User:SigmaShield/Ztar Articles/Seasonal Sanctuary

Seasonal Sanctuary is a hidden course in certain personalized copies that have a specific version of the castle grounds. The area itself is a large floating island above the castle, indicated by ending up in front of the castle when falling off the island. The island is split into 4 areas, each with a season. The skybox is simply a large cloud texture. The autumn segment has several leafless trees, and contain Tweesters, Leaf Daggers, Fwooshes, Lakitus, Spinies, and Paratroopas. The winter segment has dead trees, a cloud that drops snow, a lake with ice around the edges, and a cabin with a bed and window in it. The winter segment includes Snowmen, Black Penguins, Dry Bones, Para-Dry Bones, and Spindrifts. The spring segment contains trees that grow fruit that Yoshi can eat to heal the player. There are fruits on other trees, but these are the only healing fruits. The spring segment includes Piranha Plants, Goombas, Koopa Troopas, and Paratroopas. The summer segment is a near identical version of the spring segment, but with a darker shade of green and the fruits don't heal. They have the same enemies as the spring segment.

How To Access
The personalized castle grounds needs a large round path with 4 patches of grass in the middle. Each patch represents a different season, with the surrounding road going through the middle of the grass. The top left grass patch represents winter, with white grass and a dead tree. The bottom left grass patch represents spring, with bright green grass and a tree with apples and bright green leaves growing on it. The bottom right grass patch represents summer, with dark green grass and a tree similar to the spring tree but with no fruit and dark green leaves. The top right grass patch represents autumn, with orange grass and a fruitless tree with orange leaves. The surrounding road splits off into 4 paths: To the cannon that sends you to the castle roof, to the castle, at the starting pipe of the game, and to a piece of land with a fence on it that otherwise would have a drop into the castle moat. There is a ring of land surrounding the moat, and the path cuts off to the waterfall behind the castle. You have to punch the spring tree, and grab a fruit that falls down. You must then throw it into the cannon, shooting it to Yoshi, who will then jump over to Mario, who gets on Yoshi's back and Yoshi walks into the central path and jumps up as the screen fades to white. After completing the first mission. You must have unlocked the cannon used to reach Yoshi before entering Seasonal Sanctuary, or else the fruit won't be sent to Yoshi.

Missions
"1. YOSHI'S FRUIT HUNT" "2. WINTER ATTACK" "3. MARIO GETS STICK BUGGED" "4. WINTER RETURN" "5. BOWSER'S INVASION" "6. 8 SEASONAL COINS" "7. COIN COLLECTION" "8. WINTER FINALE"

Yoshi's Fruit Hunt
The first mission starts immediately when first accessing Seasonal Sanctuary, skipping the star select screen. You ride Yoshi, who can flutter jump, and eat enemies. You must find every gold fruit and have Yoshi eat all of them to get a star. The star select screen will reappear afterwards.

Winter Attack
When you enter the mission, you will see that every season has turned into winter, and that Yoshi is absent. A smaller floating island, above the center of the main island, will spawn in. A large Snowman wearing a crown, known as King Blizzard, will throw snowballs at the player from above on the smaller floating island. You must find a key and open a cage holding Yoshi in what was the autumn segment, you then must flutter jump using Yoshi to small floating islands leading up to King Blizzard. Yoshi must repeatedly eat the snow that makes up King Blizzard until it is completely gone. The crown will explode and a star will appear from it, and the other season's areas will turn back to their original seasons. The floating islands are only present in this stage.

Mario Gets Stick Bugged
When you start the mission, a Stick Bug instead of where the Yoshi cage was present will appear. It will challenge you to a game of Hide and Seek. "Hey mister, are you the one who stopped winter from taking over the entire island? Thanks! Want to play hide and seek?" If you accept, you have to go to every season area and find the Stick Bug, and they will then jump away. "Eek! You found me!" You can find them in any order. Once you find them for the fourth time, they will appear in the center of the island and give a power star when interacted with, and they jump away. "That was fun, mister! Thanks for playing with me! Take this thing I found laying around, I don't know what it is."

