Mushroom Kingdom
When you arrive in the Mushroom Kingdom at the beginning of the game, you'll be able to
collect Star Bits, either by running into them or simply by pointing at them with your Wii
remote. When Bowser arrives, try to make it to Peach; you won't be able to rescue her,
though. (Go figure!) Things certainly do seem dire
Galaxy Gateway
Grand Star Rescue
After waking up on the strange planetoid, a small creature will appear to you, and
introduce you to its friends. There are three of the little bunnies, and they'll all hide
from you; you'll need to track them down before you can move on. One hides in the pipe,
one in a tuft of grass, and one in the large hole through the planetoid. You'll need to
chase them down when you find them; they'll run, but will eventually tire out. After you
find all three of the bunnies, a castle will be revealed. Speak to Rosalina here, and
she'll give you a Luma; that will let you perform the Spin move. Rosalina wants you to
find the Grand Stars that have apparently been scattered around the galaxy; to get started
on your path, use the Spin move to destroy the crystals that appear beneath her. That will
unlock a Launch Star, which you can use to move on to the next planetoid.
Planetoid Hopping
The next planet you wind up on has another Launch Star, but it's been broken into five
pieces. Move around on the surface of the planet, using Spin to bash enemies and crystals,
until you find all five of them. Keep in mind that you'll also want to be collecting the
coins, as well; there's also a 1-Up on this planet, to boot.
The third planetoid has a Luma in a cage. Hit the Goombas on the planet to reveal a key,
then unlock him. He'll chuck you off to another planetoid, where you'll repeat the
process. The large Goomba here is the one with the key, but don't be afraid; he'll fall
just as easily as the small ones do to your spin attack. After freeing the second Luma,
head into the pipe to find the Grand Star. The Grand Star is hidden away in another cage.
In order to free it, you need to find all of the switches on the floor and change them
from gold to blue. There are a number of them around the cage itself, and also four more
on the sides of the wall, where the electrified barriers rotate around. Find them all and
change them to blue to free the Grand Star, then hit it to move on.
Comet Observatory
After speaking to Rosalina, you'll learn about your ultimate goal: find the Power Stars
that have been stolen from the Lumas by Bowser. Begin by heading into the Terrace
observatory and using the Pull Star there to travel to a new galaxy. Terrace Observatory
Good Egg Galaxy
Dino Piranha
First Planet: Go ahead and fly to the Good Egg Galaxy to get your adventure underway. The
first planetoid here will have a hidden area: if you head to the dark underside of the
planet, you can find a golden pipe that will lead into the house on the upper side. Follow
the trail of musical notes that appear after hitting the question mark to reveal a 1-Up.
Second Planet: On the second planetoid, find the five shards of the star, put them
together, then launch yourself off to the third planet.
Third Planet: Kill the enemies here by chucking Star Bits at them with the B button, then
hitting them. When the Sproutle Vine sprouts, hit the large coin to cause a number of
other Star Bits to appear, then climb the vine by spinning around its base.
Fourth Planet: Make your way past the rolling blocks until you reach the huge man-eating
plant. In order to kill it, you need to move behind the green plants nearby, position them
so that they're between you and the plant, then spin into them so that they hit the plant.
It'll poof away, revealing another Sproutle Vine.
Fifth Planet: There's a 1-Up hidden behind the stone blocks, so grab it before heading up
top and revealing the Launch Star.
Sixth Planet: Your first boss fight occurs here, against the massive Dino Piranha. In
order to hurt him, you need to spin near the bulb that comes out of his large tail: doing
so will cause it to smash into his head. It can be tricky to time it right, though, since
he'll try to chase you down. If he charges at you, don't run away: he'll catch you.
Instead, move off to his side and run right to his behind, then spin near his tail again.
When he loses sight of you due to your movements, he'll slow down a bit, making this a bit
easier than it seems.
Keep in mind that you can shoot star bits at the small flowers on the ground here to
generate coins to heal yourself.
A Snack of Cosmic Proportions
When the Dino Piranha has been defeated, you'll return to the Terrace Observatory
automatically. After the lesson from the Luma, head down to the next portion of the Good
Egg Galaxy.
First Planet: This is the same first planet as the one you saw before. Be sure to collect
all the star bits here that you can before heading to the platform on the dark side where
a Luma will shoot you off to a new planet.
Second Planet: Again, find the enemies, kill them, grab their star bits. The Launch Star
will be inside a crystal.
Note that there will be more Launch Stars in the path of your flight here; if you want to
use them, simply attempt to spin in mid-flight, and you'll be shunted off to another
planet. There are three main planets here, including the Second one. If you travel from
the second, to the third, to the fourth, you'll find a fat little Luma that asks you to
feed it 100 star bits. Stand underneath it so that the counter appears, then throw as many
star bits as it takes into its mouth. That will cause a new planet to appear, as well as a
new launch star.
Third Planet: The giant Pokey here has the launch star inside of it. Roll a coconut over
to his base, spin it into him, then spin his head when it plops into the sand to reveal
it.
Fourth Planet: This planet is somewhat optional, since you land directly on the launch
star leading to the fifth planet. If you get down and head down the pipe, though, you can
hit the coin to become invincible Rainbow Mario. That'll let you kill the goombas and
steal their star bits before moving on.
