Recorder
- “One toot on this whistle will send you to a far away land!”
- —Toad, Super Mario Bros. 3
A Warp Whistle[1], sometimes called a Magic Whistle[2], is a rare item from Super Mario Bros. 3. Using it sends Mario or Luigi to the Warp Zone, where the player can skip ahead to the start of a later world. Using the Warp Whistle in World 1 will allow Mario to warp to World 2, 3, or 4; using it in a World from 2 through 6 will allow him to warp to World 5, 6, or 7; and using it in Worlds 7 through 9 will allow him to warp to World 8. (Therefore, if a second whistle is used while already in the Warp Zone, the player will be taken directly to the World 8 Pipe.)
There are a total of 3 whistles that can be collected in Super Mario Bros. 3 and its remakes, two in World 1 and one in World 2. However, in the Japanese version of the original Super Mario Bros. 3 release only, a glitch in World 5-1 allows the player to obtain a fourth whistle.
Locations
World 1-3
Obtained by holding the down button on the 
while standing on the white block at the end of the level, so that Mario drops behind the background, and then quickly getting behind the black curtain at the end of the level before the white block's effect wears off. Behind there, Mario/Luigi will enter a secret Toad House, whose single chest contains a whistle.
World 1-
Fortress
Obtained by flying to get on top of the ceiling at the end of the first room, where there is a door hidden above the top of the screen. The door leads to a small secret room where a treasure box contains a Warp Whistle.
Side note: Clearing World 1-Fortress in this way will not open its locked door on the map.
World 2-
Obtained by defeating the Boomerang Bro on the map who gives out a Hammer upon being defeated. The Hammer must be used to break the rock at the top right of the map screen, opening a secret passage behind a palm tree. The passage contains a Toad House (with a Frog Suit) as well as a pair of Fire Bros. Defeating both Fire Bros. will award the player with a whistle.
World 5-1 (Japanese version only)
In the Japanese version of the original Super Mario Bros. 3 release only, a glitch in World 5-1 can cause the treasure chest to appear at the end of the level instead of in its usual location. The glitch is performed by reaching the end of the level, then turning around and flying above the stack of blocks there until the player hears the sound of a treasure chest appearing. After this, if the player returns to the goal, they will notice glitched graphics (as it is not supposed to be possible to activate a treasure chest and the goal simultaneously). If the player then hits the goal from the far left corner, the treasure chest will teleport to the goal, and picking it up will earn the player either five extra lives or a Warp Whistle.
The wall/stack of blocks at the end of the level was removed from international releases, as well as all releases of the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 remakes, thus removing the glitch and no longer allowing players to obtain this Warp Whistle.
References in other media
- Mystical Whistle, the name of a Sammer Guy in Super Paper Mario, is a reference to the Warp Whistle.
- The song played by the Warp Whistle is from The Legend of Zelda series. It is based on the Recorder from the original game, complete with a whirlwind taking the player to another location.
- In the 2006 version of Nintendo Monopoly, the Warp Whistle is referenced by the Coin Block "Advance to Go" card.
- Another flute is found in the game Mario is Missing!, stolen from the Teatro Colon by Koopa Troopas. Luigi had to return it to the opera house.
- During the climax of The Wizard, Haley tells Jimmy to seek out the Warp Whistle (which she refers to as the "Magic Flute") in the World 1 Fortress, which he succeeds in doing. However, Super Mario Bros. 3 was a game that the characters had never played before, making it unknown as to how Haley even knew of the Warp Whistle's existence.
- Warp Whistle is the name of the 9th track on the debut album by the band FartBarf: "Dirty Power".
- The Warp Whistle is mentioned by Mike Mictlan in the Doomtree song Final Boss.
- In an episode of Steven Universe, an item called the Warp Whistle is used to activate Warp panels.
