The Trial Course



The Trial Course is a series of corridors located deep within Bowser's Keep in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. It begins with a room of six numbered doors. Two of the doors lead to "action courses" where Mario must use his jumping ability to navigate obstacles and enemies (which do not lead to battle encounters) and collect items, two lead to "battle courses" with a series of consecutive fights against enemies summoned by Magikoopa, and two lead to "puzzle courses" where the player is challenged by quizmaster Dr. Topper. Each door's destination is randomized each playthrough. When a course is completed, the player is sent back to the room with the doors, where that course's door is now marked with an X. Each course has a reward at the end, and four must be completed to progress; once the fourth is completed, the paths leading back to the room with the doors and the castle before become inaccessible until Bowser's Keep is exited upon Exor's defeat.

Action courses
Mario gets ten tries to get through a series of obstacle-filled rooms; if he makes 10 faults before the course is complete, he is booted back to the room with the doors. Every fault also causes a loss in coins.

Action course 1
A series of rising-and-falling gray blocks between a stone overhang and a lava pit must be jumped across. A treasure box on top of the overhang contains a Kerokero Cola. Mario must balance on an iron ball to jump to high places as two Bob-ombs loosely pursue him, exploding if they touch him off the ball. Eight large coins are up in the air. Treasure boxes contain a Pick Me Up, a Max Mushroom, a Rock Candy, and two Flowers. A pair of gray blocks rotate around each other when stood upon, shown previously in Bandit's Way. This time, however, it is over an enormous lava pit. Treasure boxes contain a Royal Syrup, a Fire Bomb, a Pick Me Up, a Kerokero Cola, and two Flowers.
 * Room 1:
 * Room 2:
 * Room 3:

The reward is the Sonic Cymbal.

Action course 2
An invisible maze is suspended over lava. It becomes visible for an instant when jumped upon, which is demonstrated by three Terrapins that briskly move from the beginning to the end ahead of Mario. Four large coins are in the air over the maze. Treasure boxes contain a Fright Bomb, an Ice Bomb, a Royal Syrup, and a Rock Candy. Several gray blocks move back-and-forth laterally across a lava pit, stopping while Mario jumps. Treasure boxes contain a Max Mushroom, a Red Essence, a Fire Bomb, and a Flower. A Guerilla imitates Donkey Kong, throwing barrels down an isometric room similar to 25m, though without slopes or ladders. Once Mario reaches the Guerilla at the top, it flees down the side.
 * Room 1:
 * Room 2:
 * Room 3:

The reward is the Super Slap.

Battle courses
Magikoopa spawns an enemy at each pair of statues, leading to an encounter against a group of standard enemies.

Battle course 1
The reward is the Star Gun.
 * Room 1:
 * Gu Goomba: 5 Gu Goombas
 * Malakoopa: 2 Malakoopas, 1 Tub-O-Troopa
 * Li'l Boo: 2 The Big Boos, 2 Orbisons
 * Sling Shy: 5 Sling Shies
 * Room 2:
 * Chewy: 2 Chewies, 2 Shy Aways
 * Mr. Kipper: 1 Mr. Kipper, 2 Muckles
 * Amanita: 2 Amanitas, 1 Orbison
 * Glum Reaper: 2 Greapers, 1 Glum Reaper
 * Room 3:
 * Pyrosphere: 3 Pyrospheres
 * Lakitu: 3 Lakitus
 * Zeostar: 2 Zeostars, 2 Shamans
 * Shaman: 6 Shamans

Battle course 2
The reward is the Drill Claw.
 * Room 1:
 * Terra Cotta: 4 Terra Cottas
 * Oerlikon: 2 Oerlikons, 1 Star Cruster
 * Sackit: 1 Sackit, 2 Big Berthas
 * Chow: 2 Chows, 1 Forkies
 * Room 2:
 * Alley Rat: 1 Alley Rat, 2 Armored Ants
 * Bloober: 3 Bloobers, 1 Star Cruster
 * Stinger: 5 Stingers
 * Geckit: 2 Geckits, 1 Chained Kong
 * Room 3:
 * Bob-omb: 1 Rob-omb, 2 Big Berthas
 * Vomer: 4 Vomers
 * Magmus: 2 Magmuses, 2 Pulsars
 * Pandorite family "item" icon: 1 Chester (can spawn Bahamutts)

Puzzle courses
Dr. Topper challenges Mario to solve his brainteasers. Failure puts Mario back in the room with the doors.

Puzzle course 1
Coin collecting: Mario and Dr. Topper take turns hitting a coin-filled treasure box up to four times in a row, trying to avoid collecting the 21st coin. Dr. Topper introduces Mario to a game called "Magic Buttons." Mario needs to depress a 4x4 group of 16 buttons, which each invert the state of all cardinally surrounding buttons. Dr. Topper has Mario play "Ball Solitaire." Mario must kick iron balls into bouncing over each other, similar to, to reduce a 4x4 grid of 15 balls down to one. It is automatic failure if a ball is made to leapfrog over two at once or bounces over nothing.
 * Room 1:
 * Room 2:
 * Room 3:

The reward is a Rock Candy.

Puzzle course 2
Dr. Topper gives Mario a trivia quiz consisting of 12 questions about the game, chosen randomly from a pool of 40. He has five seconds to answer each, with correct answers raising the block Mario stands on by one step, wrong answers lowering it by two, and timing out lowering it by one. The goal is eight steps high. The correct answers are highlighted in green.
 * Room 1:

Dr. Topper shows a small pile of barrels for ten seconds and has Mario count them, including the ones hidden by the camera angle, before hiding them again and having him give an answer. If Mario is correct, he moves on to a much larger pile, which he gives 20 seconds to count. Both numbers of barrels vary each play. Dr. Topper introduces Boo, Goo, Bones, and Kipp, who took part in a triathlon of swimming, cycling, and a marathon. He has Mario interview each to determine what order they finished in. Once Mario has an answer, Dr. Topper has him speak to them again in the order they came in. The one in first place said they outrode another during cycling and was never passed by them, the one in second says he fell into fourth during cycling but had a shared higher position in the other events, the one in third says he got the same position in swimming and cycling but was beaten by two in the marathon, and the one in fourth says he placed third in swimming.
 * Room 2:
 * Room 3:

The reward is a Rock Candy.