2nd Star Piece - Tadpole Pond and Forest Maze Walkthrough

In the Second Chapter of Mario’s new adventure in Super Mario RPG Remake, we’ll be heading to the Tadpole Pond by way of the Kero Sewers to meet Mallow’s grandfather and figure out a plan, uncover the mystery of Rose Town and the Lost Woods, and team up with a mysterious character to retrieve the second Star Piece.

• Jump To:
• Kero Sewer Boss
• Tadpole Pond
• Rose Way
• Rose Town
• Forest Maze
• Forest Maze Boss
• Pipe Vault
• Yo'ster Isle

Kero Sewer

Arriving in the next region, you’ll come to a lone pipe that Mallow will call out to you to follow him down, mentioning to be wary of something called Belome.

Down the pipe, you’ll enter the Kero Sewers proper, and can save your progress next to the warp pipe.

You’ll need to swim across a flooded area to reach the right side of the room where another warp pipe sits by a note that mentions how to use pipes.

In the next area, you’ll have room to explore with another large flooded room that features one warp pipe down to the right of where you entered, and another far down to the left. The pool here is full of Cheep Cheeps, but they won’t prove too hard of a challenge since a single Thunderbolt can usually clear a full group.

Try out the pipe on the right side of the room first, which leads to a lower area of a room where you can spy a circle of Rat Funks and a Boo up above. Head around the lower area to a second warp pipe to move on.

The next area you appear in will be on a raised walkway above several archways, and alcoves every few paces where a Rat Funk can dart out of. These rats are fairly skittish even in battle, as they may just as well flee as attack, which can include tail whips and bites that have a bit of wind up before the attack lands. Some of these attacks can poison you, so it’s a good idea to give one of your party members the Antidote Pin.

The Rat Funks can also be assisted by Shadows, who are more durable opponents that can inflict the Fear status on your party, lowering all types of attack and defense unless you use Cleansing Juice.

From the warp pipe, run past the ambushing rats to the end of the platform where you can find a Treasure Chest with a Flower by some green stairs.

Before heading up, turn your attention to the lowest platform below you, and drop down to head through the arches to the far right corner. You can find a lone treasure chest at the top of the stairs here, but it has no treasure — it’s a mimic!

The Huhwhat (or Pandorite in the SNES version) is a hostile chest that boasts a lot of health for a standard enemy, and has a variety of tricks, including bite attacks, flame projectiles, and an unblockable Flame Wall. However, its weakness lies in jump attacks, so have Mario used timed Jumps while Mallow heals.

Defeating the evil chest will earn you a Flower Jar, as well as a Trueform Pin from the real Treasure Chest — but that’s not all. Head back to the warp pipe, but then return through it back to the room, and you’ll find the Treasure Chest is no longer an enemy but has 50 Coins inside!

Now you can jump from the stairs up to the warp pipe you originally entered the room in, and run left to where the other chest with the flower was, and continue climbing the stairs and dodging Funk Rats.

Enter the warp pipe at the very top of the room, and it will take you to the top of the previous area with the circle of Rat Funks. Hit the Treasure Chest to the right of the pipe to find a Super Star, and immediately use it to bulldoze the circle of rats, plus any Boos you can catch while it's still active.

Once the room is clear, head to the top left to find another warp pipe to the next area. This place puts you on a high ledge over a pool of water, and a tunnel up to the right leading to the warp pipe that connects back to the first room. Instead of jumping in, look for a ledge going along the back left wall and jump or fight through the Rat Funks behind the wall to a warp pipe on the far side.

Be wary as these Rats are often joined by Hobgoblins, which can use the Elegy ability to silence your characters and render them unable to use specials! Luckily, they are weak to jump attacks, and drop Pure Water, which can be tossed at them (and Boos) to defeat them in one hit!

Heading through this warp pipe will lead to a room with a pool of water below, and a pipe on a small platform down to the right, and one up on a high platform to the left, while enemies wander all over the ledges.

The high warp pipe will lead you back to the first room, so instead jump down to the right platform without falling in the water, and defeat the Rat Funk before going into the warp pipe.

You’ll end up in a room with a large area above you filled with Boos, and a green?! switch you’ll want to press. The Boos can be tough enemies (block right when they make a face at you), but Pure Water can make short work of them - especially for Special Enemies.

