Bowser's Castle (Paper Mario)

Bowser's Castle
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First appearance	Paper Mario (2000)
Ruler	Bowser
Iteration of	Bowser's Castle

Bowser's Castle appears as a major location in Paper Mario. It is secretly built right underneath Peach's Castle before Bowser later lifts it and Princess Peach into the sky using the power of the stolen Star Spirits and the Star Rod. Bowser also jails the Toad Minister and nine other Toads, a Dryite and a Bumpty who failed to escape. There are two Toad Houses (made from the slate in the prison), a shop run by a Spiked Goomba, Storehouse and three Guard Doors. Some other notable residents include Mr. Hammer, Spiky Tom, and Spiky John. In the end, Bowser's Castle is destroyed with the Power Platform, the latter as a result of Mario and Bowser fighting. The Koopa Bros. appear but are not actually fought, as Jr. Troopa fights Mario before the Koopa Bros. get a chance to.

Enemies

For enemy formations in Bowser's Castle, see List of Paper Mario enemy formations § Bowser's Castle.

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  Koopatrol

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  Hammer Bro

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  Magikoopa

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  Bony Beetle

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  Bombshell Bill

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  B. Bill Blaster

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  Dry Bones

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  Anti Guy x3 (Optional Battle)

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  Duplighost x4 (Mini bosses)

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  Jr. Troopa (in all forms, Boss)

Items

A "main area" refers to a four-way intersection with a Save Block. Enemies can drop items and several items can be purchased from the Storehouse. Other items include:

Item	Image	Location	Location Image
Castle Key		On the sideway near the entrance, where it is held by the Koopatrol. In the second lava/moving platform area, located in the treasure chest to the north. The first water room, on a high platform to the northwest. In the third Dry Bones room, at the end of the fork road. In the second main area, at the end of the north fork road of the northeastern road.
Prison Key		In the first main area, by defeating the Koopatrol guarding the prison to the east. In the second main area, by defeating the Koopatrol guarding the prison to the west.
Super Shroom		In the first Dry Bones room, located in a question block After the quiz room and hitting the third question block.
Life Shroom and Tasty Tonic		Under the first Guard Door room, in crates in the prison.
Life Shroom		In the lava area next to the front door scene, inside of a question block on a platform.
Maple Syrup		In the second water room, in a hidden block in the middle of the high platform. In the first Dry Bones room, where it is inside of a hidden block.
Super Mushroom and Maple Syrup		After the quiz room, in the first two question blocks.
Deep Focus		In the lava area, where it is in badge block on a platform.
Thunder Rage		In the third lava/moving platform area, where it is on a platform.
Shooting Star		In the second grotto scene, inside of a question block at the end of the north fork road.
Mystery?		In the third lava/moving platform area, where it is on a platform.
POW Block		In the first grotto scene, inside of a question block at the end of the north fork road.
Jammin' Jelly		After the quiz, fall off of the stairs in the room that comes afterward.
Ultra Shroom		Located at the end of the northwestern road from the second main area.

For a list of hidden blocks in Bowser's Castle, see here.

Profiles

Click an area to open the relevant article.

