Walkthrough Wednesday: Super Mario Galaxy 2 Hints, Tips, Stars

Just like old times, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has you traipsing around the, uh, galaxy to collect stars and save the princess. If you’re a completionist, Super Mario Galaxy 2 has 120 stars to collect (plus another 122 after you’ve got them all), and we’ll help you find them all with a guide to the best Super Mario Galaxy 2 walkthroughs, hints and cheats on the Web.

A good place to start is GameFAQs, which has several Super Mario Galaxy 2 walkthroughs in progress. This one is the most thorough, clearly explaining where to find power stars and hidden stars. I also like this in-progress walkthrough, which has a guide to the kinds of stars you’ll find in each galaxy. That’s good if you’d rather find everything yourself but don’t feel like guessing whether a level has hidden stars. Hopefully both text walkthroughs will be filled out quickly. If you don’t have the patience, check out IGN’s super thorough guide — not as easy to scan through as a text file, but packed with information and videos. Also, GamesRadar has videos showing how to collect all Prankster Comet medals.

Then, there are the Super Mario Galaxy 2 cheats and secrets. Need infinite lives? Check out this video at WiiNintendo demonstrating a fast and easy method in the Supermassive Galaxy. IGN also notes several 1UPs that become available on Spaceship Mario as you collect stars:

• Grab Yoshi off of the “nose” and use the star pegs to swing up to a hidden island with 10 fruit. Eat them all for a 1-Up.
• Grab a Cloud Flower and make platforms to reach a 1-Up on a cloud high above.
• Spin into the random item block for a chance at a 1-Up.
• Near Mario’s left ear (your right) is a warp pipe that takes you to a 1-Up minigame. Feed the Luma to spin a number of random item blocks for a chance to win 1-Ups.

You’re probably interested in playing as Luigi as well. He becomes available in certain levels after you collect 30 stars. Once you beat the game, any level can be played as Luigi by entering the door on Spaceship Mario’s forehead.

Finally, GameSpot reveals an infinite flutter glitch for Yoshi: Jump and hold A, and before you finish fluttering, press Z, then quickly release A and press it again. Keep doing this to flutter forever.