Defeat every boss with colorful flair in our Paper Mario: Color Splash boss guide featuring the best strategies and tips for every boss encounter.
It’s not a Paper Mario game without an army of cool bosses with unique battles and fighting styles. The Paper Mario: Color Splash bosses may feature the tried and true Koopalings, but their fight patterns and weaknesses are certainly unique.
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Jump to each section of this walkthrough:
Morton
Morton
HP: 150
Location: The Crimson Tower
Required Thing: Fire Extinguisher. Find it at the end of Ruddy Road on your way to the second Mini Paint Star. You’ll need to have rescued all three Purple Rescue Squad members to reach it.
Morton is the boss of the first chapter. He waits up at the top of the The Crimson Tower and guards the red Big Paint Star.
Ah, time for the first boss battle! Morton is waiting near the Big Paint Star. He’ll start by summoning two Shy Guys to bring him a pedestal, but the two will stay for the battle. Take care of them first, then attack the pedestal so he can’t hide from any attacks.
Now that it’s just Morton, attack however you like, but be weary as he will soon light his hammer on fire. No big deal, right? WRONG. Getting hit by his hammer will take out a hefty 48 health.
So, instead of letting that happen, come prepared with the correct Thing card to use in battle. If you picked up the second Mini Star in Ruddy Road, then you should have also grabbed the Fire Extinguisher as well. Use it in battle to not only destroy his hammer and turn it into a measly stick, but you’ll also take out a chunk of his health.
Iggy
Iggy
HP: 180
Location: The Golden Coliseum
Required Thing: Bone. Find it at Marmalade Valley. After the first Princess chase, look for cracks in the wall. Smash through to rescue a Toad who will also throw you a Bone, specifically the Thing version of a Bone.
Iggy is the boss of the second chapter. He rules The Golden Coliseum and guards the yellow Big Paint Star. You’ll encounter Iggy twice, but you’ll only be able to defeat him the second time.
The battle against Iggy is fairly simple. Attack like normal and block like you would for any other enemy. Once you’ve gotten past half his health, he’ll call for his chariot backups. Try attacking these guys and they’ll simply move out of the way. Iggy returns with his own chariot and attacking him will get you the same thing. There is nothing you can do here, so flee the battle!
Once you return to fight Iggy a second time later on in the level, start fighting like you did before. When the chariots with the two enemies appear, do not use the Bone Thing Card yet. Use an attack, miss, then let Iggy join them. Once all three are present on the battlefield, use the Bone Thing Card to crush all the chariots, leaving just Iggy to fight. Defeat him, grab the yellow Big Paint Star, and end the second chapter!
Ludwig
Ludwig
HP: 150
Location: Fort Cobalt
Required Thing: Fire Extinguisher. Find it behind the performing stage in Plum Park. Once you have a basket, float to the stage and watch Birdo’s performance. Afterwards, hop onto the stage and grab the Balloons from the right side.
Ludwig is the boss of the third chapter. He waits at his submarine in Fort Cobalt and guards the blue Big Paint Star.
During this fight, normal attacks will do nothing against Ludwig’s ship. If you’ve been collecting cards throughout the level, you should have picked up a couple of Tail Cards. Activate them, then when Ludwig’s shoots out cannons from his ship, hit A to reflect them back. The next round you’ll have to take out two Koopa Paratroopas, but keep the Tail on and counterattack again.
The third round will have two Spikes appear. Have the tail handy, then reflect their spiked balls and the cannonball to bring down the ship. Too bad for us as Ludwig came prepared with a submarine. Not even the Tail will help at this point. This is where the Balloons Thing comes in. Use it to attach balloons to his submarine, forcing him up to the platform.
At this point you’ll be able to attack the submarine with whatever you like. The submarine will explode, allowing you to get a few final hits on Ludwig.
Wendy
Wendy
HP: 300
Location: Fortune Island
Required Thing: Instant Camera. Find it in Cobalt Base as the prize for answering all seven questions and the three bonus round questions correctly in Snifit or Whiffit.
Wendy is the boss of the fourth chapter. She waits within a clam in Fortune Island and guards the purple Big Paint Star.
Wendy’s main attack involves her grabbing five different items, usually coins but also enemies that will end up staying in the battle, that she will hurl at you. You can block each one, but you have to time it correctly with the rhythm of the song. Once enough damage is dealt, Wendy will hop into her shell and form a golden ring around her.
Doing anything besides using the Instant Camera will end in an instant death. The ring will surround the photo, a sacrifice I’m sure it was willing to make. With that out of the way, use your remaining attacks to finish her off.
Larry
Larry
HP: 350
Location: Sunset Express
Required Thing: Cork. Find it in Vortex Island stuck in the pipe that takes you to the parallel world. This one is required to progress, so you should have collected it at least once at this point.
Larry is the boss of the fifth chapter. He waits at the front of Sunset Express and guards the orange Big Paint Star.
Larry can be attacked with whatever attack you like, but this is really meaningless since he will hop onto the smokestack and have the Shy Guy down below heal him fully. This is where one courageous Toad comes into play! He needs three rounds to be able to get down there and stop the Shy Guy, so your job is to make sure you take out all three enemies that Larry brings forth for each round. Thing Cards work very well here.
