How to access the two secret Kingdoms in Super Mario Odyssey and what happens when you get there

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Once you’ve finished the main story campaign of Super Mario Odyssey and have been let loose in the entire world, it may be a little daunting to decide what to do next. Well, I’d recommend making it your goal to try and reach the two secret Kingdoms that are still yet to discover in Super Mario Odyssey. 

You may have already marvelled at the food mountains in the Luncheon Kingdom, dove into the bubbly depths of the ocean in the Seaside Kingdom and been to the cinema in Metro Kingdom. But you haven’t quite seen everything Super Mario Odyssey has to offer… yet. 

****Read on only if you want some Super Mario Odyssey spoilers up in your face****

How to access the two secret Super Mario Odyssey Kingdoms

If you want to reach the two secret Kingdoms you’re going to need to collect a heck of a lot of Power Moons. In order to unlock the first hidden Kingdom, known as the Dark Side, you will need 250 Moons in your Odyssey. Once you’ve done that you’ll be able to travel to the Dark Side of the Moon via your world map. 

But if you really want to discover everything that lurks in the hidden corners of Odyssey’s world, you’re going to really need to grind and work your way up to collecting a whopping 500 Power Moons. There are ways to get moons in Super Mario Odyssey quick, but it’s also going to require a lot of puzzle solving and traipsing about in order to get there. You’ll enjoy every minute of it thankfully, but it’ll be a while until you reach that golden 500 Moon mark. 

You have three choices for reaching these magic moon numbers:

  • You can simply go around each Kingdom hoovering up all the ones you didn’t get the first time around.
  • You can visit any of the shops situated in each kingdom and buy them (each moon will cost you 100 coins and you can buy a pack of 10 for 1000 coins)
  • You can smash the moon blocks to release around 20 new moons per Kingdom, all of which are marked on your map. 

The real question though, is what’s the point of even getting there. More moons? Not quite.

The Dark Side

Everything on The Dark Side is all about bunnies. Little bunnies in top hats and those Broodals you’ve been fighting this whole time. It turns out that they live on the Dark Side of the Moon and are ready to fight you. Again. 

In order to reach the top of the giant space carrot and find out what’s at the top, you’re going to need to beat all of the Broodles in order, followed by that massive robot beast thing with all four of them in at once. The catch? You’ll need to do it all on one life.  Die and you’ll be sent straight back to the bottom of the carrot and will have to start the long string of fights all over again. 

And the reward for all that battling? A very snazzy King outfit that will make your Mario look regal AF. 

The Darker Side

Once you’ve totted up 500 Power Moons and your ship is looking all sparkly, you’ll get access to the Darker Side of the Moon. Like the Dark Side, this even Darker Side will task you with getting through a massive load of stuff on one life. But rather than defeating all the bunny bosses, this is more of an ultimate test of all the skills you’ve picked up so far.

There are 14 sections in total and each one is rock hard, whether you're precision jumping as a fire ball, killing wave after wave of hedgehog while avoiding fire rings, or flinging yourself from fork to fork across lava. And that's just three of the sections. 

Once you've done all that, you'll be treated to a lovely end cutscene and be rewarded with the invisibility outfit that turns Mario... well, invisible.

Sam Loveridge
Sam Loveridge
Global Editor-in-Chief, 12DOVE

Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.

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