The point of this thread is to fully explain the Minus World of Super Mario Brothers, so there won't be any doubt in anyone's mind. The only versions this world can be accessed in is the NES, Famicom Disk System, and GBA versions, and cannot be accessed in the Super Mario All-Stars, or SMB DX versions.
Minus World
World -1 (A.K.A. the "Minus World") is an infinitely-long water level, only accessible through World 1-2. Here's what you do: As Super Mario, get all the way to the green pipe at the end of 1-2. Stand on top of the pipe and smash the blocks above you. Do not smash the very last block on the right. Now, stand on the end of the pipe and face left. Jump straight up, then press and hold Right on the controller. What you are trying to do here is jump through the bottom left corner of the block backwards. If you do it just right, Mario will slide through the block and be pulled through the wall. When Mario gets to the other side of the wall, go down the first pipe before it says "WELCOME TO WARP ZONE." You will not come out in 4-1, but in -1. Yes, that's right, -1. World -1 is just like 2-2, but the pipe at the end takes you back to the beginning. You cannot beat -1, but it does give you lots of swimming practice
Side note: If you go down them before it says "WELCOME TO WARP ZONE," the second pipe takes you to 5-1, and the third pipe also takes you to the Minus World.
The Minus world IS indeed a glitch, we know this because on the Classic NES website it says the Minus world is an unintentional glitch. I don't believe it is not a glitch in the way other people have been telling it, some say it is world 35 or something like that. I believe it is a glitch with history. The minus world came into being when Nintendo was first putting SMB together. This world, when beaten would take you back to the title screen and allow you to press B to select worlds like when you would beat the game normally. When they went to put the game onto the cartridge though, it wouldn't fit, so they took it out, or so we thought. I think Nintendo calls it an unintentional glitch because when they were taking the minus world out, they accidentally left a bit of it in, which is why we got what we have. When Nintendo made the Famicom Disk System of the game, they put the full minus world, and to this day, that is the only way you can see it. Alot of this info is from this site, and that is also where you can see the screenshots for the full minus world.
Now, I have also gotten more proof for what I am saying.
tsr's NES Archive says
"If you try the Minus World trick on the Disk System version of SMB1, you'll find that it leads to a lot of neat new stuff..."
Here is a third site that proves what I am saying is right.
The Mushroom Kingdom says:
"In the Famicom Disk System version of SMB, the Minus World is a swimming version of World 1-3, with gray enemies, pink platforms, and a floating Bowser. At the end, if you touch the flagpole too high, you'll float over the castle door and won't clear the level. Touch it about halfway down to be safe, and you'll drop right into the door, taking you to World -2! World -2 is exactly like World 7-3, except beating the level takes you to -3. World -3 is like 4-4, except it's not a maze, there's no Bowser at the end, and the graphics are blue instead of gray. After you touch the axe at the end, you are thanked as usual, but the Mushroom Retainer is not there. Press B, and you are taken to the title screen, where you can keep pressing B to choose a World to go to, with harder levels, exactly as if you had just beaten the game."
Also, I just talked to somebody on the NSIDER forums, and he confirmed what I said was true because he does have the FDS version of SMB.
Minus World
World -1 (A.K.A. the "Minus World") is an infinitely-long water level, only accessible through World 1-2. Here's what you do: As Super Mario, get all the way to the green pipe at the end of 1-2. Stand on top of the pipe and smash the blocks above you. Do not smash the very last block on the right. Now, stand on the end of the pipe and face left. Jump straight up, then press and hold Right on the controller. What you are trying to do here is jump through the bottom left corner of the block backwards. If you do it just right, Mario will slide through the block and be pulled through the wall. When Mario gets to the other side of the wall, go down the first pipe before it says "WELCOME TO WARP ZONE." You will not come out in 4-1, but in -1. Yes, that's right, -1. World -1 is just like 2-2, but the pipe at the end takes you back to the beginning. You cannot beat -1, but it does give you lots of swimming practice
Side note: If you go down them before it says "WELCOME TO WARP ZONE," the second pipe takes you to 5-1, and the third pipe also takes you to the Minus World.
The Minus world IS indeed a glitch, we know this because on the Classic NES website it says the Minus world is an unintentional glitch. I don't believe it is not a glitch in the way other people have been telling it, some say it is world 35 or something like that. I believe it is a glitch with history. The minus world came into being when Nintendo was first putting SMB together. This world, when beaten would take you back to the title screen and allow you to press B to select worlds like when you would beat the game normally. When they went to put the game onto the cartridge though, it wouldn't fit, so they took it out, or so we thought. I think Nintendo calls it an unintentional glitch because when they were taking the minus world out, they accidentally left a bit of it in, which is why we got what we have. When Nintendo made the Famicom Disk System of the game, they put the full minus world, and to this day, that is the only way you can see it. Alot of this info is from this site, and that is also where you can see the screenshots for the full minus world.
Now, I have also gotten more proof for what I am saying.
tsr's NES Archive says
"If you try the Minus World trick on the Disk System version of SMB1, you'll find that it leads to a lot of neat new stuff..."
Here is a third site that proves what I am saying is right.
The Mushroom Kingdom says:
"In the Famicom Disk System version of SMB, the Minus World is a swimming version of World 1-3, with gray enemies, pink platforms, and a floating Bowser. At the end, if you touch the flagpole too high, you'll float over the castle door and won't clear the level. Touch it about halfway down to be safe, and you'll drop right into the door, taking you to World -2! World -2 is exactly like World 7-3, except beating the level takes you to -3. World -3 is like 4-4, except it's not a maze, there's no Bowser at the end, and the graphics are blue instead of gray. After you touch the axe at the end, you are thanked as usual, but the Mushroom Retainer is not there. Press B, and you are taken to the title screen, where you can keep pressing B to choose a World to go to, with harder levels, exactly as if you had just beaten the game."
Also, I just talked to somebody on the NSIDER forums, and he confirmed what I said was true because he does have the FDS version of SMB.
