What if Mario Couldn’t Get Into Bob-omb Battlefield in Super Mario 64?

Speedrunners: The what battlefield?

To think Bowser could've won if he just switched the paintings...

"What if Mario Couldn’t Get Into Bob-omb Battlefield in Super Mario 64?" Mario: "Yahuuh! YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-YA-

If you /really/ wanna overthink things story-wise: While this might be a bit of a headcanon, I would argue that the paintings are portals to actual place in the Mushroom Kingdom. Essentially, their purpose is to let Peach access places in her kingdom. Hypothetically, if Mario were unable to access the portal paintings, I would argue what he'd eventually do is return home and book a flight or something-maybe call up Luigi while he's on it. He would then go on a more traditional journey around the Mushroom Kingdom looking for at least one star. Maybe just head on over to Bowser's castle and wreck stuff there.

If Mario couldn't enter Bomb-Omb Battlefield the game could still be beaten. BUT FIRST WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT PARALLEL UNIVERSES

"Goombas can't jump, so it's impossible to collect stars" Pannenkoek: hold my HOLP

What if Bob-omb Battlefield was a 1-star door while Princess Peach's Secret Slide had no stars at all? I think that would make more sense from a story perspective. For all Bowser knew, it was just an empty room, so why would it require a star to be opened? Meanwhile, we have the Bob-omb room, which does have a painting world that Mario could go into...yet it requires no stars to open. If Mario got just one of those stars, he'd be able to access Whomp's Fortress and take the stars there. And so on.

I like the idea of Mario problem solving like a human, normally he just blindly runs through things.

"Mario's stuck" laughs in BLJ

6:30 one of the tutorial signs actually clearly states "you can't open doors underwater", so we can certainly accept the story that Mario would not be able to open this door.

Bowser would like your advice on how to beat Mario.

There are so many times I wish there were additional levels in the game. The one "night" painting on the stairs to the third floor, or even a whole new level to the castle entirely.

Todd Rogers can still enter this area due to starting the game in 2 gear

How would mario get through the castle without entering bob omb battlefield? It's simple. "YAHOO YAHOO YAHOO"

In line with going into absurd detail, I would imagine a better in-universe explanation for not opening the door of the moat: the pressure of the water combined with the fact it's a somewhat rusted heavy metal door. Just think of it like how you can't easily open a car door underwater with the windows up due to the pressure against the car. Opening the windows and letting water in until the pressure is equal is how you can open the door

2:19 just grab the stars that appear when you fall

Those doors are made from wood. Princess Peach might not like having some the doors smashed open or knocked off their hinges, but given that Mario would be doing this to save her, I'm sure she won't mind too much if Mario just went and grabbed a sledge hammer from a Toad Town shop or some such. And bam, problem solved. Plenty of levels to access now.

Today: It’s basically just a theory. Tomorrow: It’s a ROM Hack.

Notice how he finishes every sentence in the same way

9:20 Couldn’t Mario jump back into the inky pit and just go out via the waterfall to get back outside and progress normally? Seems odd to point out all the ways he couldn’t get back upstairs (door locked, etc) but ignore the method by which he (in this hypothetical story scenario) got in in the first place.