Super Mario RPG: Bowser's Keep - The Six-Door Challenge Walkthrough

Welcome to our complete story walkthrough of Super Mario RPG on Nintendo Switch and SNES.

It’s finally time to head back to Bowser’s Keep to put a stop to the Smithy Gang once and for all. After returning from Barrel Volcano, Mallow’s parents have lent Mario and friends the royal bus, which takes them straight to the keep. The seventh and final Star Piece awaits, as do Super Mario RPG's final challenges.

Here’s our guide on Bowser’s Keep, how to pass the Six-Door Challenge, and how to reach the final dungeon.

Bowser’s Keep Enemies

Terra Cotta

Upgraded versions of the Terrapin enemies you saw at the beginning of the game. Put Bowser in your party and it will flee the battle.

Pro Goomba / Gu Goomba

Another enemy that will take off running if Bowser is in the party. Otherwise, they’re rather weak and are just upgraded Goombas.

Star Cruster

These enemies won’t flee if Bowser is in the party, but they do at least have a low magic defense. Hit them with some spells to get rid of them.

Malakoopa

They’ll often run at the beginning of a battle. Otherwise, they’re weak to Mallow’s electricity skills.

Grand Troopa / Tub-O-Troopa

A large green Heavy Troopa. Just like those enemies, Grand Troopas quickly go down to attacks from Mario’s Lazy Shell weapon.

Forkie

These guys won’t attack you as long as you don’t attack them. They often appear with enemies that will flee upon seeing Bowser, so you may as well flee yourself if you’re all good on experience points.

Big Blaster / Big Bertha

Another cannon enemy, these are resistant to physical attacks and do a lot of damage. Just take them out as quick as you can.

Comeon / Chester

This enemy appears as part of the Six-Door Challenge. A chest enemy means it's time for Mario to use his Jumping skills once again.

Bahamutt

An enemy that appears in the Six-Door Challenge and is summoned by the Comeon. It’s weak to ice skills, so use one of Mallow’s if he’s in your party. Otherwise, stick with your strongest spells as long as they’re not fire-based!

Bowser’s Keep Walkthrough

Before you continue, put Bowser in your party. Lots of the enemies here still recognize him and will run away if encountered in battle. That’ll save you lots of time!

With that in mind, head forward two rooms and you’ll encounter an area with a bridge extending over lava. Cross it, and then hop over each of the platforms before moving to the next area. Avoid or fight the enemies found here and keep moving forward.

This room is dark inside, but hug the wall and keep heading northeast and you’ll find a room with a save block inside. At the southwest end of this area is a hidden passage, so head inside there.

This passage leads to a room with a bunch of coins and a full heal. You’ll also find Croco, who just so happens to be roaming Bowser’s Keep. He offers to sell you items and armor, so feel free to purchase anything you need. If you missed the fire armor, you can also buy all of that now.

The Six-Door Challenge

In the next room is the Six-Door Challenge. There are six doors in this room and six different possible challenges — two action courses, two battle courses, and two puzzle courses. However, these are randomized every single time, so you’ll have to pick which door you want to enter at random.

We'll cover all six possible challenges and their rewards. Some of the best weapons in the game are behind these doors, so they're all worth doing.

Action course #1

The first action challenge contains Terrapins that hop around and reveal an invisible path. There are treasure chests along the way, too. In the next room, hop across the platforms and move to the next area.

Here, it's time to play 3D Donkey Kong! The barrels move very fast, so jump as carefully as you can and touch the Chained Kong at the end to clear the challenge. Your reward is the Super Slap, a weapon for Peach.

Action course #2

This action course involves even more platform-hopping. Ride the last platform in this room all the way to the top to get a Croaka Cola / Kerokero Cola, but take care not to fall off!

In the next room, hop onto the ball and roll around for treasure boxes. Your controls are reversed here, so be careful and make sure you don’t bump into the Bob-ombs.

In the third room, stand on the platform to move the other one and open as many surprise boxes as you’d like. When you’re done, move to the end of the room and claim a Sonic Cymbal weapon for Mallow.

Battle courses #1

This room contains a gauntlet of enemies, with the final fight being against Comeon / Chester and a Bahamutt.

Bowser will scare away a good chunk of the early enemies, but the others are all fairly easy foes you’ve fought up until this point. You’ll be able to heal in between battles, too. Use spells that target every enemy at once. Your reward is a Drill Claw, which you should equip on Bowser right away.

Battle course #2

Another gauntlet of enemies. Once again, Bowser will help scare off some enemies in the earlier waves. You'll come across many magical-based enemies, with the final fight putting you up against 5x Shaman. Heal up as you go and when you've cleared the gauntlet, you’ll receive the Star Gun, a new weapon for Geno.

Puzzle courses #1

Treasure Coin game

In this room, you'll meet Dr. Topper, who presents you with a coin game. Mario and Dr. Topper will take turns collecting coins from a box, and whoever collects the last one loses.

