Big Bully's Key

Big Bully's Key is an anomalous collectible that is said to appear in certain personalized copies. As the name suggests, it is found in association with the Big Bully enemy. While it typically appears in Lethal Lava Land, there have been claims of finding it through an anomalous Big Bully encounter in Bowser in the Fire Sea, or even Snowman's Land, as the stage has an icy variant of the Big Bully. The use of the key itself varies, but it usually unlocks an anomalous door in either Peach's Castle or Lethal Lava Land. What is through the door is inconsistent, but people most commonly report an extra few rooms with a star, an entire subarea, or a particular anomalous level.

Obtaining
Big Bully's Key has always been found from Big Bullies, of course, although the Big Bully it is obtained from can vary. Currently, the only Big Bully which has not been reported to drop the key is the one in Lethal Lava Land that is closest to the volcano. Although Big Bullies only appear in Lethal Lava Land and Snowman's Land, the key has been reported to drop from anomalous Big Bullies in other levels, such as Bowser in the Fire Sea or even anomalous levels like Blasting Bullet Factory and The Sun.

Function
Big Bully's Key usually has one purpose, which is to open doors, as you might expect. The doors are usually located in either Peach's Castle or Lethal Lava Land, although if the key was obtained from a Chill Bully, the door to be unlocked can be in Cool, Cool Mountain or Snowman's Land. Reported door locations include:


 * Many places in The Basement of Peach's Castle
 * The top of the volcano subarea in Lethal Lava Land
 * The back of The Courtyard of Peach's Castle
 * The caged area in the corner of Lethal Lava Land
 * The hallway leading to Dire, Dire Docks and Bowser in the Fire Sea.
 * The structure made of stone bricks near the end of Bowser in the Fire Sea.
 * Somewhere along the hills surrounding Snowman's Land
 * Either of the cabins in Cool, Cool Mountain
 * The ice structure in Snowman's Land
 * Inside the igloo subarea in Snowman's Land, or covering the entrance to the igloo

What is on the other side of these doors varies, but most people report there being simply just one or more rooms, typically with one focal point of note. All the rooms typically have is just a star or a cap box, but sometimes it can hold a painting to an anomalous level. One last thing to note, there have been rare reports of the key unlocking something else. Some people claim to unlock some other mode on the file select screen which is usually Hard Mode, a higher triple jump, or a new effect on Lethal Lava Land, such as the lava being blue.

Reports
''Everything in this section should be taken with a grain of salt. These are unverified claims.''

Report 1
"So I was playing Mario 64, and I finally got enough stars to enter the basement of the Castle. I went to Lethal Lava Land first because it's my favorite level. I got a star there, the one from the Big Bully at the far edge of the level, then went back in. I decided to go into the volcano next, and to my surprise, I found another Big Bully in there! Although it didn't seem to act any different. But when I defeated it, it dropped a key! I'm not sure where it goes, though. I've looked everywhere I can (even in levels) but I haven't found a door that needs a key, except for the one that leads to the Second Floor but the key didn't work there. Oh, also I took a picture of the key when It spawned for proof." [The picture is the one featured at the top of the page]

Report 2
"This was a long time ago, so I might not remember everything, but I swear I found a key in Lethal Lava Land. I had around 30 stars because I played all the other levels first since the painting scared me. When I decided to finally jump in, I was confused by the star name. "Boil the Big Bully"? I had no idea what that meant, so I just sorta explored. I eventually made my way to where the Big Bully was and defeated it. I collected the star and learned that's what a bully was. Next, I went to the three bullies on the far platform. I defeated the three of them and the big one appeared. When I defeated it, I got a key instead of a star though. I think I found a door for it somewhere in the basement, but I'm not sure."

Report 3


"Okay, I'm currently kind of freaking out about this. I just found a key in Lethal Lava Land, but I swear there was no key there. I've never heard anyone talk about this. Is this just a really obscure secret? Whatever, I'll just explain how I found it. I was playing Lethal Lava Land, going through all the stars in order, when I eventually jumped in the volcano, trying to get the "Hot-Foot-It into the Volcano" star. But there was an extra platform with a Big Bully! Of course, seeing something weird like this I HAD to defeat it, and more importantly, take a picture to prove this actually happened. [The picture is the one featured at the "Obtaining" section of this article] So I did both, and the bully dropped a key. I re-entered the painting and volcano, and went up to collect my star. But there was no star, instead there was a set of locked doors, and the key just so happened to work! I entered the doors at the top of the volcano, and they brought me to a weird series of rooms that were kinda hard to get through. I kept getting turned around, and eventually realized I should take a photo, so I took a picture of me running towards the door I came through for the 500th time. Eventually I stumbled upon a painting, and jumped through. It was this big flat plain of lava with some stone and stuff scattered around. I tried to look for something interesting, but the level was pretty empty. There weren't even coins or enemies. After dying to the lava once, I re-entered the painting to take a picture, [The picture is the one at the Speculation section of this article] then exited. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying enough attention to see the course name in the pause menu, but I think it might've just been blank? I'm not sure."

Report 4
"So you know that Chill Bully in Snowman's Land? Well, I'm not sure how or why, but it dropped a key. I had around 50 stars, and jumped in Snowman's Land to collect the last star. I went through the Chill Bully's arena for whatever reason and decided on a whim to defeat it. To my surprise, it dropped a key. . I looked around trying to find where it goes, because I have never heard of this key before, but I couldn't find anything in the castle. I then went through every level in their order starting with Bob-omb Battlefield, and eventually made my way to Cool, Cool Mountain. I noticed the cabin at the bottom had a lock on the door, which wasn't normal, and it turned out that's where the key went. It just took me to the bottom of the slide, which is really where I expected to go. It didn't look like there was anything I could do, so I just went back out. Although upon exiting, a star spawned. This was predictably the star for beating the penguin in a race, which was convenient since I skipped that star because I always have a hard time with it."

Speculation
The most common belief is that Big Bully's Key is a remnant of a beta element brought back by the Personalization A.I. It is thought the key was scrapped around the time of the keys in Big Boo's Haunt being scrapped. Since there have been Boo Keys and Bully Keys found, it is thought there could be more keys that haven't been found yet. As for why the A.I. chooses to implement the key, some speculate it is added to surprise players who are very familiar with the game, hence why people in the reports are typically shocked to find the key. Another thing to note is how most people encounter the key when they have access to a new area. For instance, one of the reports had 30 stars, which is the amount needed to get the key to the Second Floor, while another had 50 stars, the amount needed to access the Third Floor.

Lethal Lava Ruins
Main article: Lethal Lava Ruins

Lethal Lava Ruins is the nickname given to an anomalous level that is commonly found in association with Big Bully's Key. It is a very basic level, mainly featuring a flat field of lava with stone bits scattered throughout. A lot of people claim to find this level through Big Bully's Key, so it is believed they were scrapped at approximately the same time.