GBA Bowser's Castle 4: Difference between revisions

|image=[[File:MKSC Bowser Castle 4 Starting Line.png|240px|center]]

|tours=[[Bowser Tour (2023)]]

'''Bowser's Castle 4''' (known as '''Bowser Castle 4''' prior to ''[[Mario Kart Tour]]'') is the third course of the [[Special Cup]] in ''[[Mario Kart: Super Circuit]]''. It is the first Bowser's Castle course to appear as the third course of the Special Cup before [[Rainbow Road]], a trait that would later be shared by every new Bowser's Castle course in future main-series installments. It is the longest course in the game and shares its music with the game's other three Bowser Castles: [[GBA Bowser's Castle 1|1]], [[GBA Bowser's Castle 2|2]], [[GBA Bowser's Castle 3|3]].

Bowser's Castle 4 makes its [[classic course]] debut in ''Mario Kart Tour'', starting with the [[Bowser Tour (2023)|2023 Bowser Tour]], making this the first Special Cup course from ''Mario Kart: Super Circuit'' to return in another ''[[Mario Kart (series)|Mario Kart]]'' game. Twenty-two years elapsed before this course received its first reappearance, the longest time period out of any course in the series so far, beating [[GBA Yoshi Desert|Yoshi Desert]] by nearly a month. While it is still fashioned after the aesthetic of GBA Bowser's Castle 1 instead of keeping its original visuals, the castle is now depicted as ruined, with the castle situated within a lava lake bordered by two volcanos, and the lava inside the castle now flows into a large chasm in the middle. A large throne area has been added near the bottom section of the course, though players cannot reach it. The track has been given elevation and regular road portions, bringing it closer to other GBA course remakes in ''Tour''. While the layout remains relatively faithful to the original, some of the turns were simplified, the section with the holes of lava has fewer holes (all of which have ramps in front of them allowing them to be jumped over), and the section involving jumping between platforms was streamlined. New obstacles and elements have been added, like [[metal ball|metal balls]] (possibly as a nod to the [[iron ball]]s used by Bowser), which are dropped from dispensers with propellers keeping them afloat and bounce down a stretch of road that was previously a small split path. The [[Mechakoopa]]s are removed in this version. Two new gliding sections have been added, with one leading into a new split route in the bottom section of the course with pillars that can be tricked off of and a second one along the final stretch on the other route. This course is a favorite of [[Luigi|Luigi (Golf)]], [[Toadette|Toadette (Sailor)]], [[Luigi|Luigi (Chef)]], [[Tanooki Mario|Kitsune Luigi]], and the [[Mii|Bowser]], [[Mii|Castle]], [[Mii|Spike]], and [[Mii|Iggy Mii Racing Suits]]. It is also a favorite of the Ludwig Mii Racing Suit if it reaches level 8.

The course is also now a section-based course, similar to [[Wii Rainbow Road]]. Unlike that course, the beginning of lap 2 is clearly marked with a banner, which rests along the horizontal path in the upper-left portion of the course. This is the first section-based Bowser's Castle course in the series. Two parts of the road that overlap each other are depicted as connecting on the minimap.

The course also appears as '''Bowser's Castle 4R''' (reversed), thus making this course not only the first track since the [[Battle Tour]] to not have an R/T variant upon launch, but also the first track overall to not feature a T variant at launch. It is unclear if these course variants are planned for later release or not; there are internal IDs allotted for them, but at a size of one each, no data currently exists signaling they are set to release.

MKT Icon BowsersCastle4RGBA LuigiGolf.png|The course icon of the Reverse variant with Luigi (Golf)

MKT Icon BowsersCastle4RGBA WhiteTanookiMario.png|The course icon of the Reverse variant with White Tanooki Mario

|Fra=Château de Bowser 4

|FraM=Bowser’s Castle 4