Bowser's Castle or Castle Koopa is a location in the Koopa Kingdom. It is Bowser's home and capital of his kingdom. It has very different castles, depending on which game is it. It is also where Bowser keeps Princess Peach after he captures her.
In this game, Bowser's Castle can be found in the Valley of Bowser. There is two entrances to this castle. The secret entrance and the Main entrance. This level comes after fighting Larry Koopa or Renzor in the Valley Fortress.
Bowser's Castle returns in Super Mario 64 and in the DS version. Yet this time, instead of being found in the Mushroom Kingdom alone, it is inside Princess Peach's Castle, as all other stages are in this game.
At the end of the stage, Mario must fight Bowser, who is more powerful than ever, due to the fact he has obtained every Power Star and used it to become stronger and more powerful. Like previous fights with Bowser in the game, Mario must grab Bowser's tail and throw him into a spiky ball, therefore hurting Bowser. Once defeating him, the "power of the stars is restored to the castle" and Princess Peach is saved.
Bowser's Castle has a different name in this game, though the idea of the stage doesn't change from previous times. The stage is called Bowser's Galaxy Reactor.
In this game, Mario and his friends have to advance through the castle and fight Bowser. After Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad, or Yellow Toad defeats him in regular size, Kamek will cast a spell on Bowser to make him gigantic.
Bowser's Castle (called Bowser's Keep in the game) is attacked by Smithy's Army and his minion Exor. Bowser was kicked out of his own castle and was forced to try to break back into his castle with the remainder of his army of Goombas and Koopas.
During a ball at the Princess's castle, Bowser forced his castle into the air, causing an earthquake which broke Princess Peach's Castle away from the ground and into the air.
Bowser's base of operation serves as the final dungeon of the game and is led direct in Princess Peach's castle.
In Bowser's Castle, there is a room with a treasure chest that was designed so that Mario could only enter it while riding Lakilester, since the doorway and the room itself contain lava that would damage Mario should he try to walk into the room. However, on the N64 version of the game, the player is capable of jumping towards the door's frame, and, although being hurt and thrown backwards, Mario can trigger the game to display the other room as if Mario had entered it. Since the entrance to the room is covered in lava, however, the game does not spawn Mario in the room, and the game will crash, with the crash handler stating that a "FLOATING POINT EXCEPTION" occurred.
In Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, Bowser's Castle was taken over by Fawful. It is the first boss fought as giant Bowser. It was later redecorated by Fawful into Fawfuls Theater.
Bowser's Castle returns in the form of Bowser's Sky Castle counting as the final place in level in Paper Mario: Sticker Star. Mario fights Kamek first then confronts Bowser who is wearing the final Royal Sticker. After Bowser is defeated, the Royal Stickers and Kersti return to the Sticker Comet and Mario and Peach watch as the parade goes on. Its design is heavily based on the Bowser's Castle from a fellow 3DS game Super Mario 3D Land and is probably the only Bowser's Castle to not contain any enemy (Kamek counts as a mini-boss fight).
Mario Kart series
Several Bowser Castles appeared in the 8 Mario Kart games. Most of them is really hard, however, some are easier.
Bowser's Castle is separated into three different tracks in Super Mario Kart. It appears as the fourth track in the Mushroom, Flower, and Star cup. The tracks are all harder than the previous track, with Bowser's Castle 1 being the easiest.
Bowser Castle 1 is the fourth track of the Mushroom Cup, but in this game there are five tracks to a cup. It brought forth the traditions of Bowser's Castle's lava pits, Thwomps, and 90 degree turns. There are many jump pads and boost pads in this track.
Bowser Castle 2 is the fourth course in the Flower Cup. Along with 90-degree turns and thwomps which are natural for the Bowser Castles, Bowser Castle 2 has long straights and a few leaps that can put the player in lava if mistimed. This map's claim to fame is the long runway that leads to an area where the player navigates around two squares with Thwomps. It is too far from the landing point to simply jump, which is why an appropriately placed "STOP" is written before the end of the path. It is rumored that this jump can be completed with a feather on 150cc. This course returns in Mario Kart: Super Circuit as the first track in the Extra Lightning Cup.
Bowser Castle 3
Bowser Castle 3 is the third Bowser Castle in Super Mario Kart and Mario Kart: Super Circuit. It is the fourth course in the Star Cup in Super Mario Kart.
Here, there is only one Bowser Castle, which is in Star Cup. Again, the track is covered in angry Thwomps and lava. Half of the course is outside the castle, while half of it is inside.
It is also the only solo Bowser Castle to not be in the Special Cup.
