Cat Mario Trap Guide: Hidden Blocks, Fake Floors and Poison Mushrooms

Cat Mario has a reputation for being impossible. It is not. It is unfair on purpose, but only once: every trap sits in the same place each time, and once you know where it is, you can walk past it. This guide goes through the kinds of traps the game uses in its first world and how to get past each of them, so the deaths you spend are on new tricks, not old ones.

Before you start

Press Start Game on the title screen. Left and right arrows walk, Space or Up jumps and Down crouches or enters a pipe. There is no game over: the black card between attempts shows the cat and a number that counts your deaths down from 2 and keeps going below zero. The game also remembers the stage and checkpoint you reached, so closing the tab does not cost you anything. If you want a clean run later, Settings has a Clear save data button.

The hidden block

The most famous trick in Cat Mario is a block you cannot see. It sits in the air where a normal jump would carry you, and it only appears when your head hits it — which stops your jump dead and drops you into whatever was below. The fix is simple: where a gap has empty air above it, walk right to the edge and take a lower, later jump, or deliberately hit the block from a safe spot first so it is visible next time. Once a hidden block has been revealed, it stays there as a normal block you can stand on.

Floors that are not floors

Stretches of ground that look solid can drop away under the cat, and some of them only go once you are halfway across. The tell is usually that the section is suspiciously long and empty. Walk onto it slowly; if it starts to go, jump back.

Question blocks and items

In the game this one parodies, a question block is a reward. Here it is a coin toss. Some give a coin. Some are empty. Some release a mushroom that is poisonous, and even the harmless one gets a “Not poison, but…” from the cat. The fire flower sets the cat alight. Nothing makes it bigger, so there is no reason to chase items at all. Coins do not help either — a hint block says so outright: “Coins mean nothing here.”

The ? hint blocks are different. Bumping one opens a message box from the author. Most messages are jokes, but several point at the next trap (“Hidden block ahead. Be careful!”), and one of them admits it is “just a passing hint block… not a suspicious one~”. Read them.

Enemies and clouds

The round white enemies can be stomped, and each one has a line ready when it beats you instead, from “Too easy!” to “Can you even play?”. The shelled ones claim to be invincible and mostly are, so go around. The clouds are the real enemy of the first stages: some have a face, and touching one ends the run with a happy “Tasty!!”. Pass beneath them low and quick, and never jump into one to reach a block.

Pipes

Stand on a pipe and press Down to try it. Some pipes are the route forward, some lead to a message saying you have found a dead end, and at least one sends you somewhere you did not want to go. When you find the one that works, remember it; the save keeps your stage, but it does not keep your memory of which pipe was right.

The end of a stage

Even the flagpole is not safe — the game has a line reserved for its “Pole attack!!”. Approach the goal as carefully as everything else. Clear it and the next stage starts straight away; early in the next one a hint block congratulates you on beating stage 1 and warns that things only get trickier from here.

That is all the game asks. Play Cat Mario and see how many deaths world 1 costs you, or read where the game came from.