Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – How to Defeat Pauline in World of Light

Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Pauline

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate‘s single-player campaign, World of Light, isn’t too difficult, yet there are a few maddeningly difficult battles scattered about the overworld map. Undeniably, the most difficult of these is against Pauline, Mario’s love interest from the original Donkey Kong (though younger gamers will probably remember her from Super Mario Odyssey.)

In this battle, the game throws absolutely everything it possibly can at you. Here’s a list:

  • You need to defeat Peach, who spends the whole match avoiding you.
  • This stage reduces your jump ability.
  • All the narrow little platforms make it a nightmare to simply get around without falling off the edge.
  • The ladders tend to slow you down when you’re trying to quickly move from platform to platform.
  • Mario joins the battle after a few seconds, and he’s equipped with a hammer, which can spell an early death for players who don’t skillfully avoid the mustachioed plumber.
  • Donkey Kong joins the battle shortly after Mario, and he’s no friendly ape here.
  • The stage likes to drop timer power-ups so that your opponents can slow you down considerably.
  • And if all that isn’t enough, you have a 1:30 time limit.

Even for the most dedicated of Smash-ers, this battle presents a serious challenge. Thankfully, it’s completely optional. You can finish World of Light without attempting it at all. If you don’t want to break that sweet GameCube controller you just picked up so you could enjoy Super Smash Bros. Ultimate the way it was intended to be played, I would recommend avoiding this one.

Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Donkey Kong

However, if you decide to face Donkey Kong’s world of hell and torment anyway, there are a few things you can do to make things a bit easier for yourself.

First off, don’t even attempt this if you don’t have a Grab-based Legendary Spirit that’s pretty well leveled up. I used a Level 93 Wolf Link & Midna Spirit, which I got by leveling up a Midna Spirit to 99 and Enhancing it. Where did I get Midna? Well, I actually scanned a Wolf Link amiibo to get that particular Spirit. (Check out my full guide to see all the stuff you can get from non-Smash amiibo figures in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).

Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Wolf Link and Midna

For Support Spirits, I strongly recommend going all-in on jump power. The Balloon Fighter spirit improves your jump, which reduces the stage’s jump-weakening effect. And the Ho-Oh Spirit is a must, because it gives you an additional midair jump. So your double-jump is now a triple-jump. This is the only way I’ve been able to keep up with Peach on this stage, since the extra jump makes you incredibly maneuverable in the air.

Now, even with the perfect Spirit loadout (and I would argue that the one I’ve laid out is as close to perfect as you can probably get for this stage), this is still one miserable fight.

However, if you time things just right, you can actually coax Mario down to the bottom of the stage while he still has the hammer active. Get him to follow you over to where Peach starts off, then lead him toward the left edge of the screen. If you pull this off perfectly, he’ll stumble between platforms and fall to the horrible doom he so badly deserves.

Also, it’s smart to use tilt moves instead of Smash moves here, because they tend to be slightly quicker. I find that tilt moves seem to hit Peach more often than Smash moves do because she’s so quick.

Additionally, if you see a timer power-up appear, that should be your top priority. If Donkey Kong or Mario get it first (Peach very rarely attempts to grab it), they’ll make you completely worthless for about ten seconds — and that’s a chunk of time you really can’t afford here. However, if you manage to get it instead, it makes it much easier to catch up with Peach, who’s dodging like wild.

If you can pull this off and actually knock Peach off the stage, you’ll be rewarded with the Legendary Pauline Support Spirit. It’s a pretty great Spirit to have, since it heals you whenever you block an enemy attack with your shield.

Oh, and if this method doesn’t work for you, Twinfinite has listed two other methods you can try.

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