The ascent of the Pixel Tree
In front of you is the huge pixel tree. Your destination is at the top, which is why you must first follow the numerous platforms on the outer trunk.
Jump up the yellow, green and brown platforms. On the way you can get from the question mark blocks a flower brake and a tempo flower. It is best to wait until the effect of the flower brake is over before collecting the tempo flower.
Once you arrive at an apparent impasse, you move into 3D view with Mario. This makes two yellow arrow blocks visible. Jump against it from below and then return to the 2D view.
Continue climbing over the turned blocks and move to Princess Peach. Jump off the last platform and hold the jump button so Princess Peach opens her screen and slides right over the big gap.
Follow the next platforms up. Shortly afterwards you have to use Princess Peach again, this time to float to the left.
Continue climbing on the right until you reach a yellow column. Stand up for it and use Thudley. The column is pressed into the tree and a moving platform appears.
Jump to the platform and let yourself be carried to the left. Hop on the projection and switch to the 3D view. Behind the visible blocks appears a hidden path that leads further into the background.
Follow the narrow path and then climb up. On one of the higher platforms you encounter a red parakoopa. Use it as an additional springboard when needed to reach the nearby Warp Pipe.
The warp pipe leads into an optional coin room. Collect all visible coins there and switch to the 3D view to discover more coins behind the block rows.
Then return to the outside of the tree and continue your ascent. At the top, you will discover a door that is partially covered by a sticky layer of wood or resin.
Switch to Bowser and burn the blockade with his fire breath. Once the door is fully exposed, you can enter the inside of the pixel tree.
The mystery of pink and turquoise platforms
Jump to the moving platform inside the tree and let yourself be carried up. Continue climbing until you reach a green warp pipe and climb in.
The Warp Pipe takes you to a higher part of the tree. First use the Save Block and then hit the turquoise switch. The switch turns pink.
Returns to the lower area through the warp pipe. Several pink platforms have now appeared there, via which you can continue upstairs.
Follow them until you reach the next switch. Press it so that it changes from pink to turquoise. The pink platforms disappear and are replaced by turquoise platforms.
Continue climbing over the new platforms. Once you reach a large, rotating platform, you shouldn’t jump up right away. To the right or below the platform is a yellow column.
Use Thudley and squeeze the column into the ground. As a result, a ladder appears. Climb down and press the switch there so that it changes from turquoise to pink again.
Climb the ladder and follow the now visible pink platforms. At the next apparent impasse you switch with Mario into the 3D view. On the far left you discover a previously hidden warp pipe.
Get in. In the following gear, long spike traps from the ground and the Blanket travel at regular intervals.
Equip Slim and get paper thin. Start as soon as the spike trap is gone. Stay completely still immediately when they move out again. As long as you don’t move with Slim, the Spike Trap will pass through your character safely.
Work your way to the right bit by bit. At the end of the aisle, press the pink switch to make it turn turquoise.
Then return with Slim through the spiked aisle and climb again through the warp pipe.
Boomer and the Princess Peach Card
Thanks to the switch in the barbed room, new turquoise platforms have appeared. Continue climbing until you reach a switch that is below a platform and cannot be jumped directly.
Set Boomer down next to the counter and immediately climb to the higher platform. The explosion flips the switch from turquoise to pink and opens the way up.
On the next level, switch to the 3D view and read the hidden sign. It indicates that the same switch must be actuated again.
Therefore, return down to the now pink switch. Set Boomer off again and climb back up immediately.
Hurry up: Until Boomer explodes, you can still use the pink platforms. Jump quickly over them and reach the safe edge before the switch switches back to turquoise and the pink platforms disappear.
Follow the path upwards and slide to the right with Princess Peach. There you will discover a warp pipe that leads into a small secret room.
Inside there are two chain dogs waiting. Since you cannot safely jump on their heads, you should use Boomer. Put the bomb near them and withdraw in time. Bowser’s fire breath is also helpful if you keep enough distance.
Once both chain dogs have been defeated, the Princess Peach (2) card No. 224. The map shows Princess Peach in her white wedding dress.
Take the catch card and return to the tree through the warp pipe.
Then climb up and use the next warp pipe on the left. In the following room, a platform moves through a solid wall.
Jump to the platform and activate Slim. Stay still while the platform carries you through the wall to the other side.
Drop down there to the turquoise counter and drop Boomer next to it. Jump back to the mobile platform immediately and use Slim again.
Boomer activates the switch as the platform transports you back through the wall. Then leave the room through the warp pipe.
The Road to the Locked Door
Back in the large tree interior you cross the next gap with Princess Peach’s umbrella. Switch to Mario on the other side and switch to the 3D view to see the higher platforms.
Keep climbing up. A question mark block contains a super mushroom that fills up 20 force points. Take it with you if you have suffered damage in the previous ascension.
At the top you reach another switch. Press it so that a new door opens far down in the tree.
Now you have to jump down a large part of the path just climbed. Carefully drop from platform to platform until you reach the spot with the two pink platforms lying obliquely on top of each other.
To the left of it is a green warp pipe. Get in, save your progress and then go through the newly accessible door.
Intermediate boss: Dimenzio
Behind the door, Dimenzio awaits you. The magician wants to test the strength of the heroes and transports the group into his own dimension D.
Dimenzio claims that his attacks are much stronger in this dimension. However, he has made a crucial mistake: your attacks are also amplified by the dimension.
Dimenzio regularly teleports to another position and shoots magic bullets in your direction. Keep moving and jumping over the projectiles.
Sometimes it also produces a doppelganger. Only the real Dimenzio can be hurt. If you attack one of the two and cause no harm, it is the illusion.
Occasionally, Dimenzio tries to lock you in a magic box. Move quickly away from the mark before the box closes completely and explodes.
The simplest method of attack is a normal jump on his head. Wait until Dimenzio hovers deep enough after a teleportation, runs quickly to him and jumps on him.
Bowser causes particularly high damage, but moves slower and can dodge the attacks worse. With Mario you are more agile and can reach Dimenzio more easily.
Repeat your jump attacks and ignore the doppelganger. After a few successful hits, Dimenzio realizes that his plan has not worked, and ends the fight.
On the Red Wind to Fort Francis
After the fight, return to the Pixel Tree. Climbs up the last platforms.
Along the way, you will be attacked by Lakitus, who throw Stachis on the platforms. Defeat them with Bowser’s fire breath or run past them quickly. You should not jump the stachis from above.
Then you reach a great height. Several colored gusts of wind regularly move from left to right across the screen.
Remember Piekso’s note from Chapter 3-1: Riding on the Red Wind.
Wait for a red gust of wind to appear and jump on it. Unlike the other colored gusts, the red wind carries you like a moving platform over the entire abyss.
Stay calm and get transported to the high warp pipe on the right. Jump on the Warp Pipe as soon as you are close enough.
Before you get in, you can switch to the 3D view. Behind or in front of the warp pipe is a hidden coin block, from which you can get several coins.
Then get into the warp pipe. In the last room, the star block is already waiting. Jump against it to complete chapter 3-3 and reach Fort Francis.