Where/how can you acquire a Tanooki Suit in Super Mario Bros. 3?
The Tanooki Suit gives you the ability to fly (like the leaf/racoon tail) but also gives you the ability to briefly turn into an indestructible statue. It looks a bit like a teddy bear.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/525245-super-mario-bros-3/faqs/7459
WORLD 4
RED MUSHROOM HOUSE: Vends tanooki suits! Get one, they rule!
LEVEL 4-5: Later on, you'll see a brick in the sky. Bounce off the bullets to hit it. A vine will spawn. Do the same thing to get up to it and climb it. You get a tanooki suit! Hit the P-Block and follow the coins to safety.
WORLD 5
MUSHROOM HOUSE: Grab a tanooki suit now!
LEVEL 5-5: Whoever thought up this level should be shot! Go down the second pipe for a tanooki suit, but careful not to get any leaves or it goes to waste.
MUSHROOM HOUSE: If you're lucky, you get a tanooki suit.
WORLD 7
MUSHROOM HOUSE: This one is interesting. It only vends Tanooki suits, hammer suits, and frog suits. hehe.
FORTRESS: The fourth block on the top of that overhang is a P-Block. You can imagine what that does.... ;) However, it'll create a door which has a Tanooki suit ready for you. DO NOT get the fireflower or you're screwed. Time is of the essence on this level.
Choose the first box in World 5's mushroom house. It works every time.
NES--Most--if not all--of the Tanooki/Hammer suits in the first red/brown or blue mushroom houses(depending on which of the houses you see first on the map) in each world are in the first box. Second and additional houses have a different location and maybe the same box every time, too. I don't know if every cartridge is exactly like this or not, but it probably denotes a pattern that allows you to collect a lot of goodies. So, if it is not your first box for you, it's probably the same box in your cartridge. The orange/golden houses appear to be far more random, but Frog suits appear to be really easy to get in most of the houses that have them. It can be like "stealing"; I have gotten to the point that I hate Mushrooms and feel indifferent about Fiery Flowers.
SNES(...All-Stars)--Most--if not all--of the Tanooki/Hammer suits are in the middle box of those same first houses. Again, everything follows the same pattern.
Further to the above answers: not all Tanooki Suits are in the Toad Houses on the map. Some are in secret rooms within levels. For example, in 6-3, if you fly to the very top of the level, there is a tall pipe you can enter from the top: this takes you to a room with a block containing the suit.
In World seven, the first house gives leaf/flower/mushroom, the order of these will decide the order of the tanooki/hammer/frog suits in the second and third houses. Cant remember the order but it was 100% for me when I played on original NES. I'd grab chest one, and depending on which of the first three it is, that decides which chest id go to for hammer or tanooki suits.
