Unlike ''[[Mario Isis Missing!]]'', the NES release is virtually a different game with little resemblance to its previous incarnations, traveling to very different time periods and restoring entirely different objects. Bowser's Museum is largely a hall with seven doors ending with Bowser's chamber. Behind each door is a [[Mario Bros.]]-style mini-game involving [[Koopa Troopa]]s with a unique item that can be acquired if Mario defeats all of them. The Timulator is in the bottom center of each room, and it is a [[Warp Pipe]] with a transparent box. Inside the Timulator, Mario can select pre-determined time periods rather than input them manually, although the location is not disclosed. Once warped across time and space, Mario will arrive at a short platforming land with enemies and occasionally indigenous inhabitants of the time period. There are also [[Hint Block|Message Blocks]] which describe the location. Mario must take the item acquired in the mini-game and return it to the appropriate spot - if is in the incorrect place it will return to the clutches of the Koopas, but if Mario is right then he will complete that area. There are two artifacts in each door, so Mario must enter a door at least twice before he can close that section of the museum. After all the doors of the museum are cleared, the deeper part of the castle is available after Mario passes a random History Test about what he's learned. After beating Bowser, a key will be released and Mario will free Yoshi from his cage. In the end, Mario and Yoshi pose next to a saddened, crying Bowser.
