Bowser Castle 3 is the fourth course in the Star Cup in Super Mario Kart, and also returned as an extra course in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, as the second course in the Extra Star Cup. This course made it's first 3D Mario Kart debut in Mario Kart Tour starting with the Bowser Tour (2023). It later reappears in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as one the tracks in Wave 6 of the Booster Course Pass DLC, being the third course of the Spiny Cup.
Many consider this the hardest track in the game. Not only are the racers quite hard to catch up to, but the track itself is difficult to traverse, with many walls, jumps above lava, sharp turns and thin corridors.
Layout[]
Super Mario Kart[]
The track starts with a quick first turn which leads racers straight to a thin walled corridor. This first trap can easily ruin a race, even if the player arrives first into the corridor. come after that another left turn straight into the other big section; multiple jumps above the lava pool, to reach very small patches of stone. Four paths open to the racer, before another left turn.
Straight after the turn, a hidden zipper that most inexperienced players miss. Another thin walled section leads to the central hairpin, heading right.
From the central hairpin, three branches open up. The left one has coins and Item Boxes, but needs to be reached. Others have zippers set straight after jump bars, making unaware players avoid them due to the jumps.
After the triple corridor, another hairpin heads left, into a final S curve which leads back to the checkered line.
Mario Kart: Super Circuit[]
In Mario Kart: Super Circuit this track is the same but, the Thwomps and the zipper are removed and has the GBA Bowser Castle 1 background.
Mario Kart Tour[]
This course returned in Mario Kart Tour, debuting in the Bowser Tour (2023) alongside GBA Bowser Castle 4. It is the only SNES Bowser Castle course to be introduced in Tour, as well as the final SNES course to be introduced. Unlike other SNES remakes, this course was given a major overhaul with new obstacles (such as Bone Piranha Plants) and added elevation. Racers can now drive on the walls, and the paths between the walls now have some gaps. The left turns before the sinusoidal turn have been rounded out into a single U-turn.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[]
SNES Bowser Castle 3 in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
This course reappeared in Wave 6 of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass as the penultimate course of the Spiny Cup as well as the whole game. Its layout is the same as in Mario Kart Tour, but with updated textures and lighting, as well as adding Anti-gravity to the elevated bend at the start. Additionally, the bricks and mud at the top of the bend have been replaced with a steel wire platform with Spin Boost Pillars. The sinusoidal turn right after has been turned into a diagonal turn, making it easier to navigate, and a single thwomp has been added right after. The coins on the wall jumps have been replaced with item boxes. The mud section next to the final jump has been turned into an off-road shortcut, and two thwomps with coins on top have been added right before the finish line, and can be tricked off of if timed correctly. This course is also noticeably bigger than the Tour version to compensate for there being 12 racers instead of 8.
Trivia[]
- Not counting Super Circuit, this is the only SNES Bowser Castle to be brought back as a retro course.
- This is the only SNES course in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to not be the 2nd course in its cup, instead being the 3rd.
- This is the only SNES retro course in any game to have major elevation changes.
- There has been elevation in SNES courses in the past, but they were very minor, such as:
- Mario Circuit 2 has an elevated glide ramp in Mario Kart 7.
- Rainbow Road has very slight elevation changes in Mario Kart 8 (Deluxe), however they are so small that they are barely noticeable.
- There has been elevation in SNES courses in the past, but they were very minor, such as:
- This course was originally supposed to come in Wave 5 of the Booster Course Pass as the third course of the Cherry Cup (as evidenced by it being labeled in the files as "Cnsw_57"), but it got pushed back to Wave 6 for as of yet unknown reasons.
- This is the only retro Bowser's Castle in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Previous track:
Vanilla Lake 1 |
Current track:
Bowser Castle 3 |
Next track:
Mario Circuit 4 |
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Previous track:
SNES Vanilla Lake 1 |
1st reappearance:
Mario Kart: Super Circuit |
Next track:
SNES Mario Circuit 4 |
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Previous track:
Athens Dash 1 & 2 |
2nd reappearance:
Mario Kart Tour |
Next track:
GBA Bowser's Castle 4 |
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Previous track:
3DS Rosalina's Ice World |
3rd reappearance:
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe |
Next track:
Wii Rainbow Road |
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