Area tattles

• It's Bowser's Castle. This appears to be the hangar for Bowser's vehicles.
• Boy! Bowser's Castle. Talk about your basic eerie atmosphere, huh? Oh... I'm nervous and excited at the same time. We're headed for the final fight at last!
• Are we still outside the castle or what? Let's hurry through here. OK, Mario?
• I've gotta hand it to him, Bowser's Castle is amazing! Such creative use of lava flows! It's just like that volcano!
• It's a covered hallway in Bowser's Castle. It doesn't look like anything's amiss in here. Let's press on, Mario.
• Look at the size of that stone Bowser face! He's pretty scary looking. That face gives me the creeps, Mario.
• It's an underground prison cell, Mario. Are you sure you can find the way back to where we were before?
• I wonder where all this lava comes from. Don't you think it's odd?
• Lava, lava, lava! There's such a thing as too much lava, that's for sure. Mario, are you all right in this heat? Boy, it's hot! This adventure has just been one extreme or the other.
• The only way to cross the lava is to have somebody carry us. If we could find a way to cool the lava off, we could probably walk on it, though. And if we have to pass through lava flows, we can have Bow hide us from danger.
• Here's the source of the lava. It's miserably hot when it's flowing. It's not so bad when it's cooled off, though.
• Now we're cooking! I mean, now we're not cooking! It's still hot, but not, you know, burning hot.
• You know, walking on newly hardened lava is not exactly something that your average Goomba gets to experience.
• The lava seems to have hardened as it cooled off.
• There's a treasure chest. Things are looking up. The lava has even cooled.
• It seems to be a cave. Are we below the castle? It's so dark. They must have had problems setting up lights down here. What a pain for us.
• It seems to be a cave. Are we below the castle? It's so dark. How long can this darkness possibly last?
• Ah! We're back inside Bowser's Castle. There's a stone pedestal with Bowser's face carved on it. What poor taste! What an egomaniac! If we push that thing, what do you think will happen?
• It's a hall in Bowser's Castle. I wonder where it leads. We have to hurry! And yet, we should also be careful.
• These stairs aren't lighted very well, are they? I wonder how deep below ground they go. Bowser should really look into some ambient lighting.
• This is a prison cell where Toads are being held. You know... There are Toads here...and beds... It's kind of like a Toad House! Do you think that I'm just an incurable optimist? Well, what's wrong with that?
• Here's the storage room for Bowser's Castle. It looks like one of his subjects is selling his stuff. Ha ha!
• It's a covered hallway. I can sum up the decorating in two words: pure Bowser! Such dark colors and drab lighting! What terrible taste!
• I'm sure Bowser's going to be surprised. I'm sure he'd never believe that we could make it this far. I can't wait to see the expression on his face.
• If Bombette were about three times bigger, we could just blow all these walls up. It would certainly let us move through these areas a lot faster. But that's probably not a good idea. It would be far too dangerous.
• We're somewhere inside Bowser's Castle. This hall is quite large. It also looks quite fortified. I wonder if there's anything good around here? An attack item, maybe?
• Look at all these carvings of Bowser's ugly mug. It's really shameless! I guess he thinks he's cool. Hey, incidentally, about those stone pedestals... Some move and some don't, so check 'em all out.
• Whoa! This corridor has much lower ceilings, huh? I guess I had gotten used to really high ceilings.
• In case you don't know by now, some of these Bowser pedestals can be pushed and others can't. In many cases, you can push them from either the right or left side. I wonder where I heard that?
• This is a hidden passage. It's a bit dark, huh? That's all right. I can sense that something good's in here.
• Some of these Bowser pedestals can be pushed and others can't. In many cases, you can push them from either the right or left sides. If they move, you can be sure they're covering a hidden passage.
• See! A hidden passage. This one doesn't seem to be hiding anything interesting.
• ...Nothing. This room's just a dead end. How worthless. Let's go back to the room where the pedestals are and check 'em out!
• This hidden passage looks promising, doesn't it? It must lead somewhere... You know, I hope we're going in the right direction. I feel kind of disoriented.
• We've certainly seen many kinds of treasure on our adventures, haven't we, Mario? There's one that I would value above all others, though. I would keep it in the safest place I know... Mario, please give me your autograph!!
• Again with the Bowser faces! I'm sick of looking at his ugly mug! Let's find the real Bowser and show him who's boss! And then I can meet Princess Peach!
• It's the outside of Bowser's Castle. Even the outside feels gross and ominous. Maybe he wasn't so bad until he moved here. Living in such a dank place isn't good for the soul.
• How many halls have we been through? I wonder what this one leads to... To Bowser's room? Maybe?
• Know what this reminds me of? A ghost story! This would make the perfect setting for a freaky ghost story! We could have Bow and her friends play the scary parts. Remind me to do that some time back at Toad Town!
• It's a prison cell within Bowser's Castle. A lot of Toads are here. It's a bit strange... Why would Bowser ever need this many prison cells? Do you think there are that many prisoners?
• I think we've already come really far. But we're not at Bowser's room yet. Where could he be? This place is so complicated! That Bowser... I really don't like him!
• "I smell treasure!" Isn't that a good Kolorado imitation? Mario? Wasn't that right on? I wonder what Kolorado's doing?
• It's a covered hallway in Bowser's Castle. There's no place to hide around here, that's for sure. Not that we need one, Mario! Who'd hide? Not me!
• Do you think those windows open to outside or to the inner part of the castle? I'm getting totally turned around in here. This castle really is huge.
• It's a room without a window. It also has a chandelier with no lights in it. I'm getting the feeling that Bowser is really going for the dark, gothic look in here. Maybe he hates bright lights.
• All the torches hanging over there... Doesn't their pattern strike you as sort of suspicious? It's almost as if there's a hidden meaning there. What do you say we try to remember it?
• I think we keep passing through the same room. Do you think, perhaps, that somebody's messing with us? Well, it's a waste of time to just keep running around with no clue about what we're doing. It's kind of like what happened in Forever Forest. Say...those torches might hold a clue for us.
• This is a corridor of sorts. I guess it's more like an elevated skyway, though. If a guy were afraid of heights, his legs would probably tremble and he'd probably freak out. Gulp!
• You know, if I were designing a castle, I wouldn't put in so many corridors. Well, whatever. You can't expect Bowser to have good taste.
• This room is one big ego massage for Bowser. I wish we could crush all these statues to dust.
• Stairs again! Do you think Princess Peach's Castle is at the top of 'em? We're almost there, Mario! I can feel it! Onward! The princess awaits!

Map descriptions

• It's the castle of the wicked King Bowser, of course. To kidnap Princess Peach, he stole the whole castle. Now Princess Peach's Castle teeters atop Bowser's Castle.
• Bowser's Castle used to be right here! That evil Koopa stole Princess Peach's Castle and captured Princess Peach.

Gallery

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  Paper Mario

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  A Guard Door in Bowser's Castle in Paper Mario

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  The Storehouse, the shop in Bowser's Castle in Paper Mario

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  Paper Mario