Princess Peach's Castle

Princess Peach's Castle is a recurring local in the Mario universe, being the royal castle of Princess Peach. The expansive castle serves as the hub world of Super Mario 64, with the paintings within it acting as the portals between the game's several levels. In Super Mario 64's story, Bowser infiltrated the castle and trapped all the Toads and Power Stars within the castle walls.

Geography
Princess Peach's Castle itself is a large multi-story castle made from grey bricks and a red roof. The sides of the castle overhang its moat, which is normally risen (although can be lowered in the basement). The castle has four small spires with flags, and a taller central spire with a large spike. The front of the castle has a stained glass window of Princess Peach, which can also be seen in the castle's foyer.

TBA (describe the rest of the castle grounds + floors)

November 22nd 1995
Found in the patent for the Ultra 64 (the original name for the Nintendo 64) are six images displaying Princess Peach's Castle in greyscale. These images show a slightly different version of the castle. Most notably, the stained glass window has been replaced with one of a clock and there's a large cloud that intersects the central tower of the castle.



Shoshinkai '95 Demo
With the first true unveiling of Super Mario 64 to the public came the first iteration of the castle. As a result, the public could look at the interior of the castle for the first time

The outside of the castle appears mostly unchanged from the patent aside from the removal of the cloud and other minor changes. The interior is vastly different from how it appears in the release. One difference is that in the released version the walls were painted to look like a sunny meadow. In this version, however, it is painted to look more like a twilight sky with oranges at the bottom and dark blues at the top of the walls. The stairs that lead up to the second floor are also notably missing, instead replaced with two large steps Mario has to jump up.

Eternal Star Statue
In the center of the castle courtyard, a statue of a star can be found in the middle of the fountain. Underneath it is a plaque with ambigious writing. The most popular interpretation of this plaque is that it reads "L is Real 2401", leading many to believe that Luigi is hidden somewhere in the game and that the number "2401" relates to how he must be unlocked. Other interpretations is that it reads "Eternal Star".

The plaque reappears in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, where it can be read legitimately. The text that accompanies it is completely unrelated to Super Mario 64, and is used more as a generic plaque texture. The Eternal Star Statue also reappears in Super Mario 64 DS and Super Mario Odyssey, where Princess Peach's Courtyard reappears. Interestingly, in Super Mario 64 DS Luigi is unlocked through Big Boo's Haunt, which is accessed through the courtyard.



Fourth Floor

 * See Princess Peach's Castle/Fourth Floor

In most copies of Super Mario 64, there are only four floors to Princess Peach's Castle: the basement, the ground floor, the second floor, and then the final floor which houses the clock room and endless staircase. However, a mysterious fourth floor has been rumored to exist within some copies of Super Mario 64.

Most interpretations of the fourth floor have spanning halls that seem to go on endlessly, with rows of Boos floating through the hall aimlessly. Though some players have also seen Waluigi here.



Black Box
Seen only within the save select screen of Super Mario 64 DS, a strange black box can be seen on one of the back spires of the castle. It's situated high on the wall, and what it was intended for is unknown.

Internal Plexus
It's commonly theorised that the castle itself is a physical manifestation and representation of the A.I. which personalises and adapts Super Mario 64 to the player's desires. The castle's intricate and bizzare layout could be a result of the A.I.'s complex inner workings, with the castle's very walls and rooms representing the A.I.'s vessels and nerves.

This hypothesis is supported by a former developer's anecdote about the fabled 1995/07/29 build of the game. Here he describes that the basement of the castle was used as a testing ground for the A.I.'s ability to adapt to players, creating an endless labyrinth for players to run through. An unfortunate playtester was apparently drove insane by endlessly wandering the basement. The fact that the castle now appears bigger in the retail copy only implies that the A.I. has grown more since the 1995/07/29 build.