Hitting the green?! switch will cause the water drain, and you can return to the previous room and drop down to find the drained pool now holds a warp pipe you can enter.

This will lead to a ledge above the room with the Boos and the green?! switch. Up here, you can find a Treasure Chest with a Mushroom, and a Save Point.

How to Reach the Kero Sewers Chest

You might be racking your brain for a way to get up to the Treasure Chest above the Save Point, but trust us when we say you don’t need to worry about it. Even if you do manage to find a way up, the reward won’t be worth it unless you access it via the warp pipe, which you’ll find much later in the game!

When you’re ready to fight the boss of the sewers, take the warp pipe right past the Save Point to drop down into a chamber with a large yellow and red creature. There’s a bounce pad if you want to escape and level up a bit first, otherwise approach the creature to start the fight.

Boss Battle - Belome

• Recommended Level: 5
• Recommended Party: Mario, Mallow
• Recommended Accessories: Trueform Pin (Mario), Wake-Up Pin (Mallow)

The hungry beast Belome is a strong foe, but even at level 5 you can win the day if you play it safe (or go back and grind to level 6 and get Super Jump).

Due to his weakness to lightning, you’ll want Mallow to alternate Thunderbolt and Healing Rain as needed. Meanwhile, Mario should focus on timed Jumps, or timed attacks if you’re getting low on FP.

Belome has a variety of damaging and debilitating effects, which makes your accessories incredibly useful for this fight. He can alternate using Scarecrow Funk and Sleep Sauce, either putting a character to sleep until attacked, or turning them into a scarecrow that can’t use normal attacks or items! Since you need Mallow awake for healing, he gets the best use out of the Wake-Up Pin, meanwhile Mario needs to be able to keep attacking if you’re low on FP, so you don’t want him turning into a scarecrow and limiting his moves.

Aside from these debuffs, Belome will also leap forward and lick you, but his first tongue wag after jumping is a false start, so wait for the tongue to roll and then extend to block at the right moment.

Keep up the combo of jumps and thunderbolts until Belome gets impatient, and he’ll swallow Mallow whole! This will make the rest of the fight a 1v1, but he should already be weakened at this point, so keep focusing on your timed attacks, and save your Toad Assist for this stage if needed.

Once you’ve dealt enough damage, Belome will spit Mallow out and warn of an impending flood before running away. Right on cue, the floodgates will open, and you’ll be swept out of the sewers and into the Midas River.

Midas River

The Midas River is a minigame course, though the first time through is free of charge, of course. It consists of two parts: falling down the waterfall, and then a barrel run down the river.

During the first part, you’ll be slowly carried down the falls, while wiggling left or right, and you can tap the A button to vainly push back up, but you’ll only get the briefest of boosts to fight against the currents, which can still help lead you towards trails of coins.

As you fall down, you can also spy different watery caves with rocks sticking out of the bottom. If you land on them, you’ll be transported via a brief cave river scene to another part of the falls, but the scenes can also provide good or bad things - some may end with you collecting a Flower, and others might steal coins you’ve collected.

There are also several Frog Coins to collect along the way, but if you want to get some of the best one-time items, start by following the trail of coins down the first falls and avoid the first cave. When the falls split, hang to the left to enter a cave where you’ll get a Flower during the scene.

This will send you to the far right falls, and you can continue to catch coins on the way down. When the falls split near the very end, keep sticking to the right side and enter the last cave to gain one more Flower, and afterwards it will dump you back out near the end where the second part begins.

The second stage has Mario running on a barrel down the river, where you can jump in the air to grab more coins, as well as either hitting or jump to other barrels. Hitting a floating barrel will automatically cause your current barrel to move to the second lane, while jumping to the next barrel will cause you to keep going down the current lane.

Be warned, Cheep Cheeps will soon appear in both lanes that will steal your coins if you hit them, and some can even come up from behind that are extremely hard to dodge - unless you’re in the other lane.

At the end of the Midas Falls segment, you’ll meet a Toad who will offer to trade in the coins you’ve collected thus far in exchange for Frog Coins, with the first trade-in being for 60 coins, the second for 80 coins, and so forth (the coins you collect are kept separate from your current inventory). It’s up to you if you want to pay 30 of your own coins and take the spring to try and collect more, but regardless, the Toad will also award you a Koopa Shell (known as the NokNok Shell in the SNES version).

