Two routes meet at Ludwig’s Castle. The lower route crosses Cheese Bridge and Cookie Mountain; the upper route crosses both Butter Bridge stages. The Cheese Bridge secret goal also opens Soda Lake and Star Road.
Cheese Bridge Area
Ride the track platforms past the chainsaws, using the upper route for the checkpoint. The normal exit opens Cookie Mountain. For Soda Lake, approach the first Giant Gate with Yoshi and a cape. Glide below its tape, then jump off Yoshi to rise onto the ground behind the posts. Continue right past the 3-Up Moon to the second goal. A cape-only route is possible, but the Yoshi dismount gives you a larger recovery margin.
Soda Lake
Torpedo Teds launch from the overhead tubes toward your position and continue through walls. Let a torpedo pass before swimming across its line, and avoid trapping yourself between a tube and a Blurp group. The five Dragon Coins lie among the launchers along the main water route. Stay within the visible play area when swimming low; dipping below the screen can still cost a life. The exit pipe opens another Star Road connection.
Cookie Mountain
Watch the dirt patches for Monty Moles and the platforms above for Sumo Brothers. A Sumo Brother’s stomp creates fire below it; wait until that fire clears before running underneath, or strike its platform from below. After the checkpoint, the third block near the large mountain grows a vine to an upper Dragon Coin route. Keep checking for moles as you descend. Pass the final Chargin’ Chuck to open Ludwig’s Castle.
Butter Bridge 1
This upper route is reached through Vanilla Fortress. Its screen scrolls automatically, and the paired platforms rise and fall against each other. Step onto one to lower it and raise its partner, then transfer before losing the next landing. Later, the camera accelerates, so avoid lingering for coins when the right edge is not yet secure. Activated red blocks make one stretch safer. Enter the blue pipe at the far end for the goal and Butter Bridge 2.
Butter Bridge 2
Super Koopas approach from both directions while blue Koopas kick shells from the higher bridges. Stomp a flashing-caped Koopa for a feather and use it to control the longer landings. The high cloud area at the beginning also holds a Dragon Coin. Beyond the checkpoint, Yoshi is available from a low ? Block. Keep watching behind you on the final bridge rather than treating it as an empty run to the goal. This route also leads to Ludwig’s Castle.
Ludwig’s Castle
Pass the Bony Beetles and rotating Ball ’n’ Chains in the narrow first corridor. In the falling-ceiling room, hit the ON/OFF switch to raise the spikes, then move left to the door before the ceiling descends again. Climb the fences in the third room without dropping into the spikes below. Ludwig spits fireballs, retreats into a spinning shell after a stomp, then leaps out. Clear the shell, wait for him to become vulnerable and land three stomps. The exit opens the Forest of Illusion.