Bowser's Castle

**Bowser's Castle** is the first portion of the third and final Bowser stage in the game. It is found at the top of the endless stairs. Bowser's Castle, alongside the later sections of Bowser 3, is the final stage played in all main categories.

FLUDD can be brought into Bowser 3 without the use of any special techniques, as the game does not reset what FLUDDs the player has equipped upon entering the stage.

Bowser 3 can be accessed early by using a shortcut in the main lobby of Peach's Castle. By rocketing into the ceiling in the center of the room, players can access the launch star immediately. A well-timed hover also works.

## Bowser 3 Early

### Enter Secret Passageway

First, you want to enter the secret passageway on the right side of the Main Hall.

#### Beginner

There's several similarly fast beginner strategies. One of the simplest is to simply dive right, jump up the stairs, and then continue going right. You can also try triple jumping off of the pillar right of the entrance.

#### Advanced (Fast Double Jump)

Optimal movement is to do an instant double jump immediately after gaining control, then do two dive recovers, a jump spin, and a jump dive. If you're bad at the instant double jump, you can do the double jump a little slower by walking left a couple steps first (this loses around 0.2-0.3s.)

### Secret Passageway

If you stop pressing right before the screen transition, you'll be standing in a small section where there is a short ceiling. You can use this to quickly double or triple jump.

#### Triple Jump

The triple jump might be slightly easier, as the inputs are more spread out and you're much less likely to fall down.

#### Double Jump Spin

The double jump spin is optimally 0.2s faster or so.

### Rocket and Turbo Room

#### Beginner

It's important that you hold right as the room loads; otherwise, you might get pulled into the launch star.

#### Instant Dive

Since you begin the room slightly above the ground, with good timing you can instantly dive and dive recover. This saves around 0.5-0.75s.

### Bowser 3 Early

It's important to avoid accidentally entering a door while attempting to do Bowser 3 Early, and *especially* important to avoid accidentally entering Secret of the Mushroom (which loses around 30 seconds or so.)

#### Beginner

The simplest strategy for beginners is to fall down and use the door, then switch to rocket and rocket straight up.

#### Intermediate

Going back through the secret passageway through the same route you came is a little faster.

#### Advanced

Switching to rocket sooner can save a couple seconds in the Main Hall room, but makes it harder to aim into the shortcut.

#### Passageway Dive

A precisely timed dive in the passageway can save 0.2-0.3s.

#### Lobby Floor Skip

Lobby Floor Skip is performed with a very well timed jump as you re-enter the Main Hall. It saves around 0.1-0.2s with optimal play, but is very difficult.

## Beginning

### Outside

#### Beginner

Entering the castle is simple: switch to turbo, do a turbo double jump, and then press shift twice to rocket. After the rocket, spam X to buffer spins until you reach the door.

#### Intermediate

A slightly (roughly 0.5s) faster strategy is to delay the double jump and jump off a later platform. With good play, only two spins should be required—extra spins will lose time due to overshooting the door.

#### Rocket Capture

By rocket capturing while falling and delaying the rocket longer, you can save an additional half second or more. This strategy only requires one spin. Spinning early can be helpful for consistency.

### Lobby

#### Air Rockets

Ideally, the lobby looks like a smooth chain of three air rockets. This can be performed consistently, but largely relies on muscle memory.

#### Backup

If the air rockets are missed, they can simply be replaced by double jumps.

### Double Rocket

This room is a very straightforward double rocket, with some minor optimizations available at the top level. Instructions on how to perform a double rocket can be found at the double rocket page.

It's important to make sure you switch to turbo before entering the door at the end to prepare for Huge Room 1.

#### Ground Pound Dive

A ground pound dive can save 0.2-0.5 seconds or so depending on execution.

## Huge Room 1

The Huge Rooms are pretty substantial gameplay portions. It's very reasonable to only implement individual small pieces at a time instead of trying to learn every advanced strat in the rooms all at once. These are some of the trickiest rooms in the run.

Remember that it's often better to do a strat you're comfortable with over one which is slightly faster but less consistent.