This course reappears as a retro course in Mario Kart Wii. It is the final track in the lightning cup.
Bowser Castle 1 is the final track of the Mushroom Cup. This version of it is very short, and in some areas, you'll find entire chunks of coins. The background looks like a castle wall with a face of Bowser vandalized onto it. This course reappears in Mario Kart 7 as one of the courses in Shell Cup.
Bowser Castle 2
Bowser Castle 2 is the final course in the Flower Cup. It's considerably longer, and it's also even more dangerous. There's an abundancy of gaps in the lava throughout the course - primarily the middle of the course - and some of them increase the hazard by shooting lava up into the air. The gaps on the steel wire near the end of the course are amongst the most dangerous, not least since a vast majority of them demand usage of Mushrooms to traverse them. Fortunately, dash panels are located near the sides of a few areas; other than that, Thwomps and ninety degree turns run riot throughout the bulk of this course.
Bowser Castle 3 is found in Star Cup. This version includes more Thwomps, more rail-less roads, and in some places there isn't a road between bits of the course - it's entirely off-road. However, on the plus side, there are Jump pads throughout the course. One of which you can use to escape a significant portion of the track, making less work and quicker lap times. In addition, the total lava pits has been reduced.
Bowser Castle 4
Bowser Castle 4 is a course in Mario Kart: Super Circuit that enjoys the pleasure of preceding Rainbow Road, being the third course in the Special Cup. It's resemblance to Bowser Castle 1 is moreso than in Bowser Castle 2 and Bowser Castle. The course is throttled by moving Thwomps, and near the end there're Mecha Koopas, another Bowser contraption that serves the purpose of being a toy for the Koopas. However, the track's so long you needn't worry about it - for now.
At the beginning, there's a square of lava that spews out fire. It demands timing, and if a Jump fails then you're heading for the lava.
Bowser's Castle is the third track in the Special Cup. In this game, the level is mostly inside, but the beginning is outside. Just like every other Bowser Castle, this one also has Thwomps and lava. This castle debuted the signature Mecha Bowser, which shoots out fireballs.
The racers start outside the castle and drive into a 2-way split both with two hwomps on either side. After coming out of the split they turn into an area filled with lava and fireballs firing out. The track splits and joins back at the launch ramp, while in the middle there is a pit of lava. There is a room with large fireballs spinning counterclockwise in a circular room. Hitting these will cause one to spin out. Towards the end of the room there are boosts to take the racers back outside the castle over some more lava back to the starting line.
Bowser's Castle returns in Mario Kart DS as a new track. It is unique in the fact it is darker, and consists of more metal parts than any other previous Mario Kart Bowser's Castle track. It is the third track in Special Cup, coming after Peach Gardens and before Rainbow Road.
Bowser Castle 2
Bowser Castle 2 returns in Mario Kart DS as the third track of the Banana Cup. The course itself resembles that of the version at Mario Kart: Super Circuit, excluding the obvious differences of the spiked Thwomps, and that the jumps have been shuffled; some are performable without a Mushroom, and some are only possible using both an exploit and a Mushroom. The height of the railings has also been raised, though this is not of any use.
Bowser's Castle returns to Mario Kart Wii with many returning things such as the traditional lava, Mecha Bowser, and Fireballs. But new features included areas where players could do tricks. Of course, this new Bowser's Castle had a completely new layout. Like most of the games, this course is the third track in Special Cup, after Moonview Highway and before Rainbow Road.
This Bowser Castle still contains the same serious bug from the GBA version that permits players to drive into the lava and have skipped a large portion of the track when being brought back into the track by Lakitu.
As well, when performing Tricks on the yellow jump pads, if the racer presses the jump button at the right moment when performing a trick, the jump will be extremely short to the point where the racer may not clear the jump. The timing of this can be tested with to result in safe, short jumps that save time.
Bowser's Castle once again reappears as yet again the third course in Special Cup. It contains many things seen in previous Mario Kart games, such as Thwomps and lava. Like all the other courses in this game, there is an area eligible for gliding. The course's music is combination of Mario Kart Wii's Bowser's Castle music and Mario Kart: Double Dash!!'s Bowser's Castle music.
On the game's launch, there was a serious bug on this course that allowed players to use an unintentional shortcut that shaved many seconds of time off of a players' lap. This, alongside similarly major glitches on Wuhu Loop and Maka Wuhu, prompted a post-launch patch to the game that fixed all three of these issues.
ā¢ ā-Enemy, boss, or stat exclusive to the main game. ā¢ āā-Enemy, boss, or stat exclusive to Minion Quest: The Search for Bowser. ā¢ āāā-Enemy variants differ in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser's Minions.