How to open the manhole cover to enter the sewers in Toad Town
The manhole cover you'll need to open is in the northwest corner of Toad Town, where you'll also find a shy guy who reveals that you need the gaze hook to open it. He mentions that there is another not so handsome Shy Guy in town who has one, so you have to find him. Depending on how many Giant Goombas you've defeated, this will determine if you've seen this other Shy Guy before.
Where you need to go is in the southwest corner of town where there's a house with a giant Goomba in the yard, which you may have already taken down. If you haven't, you have to enter the house, hitting the dresser with your hammer to pop out a drawer that you can use as a step to reach the window. Now hit the window with your hammer to open it to exit and defeat the Goomba.
After the Goomba is defeated, speak with the Shy one here which is exactly what we were looking for. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the man hook on him, but instead mentions that he put it in a red brick building near the pier, so head to the eastern part of town.
It's hard to miss the building above, which requires you to fill the door with confetti before you can open it. Now go inside and you will find a stuck Spike, which you may have released before. Talk to Spike and he'll mention how the gaze hook could be in a box, so go to the shelf on the far right and hit it with your hammer over and over until it rocks. This will drop the box and create a new 1000-arm platform that will appear. Go to this platform and activate the 1000-fold arms to reveal a new door that will lead you into the next room.
Once you are in this room take care of the little Goombas that are here and destroy as many boxes as you can. Now go to the left of the green cart on the group and hit it to the right with your hammer to place it where you can climb higher. Use it to get on the top shelf and jump to the left and you'll find the manhole hook up there. Once you have it in your possession, return to the entrance to the sewer and open the manhole.