Keep track of the number of coins in your head and this one should be easy. Aim to get Dr. Topper to go down to five so you can force him down to one.

Switch game solution

In the next room, jump from switch to switch until all of them are switched off.

We've got all four button you need to press to solve this puzzle:

Ball solitaire solution

The third room contains Ball Solitaire, in which you need to kick a ball over a neighboring one to make it disappear.

This s is a four-by-four grid, and we've used a table below to outline what order to hit the balls in, and in what direction:

The game ends when there’s one ball left, but if you fail, you'll have to do all three rooms again. You get a Rock Candy as your reward.

Puzzle course #2

Dr. Topper's Quiz questions and answers

Dr. Topper is here to ask you trivia questions. If you’ve been talking to the Toads around towns and paying attention in-game, most of these questions should be pretty easy as they're all Mario-related questions or questions about items and enemies in Super Mario RPG.

Here are some of the questions and answers you can get:

• What is the fourth option on the Menu screen? - Items
• Where was the first Star Piece found? - The Mushroom Kingdom
• What was Mallow asked to get for the Frog Sage? - Cricket Pie
• What words do Beezos use when they sing? - "La de dah"
• Which enemy is only found in the Sunken Ship? - Reacher
• Mite is Dyna's.... what? - Little Brother
• How long have the couple inside the chapel been waiting for their wedding? - Thirty minutes
• Who is the ultimate enemy in this adventure? - Smithy
• Who is the famous sculptor in Nimbus Land? - Garro
• What color is the end of Dodo's beak? - Red
• In the Moleville Blues, it's said that the moles are covered in What? - Soil
• What is Cinder Toad in charge of at the middle counter? - The Inn
• Which monster does not appear in Booster Tower? - Terrapin
• Who is the leader of the Axem Rangers? - Red
• What does Birdo come out of - An eggshell
• What was Peach doing when she was kidnapped by Bowser? - She was looking at flowers
• What's the password in the Sunken Ship? - Pearls

Count the barrels

In the next room, count the number of barrels on-screen. You'll have ten seconds to count them. Unfortunately, there's no easy way of doing this — you'll just have to sit and manually count down the barrels. The only tip we can give is to count in pairs or threes, depending on how the barrels are piled up.

Triathlon riddle solution

In the third room, you’ll have to determine the order in which each enemy placed during a triathlon. The answer is always the same, but the monster saying the answers changes.

Here is the correct order:

• 1st place - “I outrode (them) on my bike..."
• 2nd place - “I fell into 4th place..."
• 3rd place - “I placed the same in the swimming...”
• 4th place - “I came in 3rd for swimming...”

You’ll receive a Rock Candy in exchange for completing this course.

Bowser’s Keep Continued

After you clear your fourth door, you’ll fall down to a small room with a save block. Save your progress if you like and make sure you’re all healed up because it’s time for a boss battle.

Between all the puzzles and fighting, Bowser’s Keep is certainly quite the challenge…

Boss - Wizakoopa

Another Mario staple, Wizakoopa (or Magikoopa, really) isn't afraid of Bowser, so it won't run away. We've covered this boss in our How To Defeat Wizakoopa guide, so head over there if you're struggling.

After beating him, you’ll find out it was under Smithy’s mind control. It’ll summon an infinite coin box, so hit it as much as you want and then talk to Magikoopa to restore your health.

The final shop

In the leftmost door you'll find Croco again! He's now selling a new tier of armor, so use that infinite coin box to buy everything plus some healing items if you’re running low. That said, if you have the Lazy Shell, keep that on Peach – it comes in handy to have her around if you’re having trouble with a boss. You can put an Amulet on her to make her even more of a tank.

When you’ve done your shopping, head through the door on the right to get to an area with Thwomps. When they collide with the ground, you’ll lose the ability to move for a moment, so make sure you’re not under a Thwomp when that happens. There are also Bullet Bills, so fight them or jump over them and continue to the next room for yet another boss fight.

Boss - Boomer

You’ll encounter Boomer, who challenges Mario in the same room you defeated Bowser in at the very beginning of the game. To give Boomer the blast, have a read through our How To Defeat Boomer guide.

Unfortunately, after defeating Boomer things are just getting started, because the chandelier rises upward and leads you to the real boss fight.

Boss - Exor

This huge sword might just be the toughest regular boss in Super Mario RPG, making it a fitting challenge to reach the final dungeon. We've covered the best strategy for beating Exor in our boss guide, so make sure you take a look at that if you're struggling.

It turns out that Exor is the gate between Mario’s world and Smithy’s world, and he’s just absorbed you into another dimension! Now it’s time to take on the final dungeon, Weapon World and the Factory.

For more help on getting through Super Mario RPG, check out our full Super Mario RPG guide for everything you need.