Paper Mario: Sticker Star -- W1-1 Warm Fuzzy Plains

Before starting our adventure, I decided explore Surfshine Harbor to the north, where I filled up my album with some nice stickers, like a Shiny Big Hammer and a Shiny Hopslipper. I then went south to 1-1 Warm Fuzzy Plains. The item block has a Shiny Hammer, so we get rid of a Worn-out Hammer sticker. We battle a couple of Goombas and get a Hopslipper as well as some coins. Getting the first strike lets you do damage without using a sticker, so try to get them! If you win a battle without taking damage, you'll get a Perfect Bonus, adding coins to your total. Peel off Bowser tape to reveal hidden areas, such as an area in a hill with a few coins.

To the right is an area with a waterfall. We go to cross the bridge when a Toad with a crease crosses it, bumps into us, and knocks out a shiny Scissors sticker. We pick it up after rearranging our album. Turns out a full album isn't always the best thing. Thankfully, there were Worn-out stickers I could easily part with. It appears Kersti has never seen a sticker like this. Just then, Bowser Jr. appears in a Clown Copter. He says he can smell a rare sticker on us. He says all rare stickers are his and that we should give it over. We have to battle him. He has 20 HP. I'm saving my shiny stickers for boss battles and this is such an occasion. My Shiny Jump takes out 15 HP, but Bowser Jr. says he can recover health and fully heals himself. My Shiny Hopslipper didn't help much. Looks like I have no choice but to use the Scissors. Three scissors appear and cut up the battle screen, shredding Bowser Jr. in the process for an instant kill. He then complains the sticker is overpowered and that we cheated. He decides to show us what he can do, and with a "NYARGLEBARGLE!", he flattens the world, picks up the bridge, crumples it up, and throws it on a nearby ledge. He flies away and we go to the left, because we can't reach the bridge. The Toads are panicking, but realize Bowser Jr.'s gone when we show up. The Toads stack and follow us. The Toads stretch and form a staircase to the crumpled bridge. The bridge goes into the album under "Scraps" and the Toads leave. Kersti announces it's time to paperize when Mario approaches the spot where the bridge was. Time stops and the world becomes a flat piece of paper. We pick up the bridge and line up the shadow, then stick it in place with (A), smoothing it down. Kersti now allows us to paperize at any time using (Y). To the right is a Heart Block.

We go further to the right and find an item block we can hit three times for three Baahammers. Peel off the Bowser tape nearby to find a secret area with a pair of real scissors. It goes into the album under "Things". Kersti's not familiar with 3D objects, so she says we should keep it in the album as souvenir. Outside the hidden area is an item block on the ground we can hit three times for three Slaphammers. There's a door drawn on the hill. The Secret Door leads to the Thumbtack. To the right, we see a sparkly star-shaped object. Kersti says it's a part of the Sticker Comet. She also says the Sticker Comet and the Royal Stickers are naturally drawn to each other, which means collecting pieces of the comet will lead to the Royal Stickers. It will also lead to more coins in battle. We approach the comet piece, but someone stops us. It's the three Goombas from before, just hiding sideways. In battle, they roll up into Paper-Cone Goombas, so jumps won't work. That explains why the area has so many hammer stickers. We use up quite a few stickers, but win. We reach the comet piece, the goal, and coins rain down. We have a short amount of time to grab them, but it's worth it, as some are worth five or ten coins. The next area opens up.

New Super Mario Bros. 2: 1-1

It's time to get some coins! We get a Super Shroom in an item block, as well as some coins. The first Star Coin is over some music note blocks. Go past the three stacked Goombas and a Koopa and you'll find a lone brick block. Hit it repeatedly or pound it for a while for lots of coins. If you trigger it enough times, it will become a Gold Block and go on Mario's head. The faster you move, the more coins you get. It acts like an extra powerup, so if you run into an enemy, it falls off and you take no damage. If you keep it on until it falls off on its own, you'll get applause. The second Star Coin is encased in brick blocks, so you'll need to be super to reach it. There is a brick block level with the ground. If you pound it, you'll get lots of coins and a gold block, as well as drop into a new area underground. Sliding increases the number of coins you'll get from a Gold Block. Here, you'll find a new kind of block: the random coin block. Like the random item blocks, it will cycle through a number of different coin values. The number that you hit will make that many coins appear: 5, 10, 30, 50. The larger increments will come out as 10-coin coins. You get applause if you hit 50. Go up the pipe at the end and go left for a pipe cannon to Coin Heaven. There's a line of coins and a P-Switch that makes Silver Coins (which look more blue than silver). The third Star Coin is at the end. The stairs at the end are rainbow-colored. Pound the stack of eight Goombas for a 1-up. The flagpole is nearby.
Coin Total: 492

New Super Mario Bros.: 1-1

It's World 1, so we get a simple level to get us started. We find the first Star Coin over four brick blocks. In one of the nearby item blocks is a Mega Mushroom, which makes Mario grow to fill the whole screen. As Mega Mario, he's invincible and destroys everything in his path. If you time it right, you can destroy the stairs and the flagpole. At the top of the screen is a meter. If it fills up, you can get up to 5 1-ups. Destroying everything means you'll probably miss the green pipe to the second Star Coin, which is underground. The third Star Coin is in a gap under some brick blocks. We have to be Super Mario to reach them with a ground pound. From there, we reach the flagpole.