Fifth Planet: You come out onto the underside of this planet. There's a number of coins
here to collect, but what you want to do is get onto the upper side, avoid the Bullet
Bills that come your way, and smash the crystal that hides the launch star.
Sixth Planet: At the outset here, use your spin attack to throw the coconuts back at the
launcher enemies across the way. When they're both dead, the bridge will lower. If you
want to get the coins on the upper levels of the first ship here, use a launch jump: hold
down the Z button to crouch, then hit A to jump extra high.
Make your way to the deck of the second ship to find the launch star.
Seventh Planet: The boss fight against King Kaliente occurs here. He's not so bad, though;
all you really need to do is wait for him to fire coconuts at you, then spin them back at
his face. The first one will hit him straight on, but the second and third will require
you to hit them back multiple times. When you hit him in the head three times, he'll pop
out the Power Star. Collect all of the star bits and coins on this planet before nabbing
it and returning to the Observatory. Honeyhive galaxy:
Bee Mario Takes Flight
Planet One: Head for the sign near where you land and use the D-pad to look around; you'll
spot a 1-Up on the ledge there.
From there, head up the slope nearby and into the fountain area. Hit the large glowing
coin to reveal a Bee Suit powerup nearby. Grab it, then fly up behind the waterfall
(bee-ing sure not to hit the water, which removes your suit). A hole beyond it will lead
you to the Bee Queen, eventually. You'll need to get another Bee Suit at the bottom of the
slope, then hop your way to the launch star at the end of the path.
Planet Two: Grab another bee suit here, if need be, then head to the bottom of one of the
flower stems and use the spin move to shoot upwards. You'll need to buzz from the apex of
your jump to the central flower petal, with all the star bits on it; from there, you can
jump to the higher flower, where another launch star is located.
Planet Three: Use your bee suit to latch onto the honey and start climbing upwards! If you
lose your bee suit, you can find another one on the lower ledge of the planet by spinning
into a plant. There's a giant coin in the middle of the honey, if you look for it; hitting
it will cause a trail of real coins to appear.
When you reach the queen, use your bee suit to fly up and latch onto her fur. Crawl around
and find the five star shards to free her from her itchiness.
Planet One: The launch star that appears will return you to the top of Planet One, where
you'll meet with a number of toadstools. They'll give you a Power Star, allowing you to
return to the observatory. You'll likely uncover a new galaxy from this star.
Trouble On The Tower
Planet One: It would appear that strange blocks have started to fall from the sky. You can
bust them with the Ground Pound maneuver, which you can perform by jumping and then
tapping the Z button. Destroy as many of them as you can find; most of them will have star
bits inside, but one of them will reveal a Sproutle Vine.
Hop onto the vine and ride it off to the other platform here; just go as fast as you can
on it, then shoot off, and you'll land on another vine, where you can spin again to reach
dry ground. Use the ground pound on the trampoline here to smash the block above you.
Explore this area if you like; there's another trampoline here that you can use to reach a
launch star. It's not a real launch star, though; it'll only shoot you up to the next
platform. You'll come to an area where a caterpiller roams around a switch. Ground pound
into the switch to extend a bridge, ground pound the wooden switch to lower a platform
that will let you wall jump upwards to the real launch star.
Planet Two: You find yourself on a pair of bent cylinders here. Kill the Piranha plants,
then jump down to the colorful world below you, where more caterpillars await. (You can
kill them by spinning into them, then jumping on their undersides.) You may want to just
avoid your enemies here instead of risking attacking them.
Planet Three: Hit the golden star here to pop an invincibility effect onto Mario, then run
around hitting the piranhas and the caterpillar. When you've killed everything, jump into
the hole above you to float back down to Planet One.
Planet One: You'll come out near the upper area of Planet One, where Mandibugs have taken
over the bees' observation deck. You can kill the mandibugs by ground pounding onto them
when they attempt to hit you with their pincers. Wall jump upwards here and pound the red
switch to activate the windmill here, then ride it to the observation tower. A strong
mandibug will be here; you'll need to ground pound it twice to finish it off and reveal
the Power Star.
Big Bad Bugaboom
Planet One: The mandibugs have extended their reign over the bee kingdom, so it looks like
you'll have to find a way to finish them off. Climb the ramp here until you find a water
bulb shooter that will shoot you off to the far platform here, then drop down near the
flagpole until you find another Bee Suit. When you have it on, drop into the pipe nearby
and make your way up and past the waterfall. When you reach the Queen Bee, she'll open a
launch star to the next planet.
Planet Two: The Bugaboom here is just like any other mandibugexcept for the fact that it's
absolutely huge, and it flies. Still, with basic principles, you should be able to defeat
it.
Like other mandibugs, you need to ground pound the Budaboom in the back in order to defeat
it. At first, this is easiest to do by getting in front of it, waiting for it to charge at
you, then flying straight up and waiting for it to get underneath you before pounding it
from above.
In the second phase, the Bugaboom will begin flying. It's tricky, but you can spin around
the root of a flower to fling yourself into the air to get above the Budaboom. If you
hover around up there, you'll eventually get into a spot where you can pound into the
Buda's back while it flies. You will need to hit the button a bit before the Bugaboom is
directly underneath you, though.
