Story moon

Story Moons are Power Moons that must be collected to progress the story of the kingdom it is in. Most kingdoms that are accessible before the game is completed have Story Moons; the ones that don't are Cap Kingdom, Cloud Kingdom, Ruined Kingdom, and Moon Kingdom. All multi moons in kingdoms accessible before the game is completed are story moons.

Generally a smaller kingdom will have some story moons and then a multi moon, while larger ones will follow that same pattern, but twice. For example, Cascade Kingdom is a smaller kingdom, and it has one story moon and then one multi moon. Luncheon Kingdom, on the other hand, is a larger kingdom, and it has two story moons, then a multi moon, then one story moon, followed by one final multi moon. The easiest way to tell a small kingdom apart from a large kingdom is to look at how many Power Moons are required to leave. If it is less than ten, that kingdom is a small kingdom. If it is more, that kingdom is a large kingdom.

Story Moons are required to progress the story of a kingdom; however, they are not strictly required to leave a kingdom, except for in the case of Bowser's Kingdom. Thus, the story of most kingdoms is not completed in the Any% category. However, the World Peace category requires players to at least collect the last Multi Moon of the Kingdom. Naturally the fastest way to do that is to skip to the end. Some kingdoms are built in such a way that this is not possible, so some of the story moons in those kingdoms must be collected. In categories like All Moons and 100%, all of the Story Moons must be collected to finish the run.