When you’re ready to move on, save your progress at the save point by the Toad, and head to Tadpole Pond.

Tadpole Pond

Arriving at Tadpole Pond, head straight ahead to a small stone by the pond’s edge, and you can speak to a tadpole. Prove to the group that you are indeed the legendary hero by doing a jump, and they’ll allow you access to visit Mallow’s Grandfather, the Frog Sage (formerly known as Frogfucius in the SNES version).

When the tadpoles form a line, use the stepping stone as a jumping point to cross the pond to a small island where the Frog Sage awaits. After telling him of your quest, he’ll alert you that both Princess Peach and Bowser are no longer in Bowser’s Keep, having also been thrown out of the area when the Smithy Gang appeared.

The Frog Sage will beseech you to take out the other members of the Smithy Gang, as they present a direct threat to the land, and fighting them may also run alongside your current goal of finding the Princess. Mallow will also learn of his true nature, and agree to accompany you on this quest to find the Princess and stop the Smithy Gang, and finding more Star Pieces may help in this adventure.

Be sure to talk to the Frog Sage after the scene is over. As thanks for helping Mallow get the Cricket Pie from the Mushroom Kingdom item shop, he’ll bestow a weapon for Mallow, the Froggie Stick!

While you’re at the pond, cross back over to the mainland, and check the two tadpoles on the far left shore. The tadpole on the right runs the Juice Bar, but their menu is limited if you’re not a card-carrying member. Meanwhile, the tadpole on the left runs a Frog Coin Emporium - a place to trade in your hard earned Frog Coins for various buff items and more:

If you want to expand the items sold at the Juice Bar, head right along the water’s edge where you’ll find another tadpole talking about a particular musical suite, and lists a number of musical notes.

In the area off to the right, you can find the famed musician Toadofsky, who is seeking a new melody, and you can help.

By standing at the left edge of the pond, a series of tadpoles will appear moving top to bottom along a series of lines to mimic a music sheet. By following the clue from the previous tadpole, you can recreate the suite: So La Mi Re Do Re Do Re shown above.

If done correctly, Toadofsky will reward you with the Alto Card, which is the first of several membership tiers to the Juice Bar, the full list including the later tiers can be seen here:

Now that you’ve done everything possible in Tadpole Pond, it’s time to advance by leaving the area.

Rose Way

This area features a very large pond you’ll have to navigate, by way of several floating blocks that hover over various parts.

Thankfully, once you get on these floating blocks, you can’t fall off into the water, but you can sometimes run into the Starslaps that call this place home. They will try and trick you with their attacks by wiggling in front of you, and afterwards swinging their bottom legs up at the point you need to block.

Once you reach the first island, climb onto the second floating block to the center island, and grab a Mushroom here. Jump back on the floating block and it will continue its journey to an island to the east.

Take the next floating block here and it will lead to an island in the northwest near a path by the shore, but if you stay on the block, it will continue further southwest to an island that holds a Flower. Once you take the block back to the northwest island, get on the other block to reach the shore and head northwest.

In this dead end area, you’ll find two sets of swinging blocks with a Shy Guy on each. These enemies aren’t exceedingly powerful (preferring to use slingshots to attack), but they can employ a variety of status effects, using the Doom Reverb to mute your allies, or the Lulla-Bye to send them to sleep.

Jump from the first swinging block to the second, and then ride it all the way to the back to find a Treasure Chest with a Frog Coin.

Return to the large pond, and stay on the floating block as it goes back to the nearest island, and then off to the northeast (jump to grab a Coin along the way). Ride it all the way to the northeast shore, and continue along north.

In this area, you’ll find a lot of Crooks in hiding. These foes are skittish like the Funk Rats, preferring to run at the start of combat, but if you can pin them down you can earn a good bit of money. They can also be joined by Arachnes, large spiders with a lot of health, and aren’t weak to anything you can do just yet.

Head around the path that curves a corner leading back to the pond. Take the first floating platform to the island to the south, but don’t cross to the second platform yet. Stay on the first one and let it lead you west, letting you grab more 3 Coins before it reaches a platform that will take you back to the central island.