Winter Return
A similar mission to Winter Attack, every season has become winter again. However, instead of floating islands to climb, there are taller variants of Pokeys, Snow Pokeys, which appear in Super Mario 3D World, in each seasonal area. To defeat them, you must go to an airship that appears next to the winter segment of the island, which has a White Eyed Chain Chomp (WEC) in the center. To the side of the airship is a cage containing Yoshi, which you must make the WEC charge into to open the cage. From there you make Yoshi eat the Snow Pokey segments, and once you finish it, an even larger variant appears in the center with a crown instead of a bucket on his head. Defeat this, and the same thing happens as the ending of the Winter Attack mission. The specific airship disappears.

Bowser's Invasion
When you enter the stage, the skybox changes to a random Bowser level skybox, and all the fires change to burnt versions, not seen anywhere else. Bowser will be in the center of the level, who when approached says, "Mario! You found a perfect place to make my own! Like what I've done with the place? If you want to beat me, you'll have to find your pet, Yoshi, who I trapped in a cage. Prepare to finally be defeated, Mario!" Bowser then jumps away. Seven airships with a Bowser face printed on them circle the island, each having a Koopaling on them, never seen anywhere else. They all say, "Mario! I've been waiting! Bowser entrusted me with a key, and then defeating you when you showed up! Let's go!" When you get all seven keys, an eighth airship appears that you must platform towards on some floating islands. When you reach the top, a large Mechakoopa mini-boss awaits. It will run towards you, exploding and damaging you on contact, but still remaining after detonating. It will breathe fire, and cough up regular sized Mechakoopas, who act the same, minus spawning more Mechakoopas. You must jump on the small Mechakoopas, and throw them into the mouth of the giant Mechakoopa. When it is defeated, it will explode, revealing a Yoshi cage. You must open it and go back to the central island, where Bowser awaits. Bowser will then say, "You..YOU!!! I will end this, once and for all. Your pet will do nothing against me! WATCH THIS!" He will then pull out a Metal Cap, turning into a metal reskin of himself, and bombs from the other Bowser fights appear around the island. You cannot grab his tail to throw him. He throws bombs, Mechakoopas, breathes fire, attempts to punch you, and attempts to ground pound you, causing an earthquake effect, and can go into their shell and roll towards you. When he ground pounds, he stays sitting down for a few seconds, giving you an opportunity to throw a Mechakoopa at Metal Bowser, sending them flying backwards. You must make them hit 10 bombs until they are defeated. "HOW?! HOW, HOW, HOW?! WHY CAN'T I WIN?! I WILL GET MY REVENGE, MARIO!" He will then lose the Metal Cap effect, and jump off, dropping 2 keys. They will unlock the castle fourth floor, and the second floor B. The changes that occurred to the level disappear, much like other missions in this course.

8 Seasonal Coins
A standard red coin mission. Four red coins are scattered throughout the seasons, and vary copy to copy. The other 4 spawn in random fruits when eaten by Yoshi, who spawns in the center of the level. When all red coins are collected, a star will spawn in the center of the island.

Coin Collection
Usually, there are 50 coins scattered around the course. In this mission, 50 more, making 100 coins, are scattered throughout floating islands. When all 100 coins are collected, a star spawns in the center of the map.

