Black Bowser’s Castle is the thirtieth and final level of Paper Mario: Color Splash, and our guide covers every Mini Star within this level of our walkthrough.
See our colorization guide if you’re looking to patch up those colorless spots and fully complete this level.
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Reaching Black Bowser’s Castle
We’re almost there! Trying to use the newly created rainbow in Port Prisma results in failure, but just when he’s needed most, Luigi races in riding his newly painted kart. Hop aboard and ride Rainbow Road all the way over to Black Bowser’s Castle! Before you head out, make sure you have a Washing Machine Thing handy. If you don’t have it, buy one from the Wringer in Port Prisma since you’ve already gotten it once before at Vortex Island.
Head inside and walk down the hallway to find Princess Peach colorless and pinned to a frame. Try whacking it off the wall only to open a trap door beneath you.
Roy
HP: 420
Required Thing: Washing Machine. Find it in Vortex Island when you stop the whirlpool by grabbing the thing from the laundry room.
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.
The Final Level
With Roy defeated, heal up and collect all the paint bubbles before heading into the next area. Your goal here is to get on the conveyor belt and make it into the first room. Move the stepladder and use it to reach the top of the crates. Take out a Paint Guy and wait in line. Since you don’t have a bucket, you’ll get kicked out. Get back on the conveyor belt but this tip tap up on your D-Pad to call out Huey to use him as a bucket.
The next room will show off more of Bowser’s evil plan. Once you pass through the next door, you’ll soon find that the conveyor belt leads to a giant black paint bucket. Make a quick exit by jumping to the left and grabbing the flag pole to safely make it to the area below. Looks like you’re going to have to find a way to blow up all the Big Bob-ombs in the area.
Hop and knock the Bob-ombs off their lifts on the right, then run over to the crates and let blast blow through the boxes. Walk over to the left and you’ll be greeted by a group of Hammer Bros, Ice Bros, and the like.
Once defeated, walk over to the fenced off area in the back. Whack the center fence to knock it over. Knock out a few Bob-ombs from the lifts on the left and have them follow you over to the Big Bob-ombs. Now watch the place explode!
As the black paint rises, start making a run for it! Don’t stop for too long and keep running and you’ll make it to the door. Now that you’re safe, hit the Save Block (please do!) and move to the right to have the black paint start pouring in through the door. There is one set path that you can take to make it through this next area, so it’s easy to go the wrong way, get stuck, and face a Game Over screen. First you’ll want to take the ramp on the right and then walk through the inside of the giant black pipe. Use the warp pipe to escape!
Now back in the lobby, pull the rope to reveal a door in the wall. Head inside to find a long path leading to the final room. You’ll be able to save and replenish both your health and paint here. Head through the double doors to face the final boss!
Final Battle
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.
Bowser
HP: 700
Required Thing: None.
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!
The fight is over, but there’s still an escape waiting to unfold! As the castle starts to crumble around you, jump up to Peach’s colorless portrait and fill in the white space with your hammer. With Peach rescued, start heading south as pillars come crashing down around you. Keep following the path making sure not to get trapped in the remaining black paint by staying on the sinking platforms for too long. Get outside and hitch a ride with Luigi to get back to Port Prisma!
And there you have it. Watch a few emotional scenes here and there, then stick around for the credits. You did the thing! You beat Color Splash!