Take the platform back to the far northeast island, and then go on the second platform and ride it southwest for 1 more Coin, and then south to the final shoreline.

In the last major area of Rose Way, you’ll find five sets of Treasure Chests with a Shy Guy perched on top. Jumping up will knock them off and stun them, allowing you to steal the contents before they revive and chase you (or you can battle them anyway). They are often joined in battle by Snapdragons, large plant enemies with a large health pool, but should be quite vulnerable to Mario’s new Fireball ability, just don’t let them put you to sleep with Pollen Nap.

Loot each of the chests - four of which contain 5 Coins each, and then a Mushroom from the fifth chest, before moving to the final section, where you can spy on Bowser ordering his minions around. Once he’s moved out, follow his trail, and you’ll make your way to Rose Town.

Rose Town

Rose Town looks a bit… odd. The place seems covered in a hazy fog, and its citizens are either cowering in fear, or literally paralyzed from random arrows raining from the sky. Talking to some of the townspeople, you may learn that a shooting star fell nearby, just around the time that the arrows started peppering the town.

Head to the north edge of town and look for a house on a high hill. The Toad down below will ask for your assistance in getting up to the house to lower the stairs, so oblige him by jumping on his head and springboarding up.

Inside the home, you’ll spot two tantalizing Treasure Chests, so help yourself to both for 2 Flowers.

Upstairs, a boy will ask if his father is coming home, so help him out by jumping on the green?! switch to create stairs up to the house.

As you move to leave the house, the Treasure Hunting Toad will arrive at the front door, and ask if his treasures are still okay. It’s in your best interest to answer truthfully about stealing treasure, and admit that you took it, as the Toad will then give you directions to a secret location in the Forest Maze.

Next, be sure to head to the east end of Rose Town to find the Item Shop. Inside are two merchants who sell both items and equipment listed below:

Be sure to equip Mario with the Thick Shirt, and Mallow with the Thick Pants, and sell your old gear, and buy the Fearless Pin as well if you don’t want to deal with losing out on stats due to getting scared.

You should also exit the Item Shop and look for a stack of crates leading up next to the chimney, and enter the shop via the roof.

You’ll land on a high bookshelf, and next to you is a high Treasure Chest holding a Flower.

After you’re done looking around town and talking to scared or paralyzed residents, enter the Inn on the west side of town to find a kid named Gaz playing with dolls of Mario, Peach, and Bowser. Prove to him you’re the real deal by doing a classic Mario jump, and he’ll ask to play with you.

As he brings out a fourth doll to fight against Bowser (you), Gaz will get a little too into the action, and send Mario hurtling against the wall and into unconsciousness.

As you sleep off the climactic battle, something strange will happen to the doll overnight, and it will stand up and leave the inn.

Once you reawaken, save your game at the Save Point by the beds, and head back downstairs to hear Gaz talking about how his doll Geno just up and walked out into the forest, which sounds like something you should check out.

Exit the Inn, and once you’ve stocked up on items, leave the town by the way you entered, and a new option to enter the Forest Maze will appear.

Forest Maze

Entering the Forest Maze, you may start to notice lots of Mushrooms stashed in corners of the woods, like the one just up the path to the right. Many of these are real Mushrooms you can keep in your inventory, making it an easy way to get health back quickly - just be wary, some may turn into Amanita enemies as you get close!

In the next area, move up and grab another Mushroom to find a Wiggler wandering around a hollow tree trunk. You can jump on it a few times to collect coins, but if you miss and collide head-on, you’ll be locked into battle!

Wigglers boast a good deal of health, but are very weak to Mario’s Fireballs abilities, so use them freely to scorch the enemies before they can retaliate. While they don’t deal too much damage with their basic melee attack or projectile spit, they can increase their abilities by using Vigor Up, and follow up with unblockable Sandstorms that also cause Fear (having Mario equip a new Fearless Pin can help here).

Jump into the hollow trunk to enter an underground cave with more Mushrooms, though many of these may be Amanita enemies.

Often tagging along with Buzzers and Guerrillas (any Donkey Kong resemblance is coincidental), the mushroom enemies aren’t too powerful, but they can turn your party members into mushrooms themselves, and while they can’t attack, they will heal over time, which is sort of a nice trade-off? You’ll still need to watch out for the Buzzer’s Thornet attack, as a blow that lands will cause poison.

