After arriving at King Dedede's Castle, Mario, Pit, Yoshi, Link, and Kirby find a cave behind a broken wall in the throne room. Assuming King Dedede fled into the caverns, they follow it. Along the way, they encounter Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Bullet Bills, and Hammer Bros. When they reach the end of the cave, they find not King Dedede, but Bowser instead. Mario proceeds to attack the Koopa king only to back off after seeing that Bowser is using Peach/Zelda's trophy as a shield. Pit fires an arrow at Bowser, who dodges it but falls off a cliff. He comes back in his Koopa Clown Car cackling at the group as he flees to the Halberd with his prize. Kirby goes to inspect the Dedede badge that fell off of Peach/Zelda's trophy.
Meanwhile, the Ancient Minister has set up another Subspace Bomb at King Dedede's Castle and detonates it, allowing the castle to be engulfed into subspace. At the same time, Ganondorf is contacted by Master Hand, who gives him his next assignment. Ganondorf then bows while grinning, hinting his eventual betrayal.