In the third phase, the Bugaboom will spit bombs onto the ground, making it dangerous to
walk around. It'll also fly much more quickly than it did before. What you want to do here
is fly up to one of the clusters of honey in the middle of the tree. If you hang onto the
honey at the highest spot, you can wait for the Budaboom to fly around before jumping off
and pounding it. You'll need to get above it well before it actually comes around
underneath you, though; if you jump off from the tree and begin hovering in the middle of
the path when the Bugaboom is still about 90 degrees around the circle from you, you
should be able to start the ground pound while it's still in the distance and hit it as it
comes underneath you. It'll take some practice, but eventually you will get your foe.
When the Bugaboom drops the Power Star, return it to the observatory to finish off this
galaxy. A Hungry Luma will appear outside the observatory; feed it 400 Star Bits to reveal
the Sweet Sweet Galaxy.
Luigi In The Honeyhive Kingdom
Later in the game, when Luigi starts sending you letters when he gets stuck, you can
return to the Bee Mario Takes Flight level to find him. This should be the third mission
he sends you on. To find Luigi, grab the Bee Mario suit, then return up to where the
boulders roll. See the small branch that has the trapeze hanging from it Jump onto the
branch itself to regain your flight, then head up to the piranha plants. Jump from there
to the ice crystals across the way, then jump from that ledge to the walkway behind the
waterfall. When the slope becomes too high to climb, fall down to the ledge below you,
where Luigi is stuck to a tree above a fly. Jump up to him to nab your star.
Loopdeeloop Galaxy
Surfing 101
There's only one planet here, where you'll learn to ray surf. Ray surfing has pretty
simply controls: simply press A to go forward and twist the Wiimote left or right to turn.
Actually surfing can be difficult, however, since the edges of the track have no walls;
flying off of it will cause you to lose a life and start completely over. Try to nab the
1-Up near the start of the track; that'll eliminate you from having to really lose a life
if you go over the edge.
The reward for completing the course is a Power Star, provided you finish in a decent
time. We managed to finish in 1:04 and received the Power Star. If you get really
frustrated with completing the course, feel free to come back and try it again later.
Flipswitch Galaxy
Painting The Planet Yellow
This is another one-planet galaxy. Your goal here is to turn all of the flipswitches from
blue to yellow. You begin on the corner of one of the planes here, where a machine off in
the distance sends out electrical pulses.
Begin by flipping over the side here to the plane nearby where a pink square is making its
revolutions across the flipswitches. Move directly down the side of the plane across the
blue squares, then jump onto the pink square to return to the plane you originally started
on. Make your way through the first plane, and keep in mind that the machine here will
send out three electrical pulses before pausing for a bit. Clear out the plane, then head
to the final one and finish it as well to get the star.
Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor
Megaleg's Moon
First Planet: The small enemies here can be killed by spinning into them, then jumping
onto their feet. In order to blow the small prisons here, though, you need to head towards
the Bullet Bill shooters, let one of them lock onto you, then lead it back to the prison
and let the Bill hit the cage. That will unlock a 1-Up, as well as a launch star.
Megaleg will attack you when you land on the second planet. He's not difficult to figure
out, though: in order to take him down, you first need to climb up one of his legs. When
you get past the first line of Bullet Bills and the rotating gears, you'll come up to
Megaleg's head. Get a Bullet Bill to follow you to the grand star's prison and destroy it.
Oh ho, but not so fast! The destruction of the prison will cause a huge number of Bullet
Bill launchers to appear. What you need to do now is lure one of them up and into the gate
surrounding the grand star, then somehow lure another Bill past the lowered gate before it
closes. The gate rotates, so when you get one of the gate segments to fall, you'll need to
run in the direction that it rotates so that it's easier to get a Bill past it before the
gate pops back up. This is all pretty complicated to do, so you may be trying it for a
bit, but eventually you should manage to get a Bill in through the gate and into the Grand
Star prison to claim it.
Fountain Observatory
Space Junk Galaxy
Pull Star Path
There isn't so much a series of planets here as there are a series of very small spheres
to walk on. The pull stars are going to be what you need to work with to get from sphere
to sphere; grab onto them and pull yourself from star to star. Keep in mind that when you
get out of a star sphere, you'll fall towards the nearest gravitational body.
Make your way to the three spheres and recraft the launch star from the pieces there.
After making your way to the rocket, ride the pull stars off to the next large area and
smash the crystals atop it to reveal the Toadstools. When their ship arrives, jump up to
it, then use the sling star to reach the final area of the level.
The path in the final area recreates itself as you walk, so it can be a bit confusing to
follow. Move slowly and find the five silver stars here to recreate the Power Star.
Kamella's Airship Attack
Jump from the Toadstool spaceship to the enemy fleet and start making your way through
space. You can drop the first bridge by spinning into the lever near it. Use the
jump-and-spin technique to reach the coins and the 1-Up, then smash the crate to move on.
On the second ship, you can reach the  block by somersaulting (Z+A) then spinning at the
top of the jump. Pick up the shells here by spinning near them, and shake your remote to
throw them into the treasure chests. Doing so for all of the chests here will let you move
on, but you'll have to kill the Magikoopa first.
