Super Mario 64/Walkthrough

Entering the Castle
Once the scene ends, you take control of Yoshi. Use the area to try out some of Yoshi's moves. Then, walk up to the castle. Unfortunately, the castle doors are locked. Lakitu, the cameraman, will tell you a rabbit was spotted with the key. Find the rabbit and use the A button to eat him, making him surrender the key. Now you will be able to go inside the castle.

The First Floor: 0-1 Stars
Upon entering, someone will give you a warning; ignore it. There is only one place you can go to now, and it is the door with an unmarked star on it. Going inside, you will find a painting. This leads into the first stage, Bob-omb Battlefield.

After you get a star, there will be several other places you will be able to go to. There are two doors marked with a 1. The bottom one leads to Whomps Fortress, and the other leads to a room with four doors. The three missing characters are here, but without a key to open the doors, you cannot switch characters yet. However, the stained glass window of Princes Peach to the right contains a secret stage, The Princess' Secret Slide.

There is another room beyond this one, however. The next room is the Rec Room. Here was where the princess played games as a child. The Toad, however, lost most of the keys to the games (the mini-games that you can play). To get the keys, you will need to catch rabbits. There are seven for each character. You will notice that in the Rec Room there is another painting. This one takes you to Sunshine Isles, another secret stage.

You will notice a door also, but you can't open it until you have eight stars. For now, go to the stages you have unlocked, and get as many stars as you can.

The First Floor: 3-12 Stars
After accumulating three stars, you will be able to go to a few more stages. If you go to the door on the far right, you will find a room with a painting leading to Jolly Roger Bay. There are also two small apetures on the sides of the room. The left has a 1-up mushroom, and the other takes you to The Secret Aquarium.

The door closest to the door to Bob-omb Battlefield has another main course: Cool Cool Mountain.

After you get eight stars, the door in the Rec Room can be opened. Inside the room is a picture of Mario you can go into. This will lead you to the Goomboss Battle. If you beat Goomboss, you will get a key to Mario's room, thereby unlocking him.

After getting twelve stars, the door with the big star can be opened, but only if you have Mario. Then, any character can go inside. (This applies to all doors that look the same.) The long hallway has a trap pit; go inside to reach Bowser in the Dark World.

If you beat Bowser, you will get a key unlocking the basement, so head to the wooden doors, then go down the stairs.

Luigi
Luigi's games involve gambling. Your high score is the highest number of coins you have.

Picture Poker
This is the easiest minigame to play. You can't lose! The game uses a 30-card deck. There are six ranks of cards, with five cards per rank:
 * Cloud (lowest)
 * Mushroom
 * Flower
 * Luigi
 * Mario
 * Star (highest)

You are dealt five cards, and Luigi is dealt five cards. You choose which five cards to discard (clicking on a card indicates you wish to discard it, not keep it). Then optionally bet more coins, then discard (or hold all your cards). Luigi will also discard. If your hand beats Luigi's, you are paid according to the following table:

Note that the table does not include your original wager. For example, if you bet five coins and win with two pair, your net profit is ten coins, not fifteen.

Probably the best strategy to use for discarding is the obvious one: keep all cards that fit into one of the above hands and throw away all other cards. Or to put it another way, throw away any card that appears only once in your hand. This is the same strategy Luigi uses, therefore it gives you a 50% chance to win (not counting the 0.6% chance of a draw). It automatically gives you an advantage of over 100%, meaning on average you will win a little over one coin per coin wagered. Wow! Casinos can only dream of getting an advantage this huge. :)

If you have at least a pair before the draw, always bet the maximum five coins. Otherwise, stay at the minimum bet. This will increase your edge even further than just betting five coins every time, but not by much, since you rarely get dealt junk hands.