Luckily, between the Amanitas and Guerrillas being weak to fire and the Buzzers being weak to jump attacks, Mario can make quick work of all of them so long as Mallow supports.

At the end of the underground area you can find a springboard to take back to the woods above.

In this next section, you’ll spot some Buzzers floating up the path as more arrows rain down, and you can move around the bees to reach the next large area.

The area above opens out into a clearing with seven hollow tree stumps: two rows of three, with the last stump at the very end in the middle. Each stump leads to a different underground area:

Almost every stump leads to a small cave full of Buzzers and wandering Amanitas, and may also include Octolots, who are tough enemies with a lot of health and can use fire or lightning orb attacks, but are still susceptible to jump attacks.

In particular, there are two stumps to take note of unless you want to gain experience by clearing out each one:

Once you’ve had your fill of exploring the hollow stumps, turn your sights on the farthest stump between the two rows, and enter this underground cave to find a different experience.

There’s a sleeping Wiggler here all alone in this room, and waking it up by jumping on it will cause a massive earthquake, shifting a new path past the stump in the forest above, but that’s not all:

Now that you’ve pissed off the sleeping Wiggler, a new path should now be open beyond the rows of hollow stumps. You can enter this new area to find the Wiggler heading down a lone hollow stump into another cave.

Down in this new cave, the Wiggler has gone back to sleep, and you can ignore it, and instead head east to fight off Rat Funks, pick up Mushrooms (or dodge Amanitas), until you reach a path going south to the next part of the cave.

The second cave room has more enemies to dodge around or fight, so keep heading southeast until you find a springboard to jump back up to the forest floor.

Once you’re back in the Forest Maze ground floor, you may notice a difference between the versions. In the SNES version, there was a Save Point here, and just past it, a spot to the east in a corner where you could find Hidden Treasure 12. However, in the Super Mario RPG Remake, this chest and save point have been moved.

In the next area, you’ll find the true “Lost Woods” of the Forest Maze. A center area is filled with various enemies or Mushrooms, and there are three other paths leading in each direction - up, left, and right (Mario being at the bottom).

If you take the wrong path here, you’ll keep ending up at this same junction, but there are two secret paths to get you out of here. One is the path the Treasure Hunting Toad gave us, and the other is by following Geno:

For the first secret path, start at the bottom and go left, then down, down again, and left.

If done correctly, you’ll end up at a lone hollow tree stump and jumping in will lead to a small underground cave full of Treasure Chests. The haul is quite generous, and will consist of 3 Mushrooms, 1 Flower, and 1 Frog Coin.

To follow Geno’s path, return to the center maze and reset yourself by going down to the hollow stump entrance, then back to the center to spy Geno walking away.

Following his path, go to the right, then up, up again, right, up, and then left.

If done correctly, you’ll arrive in a large clearing leading to the next boss of this area. If you’re playing the Super Mario RPG Remake, you’ll find that the Save Point has been moved here, and that’s not all.

Make sure you’ve saved your progress, and head towards the clearing to see the next member of the Smithy Gang, Bowyer. He and his group have been responsible for paralyzing the residents of Rose Town, but before Mario can act, Mallow will hold him back so you can watch.

As one of Bowyer’s minions brings out another Star Piece, they’ll be interrupted by the arrival of the doll, Geno, who demands they return the Star Piece. As he goes to engage in battle, Mario and Mallow will join the fray to fight alongside this new ally.

Boss Battle - Bowyer

• Recommended Level: 7
• Recommended Party: Mario, Mallow, Geno
• Recommended Accessories: Jump Shoes (Mario)

For this battle, the mysterious Geno joins your allies, meaning you now have a full party of three! Geno attacks fast and hits hard both with his timed regular strikes (press A right when he shoves his fist forward before it ejects), and his special Geno Beam attack, but has a bit of a low health problem, so keep him healed with Mallow!

Start the fight off by powering up the Geno Beam and hold A until the fifth star fills and then immediately let go to score a powerful hit. Be sure to follow these up with Mario’s Super Jump ability that lets you chain together a series of hits so long as you time them correctly, or stick to his regular timed hit attacks if your FP is low.

