List of Plot Points

This is a list of elements in B3313 that advance the so-called "plot" of the hack, although said plot is mostly allegoric and up to interpretation. Nevertheless, most of these elements seem to hint at the presence of an evil being (the personalization AI) that keeps the Mario brothers hostage in his "realm", the castle's internal plexus.

The lone Cosmic Clone
In Scary Sewer Maze, venturing through the maze the right way will eventually lead the chosen Mario brother to what looks like a Cosmic Clone of Mario sitting next to some "building blocks". on a checkered platform with a "corruption". If you approach it too closely, it "awakens" and leads to either the player dying or the game freezing.

In Peaceful Sewer Maze, reaching the same location, the player can see several blue puddles surrounding a normal-looking checkered platform with an unknown object on it. One of its faces, though, resembles the Cosmic Clone's face. This might mean that it's in hiding at the time of the player visiting the area.

Faceless Mario's curse
In Cryptic Hideout, the bob-omb buddy at the door of the Funhouse warns the player by saying "good thing you picked this way". And indeed, by going through the hallway to the right of the plexus logo, the player will be met with what looks like a Mario "statue", although by going around it, it becomes visible that it has no face (a reference to Greenio's content, the infamous Super Mario 64 iceberg, and an old video by MJacobBarker). By approaching it at the right angle, Mario/Luigi gets damaged by 3 units when touching it, however, if the player is not so lucky, the game briefly freezes and they will become surrounded by several copies of the entity, along with their "leader", a faceless head. Interacting with the door the Marios are facing will cause the "eel" sound effect to play in a jumpscare-y manner, while the action itself and going basically anywhere other than letting yourself be attacked by the faceless army's hitboxes will get the player out of bounds and result in death.

In Mario's Maze, as the player tries to touch the floor, it will disappear and they will then be chased by several faceless Marios (seemingly retextured 1-ups) that kill the player upon touching it.

Bob-ombs out in the wild
While playing the hack, the player can encounter several bob-omb buddies that can be interacted with in seemingly random places. However, their appearance has changed from the good old pink color that vanilla players may be used to, into a darker yellow, and crimson eyes. Their tone also ceases to be friendly, and they instead deliver messages that contain a warning, a scold or a hostile concern.

It seems as if these creatures have been corrupted by the entity controlling the game, acting like soulless messengers who are trying their best to shield the Mario brothers from the fate they have been subjected to.

The Orange Lobby's secret
"'DIFFERENT PATHS...DISTANT IMAGES...AREN'T YOU HAPPY TO KNOW THAT HE'S FREE NOW?'"This message is relayed by a Bob-omb Buddy by the entry hole of Vanish Cap under the Moat (beta) in the Orange Lobby. While most things conveyed by the rest of its species in this hack are crystal clear, even if disturbing in nature, this guy's certainly not joking around. A possible interpretation of this message is that it refers to Luigi and the mythology surrounding him from as early as the vanilla game's release in 1996.

Bob-omb species as town citizens and their misfortune
Bob-ombs, both Buddies and Bowser's minions, seem to be inhabiting areas such as Dark Downtown, Bob-omb Village and Dry Town, although more so as citizens. While some of them keep their cryptic nature, others are trying to prevent the brothers from doing bad deeds, which they are unable to do either due to, possibly to being at the edge of getting corrupted and taken over themselves. In Dark Downtown, Mario or Luigi can choose to drown the powerless locals (also including a Chain Chomp) after one of the Buddies insists they do so to "cool down" everyone, while one of the minions curses them for committing to the act. In Bob-omb Village, one of the escaped citizens, a minion, begs the plumbers to leave the village alone after their latest heinous crimes, and to not take the power from the local houses or else "everyone and everything will die". They do this anyway (as they presumably have done previously in Dry Town, and turned it into Flooded Town) and leave the place, now Dead Village, to slowly fade from existence.

Bob-omb Battlefield iterations and the Bob-omb war
The Mario brothers can seemingly loop between three versions of Bob-omb Battlefield, which degrades through time. Originally, in what looks like a lively resort, Bob-omb River, the two nations, the Bob-omb Buddies and the regular Bob-ombs seem to be living in relative peace alongside each other. Suddenly, the place turns into Ice-Cold Warzone, the two nations turn to war over the course of the winter, indicated by the presence of several cannons and numerous troops. Finally, in Bob-omb Battlefield (beta), the intensity of the war seems to have decreased significantly, but so has the number of citizens. However, at the start of the level, the Bob-omb that can be talked to remarks that the war is still going on - although with "silent weapons" -, and that the Bob-omb Buddies are desperate to finish off the whole nation of their enemy, or presumably to devastate the whole area as it is. Somewhat opposite to this, the Bob-omb Buddy found at the top of the mountain, seems to be entirely apathetic towards the situation. The pipe also found at the top invites the player back into Bob-omb River, the good, old and peaceful days. This is the most straightforward time loop in the whole hack, as the areas are almost directly connected to each other, with the arbitrary intrusion of Dark Downtown, which is part of a completely different series of events.

