Super Mario Bros. Deluxe/Challenge

Super Mario Bros. Challenge is a mini-game included in the Super Mario Bros. Deluxe cartridge for the Game Boy Color. In the game, you can replay any of the levels that you have already beaten in the standard Super Mario Bros. game. When you replay, you must try to beat a set of standards set for you by one of Princess Toadstool's helpers.

These standards include retrieving all five super-coins hidden throughout the level and scoring a specified amount of points. When you retrieve all five super-coins, you receive a super-coin shaped badge beside the level on the level-selection page. When you score the same or more of the points specified for each level, you receive a blue badge marked with an "S" on that level. For each extra-life mushroom, you score 2000 points, and for every super-coin, 200 points. There is also a green meter at the bottom of the level-select screen. This meter tracks how many total points you have. You must try to fill the meter. When you fill this meter to a certain point, the screen will change color from green to orange. It will continue to change color as it fills up. Your total score will be displayed above the meter as you go.

There is one more challenge to this mini-game. Somewhere in each level, a green-spotted egg is hidden. If you obtain this egg and make it through the level, it will hatch into a baby Yoshi. You will then receive an egg-shaped badge on that level. The egg is extra-hard to find because, unlike the super-coins, the block that conceals the egg is almost always invisible. However, it is placed somewhere that you are likely to jump. For example, in level 4-2, the block with the egg is hidden directly to the left of the last underground pipe. There are often indicators in the background that show where you can jump to receive an egg. For example, in level 3-2, there are three fence posts that show where the invisible blocks are. The blocks rise in a pyramid formation, with a Yoshi egg at the top.

There is one more way to find a Yoshi egg. If you open the "Toy Box" icon at the bottom fight of the opening screen, you will see a picture of Yoshi's head the bottom right of the resulting screen. Selecting it will result in a screen that proclaims, "Yoshi is here". Below this text, the levels will flash by at an incredible speed. Pressing the A button will make the flashing levels slow down and become random, eventually showing you a picture of the spot where Yoshi is on a particular level, showing the name of the level above. Please note that this picture will not show any enemies that happen to be there or anything other than the background and stationary features of the spot. Also, you must have found at least one Yoshi egg already for this option to be available.

One beneficial feature of this mini-game is that it only records your best results. This allows you to concentrate on one facet of the game at a time. For example, if you get all five super-coins on your first try, and the score badge on your second, you will have obtained both badges, even if you only get four super-coins on your second play-through.

Earning Points

You will need to get far more total points than the sum of all of the score medals to fill the Challenge Meter. Some helpful tips for achieving the highest possible score on any given level are:

• In instances where you would get a 1-up for beating a row of monsters with a shell, you instead get 10000 points. This also works in places where the infinite 1-up trick is possible, so watch out for these locations. However, you cannot get infinite score this way, as the shell will die after reaching the 10000 point mark.
• In places where shells can rebound off of pipes, you can spend a long period of time repeatedly jumping on and kicking shells to gain ridiculous scores since this is worth many more points per second than the time bonus is.
• Know which items are beneficial to get and which ones aren't. Time is worth 50 points per SMB second, so figure this into the point values of items. For example, coins are worth 4 seconds (200 points), power-ups are worth 20 seconds (1000 points), and 1-up mushrooms are worth 40 seconds (2000 points). If it would take less time than this to get the item, you should get it.
• Find where the Yoshi eggs are first. They are worth 2000 points and are almost always worth grabbing.
• Many invincibility stars are not worth taking since they will stop you from knocking down rows of enemies by kicking shells.