Line #48 Headscratchers/SuperMarioGalaxy


1	'''New entries go at the bottom, please and thank you!'''
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3	[[foldercontrol]]
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5	[[folder: What was Bowser planning with Dark Matter?]]
6	* What exactly was Bowser planning to do with the Dark Matter from Bowser's Dark Matter Plant? Yes, it's just a cool name given to make the stage more interesting, but giving that answer would just ruin all the fun.
7	** A power source for giant spaceships and robots, obviously.
8	*** Yeah. It's onscreen OffscreenVillainDarkMatter.
9	** Maybe it's planned to be used as a weapon against those who oppose his galactic rule.
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12	[[folder: The logic of newborn galaxies]]
13	* How did the Toad brigade get to the hungry Luma galaxies first when the Luma just transformed? And how were penguins supposdedly living in that galaxy for years when it was just created?
14	** That was already discussed. Solution 1: '''It's a Mario game!''' Solution 2: The Luma galaxies or planets are all in the Luma's mind; it's just its imagination until it becomes reality the moment it transforms, at which point the [=NPCs=] on the planet have in fact been there for years from their point of view.
15	** If you're interested to know, light from distant galaxies takes millions of years to reach us here on Earth - in fact, many of them could be dead and gone by the time we have a chance to glimpse them. Mario's flights to the galaxies might take longer than the game implies, time enough for penguins or robots or what-have-you to have colonized said galaxies - the Power Stars could call on some sort of magic to return him to his own time when he collects one, and the Lumas hitting the ResetButton at the end of the game offsets all the time-travelling he's basically been doing. (This problem notably wouldn't be present in the sequel, where Starship Mario can go much closer to each galaxy before sending Mario off to fly there himself.)
16	** Maybe the galaxies were born with built-in histories and organisms. We're part of OUR galaxy, after all. Not the best excuse, but it's better than nothing.
17	** As for the Toads, it's important to remember that the rate of Mario's progress through the galaxy is wholly dependent on where its Launch Star drops him off at. The Toads have their own spaceship they can use to fly right past many of the obstacles.
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20	[[folder: Lumalee]]
21	* Furthermore, consider the blue Lumas that sell you mushrooms. You can feed them star bits, and they'll give you a 1-Up or a life meter boost. The thing is, they don't simply give you the mushroom. No. They ''transform'' into the mushroom. Assuming that Mario eats the mushroom to get its powers, did Mario just eat an innocent Luma?
22	** In a roundabout way, yes. Just like how you power your car using dead algae and zooplankton that have been pressurized into fuel over thousands of years. You can make anything sound strange or off-putting if you deliberately word it that way, but the Luma explicitly transforms into a mushroom with the intention of it being eaten by Mario. It's not as if he sat down at a table and started dining on the actual Luma against its will. Transforming into things that other people can use is clearly normal and acceptable to them.
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25	[[folder: Idea behind the ending]]
26	* How did Bowser, after getting thrown into the hollow sun around the planetoid where he is last fought (which I assume to be the titular Galaxy Reactor), end up on the smaller lava planet? And whether or not you can explain that, why did that world implode into the black hole when the hollow sun is so much larger, and had the Grand Star removed from it (which was being used for ''something'')?
27	** Because the hollow sun is not actually a sun. It's basically just a shell of lava used to protect the reactor that maintains its shape via gravity. The reason the actual star collapses is because it was being fed with energy from the Grand Star. Black holes form when stars run out of energy to fuel the fusion at their cores, meaning the force of gravity pressing inward is no longer balanced by the force of fusion pushing out, causing the star to collapse. Mario effectively caused the same thing when he freed the Grand Star from the reactor; the star it had been fueling consumed its remaining energy and then collapsed inward under its own gravity.
28	** Except the explosion is centered on the little lava planet, hence the headscratcher.
29	*** Yes, because the “little lava planet” ''is'' the star that collapses, hence the implosion due to it losing its source of power.
30	** Gravity is also how Bowser ended up on the surface of the star before it imploded, by the way. He was knocked lose from the reactor after being defeated by Mario and was shown falling away into the lava sphere surrounding it. Presumably the force of the star pulled him right through that and toward said star.
