Cursebound Chasm is the tenth course in Super Mario and the Cursed Castles.
Stars[]
Act 1: Sandy Stronghold's Surprise[]
This Star is located on top of the structure on the opposite side of the chasm from Mario's starting point. To reach it, Mario needs to drop down to the sandy bank on the right side of the course, then either push the nearby box over to the wall to reach the ledge, or perform a sideflip-wallkick combo to reach it. The edges of the ledge are rounded, so unfortunately, a ledgegrab isn't possible; he has to fully jump onto it.
Once up, head forwards to the stone platform with mosaic edges, pillars and blue coin switch on it. Then, begin climbing the building just ahead- sideflips will be very helpful for this. At the first level up on the building, stand in front of the central black doorway and wallkick up between the two sections of wall jutting out. Now that Mario's at the top, head towards the side of the building closest to the cliffside fortress, and longjump over to it.
At the stronghold, jump up to the roof of the central dark doorway, and start climbing up either of the staircases here (they are identical), but watch out for the occasional firebreather. On the upper level of the stronghold, move back to the centre, kill the Snufit there if need, and use sideflips to jump to the first platforms up. Longjump towards the higher one in the middle (this will give Mario enough momentum to reach the edge of it and ledgegrab. Then, use sideflip up to climb up the balconies, and onto the roof, where the Star is waiting.
Act 2: Rumble In The Raging Ravine[]
For this Star, head down to the end of the river, and jump down the waterfall. Below, Mario will land in a large pool of water in an even larger cave. Swim up to the platforms ahead and climb out of the water. Longjump along the rocky platforms until Mario reaches the entrance to an even bigger cave, one with waterfalls on either side and a pit of darkness below.
Carefully jump along the broken bridge ahead, until Mario reaches the end- beware of the strong wind that will try to blow Mario away the monument. Head forwards to find Eyerock; wake them up. Aside from the wind still blowing, this fight is unchanged from vanilla SM64. If you're struggling against the wind, remember to use Mario's dives, as they aren't much affected by the wind and can easily overcome it.
After defeating Eyerock, the Star will spawn on top of the temple. To get up there, head to either side of the fighting space and look for the lowest stone shelf; it is the nearest wall to the centre with a red trim around its base. Sideflip or triple-jump towards the perpendicular wall, then wallkick up to it and grab the ledge. Once up, rinse and repeat for the lower wall next to the dark doorway (if you're climbing up the left side of the temple, this will be the wall on the left of the doorway, and vice versa for the right side). Do the same for the wall ahead, which is lower than the other two, then simply run up to the middle and grab the Star.
Act 3: Carefully Up The Chasm's Crags[]
Return to the stone platform where the blue coin switch is (see Act 1 for directions). Once there, pass through the small tower's gateway and cross the narrow bridge stretching to the other side of the chasm. There are two Snufits along the bridge; best strategy is to just to quickly run past them, and longjump over the gap in the bridge. Once on the other side, climb up the structure directly ahead in whichever way you'd prefer.
When on top of the structure, take a look up at the pointy roofs on the turrets; one of them, the one furthest to the right, has a flatter top that the others. Wallkick up to it to reach the roof (which is not slippery, so don't worry about sticking a perfect landing on the roof). Jump over to the nearby rocky ledge, then enter the tunnel in the side of the cliff.
At the other end of the tunnel is a large cave with a platforming challenge in it. Most of these platforms can be easily cleared with a longjump, but if you'd prefer, you can also jump off of one of the Fly Guy's in here and drift across the platforms; regardless, watch out for the firebreather on the central platform. Near the end, Mario needs to jump up to a slightly higher platform. Either perform a triple-jump-dive up to it (triple-jump, then a dive at the highest point of his third jump), or bounce off the nearby Fly Guy. Then simply jump to the last few platforms and grab the Star.
Act 4: Hocus Pocus: Climb With Focus[]
This Star is at the top of the monument over Mario's starting point. All of the slopes on this monument are non-slippery, so go right ahead and run up either of the slopes- the monument is also symmetrical on all sides, so don't fuss over which side to climb. At the top of the first slopes. longjump over to any of the four narrow slopes nearby.
If you're familiar with arch-jumps, run up to the higher point of the slope and perform a sideflip around the wedge at the top, and grab onto the ledge above. If not... time to learn how to arch-jump. Or you can take the detour:
Optional Detour[]
Despite being arguably the hardest Star in this course, it is feasible for anyone with the right moves. However, if you're struggling to climb this, follow the directions for Act 5 until you reach this*, then use the vantage point to jump- NOT to either of the pillars with grey tops and red sides, but to the narrow slightly-sloped platform to the left of them. This will take two HP from Mario due to fall damage. Remember not to try and use the control stick right when Mario lands- to stick the landing of any longjump, the control stick should be kept still, so that Mario comes to a complete stop and doesn't wobble and fall. [End of detour]
From there, sideflip up to the narrow slope above, then run up it and jump over to the central pillar of the monument (there is a small gap between the slope's platform and the central pillar).
Here, Mario needs to wallkick up between the two narrow walls on either side of the pillar. They are quite far apart, so remember to use the D-Pad to line up the camera in whatever way is most comfortable, and to start off with a sideflip/any high jump, to give Mario an extra boost upwards. As the walls are far apart, wallkicks will need to be executed quickly so that Mario gains as much height as possible each time. Once up, simply jump onto the central platform floating above and grab the Star.
Act 5: Face Your Fear Of Heights[]
Return to the stone platform where the blue coin switch is (see Act 1 for directions). Once there, pass through the small tower's gateway and cross the narrow bridge stretching to the other side of the chasm. There are two Snufits along the bridge; best strategy is to just to quickly run past them, and longjump over the gap in the bridge. Once on the other side, climb up the structure directly ahead in whichever way you'd prefer. On top of the structure, longjump over to the red curved rooftop next to it- beware of the Snufit up here.
On top of the roof, take a moment to look up ahead at the platform Mario needs to reach; it's a rocky ledge jutting out from the side of the cliff. To reach it, Mario can sideflip and ledgegrab, triple-jump, or wallkick off the cliff. Jump along the path of rocky ledges, and at the end of them, sideflip and wallkick off of the sandy rock wall to reach the path above*. Traverse the last of the rocky ledges while avoiding the Snufits, and longjump to the final ledge, where the Star is waiting.
Act 6: Collect The Crate Coins[]
Return to the narrow bridge crossing the river, with the Snufit's on it, and cross over. Once on the other side, head over to the box stacks on the left. All eight of the red coins are found among these boxes; seven out of the eight red are found on top of the box stacks. The final and sneakiest one is hidden inside the pyramid of boxes, nearest the edge of the platform. The Star will spawn on top of the box pyramid.
100 Coin Star[]
There are at least seven Pokey's patrolling the banks of the river, on both the upper and lower banks. The blue coin switch will spawn four blue coins along the bridge, with a fairly generous time limit to grab them all. There also a good amount of coin formations around the main area; don't bother heading to the caves for Acts 2 or 3, as they contain very few coins.