Bowser's Castle

We're going to get into my top three tracks.

Theories surround the green thwomp trapped in that cage in Bowser's Castle.

Is it an unlockable racer? Is it a hidden path somewhere? Well, the answer is boring and it's no, it's nothing.

It's just a normal blue thwomp.

Let's get to the top three courses in this game.

Number three, no trespassing.

We're at Bowser's Castle.

The Koopa King's Castle has never had a welcome mat, so it's no surprise that there isn't one now.

So on your social media, you've been posting some interesting stuff recently, and I saw that you once again talked about your, quote-unquote, Super Mario Brothers theory of jujitsu.

And I know that you and I had talked about that briefly a while ago, but I thought, "You know what? That probably would make for a pretty catchy episode." Do you wanna talk a bit about what you mean here? I know this is a broader conversation about game design, but you use Super Mario Brothers and Bowser's Castle as an analogy.

Why don't you explain what this is all about?

So yeah.

So one of the more popular games of all time being Super Mario, is very easy to use, let... get people to understand.

Remember playing Super Mario? Yes, no? If you have played Super Mario, you understand how easy level one is and how the game itself is designed, every level is designed to introduce new mechanics through power-ups and get you better at the skills that you need in order to finish the game.

Now, if we go all the way to the end, which in, in Super Mario, is usually Bowser's Castle, the difficulty is extreme.

So if we started at Bowser's Castle and the game was extremely hard to play from the very first level, I don't think the game would be as popular as it is.

Lord Crump, you better have news to report.

I learned that there is an ancient book of Koopa black magic being held at Bowser's Castle.

What? It was believed that there was no such book left in existence.

I know, sir, but for whatever reason, it seems King Bowser did not destroy this book.

But we can talk more later.

Bowser's Castle should be just up ahead.

I thought I smelled something burning.

Focus, M. Bowser's got the Power Stars, and you know-

And it's, it's spooky, and it's scary, and it creates that, the mood and the atmosphere, and it does it really well.

And then you have Bowser's Castle again, which is really, like, foreboding.

And it feels like almost like a final level because you have the lava and the Thwomps that'll slam down on you and just, you know, like you get to the end of Super Mario Bros. 1, you get to the end of each world, and you have to go through the castle.

It feels like that, and I feel like it pays homage to [laughs] Super Mario Bros. 1.

And he's a little devil, and it slows you down.

And then there's Piranha Plants in, uh, Choco Plains.

And then there's Thwomps in Bowser's Castle.

And then there's Super Thwomps in Rainbow Road, and when you get, when you get hit with a normal Thwomp, it flattens you.

to avoid at this stage of the game, isn't it?

Yeah, but I mean like there's a level that looks just like Bowser's Castle.

There's a level that kind of looks quite a lot like one of the Mario Ice levels and all that sort of stuff.

But on the other hand, they have made a real effort to differentiate it in terms of like your boost at the start is done with a totally different and I think better mechanic.

Uh, yeah, it's called Dark World in most versions of the localized game.

It is called Bowser Castle or Koopa Castle in some versions of the game.

Uh, but I'm not sure...

I can't remember exactly what the reason is for that split in the way those things are named.

Uh, I, I feel like...

Okay, you know what? I do really like them animating that sequence where he's in Mario, he's Bowser Castle, and then they show him, like, the, all the walls close together, and then it shows the 2D landscape and it's like, oh, this is how the Mar- this was out- like, how it looks to us when in the 2D, like, when we're playing the, the Bowser's castle, um, in original Mario.

But it shows, like, all the walls closing in on him, and then it sh- like, switches to this, the side scrolling lev- like, part, the, like, how we see it.

And I'm like, "That's very clever.