You’ll want to keep Mallow on healing duties, or using regular attacks as necessary, due to Bowyer’s main feature for this battle. When it’s his turn, he’ll reveal three buttons to mirror your own controls, and then aim an arrow at one button to disable its use: Y for Specials, X for Items, and A for Attacks. Whichever one he disables, you won’t be able to use those moves until he fires at a different box.

For the most part, this means using your abilities (and using Honey Syrup to restore FP) when your attacks are locked, using timed hits (and Mushrooms to heal) when your abilities are locked, and relying on Mallow’s healing when items are locked.

While waiting for the next button to be locked, Bowyer can also send single bolts of lightning at you that are hard to accurately block, or he can summon a wave of static electricity that you can’t block at all.

Another tricky attack is a fakeout where his arrow actually targets a party member instead of the buttons, so listen for the noise the arrow make when it gets shot out — if its a short squeak, it’s coming for you, and if it’s a longer low twang, it’s aimed at a button.

Keep up the pressure of Mario and Geno’s attacks, and in the Super Mario RPG Remake, there will be a twist ending: Bowyer will lock down all three buttons.

With no moves left to use, Geno will suggest the power of teamwork, unlocking an ultimate version of the Gauge move you used with Mario and Mallow to summon Toad. With three party members, you can now unleash a devastating Triple Move Attack right at Bowyer, and it will instantly wipe him out.

When Bowyer falls, the second Star Piece will be yours, and Geno will offer to permanently join your party in the quest to find all seven Star Pieces!

Return to Rose Town

With the deadly rain of arrows gone, you can return to Rose Town to find the place back to normal. After talking to the villagers, you can enter the Inn again to see Gaz and his mom, and Geno will explain that he can’t stay since he has a mission to find the Star Pieces.

Gaz will mention seeing something sparkly fall in the nearby town of Moleville, making it the next best place to search for a Star Piece. Before you can leave, he’ll also give Geno the Finger Shot weapon, so be sure to equip it!

Before you leave town, be sure to talk to the hidden Toad behind the house on the hill, and he’ll mention a place called Yo’ster Isle. If you haven’t been to it, he’ll provide a clue: You have to go through the pipes to get there!

With that in mind, we have a detour to make before reaching Moleville. Be sure to stock up on supplies at the Item Shop before you go!

Pipe Vault

This next area is entirely optional, but leads to a secret island you can’t get to otherwise, plus it has some Hidden Treasures along the way, so it’s worth the detour. The entrance to this region is a lone warp pipe in a small clearing.

Entering the pipe, you’ll arrive in a lava filled corridor that forces you to jump between platforms while dodging Lava Bubbles. Luckily, falling into the lava won’t damage you, it will just send you back to the start of the room.

The Lava Bubble enemies themselves don’t pose too much of a threat, and usually only come in solo battles, but don’t drop anything of interest.

In the next room, you’ll run into a few very low level Goombas that may try to get in your way, and are sometimes flanked by Spikeys and Frogogs who are equally a pushover at this point in the game.

At the top of the stairs, avoid a falling Thwomp, and you’ll find two warp pipes with Piranha Plants who will emerge from them.

Drawing Piranha Plants into a battle will be a much tougher challenge, as they’ll often come in large groups, and all have decent health with no elemental weakness to speak of. Be sure to give Mario or Geno the Trueform Pin to counter their barrage of Scarecrow Dust, and block their bites by pressing A after they gnash their teeth a few times. Note that a Shy Ranger may sometimes appear with them, and is worth a lot of experience, but will almost always flee before you can attack until you come back with a fast character at a higher level.

Head down the second warp pipe at the back of the platform to arrive in a new area that features a narrow corridor lined with more warp pipes and Piranha Plants. You'll want to take the first warp pipe ahead of you.

If you're wondering how to claim the Frog Coin in the narrow gap, it's a bit tricky. There's no actual button to crouch, but you can get Mario to do it automatically by running toward the wall and then wiggling the control stick down to the right as you reach the wall. This should cause Mario to slide through to the other side.

After claiming the Frog Coins and Flower, use the springboard to jump back up to the previous corridor in a pipe in the middle of the room. Enter the second to last warp pipe (the fifth pipe in the room).