Winter Finale
The final mission in Seasonal Sanctuary, the seasons are all once again replaced with winter. A dark storm cloud is above the island. You must use the Tweesters, who first appeared in Paper Mario, in the autumn section to throw you to floating islands to platform to the top. At the top, You will see 1 of 2 things: 1. The Wario Apparition. When seen, the Nintendo 64 will instantly crash and the player will experience a seizure. The player will experience dreams about the Apparition, which is the number displayed on the Eternal Star Statue. It is unknown why it is that number specifically. 2. The Giga Lakitu from Mario Galaxy 2 will appear, who will say, "Aha! I knew I would lure you in. I have controlled the clouds, causing there to be enough snow to make every season on this island winter! This was all a part of my scheme to lure you here. Give me your power stars!" He will then function identically to his Galaxy 2 boss fight, but instead of throwing a Spiny egg, can throw Amps, and a key, which can be used to unlock a Yoshi cage at the end of the cloud arena. When you free Yoshi, you can use Yoshi to grab Spiny eggs and throw them at the Giga Lakitu. When defeated, the Giga Lakitu will say, "GAH! NO! Listen here, Mario! I will return! Bowser may have lost, I may have lost, and even if it's galaxies away, I will return!" and then will fly away and drop a large star. This then prompts a secret ending, in which Mario returns to the front of the castle with the star and it floats up to the stained glass and will fly towards it, shattering it on contact. Mario will then jump into it, along with Peach and Yoshi, and it will lead to a level similar to the "Delicious Cake" stage, minus Peach's call for help, who will stand next to you as a cutscene starts as they walk to the cake, and the screen fades to black as the text "DELICOUS CAKE" appears. Then credits will roll. Afterwards, when you enter the screen where you stretch Mario's face, there is an option to instead change to a Yoshi head, which works identically. It is worth noting that Giga Lakitu references Mario Galaxy 2, and Mario 64 was made several years before the game began development. If this foreshadowing was intentional or not is unknown.

Notable Characters
1. Black Penguins. In the winter segments (or the entire island if you're in a winter mission), they will appear identical to the penguins from Cool, Cool Mountain but instead of blue they will be black. They charge towards you and peck you, dealing damage when Mario is pecked. They can be grabbed, in which they will struggle, and can attempt to escape your grasp. You must throw them in the lake in the winter segment to turn them to normal penguins who will then run into the cabin. 2. Tweesters. Enemies first appearing in Paper Mario (made after Mario 64), float around the autumn segment and will blow air towards you that will push you backwards. They will also throw Leaf Daggers at you, making them home in on you when they cross by them. They are unbeatable. 3. Leaf Daggers. Completely new enemies, look just like regular orange leaves, floating around the autumn segment, will fly towards the player when they draw near. Can be made into homing variants by Tweesters. They can be defeated by making them collide with a tree. 4. Para-Dry Bones. A winged variant of the Dry Bones enemy. When jumped on, they will lose their wings and turn into a normal Dry Bones. 5. Paratroopas. A winged variant of the Koopa Troopa enemy. When jumped on, they will lose their wings and turn into a normal Koopa Troopas. 6. Mechakoopas. Appear in the Bowser's Invasion mission, will shoot fire at you and walk towards you. When making contact with you, will detonate, dealing half of Mario's health. When jumped on, will be deactivated and explode when thrown and making contact with it's target. 7. King Blizzard. The first boss of the course, resides on a floating island above the main area in the Winter Attack stage. A large Mr. Blizzard with a crown on will throw snowballs at the player from above. Must be defeated by being eaten by Yoshi 25 times. 8. Snow Pokeys. 4 appear in Winter Return, which are stronger variants of Pokeys, and are the same design as the Snow Pokeys in Super Mario 3D World. Each one has 10 segments, and each segment must be eaten by Yoshi. 9. Mega Snow Pokey. A larger variant of the Snow Pokeys, with 25 segments, and a crown instead of a bucket. Function the same as their regular (If you can call the Snow Pokeys regular) variant, minus being larger. 10. Koopalings. Appear as mini-bosses in the Bowser's Invasion stage, each on their own airship. Each act exactly the same. They can breathe fire, go into their shell and roll towards you, and use their wand to shoot magic attacks at you. 11. Mega Mechakoopa. A larger variant of the Mechakoopa, acts the same except for surviving after exploding, can spawn Mechakoopas by coughing them up, and is defeated by throwing 5 Mechakoopas into it's mouth. 12. Metal Bowser. The boss of Bowser's Invasion, an invincible version of Bowser that cannot have their tail grabbed. He throws bombs, Mechakoopas, breathes fire, tries to punch you, attempts to ground pound you, causing an earthquake effect, and can go into their shell and roll towards you. When he ground pounds, he stays sitting down for a few seconds, giving you an opportunity to throw a Mechakoopa at Metal Bowser, sending them flying backwards. You must make them hit 10 bombs until they are defeated. (Note: Mostly copy and pasted from the Bowser's Invasion segment). 13. Giga Lakitu. The final boss of Seasonal Sanctuary, appears on top of the storm cloud in the Winter Finale mission, and a boss in Mario Galaxy 2. Acts the same as a Lakitu, except for shooting lightning at you from it's cloud. It throws Spinies, can throw Amps and will remain for the duration of the fight (the max in the arena is 10), and sometimes a key to open the Yoshi cage. It is defeated by throwing 25 Spiny Eggs at it using Yoshi. 14. Stick Bug. In the mission Mario Gets Stick Bugged, plays hide and seek with Mario, and is found where the Yoshi cage in the Winter Attack mission is located. Must be found in each seasonal segment, and will give you a star when found all 4 times after appearing in the center of the island. 15. Yoshi. While Yoshi is known to be in the regular game, they are ridable in Seasonal Sanctuary, and assists with reaching said course. It walks faster than Mario, can flutter jump like in the Yoshi's Island series, and eat enemies and either swallow them to get a coin or spit them out as an attack. Yoshi is used in every course except for Mario Gets Stick Bugged and Winter Finale. 16. Bowser Jr.? When playing the Bowser's Invasion mission, there is a rare chance to hear Bowser Jr. laughing. It is possible they would of replaced the Mega Mechakoopa fight, or would have taken the place of the Koopalings. 17. Magikoopa/Kamek? Similar to Bowser Jr., There is a chance of a textureless Magikoopa model appearing at an airship. It is possible they were either going to be Kamek, as a mini-boss replacing the Mega Mechakoopa fight, the Koopalings, or could of just been a Magikoopa enemy that would of had the magic ability of the Koopalings. 18. Wario Apparition. Can appear instead of the Giga Lakitu, as explained in the Winter Finale mission. Supposedly, the Metal Cap Bowser uses can be replaced with Wario's Hat, which would turn him into the Wario Apparition, which works the same as it's Giga Lakitu appearance.

