through something or down through the floor, the tank keeps going and leaves Mario behind. Mario isn't crushed; he simply falls out of it and it drifts through whatever object was bumped into. It can, however, pass through solid objects horizontally.

Some of these NPCs have very limited uses due to the nature of their behavior, but there are still some potentially cool things that can be done with them. You could have Lakitu throw the hammer to make an Amazing Flying Hammer Bro. You can load the various fireballs into projectile generators so they move forward rather than hanging still. You could also load the friendly NPCs into generators to give the player a cannon on their side! It all depends. But now you know where they are, what they are, and how they work. Now you can spice up your Mario levels in new ways!