On the next set of ships, drop down and spin near the Koopas to grab their shells. Throw
them at the octopi to unlock the bridge leading to the final ship.
Kamella, when she appears, is a large Magikoopa that uses her staff to throw shells and
fireballs at you. What you need to do isn't very mysterious: grab a shell that pops out of
the staff, get close to her, and chuck it right into her body. You'll need to be close to
ensure that you don't miss, but she has a pretty predictable pattern. After two hits,
she'll summon a couple of lesser Magikoopas; deal with them before finishing her off.
Tarantox's Tangled Web
Use the pull stars at the outset to pull yourself along to a large enclosed planet.
Hidden Star: There's a Hungry Luma here; if you can feed it 50 star bits, it'll cause a
new planet to form. Head over to the Yoshi's Unexpected Appearance planet via the launch
star, kill all the Goombas on it, and the hidden Power Star will be revealed. Grab it,
then return here to finish this mission.
When you have the hidden star tucked away, return to this planet and find the hole leading
inside. The launch star within will launch you to a spider-infested part of the galaxy.
Use the sling pods here to start warping from planet to planet, using the lines of coins
to tell where you need to go.
Eventually you'll wind up on Tarantox's planet. Jump into the small bits of goo here and
pull yourself downwards to shoot yourself into Tarantox's web, knocking him free. Tarantox
looks intimidating, but he's not too bad if you know what you're doing. The primary method
of attacking him will be to jump into the small pods of good and pulling yourself like a
slingshot. He has weak spots on his sides which will force him to pause if you hit them,
but his primary weak spot is on his rear end. Run around him until you get into a position
where you can shoot yourself into it.
When you hit Tarantox's butt, he'll flip over on his webbing, revealing three red orbs on
his thorax. Hit all three of them, then repeat the process a couple of times to reveal the
Power Star. Collect all of the coins in the area before grabbing it.
Rolling Green Galaxy
Rolling In The Clouds: This Monkey Ball-esque adventure will have Mario rolling around on
top of a ball. Getting used to the controls here can be difficult since they're so
different than what you normally use, but you can reap the benefits by grabbing a lot of
star bits if you hit the  coins. Make it to the end of the course to nab the Power Star.
Battlerock Galaxy
Battlerock Barrage
Remake the pull star at the beginning here to get yourself to a launch star, then collect
as many star bits as you can from the distance before launching yourself off to the large
planet here.
When you reach the blue screw atop the platform, get ready for the toughest challenge so
far: you need to move up and down on the platform as it moves, in order to avoid the laser
beams, cannon shots, and rotating electrical devices. The safest place to be here is on
the edge of the disc, but the rotating electrical balls will ensure that it's also not
perfectly safe. It'll take you a couple of tries, but you'll eventually get to the end of
the platform's movement. Jump to the far platform here, get the attention of the Bullet
Bills, and start smashing the gates. Don't forget the 1-Up that's locked away on the
underside of the platform!
Breaking Into The Battlerock
You'll need to chuck the bombs here onto the other platforms to break the cages. Unlock
the launch star to move on.
There's another Hungry Luma here. If you don't have 30 star bits, unlock the cage with the
rainbow star in it, get invincible, and smash the chain chomps to get plenty of bits from
them. When you unlock the new planet, warp over to it and start the hidden minigame.
Hidden Star: The ammo dump minigame is really annoying. The basic premise is simple: throw
bombs at the trash and blow it up. For whatever reason, though, you only have 30 seconds
to throw the bombs, and they take six or seven seconds to actually detonate. Completing
the minigame will require a lot of repetition; you need to know precisely where to place
the bombs in order to have them blow up (aim for the bright spots on the ground), and you
need to get them there in the least amount of time possible. This becomes a game of
technique after a while; you'll learn how far you can expect the bomb's explosion radius
to reach, as well as how far you need to be to throw them a certain distance.
When you finally destroy all of the trash, you'll receive a Power Star.
Anyway, when you return to the globule that you were on before, head back to the bomb
factory and unlock the Luma. He'll make a shortcut to a field of pullstars. Make your way
through it to the next launch star and ride it out to a large structure. When you land,
you'll see two pulsars rotating around a switch atop a dome. It is possible to get to the
switch; you can somersault while facing away, then spin your way up to the switch. It's
difficult, but not impossible. Groundpounding the switch will reveal around 25 star bits.
When you're ready to move on, drop through the pipe. The bombs here actually move, but you
can still pick them up by spinning into them. Grab one, then wait until it's almost about
to explode, then throw it at the cage to reveal a hole in the ground. Drop through to
reveal a cannon, then shoot yourself through the Luma star in the middle of the level.
Repeat the process to hit the launch star and ride on.
When you land on the small rocket, grab a bomb at one end and hop over the electrical
lines to reveal the 1-Up and cannon on the other end. Hop into the cannon, then wait for
the timing on the shields to be right and nab the Power Star.
Topmaniac and the Topman Tribe
Avoid the wrench-throwers here at the beginning and get to the pullstars. Make your way
upward from there, past the bomb platforms, until you land on a platform where a Luma is
being kept in a cage. Spin the Topman here into the electrical fields to free the Luma and
open the next shortcut.
After landing, spin through the boxes to find a pipe and head into the Battlerock itself.
