- This article is about the type of level in the Super Mario series. For the musical theme from New Super Mario Bros. Wii also known as "Enemy Course", see Sudden Encounter.
An Enemy Course from
World 2 in
New Super Mario Bros. WiiEnemy Courses[1] (also known as World Obstacles[2] or Enemy Battles[3]) are a type of battle course found in Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Luigi U, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario 3D World, and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. KO Arena levels in Super Mario Bros. Wonder play a similar role to Enemy Courses, but they can have multiple battles where Enemy Courses only have one. Additionally, New Super Mario Bros. has a similar system of map-roaming Hammer Bros. that mimic the Super Mario Bros. 3 map sprite and give items upon defeat, though these are encountered as additions in normal stages and do not force an encounter when crossed on the map.
History
Super Mario Bros. 3
Each of the first six worlds of Super Mario Bros. 3 features at least one Enemy Course. An enemy will patrol the world map, moving when the player loses a life or clears a level, and the player must fight it if they cross paths. Depending on where they meet, the arena and any block contents may change (ex.: meeting on a water tile in World 3 will have the ground submerged underwater). If the player wins this battle, they will be rewarded with an item, such as a Starman or Music Box. In this game, Enemy Courses consist solely of Hammer Brothers and their variants. These courses can be skipped if the player uses a Music Box, which puts them to sleep until the player clears a level and/or loses two lives in a row.
When encountered on specific map spaces, a brick in an Enemy Course will contain an item. These are very rare and are missing from Desert Land and Giant Land due to a lack of bricks in those courses. Most (with two rows of bricks) contain a Super Leaf (or Super Mushroom if playing as Small Mario), though the ones in Grass Land instead contain a Fire Flower. In the original game, this one notably changes to an odd color with a white outline and black leaves when the chest appears due to the Starman inside of it overwriting the typical "green" palette once it appears, though this is no longer an issue in the enhanced versions. The same thing happens with a 1-Up Mushroom that can be found in a Sky Land enemy course, causing it to change to the orange palette with a white outline and black spots due to the Music Box in the chest that appears, and also no longer occurs in the enhanced versions.
The Hammer Brothers can travel over most of the map, moving one space at a time every time a stage is exited by completing it or failing it. They can only ever stop on the blank areas on the map resembling coins, and will skip over any stages, Mushroom Houses, fortresses, or castles they may walk into, consecutively as needed, though when these lead to dead ends they will simply return to where they began that turn. Also, if two overlap, they both will continue moving until they are on separate spaces. They are blocked by rocks, gates, and open drawbridges like the player is, but also cannot cross or even move onto the "M" or "L"-marked completed spaces of any type, Start Spaces, Spade Panels, pipes, destroyed fortresses, the "tree" space in Desert Land, or the tower in Sky Land. They will also not move onto the space where the player starts out on that turn, such as a completed stage. If one gets "trapped" between the player and a space it cannot walk (such as a Spade Panel), it will not move that turn. The exception is if the player is forced back to their previous space due to losing a life in an encounter with one, as the game treats the enemy course's current space as the player's spawn location; as such, in this case, it is possible for a Hammer Brother to follow the player and instantly pull them into another encounter if the previous space is close enough. Also, it is possible in a few circumstances to trap one between two completed spaces or one completed space and another type of space it cannot move, at which point it will not be able to move on any subsequent turns.
If the tens digit of the player's score and both digits of their coin count match upon clearing a level (zero does not count) in Grass Land, Water Land, Sky Land, or Ice Land, a Hammer Brother Enemy Course will become a Treasure Ship (the prize for clearing the ship remains the same).
In the Game Boy Advance version, once every level is beaten, the Enemy Courses can be replayed indefinitely, and the player is not forced to enter them, though they will also move if the player visits a Toad House or Spade Panel.
Similar but immobile courses also appear in the later worlds of the game, being World 7-Piranha Plant, World 7-Piranha Plant, World 8-Big Tanks 1, World 8-Battleships, World 8-Hand Traps, World 8-Airships, and World 8-Super Tank 2. Of them, only the Piranha Plants can be passed with a Music Box.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Screenshot from
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Ice Bro Enemy Course in World 3)
Screenshot from
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Bullet Bill Enemy Course in World 6)
An Enemy Course is found in all worlds except for World 9 in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. The player needs to collect eight Toad balloons, while enemies attack them, to release a chest that contains a Toad in it. Once all balloons are collected, the Toad thanks the player for rescuing him and will give the player three Super Mushrooms. These courses are played at designated areas of the Map where an enemy is found; they move when players do. In Worlds 6 and 8, the player can do their Enemy Course infinite times. The enemies do not need to be defeated, and are automatically defeated when the game is won. The players cannot quit these courses, so in order to get back to the World Map the player has to complete the course or lose a life. However, if the player loses a life, they will be knocked back to the space where they were before on the World Map.
