Enemy Compatibility#

As with many systems on the NES and SNES, enemies seldom work with one another. SMB3 is no different in this regard. The Picture Processing unit of the NES can only hold 4 banks of sprites each. One is used for Mario or Luigi and another for the general animations of the game. This only leaves 64 sprites or 128 characters left for the remaining enemies to utilize. Fortunately, SMB3 was developed at the later portion of the Nintendo’s life cycle and was blessed with dynamic swapping of enemies. Nevertheless, this system is not perfect and is limited. Thus, this sheet serves to guide you on what enemies work kindly with one another.

There are three classifications of enemies: - The enemies that compose the first partition of sprites - The enemies that compose the second partition of sprites - The enemies that compose both partitions of sprites

At any given time only one set can use a given partition. Or in other words, the enemies of the first and second group are independent of one another. However, any work to manage the ladder will likely result in many graphical glitches to your dismay. Likewise, any two sprites cannot be composed of the same taxonomy unless without suffering the same fate. We reffer to these groupings as clans, in veneration of the history of their discovery.

The First Clan#

There are four families that compose the first clan:

  • The Bone Family

  • The Arson Family

  • The Generic Family

  • The Slow Family

Bone Family#

The bone family consists of only dry bones and the power switch door.

Arson Family#

The arson family consists only of the four directional rocket engines that are fond of lighting our protagonist ablaze.

Generic Family#

The generic family consists of the many Mario tropes from the origional.

These include the following:

  • Koopa Troopas and their varience

  • Goombas and their varience

  • Bullet Bills and their varience

  • Piranha Plants and their varience

  • Cheep Cheeps and their varience

  • Pile Driver Micro Goomba

  • Rotary Lift

Slow Family#

The slow family is rather unnoteworthy, only consisting of the slowest enemy of Bowser’s navy: the lava lotus.

The Second Clan#

The second clan of enemies provides much more variety. These provide the bulk of the more aggressive and interesting enemies and objects of the game. Often these enemies may make only a single appearance inside the entire game. Nevertheless, their lack of punctuality inside the origional does not have to carry over into yours.

They consist of the following families:

  • The Hammer Family

  • The Windy Family

  • The Dungeon Family

  • The Beatle Family

  • The Airship Family

  • The Solar Family

  • The Botany Family

  • The Water Family

Hammer Family#

The hammer family consists of all the varience of hammer brothers. I must say, it is quite peculiar that this family only consits of brothers. This is likely fortunate for our protagnoist. If they were frequent as bunnies they would make the game a great deal harder.

Windy Family#

The windy family yields many sorts of platforms. Platforms that fall, platforms that move side to side, and even platforms that follow a track. It also includes other enjoyable tools the help keep the player alert and alive. These include both the firesnake and my personal favorite from childhood, the fire chomp. Lastly, there is the parabeetles and their varience.

Dungeon Family#

The dungeon family, as its name suggests, consists of the remainder of enemies housed inside the depths of a dungeon. These include the following:

  • Podoboo and their varience

  • Rotodiscs and their varience

  • Thwomps and their varience

  • Boos and their more humble buddies

  • Blue Lift

Beatle Family#

The beatle family, despite its name, has very little to do with beatles. It only serves to highlight the most common of their type, the buzzy beatle. The members include:

  • Buzzy Beatle and their varience

  • Spinies and their varience

  • Lakitu

  • Bobombs

  • Kuribo’s Shoe

Airship Family#

The airship family is primarly composed of the projectiles housed inside one of Bowser’s mighty vessels. It also includes a few other creatures, such as the rocky wrench and the ship’s propeller and scenic clouds.

Solar Family#

The solar family, in spite of its bright name is one that deserves the most pity. It is housed by only a single person, the angry sun. The only enemy of Mario that will forever remain alone.

Botany Family#

The botany family serves to liven up the outer forests of the Mushroom Kingdom. As in most forests, their varieties are many and it is best to view them from a safe distance. They include the following:

  • Spike

  • Chain Chomps and their varience

  • Buster Beetle

  • Ptooies and their varience

  • Nippers and their varience

Water Family#

The water family provides every morsle that screeches inside the depths of the ocean. They are the following:

  • Bloopers and their offspring

  • Big Bertha

  • Boss Bass

  • Spiky Cheep Cheeps

  • Baby Cheep Cheeps

  • Water Currents

The Third Clan#

The final clan consists of one-off enemies. These are most commonly bosses. For this reason, they will not be introduced as families but individually.

  • Boom Boom and varience

  • The Koopa Kids

  • Bowser

Attribution#

This enemy compatibility sheet was adapted from Hukka.