You’ll arrive at the site of a new mini-game: Goomba Thumping. As the name suggests, it’s a lot like whack-a-mole (only with the tables turned since the mole is running the show). For 10 coins, you have a limited amount of time to jump on as many Goombas as you can — 1 point for regular Goombas, 3 points for Gold Goombas, and -1 point for any Spikeys you jump on by mistake.

• Score at least 20 points on an attempt, and you’ll get a Flower Tab.
• Score at least 22 points on the next target attempt, and you’ll get a Frog Coin.
• Score at least 24 points on the third target attempt, and you’ll get another Frog Coin.
• Score at least 26 points on the fourth target attempt, and you’ll get a Flower Jar.

Any subsequent attempt will keep raising the target score by 2, awarding you with another Frog Coin for each target you meet!

Use the springboard to return to the corridor above, and this time take the very last warp pipe at the end of the hall.

You’ll end up in another corridor with more Goombas, a red pot with a Piranha Plant, and another warp pipe at the end of the hall.

The room beyond has a lot more red pots between you and the next warp pipe, but these are filled with white Nipper plants. Instead of battling them, they’ll cause you to lose coins if you touch them, so avoid them at all costs and carefully navigate your way across the red pots.

In the next corridor, more white Nipper plants will be hiding below platforms you need to jump across, but first be sure to look for a floating block platform you can ride upwards to find a Treasure Chest with a Flower.

As you travel across the room, there’s another moving block that passes under a Treasure Chest with 20 Coins, but it’s right over a pit of Nippers, so you need to time your jumps well to get the coins and not fall into the pit!

Once you pass them by, you can use the warp pipe at the very end to exit the Pipe Vault and arrive at the secret destination.

Yo’ster Isle

There will be a place for you to save right as you exit the warp pipe and arrive at Yo’ster Isle, and this save point can help a bit with the activity you’ll find here.

Head down the path to find a large island sanctuary filled with Yoshis of all colors, however none of them will be able to talk to you.

To find a translator, look for the classic green Yoshi near the bottom of the area, and he’ll let you ride him around to talk to the other Yoshi.

You’ll quickly learn that the Yoshi love to race, but a sunglasses-wearing blue fellow named Boshi is only letting Yoshi race one on one, and also only races for Yoshi Cookies. If you talk to the Red Yoshi by the goal area and tell him you want to beat Boshi, he’ll give you three Yoshi Cookies to bet with.

The Mushroom Derby minigame is a rhythm race - you’ll need to alternate tapping the A and B buttons to the beat to move yoshi along the race course, but if you don’t time the button presses right, he won’t move, or will jump straight in the air. You can also spend 1 Yoshi Cookie still in your inventory to give Yoshi a speed boost, though it can be hard to do so while also trying to keep to the beat.

The good news is that if you run out of Yoshi Cookies, the Red Yoshi will keep replenishing your stock with at least 3 cookies. Use these to keep challenging Boshi until you win the race. With Boshi dethroned, all the Yoshi will be able to race together now, and you’ll get to keep the 3 Yoshi Cookies.

By using them in battle, you can summon Yoshi to attempt to eat the enemy you’re facing. If successful, Yoshi will turn the enemy into an item you’ll gain in your inventory - the item will be dependent on the type of enemy eaten (though you won’t get experience or coins from defeating an enemy this way.

If Yoshi is unable to eat the enemy you send him to attack using the Yoshi Cookie, you’ll instead get a Yoshi Candy for your trouble, which can restore 100 points of health!

Now that things are changed at Yo’ster Isle, Boshi will now be in charge of managing races and accepting bets. Each time you ask to race, the odds may change slightly, and you’ll have the opportunity to race the Green Yoshi alongside his friends - either by riding him and doing the rhythm minigame, or just watching on the sidelines and hope that he wins. The odds will be better if you're directly riding Yoshi, but if you haven’t mastered the rhythm you can still earn cookies by watching.

Once you get a few, it’s not a bad idea to save your game and then bet big, and reload if you lose a lot of cookies. Fortunately, if you ever completely run out, you can always talk to the Red Yoshi to get a minimum of 3 Yoshi Cookies.

Now that you’ve uncovered this secret optional area, you can leave at any time to head to the next region, and find out where the next Star Piece is hiding in the Moleville Region!