An Enemy Course fromWorld 2 inNew Super Mario Bros. Wii

Enemy Courses^[1] (also known asWorld Obstacles^[2] orEnemy Battles^[3]) are a type of battle course found inSuper Mario Bros. 3,New Super Mario Bros. Wii, andNew Super Mario Bros. U.Enemy Battles inSuper Mario 3D World work in a similar fashion to Enemy Courses. KO Arena levels inSuper Mario Bros. Wonder also play a similar role to Enemy Courses; unlike the former, however, these levels have multiple battles rather than one. Additionally,New Super Mario Bros. has a similar system of map-roamingHammer Bros., though these are encountered as additions in normal stages and do not force an encounter when crossed on the map.

History[edit]

Super Mario Bros. 3[edit]

Each of the first six worlds ofSuper Mario Bros. 3 features at least one Enemy Course. An enemy will patrol the world map, moving when the player loses alife 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 inWorld 3 will have the ground submerged underwater). If the player wins this battle, they will be rewarded with an item, such as aStarman orMusic Box. In this game, Enemy Courses consist solely ofHammer 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 fromDesert Land andGiant Land due to a lack of bricks in those courses. Most (with two rows of bricks) contain aSuper Leaf (orSuper Mushroom if playing asSmall Mario), though the ones inGrass Land instead contain aFire 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 theStarman inside of it overwriting the typical "green" palette once it appears, though this is no longer an issue 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 resemblingcoins, and will skip over any stages,Mushroom Houses,fortresses, orcastles 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 so 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 ontoStart Spaces,Spade Panels (including completed ones),pipes, destroyed fortresses, the "tree" space inDesert Land, orthe tower inSky 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.

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) inGrass Land, Water Land,Sky Land, orIce Land, a Hammer Brother Enemy Course will become aTreasure Ship (the prize for clearing the ship remains the same).

Inthe Game Boy Advance version, onceevery 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 aToad House orSpade Panel.

World	Spawn location	Enemies	Reward
Grass Land	One space west of World-1 Castle	AHammer Brother	AStarman
Desert Land	One space east ofWorld 2-3	ABoomerang Brother	AMusic Box
	One space north ofWorld 2-Pyramid	A Boomerang Brother	AHammer
	Two spaces south and one space east of the hiddenMushroom House	TwoFire Brothers	AMagic Whistle
Water Land	Two spaces south ofWorld 3-Fortress 1	Two Hammer Brothers	A Hammer
	One space east ofWorld 3-4	Two Hammer Brothers	A Starman
Giant Land	One space west ofWorld 4-3	ASledge Brother	ALakitu's Cloud
	At the fork in the road east across a river fromWorld 4-Fortress 2	A Sledge Brother	A Starman
	One space west ofWorld 4-Fortress 2	A Sledge Brother	AP-Wing
Sky Land	One space east ofWorld 5-3	Two Hammer Brothers	A Starman
	Two spaces south of the previous Hammer Brother	Two Hammer Brothers	A P-Wing
	One space west ofWorld 5-7	Two Hammer Brothers	A Music Box
Ice Land	One space north ofWorld 6-3	Two Hammer Brothers	A Hammer
	One space east and one space north ofWorld 6-5	Two Hammer Brothers	A Lakitu's Cloud
	Two spaces east ofWorld 6-5	Two Hammer Brothers	A Starman

Hidden item locations
World	Item	Brick	Space
Grass Land	Fire Flower	Furthest right	One space west ofWorld 1-Fortress
			One space north ofWorld 1-6
Water Land	Super Leaf	Lower row, center	One space west ofWorld 3-3
			One space south ofWorld 3-3
			One space south ofWorld 3-Fortress 1
			One space east ofWorld 3-5
Sky Land	Super Leaf	Lower row, center	One space east of theSpade Panel on the ground
			One space west ofWorld 5-5
Ice Land	Super Leaf	Lower row, furthest right	One space west ofWorld 6-2
			One space west ofWorld 6-5
			One space east ofWorld 6-6

Similar, but immobile courses also appear in the later worlds of the game, beingWorld 7-Piranha Plant 1,World 7-Piranha Plant 2,World 8-Tank 1,World 8-Ship,World 8-Hand Trap,World 8-Jet, andWorld 8-Tank 2. Of them, only thePiranha Plants can be passed with a Music Box.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii[edit]

Screenshot fromNew Super Mario Bros. Wii (Ice Bro Enemy Course in World 3)

Screenshot fromNew Super Mario Bros. Wii (Bullet Bill Enemy Course in World 6)

An Enemy Course is found in all worlds except forWorld 9 inNew Super Mario Bros. Wii. The player needs to collect eightToad balloons, while enemies attack them, to release achest that contains aToad in it. Once all balloons are collected, the Toad thanks the player for rescuing him and will give the player threeSuper 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 aStar 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[edit]

The Goomba Enemy Course found in Layer-Cake Desert inNew Super Mario Bros. U.

After being absent inNew Super Mario Bros. 2, Enemy Courses return inNew Super Mario Bros. U,New Super Luigi U, andNew Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe; there are seven Enemy Courses this time around. As with the courses inSuper Mario Bros. 3, the enemies must be defeated in order to retrieve the prize, which is aSuper Star this time around, instead of three Super Mushrooms given by Toad, but if the player does not open the chest for 30 to 45 seconds,Nabbit will jump out of nowhere and steal the chest's contents. (If a player is playing as Nabbit inNew Super Luigi U or either game of the port, the screen simply fades to black.) InNew Super Luigi U, the prize is either aPropeller Mushroom, aMini Mushroom, or aPenguin Suit. If the enemy cannot be defeated by normal stomps, such asBoos, aFlying ? Block holding a Super Star floats by for Mario and co. to use. Upon clearing an Enemy Course inNew Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, the player may receive aSuper Crown in either base game, as well as the rewards fromNew Super Luigi U no longer being exclusive to that game in the port.

Music[edit]

Bros. Battle (Super Mario Bros. 3 Enemy Course theme)

File info ​

New Super Mario Bros. Wii andNew Super Mario Bros. U Enemy Course theme

File info ​

Help:Media file •Having trouble playing?

Names in other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

• InNew Super Mario Bros. Wii, Spinies are the only enemies that appear in Enemy Courses not to be seen on the world map.
• An oversight inSuper Mario Bros. 3 may randomly cause an Enemy Course to overlap with anN-Mark Spade Panel on the overworld maps that Enemy Courses appear in, causing them to combine and move around indefinitely, thus causing asoftlock.

References[edit]

• Levels

• Pages with audio files
• Articles with unsourced foreign names