Once the Toad defeats the Shy Guy, Larry will switch to using the smoke coming from the smokestack. Not only will this smoke take 15HP, but it will also cause all your moves to miss. This smoke is not leaving any time soon, so the only option you have is to use the Cork Thing that you got from the warp pipe in Vortex Island. With the smokestack plugged and out of commission, fight Larry like you would normally!
Lemmy
Lemmy
HP: 350
Location: The Emerald Circus
Required Thing: Disco Ball and Ice Pick. Find the Disco Ball in the same level by heading into the backroom of the circus and pulling on a rope. The Ice Pick is found in The Golden Coliseum. In the room with the group of five Goombas, walk through the arch on the right that heads outside to fall onto a narrow platform below. Move to the right and drop into the room where the Ice Pick can be found.
Lemmy is the boss of the sixth chapter. He waits inside The Emerald Circus and guards the green Big Paint Star.
The fight will Lemmy starts off pretty simple. You’ve got two of the Juggling Bros protecting Lemmy in the back. Fight him like you would any enemy until he loses about half his health. At that point Lemmy will come charging in with his spiked ball. Attacks won’t work here so you’ll need to rely on Things!
Use the Disco Ball to get Lemmy distracted, then throw out the Ice Pick to pop his spiked ball. Now it’s a level playing field, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finishing him off!
Roy
Roy
HP: 420
Location: Black Bowser’s Castle
Required Thing: Washing Machine. Find it in Vortex Island when you stop the whirlpool by grabbing the thing from the laundry room.
Roy is the first boss of the final level. He waits in the first room of Bowser’s Black Castle and guards the path that leads to Bowser.
The pit you fell into will lead to the final Koopaling battle with Roy. This battle is very different from the rest as Roy will summon a group of Slurp Guys to drain you of your Paint. And take your 1UP Cards as well! Roy will use his paint cannon to throw the paint back in your face. This deals a good chunk of damage, but it will also restore some of your paint. Each paint color will also add a special effect to Mario’s next turn:
- Red – Anger. Turn is sped up!
- Yellow – Rhythm! Blue cards are not usable!
- Blue – Sadness. Only blue cards will work this round.
- Purple – Poison. You’ll lose 10HP for every attack you make.
- Orange – Self-conscious. Only pre-painted cards will work.
- Green – No motivation. Turn is slowed down!
Once you damage Roy enough, he’ll mix all the paint together (!) and spew out black paint everywhere. From here, all your attacks will miss, so it’s time to rely on Things! You should have come prepared with a Washing Machine Thing that you got from Vortex Island. Use it to wash away all the black paint and resume the battle.
Black Bowser
Bowser
This is it! It’s the final battle! Bowser is covered in the mind controlling black paint and it’s your job to start chipping away at it, one attack at a time.
First Phase
The battle in the throne room begins! The goal throughout this entire fight is to knock the black paint off Bowser and eliminate it entirely from the battlefield. That’ll happen in different ways as the fight progresses. Once the black paint is completely removed, Bowser will be freed and the day will be saved.
Attacking Bowser will cause chunks of black paint to drop into a puddle on the floor. The stronger your attack, the more black paint that drops. Once you’ve gone through your turn and Bowser has had a chance to attack, he’ll spawn Black Lava Bubbles out of the fallen black paint. You’re going to want to clear these new baddies out quick because not only do they attack, but taking them out clears out that black paint for good.
Keep repeating this until you remove half of the black paint from Bowser’s body. If you have attacks like the Fire Flower that hits every enemy or a powerful hammer attack that can damage more than one enemy, put those to use on the Black Lava Bubbles! Thing cards are great for this too. Bowser has three attacks here: a shell spin attack (33 damage), a fire attack (18 damage), and a ground pound attack (38 damage). Each one can be blocked to reduce the damage.
Second Phase
After the real Bowser gets a moment to speak up, the black paint will entirely consume Bowser once again, this time doubling him in size as an added bonus. On your first turn, don’t pull out any strong attacks! Whatever black paint that drops from your attacks will be scooped up into an attack and thrown right back at you once it’s Bowser turn.
To combat this turn of events, Huey will turn back into a card and ask you to use him to return to this clunky 3D form. Now you can use him to not only block Bowser’s new black paint attacks, but doing so will suck up said black paint into the helpful can. And that’s how you’ll clear out the rest of the black paint from Bowser. If you mess up a block and get fully attacked by a black paint move, that black paint will return to Bowser rendering your previous turn useless.
There are several attacks to be aware of, including a black paint toss (48 damage), a hammer attack (72), a tornado shell lunge (96 damage). Once you get you get the black paint removed to around Bowser’s mouth, he’ll stop and shout “PREPARE TO FACE…MY LAST BREATH.” He’s planning to scoop up his remaining black paint for one final massive attack at a whopping 120 damage! After sucking in all the black paint, Bowser will spit out a giant black blob that slowly moves towards Mario. You’ll want to hit the block button just a short moment before the blob makes impact. Maybe about half a second before!
If you block the attack successfully, you’ll scoop up all the black paint into the can. Just one final attack to finish off a defenseless Bowser to end the game!
