Super Mario Galaxy Star Guide
Part 3 of our spectacular guide to all 120 stars.
Matter Splatter Galaxy
Star #1
Watch Your Step
Much like the Matter Splatter Mansion from the Ghostly Galaxy, this bonus level features areas that only become solid for a short time before fading away. Stay with the solid sections and enter the green pipe. It's side-on now, and you can get the Spring Mario power. Normally this is cause for celebration but under these circumstances it can be a real trial, since this bouncy bastard won't stand still. The final section is relatively simple by comparison, since you can use the star bits up ahead to predict where the platforms will be. Even so, do as the title suggests and watch your step if you want to grab the star at the end.
BONUS: Snow Cap Galaxy
Feed the hungry Luma next to the Garden with a whopping 1600 star bits to open this galaxy. Greedy sod.
Star #1
Star Bunnies In The Snow
Mario's animal molestation fetish reaches its filthy apex with this timed rabbit hunt. You've got 150 seconds to find and catch three rabbits lurking in the frozen landscape. In a rather nifty feature, you can use the Wiimote to sweep the snow away to aid in your search. Also of use is the ruddy big hole that you can open up by finding the switches under the snow. This nets you a Fire Mario power up, and a convenient pit in which to trap those rabbits. To speed things up even more, one is hiding in a snowman (melt it with a fireball), another is lurking under one of the cracked patches of earth, while the last one - rather foolishly - has locked itself in a chest. Find 'em catch 'em, get the star.
Bowser's Galaxy Reactor
NOTE: To reach this final stage, you must talk to Rosalina after collecting at least 60 stars and confirm that you're ready to go kick Bowser's scaly bum.
Star #1
The Fate Of The Universe
As poodle-permed rockers Europe almost sang, it's the final showdown - der ner ner, der ner nah nah nah. First, we need to reach Bowser and that means risking life and moustache in a full pelt scramble through pretty much every environment you've traversed in this cosmic adventure. Start off by using the spotlights to stick to the walls and make your way around to the tower. Step into the beam and you're whisked away to a lava planet. The platform you land on starts sinking immediately, so get moving, leaping from one unstable surface to another, and dodging the fireballs on the rolling rock. Leap into the next beam and we're off to an ice planet. Platforms will form as you approach, but they soon vanish again, so don't let up the pace. It's a short visit to the desert next, with lots of rotating fireballs, then a brief - but tough - jaunt through a gravity switching 2D section. Finally, there's a panic inducing race down a revolving tunnel of lava, with moving platforms, Chomps and Bullet Bills galore. Passed all that? Then it's time to dodge Bowser Jr, who'll be bombarding you with cannonballs as you rush to face his dad.
Defeating Bowser himself requires three stages. First off, he'll send out those old shockwaves before covering himself in rock and rolling at you. The only way to damage him is spin so you hit his head as he rolls, then spin him again as he careens around in a daze. Get it wrong, and Mario takes the hit. You need to do this twice, then you move to a different planet for the second stage, which is a little easier. Bowser now unleashes a fire attack, but you can clock him with the many stretchy green punchbag pods to set him skidding. Again, do this a couple of times and it's on to the apocalyptic final phase - which, rather disappointingly, is the same as your previous battles with him. You know the routine: trick him into smashing into the glass panels, then spin attack him as he runs around, and again as he skids. Keep doing that until Bowser executes a perfect Gollum dive into the burning heart of the cosmos. Wow. You just completed Super Mario Galaxy!
Well, sort of.