Koopa citizens
Various Koopas can be seen inhabiting areas such as Bob-omb River, Whomp's Kingdom and Whomp's Prison. These creatures are small and seemingly harmless, mostly seen worrying about local issues such as the Whomp King's disappearance and the Big Bob-omb wreaking havoc. However, regular Koopa Troopas still exist and are out to annoy the Mario brothers.

Fate of the eels
In Castle Garden, there's a star floating around in nothingness. However, if the player gets too close to it, it disappears, and they are suddenly attacked by an eel. As the double door, the only way back out, is unaccessible due to Mario/Luigi being unable to open doors underwater, it is implied that this trap is illustrating the state of helplessness and constant deception the brothers have to face while in the domain of the personalized AI.

Moreover, in Eel Graveyard, several eels can be seen laying around dead in the area. The chronological relation between this and the aforementioned event is unknown. Regardless, the fact that these enemies, one of the main embodiments of fear in the eyes of a younger audience, appear as having been defeated, certainly paints an unsettling image of whatever had conquered them.

The Princess is in another castle
In Bowser's Castle, one of the rooms sealed away by a star door contains nothing but a Bowser painting and a Toad. Interacting with the latter results in it relaying the above message, which is a Super Mario Bros. reference. The completely illogical nature of such an event does not disappear, it seems, when put through a three-dimensional transformation.

Bowser's involvement
Bowser appears multiple times in the hack, Directly, he can be seen in boss battle areas such as Bowser in the Bully Battlefield, Bowser in the Dark World, Bowser's Checkered Madness or Eternal Fort. He has no clear intentions of stealing Peach this time around though, since he doesn't have any dialogue besides some vague threats. Despite this, he has set a few traps to set the Mario brothers off their path, including the Delicious Cake and Peach's Prison. He also supposedly breaks into Peach's Lobby, turning it into Bowser's Lobby.

However, it is highly likely that Bowser is not acting by himself, but instead is only used as a puppet and/or an illusion to further derail the Mario Brothers. This is supported by the fact that after the ending scene, a direct result of defeating Bowser, the player is thrown right back into the game.

Bowser's Throne - a time machine?
The teleport on Bowser's Throne basically transports the Mario brothers from Bowser's Lobby to Peach's Lobby, The two areas are virtually the same, the latter being supposedly pictured at the time of Bowser's break-in. This would suggest that by sitting on the aforementioned throne, the player travels back in time. Bowser would be entirely capable of accessing such technology, as he has done so previously in Mario's Time Machine. However, it might just be the personalized AI's doing once again, which would support the theory that Bowser is just acting as its slave.

Alternatively, but more unlikely, the throne could be a way to access alternative timelines.

Shoshinkai entry messages
"THIS CASTLE IS EXCLUSIVE TO THE SHOW. IT'S CONNECTED TO A VARIETY OF WORLDS. SO OPEN THE DOORS AHEAD AND GET ADVENTURING!"

In certain hub areas, the entry message from the Shoshinkai 1995 build of Super Mario 64 will display if you haven't caught MIPS The Rabbit yet. It's unknown if this has any significance in the lore.

Hazy Maze Cave (beta)
This empty variant of Hazy Maze Cave is accessed by jumping directly into the metal liquid in a room located in the Vanilla Basement. When first entering it, the player is greeted with the message:

"YOU HAVE REACHED AN INCOMPLETE AREA. TURN OFF YOUR SYSTEM NOW".

After that, nothing happens, until about 4 seconds of the player standing still, which will result in a sudden death. This suggests that the AI is an evil being, who will kill the brothers if they peek into area that they shouldn't enter at all and trap the brothers into his "realm", in this case, the castle's internal plexus.

The Empty Flooded Hallway
The Empty Flooded Hallway is reached via the moat door in Vanilla Basement, a familiar area. It is a direct deception, as it leads the Mario brothers the exact opposite of what they expected (a drained moat). This is implied to be a dirty trick by the personalization AI, who plays with the brothers' feelings to further encourage them to give up trying to make sense of, and escape from, their hopeless situation.

The mysterious symbol
This symbol appears in several of the game's areas, for example the Plexal Lobby, Cryptic Hideout or the Floating Hotel. It originates from Super Mario 64's Shoshinkai beta version, appearing as a glass pane for the castle's front window, which was replaced by a portrait of Princess Peach later on. Additionally, it's apparently supposed to be a clock. According to these informations, it might very well symbolize the fact that Mario is unable to escape his past, which, in this case, is more than a figurative expression.

The Floating Hotel's rooms
The Floating Hotel mostly got its name from the hallway consisting of 2x10 doors on the left and right wall each. However, all of these seem to be locked (this could be indicating either that it is abandoned or the exact opposite) except for the farthest one on the left, which crashes the game upon opening.