Super Mario 3D Land: 1-1

It's time for our first level! We cross the bridge and get some coins, then hit a block for a Tanooki leaf to become Tanooki Mario. Towards the front is the first Star Coin over a tight rope near the broken bridge, which bears a strong to the Comet Medals in Galaxy 2. I will try to collect all of these, hopefully on my first try. If we stay towards the front of the screen, we'll find a hole in the wall blocked by a crate. We break it with our tail and go through the tunnel for a 1-up. We go up the yellow platforms and find the midpoint, which is a Bowser flag. We run through the puffy flowers to pick up an extra Super Shroom. Then, we go into the tunnel. In one of the brick blocks is a gear we can spin as Tanooki Mario. The gear raises the platform outside, where we find an extra time clock and some coins. Unfortunately, I jumped down too close to the screen and fell off the edge.
Take 2- We get a Tanooki Suit from a Tanooki Goomba and spin the gear again. The clock adds 100 seconds to our time limit. We find some binoculars we can look into without time penalty. We see the flagpole as well as a Toad, who tries to reach the flagpole, but falls short. We find the third Star Coin over a tight rope by the colorful blocks accessible using the music note block. We slid off again.
Take 3- We get the 1-up in the tunnel and go onto the block overhead for another 1-up. We find a green pipe by climbing the tree near the left fence on the same level as the midpoint flag. We do a handstand and jump to the musical note blocks. Here we come to the optical illusion room, with the second Star Coin. The brick block with the eye is lined up with the block the Star Coin is on, so jump from there. We get a Starman and kill some Goombas before heading to the flagpole. We reach the flagpole with 50 seconds left. The game automatically saves.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 1-1 Toad Rescue -Part 3- Third Time's the Charm

Toad shows up in World 1-1 this time. After finding him and picking him up, I finally learned to hold the 1 button the whole way through. I did not drop him once. Later in the level, I got the Propeller Suit. I thought this would be an easy victory, flying up over everything, but when I shoke the Wiimote nothing happened. After trying to get Mario to fly for a while, I realized what the problem was. I was carrying Toad over my head, where the propeller was. Toad was standing on the propeller then entire time so I couldn't fly! Drat! These levels are to see how you'll do without power-ups, becuase holding Toad prevents you from using them! I'm not even sure it's safe to use a Starman around a non-playing Toad. Things just got really challenging, but so far, it's okay, because I got to carry Toad through the easiest level! After I carried him to the goal, several fireworks appeared (more positive reinforcement!) and a Toad house opened up. These have lots of goodies (power-ups) to make play playing the game easier. These items can be used at the start of a level to gain an advantage if chosen wisely.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: World 1-Level 1 -- Learning the Controls

From the Overworld map, World 1 is a gentle, green, grassy plain with hills. Sounds simple and uncomplicated, a great place to cut our teeth. We start playing 1-1, with its rotating landscape. Part of the ground rotates around, sometimes concealing pipes and other hidden secrets. I moved slowly in this level, because I hadn't found the "Dash" button (1) that allows Mario to run faster. I had to stop and restart the level because a couple of guys entered the Archive and wanted to play the Wii. The other Wii was being used, so they decided to join me for some impromptu multiplayer. As we were all getting used to the controls, multiplayer was very awkward. We didn't get all the Star Coins, and the other players died a couple of times. Multiplayer Mode requires some serious coordination, which doesn't come around from playing with total strangers. The game can fit all 4 players on the screen at once, but if most of the players want to move on in one direction, the other player(s) must keep up with them or risk falling off the side of the screen. If a player decides to explore a new area (ex. go into a pipe) the other players have a limited time to follow suit before the game transitions to the new area, but they will also be there with the other players. While playing, I was powered up to Super Mario (big Mario-with no powers) while the other players were still small Luigi and Blue Toad. I hit a block which released a Helicopter Shroom and two Super Shrooms. I grabbed the Helicopter Shroom and shook the Wiimote (Wii remote) to take to the skies. I got to and activated a Red Coin Ring (from New Super Mario Bros.) which revealed 8 red coins in a wavy path on the platform. I grabbed all 8 coins, which rewards each player with an item, and applause, providing positive reinforcement and a (currently) small challenge which I can expect to find in later levels. Three 1-up Shrooms fell from the sky for a free-for-all grab fest, but we each only got one, so it was fair. Mario and Blue Toad reached the flagpost goal first, but Luigi didn't quite make it. With an "Oh yeah, Mario time!" World 1-2 opened up.