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This “interview” sadly only features paraphrased answers from Miyamoto, but it is the oldest known interview with him, at the time of this post. So we thought it was worth translating anyways! Everything below this point is a translation of the original article.
See the end for the original scans.
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April, 1986
Six months after its release, Super Mario Bros. is still going strong by a long shot. Every day, the editorial department receives an incredible number of ultra-techniques [tricks and cheats] and strategies. So, as a continuation of the hit "Super Mario Bros. Complete Guidebook," published last October, we present you Part II.
First, let’s start with the question, “Is there a World 9 in Super Mario Bros.?”
After a magazine published a picture, the editorial department received many inquiries asking how to get to World 9. We interviewed Shigeru Miyamoto at Nintendo to find out. So, does World 9 really exist? To cut to the chase, it may unexpectedly appear due to “interference,” but it’s not somewhere you can purposefully get to via maneuver or manipulation. Even if you try, the chance of success is slim.
Next up, what is this “interference” that causes all this?
Have you ever noticed a scratching sound come from your TV or radio, when, for example, you turn on an old flashlight or there’s lightning? This is actually the “interference” from the flashlight or lightning interacting with the TV or radio, creating the audible noise.
TV and radios produce images and sound by receiving signals. Signals are electronic waves that flow through the air. Because interference also makes a scratching sound, that means it’s from the same kind of electronic waves. It can only make nonsense sounds, so you could call it “flow of erratic electronic waves.”
The Famicom you all know and love also shows the screen and music using electronic waves. What’s different from TV or radio is that Famicom games are run by a program.
This program controls the flow of signals inside the Famicom. Things like showing characters on the screen or making Mario jump when you press the A button are all achieved through the program.
Now, what if interference, just like it makes random sounds on a radio, caused the program’s control to get jumbled? The answer to that is World 9.
Take a look at the photo on the upper left. This is the photo of what happened when Miyamoto-san tweaked the program to see what interference could cause. The text on the screen says “9-1,” but if you look closely, it is a strange version of World 6, Stage 2 with an additional underwater element. This demonstrates that the interference caused abnormal signals to flow within the Famicom, and that showed up as abnormalities in the display and movement on the screen.
However, a lot of interference is needed to create an abnormal screen like World 9. The Famicom is designed to not be affected by the interference created from things like flashlights or lightning.
What we’ve found out from the explanations so far is that the World 9 that all of you expressed their interest in is, in fact, not a new stage, but an anomaly, which is impossible to play as a proper level. Of course, it’s possible to get to it through tweaking the program, but it’s not something you can ever get to by trying.
This is the screen of World 9, made by tweaking the program in order to see what happens during the anomaly. Photos provided by Nintendo
To all you daily ultra-users, I bet you guys really want to see such an interesting stage. However, Miyamoto-san says that he wants no one to search for World 9.
That’s because, as was discussed so far, such a strong abnormal signal is sent to the Famicom that the program is affected. If things go wrong, the Famicom can break.
Things like inserting a cartridge diagonally, short-circuiting the front pins of the Famicom, or rapidly flipping switches are things you should never do. These can cause bad connection or shorts that cause strong interference and break the Famicom.
Searching for World 9 was actually the same thing as the forbidden technique, diagonal insertion! If you use this forbidden technique, even if you were able to reach World 9, you wouldn’t be able to play properly, and there would be no meaning to it. Let’s use the Famicom the right way.
And so, the authentic strategies and ultra-techniques begin now!
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