RTA Guide/Bowser Battles
Each Bowser battle is located at the end of its respective stage: Bowser in the Dark World, Bowser in the Fire Sea, and Bowser in the Sky.
Tips
- Avoid letting Bowser make more than three full rotations before throwing him; otherwise, he will start spinning too fast to reliably aim.
- In order to trigger Bowser's text after defeating him, Mario must be within a short distance of him and face towards the center of his body.
- The "whoosh" sound that plays while spinning Bowser is not indicative of whether he is pointing towards a bomb; try to focus on aiming visually.
- It is highly recommended that runners who play using an original Nintendo 64 controller switch to a different controller for Bowser fights, as rapidly spinning the N64 controller's stick will wear it down.
- Recommended controllers include a Hori Mini Pad, a Retro-Bit Tribute 64 or Warrior64, or a GameCube controller via a Raphnet adapter.
Bowser in the Dark World
Standard
To avoid a high throw and save time, let go of the stick right before pressing B to throw.
Advanced (3/4 Spin)
Bowser Dance
Bowser has a ~10% chance to "dance" in place at the beginning of the fight; this allows you to grab his tail earlier and thus throw him quicker. Grabbing his tail near the tip places you closer to the bomb and can make the throw easier.
Bowser in the Fire Sea
In this battle, Mario cannot grab Bowser until the platform stops teetering completely. Avoid groundpounding around Bowser's side of the platform during this period, otherwise Mario may clip through and fall into the lava underneath.
Standard
Advanced (3/4 Spin)
As shown in these examples, you can delay your dive and let Bowser rotate longer if you need more room to spin; if you can spin faster, you can dive earlier to save more time.
Expert (1/2 Spin)
Bowser in the Sky
This fight requires three hits to defeat Bowser instead of one like in the first two fights; select a bomb order that works best for you below and go for it every time for consistency.
Bomb Order 1
Bomb Order 2
Bomb Order 3 (Expert)