While many new mechanics are added in each entry, the Super Mario series is still all about jumping. As the series that cemented the platforming genre into what it is today, jumping is at the core of almost every action you take in a Mario game. As the games became more advanced and offered more variety to your actions, the ways you could jump became more robust and more important. But few are as important as the long jump, a maneuver that can propel you to new areas of whatever map you’re exploring. To help out with the new Super Mario 3D All-Stars players, here’s how to long jump in Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy.
How to Long Jump in Super Mario 64
The original 3D platformer was also the first Mario game to feature the long jump, at least in the form we have all come to know and love. It’s not required to advance through the game, so it doesn’t explain it in any mandatory tutorial, but it’s still key to saving Princess Peach and getting all 120 Stars in the game. To pull it off just get a good run going then at the end of the ledge or whatever you’re looking to jump off of press ZL to crouch and quickly press A to jump.
Mario will leap forward wildly, making it much further than if you’d simply jumped normally, or even performed a triple jump. Using this move you can clear very wide gaps in stages, and often reach places you weren’t totally supposed to get to. But that’s all the fun of Mario, however things shift quite a bit for the Gamecube game in Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
How to Long Jump in Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Sunshine removed the long jump as it had been used in Super Mario 64. With the FLUDD firmly strapped to your back, crouching is somewhat out of the question. So with the old method gone, is there no long jump in Sunshine? If you’re technical about it, sure, but there’s a move that performs the same function.
Now, instead of running and crouching before a jump all you need to do is jump and dive with Y. You can do this at any point during the jump, so the higher you are, the further you will go. Doing a triple jump, wall jump, or side somersault will get you extra height, then just hit Y to leap forward and get some more distance. This works almost as well as the long jump, but is a bit more cumbersome. Thankfully things go back to normal next time.
How to Long Jump in Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy returned the long jump to its former glory. Once again all you need to do is run in the direction of your target, crounch with ZL near the end and jump with A to leap forward a great distance. In fact, due to the small worlds and wacky gravity you can use this in really interesting ways. On some planets you can almost achieve orbit, clearing huge sections of the map with a single long jump.
So that’s how to long jump in Super Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy within Super Mario 3D All-Stars.