You need to start making your way through the level here, going all the way to the right
to flip the gravity and hit the ceiling. (There is a shortcut that you can take, by
somersaulting off of the first  block that you see above the rotating fire.)
Keep making your way through the Battlerock. When you find the two Topmen near the
electrical fence, spin them into it to drop the electricity and move on. Eventually you'll
head out to a flying saucer where you'll find another Luma; you can buy either a 1-Up or a
shield from it. The shield may be handy.
Topmaniac will appear when you reach the top edge of the saucer. He's one of the easiest
bosses you'll face; just jump on him to retract his spikes, then spin him into the
electrical fields. Repeat the process three times while avoiding the enemies he summons to
help him, and you'll receive your Power Star.
Hurry-Scurry Galaxy
Shrinking Satellite
The paths here will fall away as you step on them. It may take some trickery, but if you
manage to collect all of the notes on the small planet without dying, then you'll nab
another Power Star.
Bowser's Star Reactor
The Fiery Stronghold
There is a fair amount of trickery in Bowser's castle here, but the path is at least
fairly consistently clear. When you reach Bowser, he'll attempt to shoot the platforms out
from under you; hurry towards him to start the boss confrontation.
jump towards you, then scurry out of the way. When he lands, he'll be burnt by lava and
start to run around. Wait for him to come to you; when he spots you, he'll turn around,
allowing you to spin into his tail to flip him over, then spin into him again to hurt him
and end phase one.
The other two phases play out more or less identically, but Bowser will fire more breath
flames, cause more electrical shockwaves to occur (jump over them), and eventually need to
be spun into multiple times in order to go down. When he does, though, you'll nab the
Grand Star for this observatory.
Kitchen Observatory
Beach Bowl Galaxy
Sunken Treasure
You're dropped off on a beach here. Sink or swim! Swimming can be done by holding down the
Z button while you're in the water. A will let you move forward slowly, while spinning
will cause you to zip through the water. Find the five star pieces in the water (one is
inside the clam, one is inside a box, and another is off to the side a bit). That'll shoot
you up to the top of the island, where you can use the groundpound switches to make your
way up to the Power Star.
(Don't worry about the treasure chest here, we'll get it in the next level.)
Passing The Swim Test
Welcome to annoyedville, population you. After speaking to the Coach penguin, dive into
the water and start spinning around while trying to track down the line of small penguins
that are roaming around. You need to spin through the first one to nab the golden shell,
then let go of the Z button to automatically float back to the surface. Bring the shell
back to Coach for your Power Star.
Hidden Area: Before nabbing the power star from the Coach, bring the golden shell to the
beach and walk around to the treasure chest. Smashing it open will reveal a launch star.
When you land on the other island, lure one of the beaked creatures over underneath the
coin that's flying in the sky; it'll hit you into the air and unlock an Ice Mario suit.
While you're wearing the suit, you can walljump up the waterfalls here. If you walljump
all the way to the top of the island (you'll need to walljump + airspin to reach the last
launch star), you'll find a little winter wonderland. Check around for the Power Star in
the air, then turn to Ice Mario, lure the beak bird over underneath the Power Star (making
a path for it by walking on the water), then have it pop you into the air to reach the
Star.
The Secret Undersea Cavern
Get underwater here and grab a shell. Shells will propel you underwater if you just let go
of all the buttons; when you're ready to hit something with it, tap Z to slow down and aim
before spinning to fire it. Break the wall underwater to reveal a new cavern that you can
proceed into, then ground pound the switch to move on.
When you reach the floating platforms, you'll be faced with some tricky maneuvers. Get
underneath the block that moves around; one of its sides is missing a face, so you'll be
able to tell where you can hide without taking damage. Use that to jump onto the cylinder
in the middle of the area. The farther part of the level can be difficult; you need to
dodge the mobile blocks, or they'll kill you in one shot. Keep in mind that the moving
blocks will jump in place without moving when they're about to turn around; if you're
following one and see it hop up and down, it's about to come right back onto you!
Make your way to the end of the path and you'll net another Power Star.
Bubble Breeze Galaxy
Through The Poison Swamp: You need to find a bubble here and hop into it. When you do, you
can move the pointer around the screen, then press A to blow on yourself. That'll push you
around the level. It can take a while to get used to the motions, and also to the notion
that you have to point the pointer at what you want to avoid (meaning bombs). Make your
way through the level and you'll find the Power Star eventually. Ghostly Galaxy
Luigi And The Haunted Mansion
Looks like it's time to get Booed up. Make your way into the mansion here, then flip the
switch by the door to turn on the lights. Lure the Boos in the room into the light by
entering it and keeping your back to them; one of them will drop the key that'll let you
move on. Move into the next room and collect the launch star pieces to move on.
When you reach Luigi, lock yourself into one of the pullstars, then drop down to grab the
key, but be sure to lock onto a pullstar just as you fall so that you don't die. You'll
find a Boo Suit inside; it will let you levitate by tapping the A button (use this ability
to get the 1-Up here) and float through bars if you shake your remote.
Head into the next room and float through the bars near Luigi, then use the light to turn
off your Boo suit and hop over to him. He'll give you a Power Star. When you return to the
Observatory, Luigi will be at the Garage, helpfully telling you which galaxies have stars
that you've missed.
