General

Another Castle is a hub composed of multiple challenge types curated by Mercata in partnership with the builder community on the Zero Minr server and can be joined directly using "/c join mario". In its first iteration, 5 challenge maps were available (with a collect-a-thon element tying them all together to unlock the final challenge), and more sets of challenges are rolling out over time.

Maps (So Far)

• World 1-1: What is "Another Castle?" Play this "hold right to win"-inspired map to learn all about the ins and outs of this massive Mario hub.
• A Good Egg: A familiar friend awaits you atop Peach's castle—or, at least you thought he was. Where could Yoshi be? Follow the clouds to find your faithful companion.
• Off-Key Enigma: In this mashup of Mario Teaches Typing and the sphinx's riddles from Mario Odyssey, you'll need to flex your brain and your parkour skills to complete these challenges.
• Drop of a Hat: This dropper gives you wings! And then takes them away. But it also gives you 30 red coins to collect! And then the map takes that away from you, too. What you lose in material possessions, you'll gain in elytra and dropper experience!
• Egg of Glory: Eggs make for a fine trophy, sure, but what if there was more to putting all of them on your shelf than simple reward of complete hoarding? Well, now there's a point to it all! Collect all 12 eggs, and there's a challenging never-before-seen jump challenge that awaits you. Good luck on your continued search, adventurer.
• Ricco Harbor: Take a trip down memory lane with this faithful recreation of an old favorite harbor from Mario Sunshine in this pure parkour experience!
• Mount Beanpole: Scale Mount Beanpole in this colorful recreation of the Super Mario 3D World level of the same name!
• Super Minr Kart: Race through four fresh takes on classic Mario Kart levels including Rainbow Road in a horse parkour challenge like nothing you've seen before.
• Back to Bonneton: With Bowser's wedding crashed, it's time to return to Bonneton, where a lot has changed. Can you find all the purple coins?
• Mystery of the Missing Mario: Now that you've found all the hidden blue shells, there's one very important thing that's still missing: your Mario plushie doll! You can't go to sleep without it. Can you find it without waking up mom and dad?
• Booster's Tower: Booster has captured Princess Peach and is set to marry her! You must crash this dastardly wedding by any means necessary. Climb that tower, stat!
• Bowser's Airship: Peach's Castle is under attack by Bowser Jr. and his frightening airship army! Do you have the plumbing skills necessary to save the day?
• Rainbow Road: Go head-to-head against a friend or frienemy in this rendition of the iconic Rainbow Road in a race through space for the coveted gold cup!
• Grim Boo's Trial / Grim Boo Woke Up and Chose Violence: Where does a dead Mario go to when he runs out of extra lives? To Grim Boo's Trial, of course! Complete the trial and earn the 100 coin prize—enough to get another shot at living!

Gameplay

Another Castle's gameplay is primarily centered around recreating parkour experiences from the Mario universe of games, but nothing is off limits; for example, Off-Key Enigma takes inspiration from Mario Teaches Typing and challenges the player's brain with riddles as well as figuring out a path across the virtual keyboard via creative parkour. The elytra challenge is also a standout as the first of its kind published on Minr, infusing a novel "coin collection" mechanic as well as you spiral downward. With any number of future add-ons coming to the Mario hub, there's no limit to the kinds of gameplay one can find.

Aesthetics

While the majority of phase 1's builds are based around Mario 64, the overall design principles and texturing are modernized to more closely emulate Mario Odyssey and other recent entries as well as adhering to the latest standard in Minecraft aesthetic expectations. Armor stands with interactive Toads and floating question mark blocks help guide the player and provide a consistent through-line even across maps from other contributing builders. Just like in the Mario universe, the palettes are consistently brightly colored and vibrant, with no shortage of fauna, banners, and player heads serving as extra decor.

Trivia

• Before settling on 3 hidden collectible areas per map, there were originally 5 hidden in the castle grounds. One defunct collectible was forgotten by Mercata, and only one player found it in testing (Autre), hiding between the gap of a path block at the edge of the lake. This defunct secret has since been patched.
• The "hold right to win"-style gameplay found in World 1-1 is a popular style of map found frequently in the Mario Maker series and in Super Mario World romhacks. This is the only map in the hub worth zero points due to its perfect automation.
• Drop of a Hat features elytra gameplay, which is functionally identical to Mario 64's wing cap. This is no coincidence, as the developers added elytra as a direct ode to the wing cap. It's finally come full circle!
• Wario is credited as a "Bankroller" on the project. If the player is keeping an eye out, they might just find Wario hatching various money making schemes throughout the hub's maps.