Theories
Similar to Eternal Fort, it is possible this was a scrapped final level, which would explain the new enemies, boss amounts, and difficulty. Why the Wario Apparition appears is unknown, but it is possible the "Wario Boss Battle" theory could be applied to the Giga Lakitu fight, but the Bowser battle appearance is not explained by this. The reason that Metal Bowser isn't the final boss and is instead replaced with Giga Lakitu is unknown, though it is possible there was ending for Metal Bowser and the ending seen after the Giga Lakitu would have been a secret ending. The "Delicious Cake" text found in the code of Mario 64 could have been intended for this course.

Upside Down Star
There is a chance that after the Winter Finale star, there is a ninth mission titled "ꟽ⅂∀Ǝꓤ ϺƎN" which when clicked prompts a game crash, and when the game is booted up again, everything is upside down and the music is reversed. When entering any area, the game will crash, only letting you explore the upside down area outside the castle.

The Caverns
When you finish the Winter Finale star and return, and the upside down star does not appear, every mission is gone and this would imply a softlock, but if you press A, it will select a mission that has the regular map except for a hole leading in the island's center. When entered, it acts very similar to The Labyrinth. It is a massive maze-like cave system that morphs continually. There is a being known only as The that roams The Caverns. It tracks you through The Caverns, and if you hear The digging towards you, you have to stop moving, so it can't hear you walking. If it catches you, your cartridge will suddenly permanently break and it will display 2 red eyes on the TV until the cartridge is removed, and won't appear again when the cartridge is put back in. If you manage to get through The Caverns and reach the star, it is said the player will gain full control of what the Personalization A.I. adds to the game by simply saying out loud what it should change. It is unknown why this happens, likely as a prize from the A.I. for surviving The. What The is, if it's a manifestation of the A.I., or another entity, is unknown.