A Very Spooky Sprint
Make your way through the pullstars until you reach the helmeted ghost, who will challenge
you to a pullstar race. Make your way through the track as quickly as you can! Note that
there is a shortcut; there's a launch star that you should see in one of the turns. Get to
it and spin to launch yourself forward, but be sure to lock onto the pullstar that you
land near, or you'll fall a long way back down to the ground. When you reach the far
planet, the ghost will hand over a Power Star.
Hidden Star: You can find a hidden star at the very beginning of this level. After
launching from the Toad ship, head forward on the spit of land with the bats and the
spiders and spin attack the rock spire that glows off to the right. That will lead you to
a set of tricky moving platforms that may disappear under your feet at any time. Move
slowly when possible and try to get a feel for how the platforms move. When you reach the
set of locked doors, get ready to move upwards; when you reach the top of the path, the
last key you find will unlock your power star.
Beware of Bouldergeist
Make your way past the spiders here and into the mansion. When you get close to the bomb
boo portrait, it'll pop out and come your way. Lure it to the fireplace and spin it to the
explode and move on.
After killing the spiders, start somersaulting yourself into the sling pods and moving up.
Eventually you'll use a launch star to get to another vertical area. Recreate the
pullstars, then zoom over and start launching yourself along. When you see a Luma Shop,
buy the red shield.
Bouldergeist: Bouldergeist's first form is pretty easy; repeatedly hit him with the boo
bombs to knock off his shell and then his little dangling uvula when he floats around.
The second phase is much more difficult, as Bouldergeist will add a pair of hands to the
equation. You need to avoid the punches and the various other attacks that come your way
here (which can be difficult, no lie). Every so often Boulder will raise spikes from the
ground; you can coax him into destroying them by standing in the middle of them and
waiting for his hands to smash them. Still, the same concept applies here: you need to
grab the Boos that come from the stones and chuck them into Bouldergeist's body. You'll
probably have to destroy one of the hands first, though.
Look for the yellow stones here; they'll drop coins that you can use to heal yourself.
When Bouldergeist dies, another galaxy gets cleared off the map.
Bouy Base Galaxy
The Floating Fortress
Dive into the water here and head all the way to the ground. There's a couple of bullet
bill shooters down here. Destroy both the cages here; one leads to a pipe and the other
will raise the fortress up so you can reach the top.
Hidden Star: Head through the pipe to reach the bottom of the planet. It can be difficult
to move here because of all the bullet bills flying around; as you've no doubt noticed,
you can't jump on their heads to kill them. Avoid them as best you can to reach the cage
where the star is being held, then lure a bill through the minefield and open up the cage.
You can talk to the green Lumas back in the observatory to learn about the Green Power
Stars and what they do for you. After raising the fortress' platforms, start walljumping
upwards. After spinning down the green gear, a spinning enemy will appear. Jump atop him
to reach the blue screw above you and spin it down. You need to collect the five blue
pullstar pieces from the rotating gears (the final one is on top of the fortress itself)
to reveal the pullstar leading to the upper planet here. Make your way to the top of that
planet and unscrew the golden screw to reveal the Power Star.
Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada
Sinking The Airships
There are two routes to take here from the first cannon. If you look off to the left,
you'll see a flagpole with a Hungry Luma near it; if you launch yourself that way, you can
buy a shield and ride a celestial skateboard through a fairly difficult cannonball
gauntlet to reach Bowser Jr. It's a shortcut. Better to aim off to the right, towards the
small planet with the Goombas on it. Killing them all will net you a 1-Up and you can
launch from there to quickly get back to the Hungry Luma's ship. When you do reach Bowser
Jr., the match becomes a boss fight. In order to defeat him, you need to bop the Koopas,
grab their shells, and throw them at the ship that Bowser is piloting. It's easy enough to
do early on, but later in the match the ship turns sideways, forcing you to make a
slightly tougher shot, not to mention dodge the six Bullet Bills that will be coming your
way. The best thing to do here seems to be to somersault over the Bills or otherwise cause
them to be led astray; there's a gap between firing, so you should have enough time to
grab a shell and launch it before the next group comes. Otherwise, you can just stand at
the edge of the ship and let the Bills hit you; there's a fair amount of coins around, and
the immunity will last long enough for you to send a shell back at Bowser. Bedroom
Observatory
Gusty Garden Galaxy
Bunnies In The Wind
The floaty fluff flowers will let you move from platform to platform here. To use them,
spin in the middle of a tuft of flowers, jump up to grab onto the bottom, then spin your
way to the next platform. You can only spin three times, though, so be careful not to use
them up before you reach safety.
The second platform has a pipe in the underside of it where you can find plenty of star
bits. The third platform has a couple of hidden sproutle vines (kill the piranha plants to
reveal one of them); if you ride them both, you'll nab a 1-Up.
Continue to explore (if you ever get lost, check the other side of your platform or kill
the piranha plants to reveal Sproutle Vines). When you reach the large garden cube, you'll
find a bunny that challenges you to chase him. Do so, catch up to him in the tube, and
he'll give you the Power Star.
The Dirty Tricks of Major Burrows
Check the undersides of the first couple of platforms here to find some semi-hidden areas.
