Glossary

TODO: Currently sorted alphabetically — would something else work better?
Things that probably also should be here:
- Area
- View
- Zone
- Chunk
- Entrance

This page briefly defines some of the jargon you may encounter while modding New Super Mario Bros.; this will generally not cover more broadly-used terms such as tilemap, palette, archive, and so forth.

Code patch: A piece of code which is compiled then inserted into the game. Also referred to as a code hack, code mod, or ASM hack (though the latter is considered a misnomer and usage of it is proscribed — it is listed here only for posterity).

Control byte: A byte that controls how a map16 tile tiles in a tile object.

Map16: The tilemap for tilesets.

Map16 tile: A 16x16 tile composed of four 8x8 tiles. These can have tile behaviors set for them and are used in tile objects. May also be simply referred to as a tile.

Object: Can refer to both an actor that may exist in a stage (e.g., a bullet bill) or a tile object. The former is more common and may be also referred to as an actor.

Object bank: A set of objects that are set to load and can thusly be used in an area. Also referred to as a sprite set (proscribed).

Object ID: The ID of an object. Distinct from stage object ID. Also refered to as class ID (proscribed).

Object settings: A data field containing information about an object's settings and events it's connected to. Also referred to as a sprite data (proscribed).

Randomization: The property of a tileset to effectively randomly shuffle a certain set of map16 tiles in game to add visual variety.

Slope control tile: A tile with a control byte of 80 or over used to control how map16 tiles tile in a tile object. Mainly used in tile objects for slopes.

Stage object: An object that can be placed in a stage (e.g., a goomba). Also refered to as a stage actor or sprite (the latter being proscribed). Also may be truncated to object or sprite colliqually.

Stage object ID: The ID of an object that can be placed in a stage. Also refered to as stage actor ID or sprite ID (the latter being proscribed).

Tile behavior: How a map16 tile is meant to behave in a level when the player interacts with it. Also referred to as tile type.

Tile object: A unit of map16 tiles that can be placed in a level and are set to tile in a specific fashion. NSMBe refers to these simply as objects.

3D tile: A map16 tile which draws a texture instead of (or, in special cases, over) the 8x8 tiles present on the map16.