Knucklotec has crumbled to nothing and from the looks of it, the Sand Kingdom is back to normal, as the majority of the ice has melted, or at least the most important pieces. This opens up quite a bit for you to do, including gathering the remaining purple coins, as well as the majority of the remaining Power Moons.

Fishing in the Oasis¶

The first thing you should do is go east from your ship and back to the Oasis. There will be four purple coins at the bottom of the little pond there ( 88) , as well as a Lakitu fishing. You can capture Lakitu and actually go fishing yourself, although it can be a little tricky. If you have the rumble feature off, you will want to turn it on for this portion, as it will make things incredibly easier. With a slightly overhead view, you should see slight silhouettes of fishing in the oasis. What you want to do is look for the one that’s bigger than the others, as you will be going after that one.

Press the Y button to cast your line near the big fish and if you want to, move around a bit to get its attention. When you see it is coming after your hook, stop moving and pay close attention to your controller. There will be tiny rumbles and a bigger one. When you feel the bigger one, quickly press Y and use the left stick to reel in the fish. If you happen to mess up, the fish will likely despawn, so you’ll need to move away a little bit and resume your search. When you finally reel in the sucker, you’ll receive a Power Moon (Fishing in the Oasis) .

You might think you’re done with the Lakitu, but not quite yet. To the north of the water, there is a small area with some cacti, surrounded by walls. You’ll see more fish swimming around here, including a big one again. Do the same thing as before and you’ll catch it, which just happens to be Captain Toad. How he was breathing underneath the sand is a mystery, but either way, that will be another Power Moon for you (You’re Quite a Catch, Captain Toad!) .

That’s all for the Lakitu, so head north from the Oasis and to the poison pond. You should see another bird flying around now, but most of the time, it’ll be over the deadly liquid. There is a spot on the western side where it will be over safe land, so wait for it there and toss Cappy at it to get another Power Moon (Bird Traveling the Wastes) .

Clean Up in Tostarena¶

Fast travel to Tostarena and there should be a dog close to where you appear. Follow it as it travels west and he’ll eventually slow down. After a bit of sniffing, he’ll dig at a spot and reveal a glowy bit of ground. Do a ground pound to reveal a Power Moon (Found in the Sand! Good Dog!) . Return to town and get the four purple coins in the fountain (92) , then hook your hat on the top of the fountain, leaving it there, until another Power Moon appears (Hang Your Hat on the Fountain) . If you didn’t get the three Power Moons from the seeds, go ahead and do that now (Desert Gardening, Plaza Seed, Ruins Seed and Seed on the Cliff) .

For the next bit, head into the shop and purchase the Sombrero and Poncho for a total of 15 purple coins, making sure to change into them (there’s a dressing station nearby if you already have them). With those on, head to the northern side of town, the same western block, to find a Tostarean guarding a locked door. Speak with him with the outfit equipped and he’ll open the door for you. Go inside, stand in the middle of the stage, and Mario will play a little song, netting yourself a Power Moon (Dancing with New Friends) .

Strange Neighborhood¶

On top of a building in the eastern half of town, you will find a rocket, which can be captured. Hold B to launch yourself to a strange place, where you’ll see a bunch of buildings rotating in the distance. There are two Power Moons here and you can actually see both from where you initially enter the area, with one floating in the air in the middle of the area and the other at the end. On the platform where you start, there will be a scarecrow, which means you need to toss your hat at it. This will create a bridge to the next platform and it basically means you need to do this entire area without Cappy.

Be mindful of the stray Goomba here and for the first set of rotating houses, you won’t have too much trouble. Don’t worry about the coin rings and just concentrate on making the jumps. For the second set of houses, there aren’t really any gaps in between them, so you just need to cross them and worry about the rotation. However, there is something to grab on the second set of houses, as there are two purple coins. You will need to wait until the middle house has its base horizontal in order to get the purple coins (94) .

On the platform with three stack of Goombas, you’ll find a row of blocks. Jump on top of them and from the middle block, hop up to hit a hidden coin block. From the top of that, you will be able to snag the Power Moon in the air (Above a Strange Neighborhood) . For the last set of buildings, you will have more purple coins to gather, but you will need to be a little extra careful. Unlike the previous buildings, the third set is rotating differently. When the first building is in the right position, jump down to grab the purple coins (97) . You can long jump to the second building, get on top when it rotates and get to the last platform, where another Power Moon is waiting (Strange Neighborhood) . As you approach the rocket, your hat will come back to you, so take it back to the main area.

Revisiting the Ruins¶

There are two new Power Moons you can get in the ruins, but before heading there, go to the “bridge” to the west/northwest and hit the switch there to form an actual bridge to the Moe-Eye island. There’s nothing new here, but it’s always nice to have a shortcut. Return to the entrance to the ruins and you will find Goombas there now. In order to get one of the Power Moons, you will need to stack the four Goombas in the first area of the ruins. Once you do that, make your way past the first Bullet Bill launcher and moving platform, to where you used the Bullet Bill to break the one stone block for a Power Moon on your first visit here.

Look for the sand peeking out of the ruins in this area and look for the female Goomba above. Stand on this little sandy hill with the Goomba stack and the female Goomba will give you a Power Moon (Love in the Heart of the Desert) . Note that if you approach this female Goomba with Mario, she will just up and disappear. Drop back down and look at the fencing section to find a hole in it. There is also a Power Moon just beyond the hole, but it is in a cage. So, you’ll need to capture a Bullet Bill, flying through the hole and blast open the cage with it, making it very easy to grab the Power Moon then (Bullet Bill Breakthrough) .

