Loading Zone

Not to be confused with warp points.

Some courses are too big to store within normal course bounds. To compensate for this, the game splits the level up into two distinct areas, and switches them out when Mario passes between them. There is some overlap between the two areas to make it transition smoothly. The area where Mario goes between areas is called the Loading zone.

The following areas utilize loading zones:

• Dire, Dire Docks (through the tunnel)
• Tall, Tall Mountain (in the slide area)
• Wet-Dry World (in the pipe between the main area and downtown)
• Shifting Sand Land (in the entrance to the Eyerok area)

Glitches

Cloning

All objects (except for Mario) unload when you cross the loading point, in order to make room for the objects in the new area. If Mario is holding an object when he passes through a Loading zone, the object will become fake and can be used for Cloning.

New Area Not Loading

If Mario gets past the Loading zone without activating it (either by passing it with hyperspeed or clipping behind it in some other way) then the new area does not load. There is a cutoff in course geometry where the new area would have loaded.