Welcome Back to the Galaxy!
A lava party, huh? This can't be good. I don't like dealing with lava. This also isn't called a galaxy for some reason. The music is a remix of the Bowser music from Super Mario 64, but it's different than that found in Galaxy. Let's get our next Grand Star!
Take 1- Some days you just walk right off the level. I'm having one of those days.
Take 2- We walk forward and a Magikoopa appears at the edge of the platform. We spin to defeat it and a Pull Star appears. We land on a cylindrical planet with moving gears at its ends. In its center is a pool of lava with platforms moving through it. We reach the edge and pound the spring to go to the next planet. Here we have to negotiate circling balls of fire. I fell into the lava twice, but as with many lava levels, there is a Life Shroom. There is also a 1-up over the pool of lava. After breaking the crystal to free the Launch Star, we launch to a midgate.
The next area has more lava, with flipping platforms with Thwomp faces. They shake before they flip, so we can time our jumps over them. I fell in the lava here. Just to the left of them, we find the Toad Brigade. They are all scared, and surprisingly (or not surprisingly), Yellow Toad is wide awake. They found a Star Bit to help us. (Not a 1-up? A Star Bit isn't going to do me much good, guys!) I fell in the lava 2 more times and reached the next platform. Because the game didn't make the joke, I'm going to: Hammer Time! There's a Hammer Bro that we have to defeat here. We can spin to defeat him, which releases a Sling Star. There's a ? Coin. We get a 1-up for getting all of the coins within the time limit. We pound the red switch, which sends us plummeting to a new level. We find a few Whomps here. They also now sport the Ground-Pound symbol on their backs, but we already know what to do. I found the Comet Medal above a Whomp, but I was killed by it trying to reach the Medal.
Take 3- I defeated the Hammer Bro, got the 1-up from the ? Coin, a 100 Star Bit 1-up, took a hit from a Dry Bones and fell in the lava. I got the Comet Medal by standing near the top of the Whomp and stood on the flat surface when it stood up. We pass the Whomps to find the midgate, a large golden sphere with a Ground Pound symbol, and a nearby Luma. He says we can ground-pound this meteorite to break down the door. The meteorite has its own gravitational field, so we jump on it, stand on the symbol, and pound it. It goes flying into the door in front of it, sporting a seal with Bowser's logo on it. The seal breaks and releases the chain, opening the door. A purple beam, similar to the blue ones found in the final Bowser battle in Galaxy, appears and we are warped through the door to a new area.
There are Dry Bones skulls chewing holes into the floor. They move in circles, the floor regenerates, and jumping on their heads makes them change directions. Falling through the floor means death. I take a hit from a skull and move on. I find a 3x3 purple block platform, marked like the snaking platforms in some of the Mario sidescrolling games. This one operates the same way, but it can move in 3 dimensions. I get a Life Shroom and get good advice from a Luma to beware the statues. They are nearby Bowser statues, which turn toward you. They are paired on opposite sides of the platform and fire their lasers to create an electric fence. I take a hit from the electric fence and fell in the lava many times, but I made it to the other side with 1 Health Bar left. I defeated more Hammer Bros and got coins from the torches- this is a good sign: it's not searing hot here!.
I reach another midgate with a meteorite and 3 Bowser seals. I go to the left to find a flagpole with a Life Shroom over it -thank goodness! I jump on a meteorite and send it into the center seal. Another meteorite appears out of the ground. The 2nd one hits its mark. I tried hitting the next one, but it misses-you have to aim! I aim the 4th one and it breaks the seal. The door opens and the purple beam takes us through the door.
We land on a flat planet, and Mario puts on his angry face. We see why: Bowser is sitting on his throne, looking at us, mildly amused. To showcase his size, his throne is made up of a castle and its turrets. He says we finally showed up and calls us a little flea on a puny planetoid. He has the power to flatten us like a space pancake-I don't doubt that! Young Master Luma comes out from under Mario's hat to cheer us on.
Bowser sends us to a new planet. Bowser is so huge that he just floats over the planet. He summons meteors, creating golden shadows, to smash us and I take a hit from one. He then casts a golden shadow over the planet. (If he created a dark shadow, we wouldn't be able to see it against the brown planet.) He then punches the planet, where you happen to be standing, if you don't move. Not knowing the battle strategy yet, I tried to climb up his arm and attack his face. I took damage this way. It took a couple of cycles, but I finally noticed that when he punches the planet, the meteors rise up out of the ground. They shed their brown coating and reveal that they are meteorites, and we know what to do with these! I took a hit from one and rode it up. I send it flying into Bowser and he is stunned and Star Bits appear. Bingo! I know how to beat him now! He breathes fire over the planet, and I get burned by it. I send a 2nd meteorite into his head and later a 3rd into his body. This last hit knocks the Grand Star out of him -it comes out of his belly- and he shrinks back to his normal size, futilely clawing for it, but it's just out of his reach.
We land back where we first saw him. He remembers why we're his archnemesis-we're annoyingly hard to squish. (I'll take that as a compliment.) But he wins anyway: his master plan moved onto the next phase during the battle. Tough luck! The fiend! He was just stalling us! He spins with the dark power from the 2nd Battle in Galaxy and disappears. The Grand Star appears after he leaves-otherwise he could just take it again.
GRAND STAR GET #2!
Star Get #24, 13 Medals, 593 Star Bits, 645 Coins, 11 Lives
Interlude
The Grand Star becomes a portal to a new "world". Chush! Lubba says we fought a giant monseter, but he turned tail and ran off. Let's get on after him because we can keep going with the new Grand Star's power. Our special one's still with the monster, so let's not sit around getting older. Let's get going!
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