I beat the game (around 60ish, IIRC?) and blazed up to ~92 in the week I got it - xmas week 2007. Then I hit a wall and couldn’t find anymore so I quit playing for the longest time. Finally I picked up the strategy guide a few weeks back and have been using it to find the remaining stars. Of the ones that are left, there are a few that are technically difficult (some of the purple comets), but I have no doubt I’ll conquer them soon enough and have the max 120 stars.
This will, in the end, probably give me close to the most enjoyment/playtime of any video game this decade, the other competitors being:
-Knights of the Old Republic
-Psychonauts
-Halo
-SSX Tricky
Just in case you like to be completely spoiler free.
121 for both
Keep at it. You are so close to getting to 120. It is worth it to get some of those impossible stars like Luigi’s purple coins. You get the old school feeling like you actually accomplished something that takes skill (practice + dying a lot + progressing a little further each time = euphoria when goal is reached)
Some of the fun of this game is because the stars are divided into neat 5-10 minutes sections. You can pick up the game for a half-hour each night, feel like you’ve progressed in the game, and still have a long way to go. Great balance of instant reward versus game-play length.
The Bouldergeist Daredevil run is killing me right now. I played for about an hour and a half straight earlier and got really close a few times, but haven’t been able to close the deal. The purple coins in the Freezeflame Galaxy are giving me problems too.
Is that the one where the green platforms disappear under you when you step on them? Thats the one that took me the longest to beat. Danced a jig when I did.
I have all 121 and around 35 playing as Luigi. I quit playing just to play some other games, since the Luigi levels are just like the Mario levels, with Luigi being a bit harder to control (and he definitely does not last as long underwater). I had to do the daredevil poltergeist run several times, but nothing compared to the purple coin run in the Toy Time galaxy. I probably tried that over 100 times.
Do you know this trick? If you pick up a bomb, then run over the other bombs on the ground, their 10 second timers starts as well. Made it a lot easier for me.
Red Hot Purple Coins was a pain in the ass but I was able to finally pull it off after about an hour or so. It’s a “skill” level (as opposed to a level where the coins are just hard to find), so once I’d done it enough times to have some repetition on each section of the board, it wasn’t that bad. Looking back, the Freezeflame and Dusty Dune purple coins weren’t as “hard”, but they took me longer and frustrated me more because each had a jump I couldn’t solve for a long time.
The Ghost Ship Daredevil comet disappeared for awhile so I got a few others.
Luigi’s Purple Coins was truly epic and maddening, but when all was said and done it really only ended up taking me about 45 minutes (though it seemed like A LOT longer; I couldn’t believe my eyes when I looked at the clock.) I died and died and died - must have died about 50 times at least, and then I sort of spontaneously just got the hang of it. I got all 100 coins once and died on the way back to the star, and then got it on the very next try.
All I have left now is the daredevil ghost ship Magikoopa guy and the Dreadnaught Purple Coins. And whatever the 121st star is, I guess. I’m about ready for bed, so I guess tomorrow I’ll finally join the ranks of Mario Galaxy finishers.
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