Losing a life in any level will cause enemies to reappear on the map. Using a Star when on the map and running into one of the enemies will immediately defeat them without having to enter these courses, however, the player does not receive three Super Mushrooms for doing so.
New Super Mario Bros. U / New Super Luigi U / New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Luigi U, and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, feature seven enemy courses, all of which function almost identically to how they did in Super Mario Bros. 3. If the enemies cannot be defeated by jump-based attacks, such as Boos, a the course provides the player a Super Star. Upon completion, the player will receive a Super Star in New Super Mario Bros. U, or a Propeller Mushroom, Mini Mushroom, or Penguin Suit in New Super Luigi U. In New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, the items from the latter game can also appear in the former along with a Super Crown. If the player does not open the chest in 30 to 45 seconds, Nabbit will come and steal the chest's contents. (When playing as Nabbit in New Super Luigi U or either game of the port, the screen simply fades to black).
Super Mario 3D World / Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
Enemy Battles,[5] also referred to as Blockades in several such courses and their music track, return in Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. They are found in the first seven worlds of the game. In this game, Enemy Battles are incorporated into standard world progression; they have their own dedicated space on World Map and their position on the World Map is static. Most Enemy Battles do not appear initially appear on the World Map. Instead, they appear when the course is unlocked, seemingly interrupting what is initially implied to be access to the next non-special course. The four Fire Bros. Hideout courses are exceptions, as instead of being part of a world's main progression but invisible until unlocked, Fire Bros. Hideout courses are always visible but hidden on the World Map. Unlike in prior games, touching an Enemy Battle on the World Map does not force the player to enter it. Instead, Enemy Battles must be entered like a normal course, by pressing 
while standing next to them. Prior to an Enemy Battle being cleared for the first time, coming close to the Enemy Battle on the World Map makes the enemy vocalize. After an Enemy Battle is cleared for the first time, the enemy representing the course on the World Map falls off the World's track and lands in a daze. If applicable, the course that the player appeared to be unlocking prior to the Enemy Battle's appearance is unlocked. An Enemy Battle can be freely reentered after completing it, just like a normal course.
Most Enemy Battles take place in small fortress-like rooms that are decorated with coats-of-arms with a Bowser emblem. The Enemy Battles that do not take place on a large rocky platform surrounded by lava. While the objective of an Enemy Battle is still to defeat all of the enemies, successfully doing that causes a Green Star to appear instead of a causing a treasure chest to appear. The Green Star is the goal of the course, as the course will not conclude until it is collected. Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury have the first boss battles in the Super Mario series challenged in an Enemy Battle, Prince Bully and Boss Brolder.
Courses
Music
- Help:Media file • Having trouble playing?
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning | Note(s) | Ref. |
|---|
| Japanese | 敵コース
Teki Kōsu | Enemy Course | | [6] |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 敌人关卡
Dírén Guānqiǎ | Enemy Course | | [7] |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 敵人關卡
Dírén Guānqiǎ | | [8] |
| French (Europe) | Niveau ennemi | Enemy level | | [9] |
| Italian | Livello nemico | Enemy level | | [?] |
Notes
- In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Spinies are the only enemies that appear in Enemy Courses not to be seen on the world map.
- An oversight in Super Mario Bros. 3 may randomly cause an Enemy Course to overlap with an N-Mark Spade Panel on the overworld maps that Enemy Courses appear in, causing them to combine and move around indefinitely, thus causing a softlock.
References
- ^ 2009. New Super Mario Bros. Wii instruction booklet. Nintendo of America (American English). Page 8.
- ^ Bueno, Fernando (November 15, 2009). New Super Mario Bros. Wii PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-46592-4. Page 11.
- ^ Stratton, Steve (November 18, 2012). New Super Mario Bros. U PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-307-89690-2. Page 11.
- ^ Post by Doc von Schmeltwick on the Super Mario Boards
- ^ Musa, Alexander, and Geson Hatchett (November 22, 2013). Super Mario 3D World PRIMA Official Game Guide. Prima Games (American English). ISBN 978-0-804-16249-4. Page 8.
- ^ New スーパーマリオブラザーズ U デラックス : ステージ | Nintendo Switch | 任天堂. Nintendo (Japanese). Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- ^ 新 超级马力欧兄弟U 豪华版 | Nintendo Switch | 任天堂 | 腾讯. Nintendo (Simplified Chinese). Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- ^ 新 超級瑪利歐兄弟 Wii - 香港任天堂網站. Nintendo HK (Traditional Chinese). Archived July 11, 2010, 13:14:57 UTC from the original via Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
- ^ 2009. New Super Mario Bros. Wii French instruction booklet. Nintendo (French). Page 11.