Don't worry if you miss some of the  coins in the air here; they'll eventually reveal a
cache of star bits if you hit enough of them in a row, but it's not mandatory.
When you start running into the hedgehogs, do as the bunnies say: groundpound near them to
pop them up, then spin into them. You'll need to finish off all the hedgehogs on a couple
of planets to reveal new launch stars. When you reach the apples, smash the stumps to
reveal the path leading onward.
When you come across Major Burrows, he'll be chasing a rabbit. Wait until he pops up out
of the ground, then groundpound and spin to knock him flying. In the second phase, he'll
burrow at you under the ground; run away from him until you see his helmet, then wait for
him to pop out his upper body and ground pound again. You'll have to chase him a bit to
spin into him this time.
In the third phase, Burrows will move more quickly when he's underground, but you still
need to run away and wait for him to pop up a bit before you can groundpound him. When you
do, though, he'll immediately start burrowing towards you again; move away a bit and
groundpound him again to fully pop him onto the surface and spin into him to defeat him.
Gusty Garden's Gravity Scramble
Hidden Star: You can find this near the beginning of this level. Move across the
planetoids until you reach a vine that throws you into a Rainbow Mario suit and a launch
star. Use the launch star to get to the next planet and quickly run upwards to find a
golden Chain Chomp. Hit him while you're still invincible to reveal the hidden Power
Star.
After you get the hidden star, make your way back to the mission and get past the Chain
Chomp. You'll come to a series of platforms with flagpoles in them. You'll need to
investigate the upper and lower halves of the platforms to find a number of star
fragments.
When you reach the blocks where gravity shifts, just keep in mind that the only block
faces you can walk on are the yellow ones with red exclamation points. Make your way to
each switch and flip it by spinning into it. When you get past the cannonball barrage,
you'll find the Power Star.
Freezeflame Galaxy
The Frozen Peak of Baron Brrr
The penguin at the beginning of this level will teach you how to skate. You can skate on
any ice surface; begin by spinning, then just move your directional stick as you would
normally. Catch the penguin while skating to reveal a launch star moving on.
Make your way through the ice barriers around here to reach the golden coin that's above a
landmass; that'll let you change into Ice Mario. There are a number of paths reaching up
from here, but the most intriguing lies along the back wall.
Hidden Star: If you can shift into Ice Mario and quickly jump across the sprinklers along
the wall, you'll eventually reach a 1-Up. If you can jump from the 1-Up platform to the
platform above it where the launch star is (use a somersault and a spin to get the
necessary height), you'll find yourself near a Fire Mario suit. You'll need to use it to
melt the snowmen here, as well as to kill the ice bats. There are a number of challenging
segments between you and the summit of the mountain, most of them involving keeping your
Fire Mario suit long enough to reach an out-of-the-way Snowman, but if you can get past
everything in your path, you'll earn a hidden star. When you have the hidden star, restart
the mission and start heading up the mountain the normal way. Eventually you'll reach
another Ice Mario suit; grab it, then quickly make your way over the moving blocks to meet
up with Baron Brrr.
Baron Brrr isn't too difficult to take down, but you need to move rather quickly. Head
around to the left to find a cubbyhole under his platform where you can find an Ice Mario
suit. Put it on, then run around and walljump up to Brrr's platform. Brrr will slam into
the ground, causing an ice wave to push you off of the platform; if you can time your
jump, though, you can leap over the wave, then spin near Brrr to suck up his icy shroud.
Keep spinning him until you hit him.
After you hit Brrr a couple of times, he'll summon a smaller pair of monsters to help him.
No matter; you still need to kill him in the same manner as before. If you do so, you'll
earn your Power Star.
Freezeflame's Blistering Core
Reconstruct the launch star here on the first planet, then launch yourself off into the
distance. When you land, start avoiding the rolling mines, then climb up the flagpole and
jump around to where you can reach the golden coin. Tag it, then change to Fire Mario to
start raining hot death on the mines.
You need to light the torches here to move on; eventually you'll be able to flip up to the
ceiling by jumping upwards. Move on until you come to the box that dispenses mines; if you
want a bunch of free star bits, repeatedly roast them with fire as they pop out. There's a
hidden 1-Up behind the little temple here; head behind one of the torches and drop down.
Tap the golden coin, then wall jump and hit all of the music notes before you reach the
top.)
Your goal here is to become Fire Mario and light the two torches outside the temple. One
is easy to hit, but the other can be difficult. Stand on top of the granite slab that's
raised a bit off of the ground near it, then aim your fireball off to the side so that it
hits the lava and bounces into the torch. Lighting both torches will reveal the path
leading upwards.
When you reach the next lava maze, make your way to the Fire Mario suit and then run
around to where the platforms are floating by and try to light the second torch. When you
do so, the Power Star will appear.
Hot And Cold Collide
Maneuver through the first planet here as best you can, then use the launch star to move
on. In the little watery area, grab the 1-Up and shield, if you wish, then spin on top of
the green gear to reveal a path leading on. The flipside of this level features lava that
pulsutes upwards and downwards. Make your way along the path, find the green gear, spin it
when it's safe to do so, then grab the Fire Mario suit and return to the ice water and
light the two torches there to move on.