Warp to the top of the Round Tower to find a lizard-looking creature there. This thing is called a Glydon and you can capture it, with its only ability being able to glide when jumping off of something. You might have noticed a Power Moon sitting on top of a very tall pillar in the desert and you will need to use Glydon to glide down to it (he happens to be looking in the same direction). Glide down, and nab the Power Moon (On a Lone Pillar) . Drop down to the base of the pillar to find a painting on one of its sides. Approach it and press A to enter, where you’ll be whisked off to a mysterious world you haven’t visited yet, the Metro Kingdom. There will be a checkpoint flag straight ahead, as well as a Power (Secret Path to New Donk City!) . That’s all you can do here, so take the painting back to the Sand Kingdom.

Top of the Inverted Pyramid¶

Return to the top of the Round Tower and look for the electric wire connecting it to the top of the inverted pyramid. Once you arrive at the top, approach the arena where you fought one of the Broodals to find something burrowing under the ground. When you get close to it, it will run away, so you’ll need to hit it with Cappy to make it stop, then ground pound it to reveal a Power Moon (Lurker Under the Stone) . There are actually two more moons up here, with the first being hidden on one of the statues. Look for the one with the glowing tail and hook Cappy on it (hold down Y) to get the Power Moon to appear (On the Statue’s Tail) .

For the last moon up here, look for the bench and the pole next to it. Since you’ve already paid Jaxi his 30 coins, you can use the pole to call him up here, which is what you want. Ride Jaxi over to the little hill on top of the pyramid and it will cut to black, with Jaxi basically telling you that he won’t be a statue anymore, but he will hand over a Power Moon (Welcome Back, Jaxi!) . Before you leave Jaxi alone, there is one other moon that requires him, but you’re better off not riding there. Note that there are three purple coins in a little alcove opposite the Jaxi calling post (100) .

However, there is something else you want to do while you’re in the vicinity. Look over the western edge of the top of the pyramid to spot a hole in the ground below you. This is not the big hole that leads to the underground area, but it will place you straight in the battle arena where you fought Knucklotec. You won’t be fighting him again, but the arena is now populated by Chinchos, the mummy creatures you saw earlier when it was nighttime outside. What you’re looking for is a special Chincho, one that is sparkling, indicating it is in possession of a moon. When you find it, stomp on its head to net yourself a Power Moon (Under the Mummy’s Curse) . Take the pipe to get back outside.

Fast travel to the Desert Oasis and find the Jaxi calling pole on the ledge above to the west. You want to ride Jaxi around the oasis, as your destination is located to the east of the narrow section of the oasis. There, you will find a lone statue and a piece of stone right in front of it. You need to get Jaxi onto the vacant piece of stone to trigger another short scene, where he’ll hand over another Power Moon (Jaxi Reunion!) .

The Sands of Time¶

There are only three more moons you can get right now, and they are all tied to the little timed challenges with scarecrows (well, two are scarecrows). From the Jaxi Reunion moon, follow the edge of the map to the north and you will run into the first scarecrow. This one is much, much easier with Jaxi, so bring him along for the short experience. Toss your hat onto the scarecrow and some platforms will appear on the poison pond, with the moon on the opposite side. Normally, you’d have to perform a bunch of long jumps across, but you can just ride Jaxi through the pond to easily nab the Power Moon on the other side (Sand Kingdom Timer Challenge 3) .

The next one is in the Northwest Reaches, so warp to the checkpoint there. You need to get on top of the building, which can be done by going through the Bullet Bill maze, jumping from the tall dune next to it, or riding a power line from the top of the inverted pyramid. The scarecrow is in plain view and when you spawn the timed challenge, you will have to get to the top of a little caged area. Jump into the cage, then roll (hold ZL/ZR, then press either Y or X) to the right and wall jump to the top, where you’ll find the Power Moon to your left (Sand Kingdom Timer Challenge 1) .

The final challenge is located to the south of the previous one, on Moe-Eye island. Capture a Moe-Eye when you get there and look for a P-Switch on the southern side of the poison pond there. Stepping on the switch will reveal a path, with a key in the middle. Collecting the key will break open the lock and net you another moon, but the path will disappear as soon as you can move. That’s where the Moe-Eye comes into play, as putting on your shades will show the path. It is kind of narrow, so you’ll want to be careful to not fall into the poison and die. Grab the Power Moon at the end when you get there (Sand Kingdom Timer Challenge 2) .

With that last moon, you have gotten all of them here in the Sand Kingdom for now. Feel free to go back to the shop and spend your 100 purple coins, then when you’re ready, turn in the moons at the Odyssey and choose your next destination. You will have the choice of two different kingdoms here, either Lake Kingdom or Wooded Kingdom. You’ll visit the other after you finish the first, but they do affect a minute number of Power Moons. Similar to the painting here in the Sand Kingdom, which brought you to an isolated section of the Metro Kingdom, there are paintings in the above two kingdoms. It doesn’t matter in the long run, as you’ll be getting them all anyways, but for the sake of this walkthrough, you’ll be visiting the Lake Kingdom first.