SNES Bowser Castle 3

Bowser Castle 3 is the fourth course of the Star Cup in Super Mario Kart. Like every Bowser Castle course, the entire race is held inside a large castle room filled with a big lava pool.

The course returns in Mario Kart: Super Circuit as the second track of the Extra Star Cup and in Mario Kart Tour, starting with the 2023 Bowser Tour.

Super Mario Kart
Typical elements of Bowser Castles, including falling Thwomps, zippers, jump lines, and forks, are all to be found here. One major fork allows the player to choose one of three ways. The leftmost has six coins and one zipper, but is farthest away and narrows the following turn into a hairpin. The easiest path to reach is the right one, which has a jump line and a zipper directly behind such that a player who hits the jump line passes over the zipper. To reach the zipper, the player must time a hop over the jump line and activate the zipper. The middle path has six coins and two jump lines with Question Blocks positioned behind them.

Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Bowser Castle 3 reappeared in Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and is the second track of the Extra Star Cup. It uses the background from that game's Bowser Castle 1. The Thwomps and zippers were removed from the track, along with the jump pad in the rightmost path at the end. Also, the Question Blocks in the first split path were reduced to just three Item Boxes (one on both sides early on, and one in the middle afterwards).

Mario Kart Tour
Bowser Castle 3 returns in Mario Kart Tour starting with the 2023 Bowser Tour, marking the first reappearance of an SNES Bowser Castle course in a Mario Kart title since Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Unlike the other SNES courses present in the game, the course has received a major visual and gameplay overhaul, including a new starting banner. It is also the first SNES remake in the Mario Kart series to feature any kind of dynamic elevation. Unlike the GBA Bowser's Castle courses in Mario Kart Tour, this course retains its original name, Bowser Castle, as opposed to being changed to read "Bowser's Castle". If counting DS Shroom Ridge as a Tour retro due to it being made for Tour first, despite debuting earlier in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, SNES Bowser Castle 3 is the first retro course added to Tour in 2023 that previously returned in a past Mario Kart installment.

Large stretches of the course are now angled vertically, including segments of lava. The course now features more walls, pillars, and ramps. Offroad has been added all throughout the course, similar in appearance to the offroad present in GBA Bowser's Castles. Unlike in most other Tour courses, the offroad is not blocked off at all through the game's Smart Steering, even for the patches that do not serve as opportunities for shortcuts. The layout of the jump section has been streamlined, with the platforms all being fully aligned and offroad now breaking up the platforms. Lava Geysers now erupt from the lava. An extra turn has been added before the U-bend where the track previously only got thinner, marked with an arrow sign. The walls separating the three roads towards the end can now be driven on, and gaps have been added between sections of the walls. The final turn is now a curved bend as opposed to two 90 degree turns. Bone Piranha Plants have been added to the end of the course. The background is more open, since the arches in the background have been trimmed down and do not fill the entire horizon. A volcano similar to that of 3DS Bowser's Castle has been added to the course's background. The course is a favorite of Rosalina (Chef), White Tanooki Mario, Meowser, Petey Piranha, and the Goomba, Green, and Larry Mii Racing Suits.

The course also appears as Bowser Castle 3R (reversed), Bowser Castle 3T (with ramps), and Bowser Castle 3R/T (reversed with ramps). In the R variant, a Glide Ramp is added before the left turn leading to the finish line, allowing racers to diagonally skip to the latter.

Like with the Donut Plains, Koopa Beach, and Vanilla Lake courses, this course reuses its original musical arrangement from Super Mario Kart.

For this course's tour appearances, see List of SNES Bowser Castle 3 tour appearances in Mario Kart Tour.

Names in other languages
Bowsers Festung 3 (Super Mario Kart) Castello di Bowser 3 (SNES)