When you reach the suspended fields of fire and ice, grab an Ice Mario suit and start
skating across the lava; just spin to boost your speed and get from ice suit to ice suit
as quickly as possible. Keep in mind that you can jump a full square gap if you're
skating; it'll come in handy when you're near the Power Star.
Dusty Dune Galaxy
Soaring On The Desert Winds
Hitting the quicksand here is an instant death, so avoid it. Hop over to the tornados and
spin while you're inside of them to get an aerial boost. Ride the winds off to the pipe
nearby to head down.
There are some goodies here if you know where to look. After smashing through the line of
blocks below you, head off to the right. The first smashing block that drops from above
can be jumped on if you jump+spin from the wooden block to its left; it'll lead you to a
shield, a hard-to-reach 1-Up, and a walljumpable golden coin that will reveal numerous
star bits. Eventually you'll find a golden star that reveals a Fire Mario suit; use it to
bust through the piranha plants, then hit the red spot on the huge boulder to destroy it.
Eventually you'll reach a launch star; use it to head up.
When you reach the next set of tornados, start heading upwards along the tower. Keep in
mind that you'll want to let the tornado suck you up to the top of them before spinning;
you'll get extra height that way. Make your way up the tower, through the wall-jump maze.
When you reach the top of the tower, you'll spot the Power Star; you can jump quickly
through the sand and spin its cage to release it.
Blasting Through The Sand
Hop to the sandy platform here to find a coinand a bunch of enemies. Start spinning your
way through them. When the Pokey dies (you can spin it, too), a launch star will appear to
let you move on.
Hidden Star: When you land, head to the underside of the platform that you're on to find a
Hungry Luma. If you feed it 20 star bits, it'll create a new planet. Launch to it and head
inside. The interior of the planet has a switch on its wall; when you walk over it, the
sand will start to shift from ceiling to floor, forcing you to walk through the gaps that
it leaves behind and try not to get crushed. You'll find stars trapped in crystals here;
three of them are relatively easy to get to, but a couple of them are in a slightly hidden
section of the level. When you've shifted the sand to one side, look for a small strip of
the green/red sand shifting bar that's surrounded by stone. If you somersault to it and
get it to start shifting the sand, you should find the remaining two stars.
Put all of the stars together without getting crushed and you'll obtain another Green
Star.
If you restart the mission, you'll eventually come to a ring where a number of boulders
are rolling around. It's easy to jump to the launch star, but what isn't clear is that the
platforms are two-sided. Walk underneath the launch star to find an invisible Rainbow
Mario suit and smash the boulders for lots of star bits. The other small platform here has
a shield on its underside.
Keep on moving until you start finding blue shards. One of them is in the chest here;
bring the green turtle shell to it to bash it open. Eventually you'll reach a planet with
two paths. If you take the harder path (with the narrower blocks to follow and the
electrical beams above it), you can find a hidden pipe that will let you claim three 1-Ups
if you find all of the magical blocks within.
When you reach the last planet, it'll have two sides; one with blue bricks and one with
yellow. You need to move around in the blue brick area until you find a hole that will let
you reach the center of the yellow brick side, where a large groundpound switch is
residing. Flip the switch, then quickly run to the blue side of the platform to grab the
Power Star.
Sunbaked Sand Castle
Flip the groundpound switch here to start the sand raising, and look for the goodies on
the way up, including a 1-Up and a shield. When you reach the launch star, head up and
away. When you land, grab the star shard and hit the switch to raise a large structure in
the middle of the sand. You'll need to find the rest of the shards on the tower here. One
of them can only be found by grabbing a shell, then lowering the tower and hitting the
treasure chest as it comes down. The others can be found in various static positions
around the tower. Keep in mind that you can walljump up the tower if you get stuck at the
bottom.
Hidden Power Star: When the launch star is formed, jump to reach the spiny planet here.
You can make a quick exit by knocking a coconut into the spiny plant here, but if you want
around for a while, you'll hear a rumble and find a wooden stump. (It can take a while to
form.) Groundpound the stump to reveal another launch star, which will take you to another
rising/lowering tower with some Bullet Bills atop it. Lower the ground around the tower
and lure a Bullet Bill from the top (it has to be following you while the ground is
lowering), and smash it into the prisons there; one of them contains the hidden Power
Star. When you're ready to move on, return to the mission and use the spiky plant's launch
star. You'll land near a Pokey and a 1-Up. Take the launch star here to the planet nearby
and kick the coconuts there from the lower planet to the upper one. When you have a couple
up there, return to the Pokey and kick a coconut into it, then stomp on its head to reveal
another launch star.
When you reach the Power Star, drop to the ceiling and smash the box outside the glass
enclosure to reveal a pipe. When you reach the interior of the enclosure, move quickly.
Don't wait for ledges to come down to you; use somersaults to reach them as quickly as
possible. When you hit the bottom/top; you'll get your Power Star.
Honeyclimb Galaxy
Scaling The Sticky Wall
This is, as the name implies, a galaxy where you have to climb patches of honey stuck to
walls. Just remember that if you tap A, you'll leap up and fall back down towards the
wall; holding it down will make you float above the wall, letting you avoid the various
enemies here. Getting to the top of the bug-filled wall will net you the Power Star.