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33	[[folder: How's Guppy getting around?]]
34	* How did Guppy get from Sea Slide to the bottom of the underground lake in Deep Dark Galaxy?
35	** Perhaps he's actually a SpaceWhale?
36	** Perhaps he has a twin who lives in Deep Dark Galaxy.
37	** Maybe used a spaceship?
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40	[[folder: Failing Purple Coin missions]]
41	* If you talk to a Gearmo after failing to get all the purple coins in the Battlerock and Dreadnought Galaxies, you instantly die. Why does that happen? Did the Gearmo kill you? And if so, why?
42	** Because the game knows that the only way you're leaving the stage at that point is to die. You can't go back for the coins you missed, so the Gearmo acts as a way to put you out of your misery without having to jump into a pit.
43	** Shame or embarrassment, maybe? Also explains why losing races kills you.
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46	[[folder: Peach's resources in captivity]]
47	* And they never do explain where Peach gets so many 1-Up Mushrooms and how Bowser is stupid enough to let her send them to Mario. Or even how she knows where to send them.
48	** Maybe it's something like in ''Paper Mario'', where Peach was originally kept inside her castle until Bowser discovered that Mario was on his way to save her, and there was some magical chest or something that let her send letters to Mailtoad from where she was being held. Or maybe there was a Luma serving as a liaison between Peach in her castle and Mario in the observatory.
49	** The Luma liaison is rather plausible, in fact - throughout the game, Rosalina makes mention of how she's determined the location of Mario's special one, even though she personally has no way of knowing this as she never leaves the observatory. It's possible that she spends the game sending Lumas to gather intel on Peach and Bowser's whereabouts, and Peach uses this opportunity to give her letters to them, who give the letters to Mailtoad, who gives them to Mario.
50	** [[https://youtu.be/vLpNwRY0Ka8?t=177 As seen in multiple games, Princess Peach can produce power ups]].
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53	[[folder: Storybook quirks]]
54	* In the storybook, how exactly did a little girl and a Luma build [[spoiler:the Comet Observatory]] by themselves? It's mentioned that some furniture is buried within the comet of ice that they landed on, but how much, and how did they get it out?
55	** It's the ''Mario'' universe. That kind of thing can happen.
56	** Think of the storybook as a creation myth. These legends are usually filled with inconsistencies that get handwaved away because at the beginning of time things worked differently than they do now.
57	** That requires it to have been the beginning of time, when clearly she came from another planet that was already there.
58	*** It's true that it's not a creation myth, but it ''is'', at its heart, meant to be a bedtime story that Rosalina reads to comfort the Lumas. Stories meant for very young children are typically lacking in the kinds of details you'd expect to find in most others.
59	** As to how they recovered the furniture that was frozen in ice, the ice would gradually melt as the comet was pulled through space. They'd just have to wait.
60	* What I'm confused about is the location of the original comet of the Comet Observatory. Is it the tiny planet with the houses that's the first planet you land on, or is it the star at the center of the entire Observatory? That star is the right size and color, it's just that it's a star, not a comet made of ice.
61	** I'm inclined to say the original comet turned into the tiny planet since that's where the house she built is. They appear to be connected in some bizarre way since she walks into the house and somehow shows up at the Gate dome of the observatory during the ending cutscene.
62	*** Then why is the Gateway Galaxy starting planet implied to be Rosalina's "every-100-years-visit" home? It looks and sounds nothing like the planet in the storybook, and it makes more sense for it to be the comet, rather than Rosa's home planet. I personally think the Earth-like planet visible in the background near it was where she came from. My only guess is she visits the small planet to look at the Earth-like planet to reflect and remember.
63	** Strangely enough, when Rosalina departed from her "home planet" in her storybook, the contrail from her Starshroom leads right back to the smaller planet in the Gateway Galaxy, and not the larger, blue planet nearby. So...my guess is that Rosalina never actually lived on the Mushroom World, but since her home planet did orbit around it, she could still consider it her "home world". One of the houses on the smaller planet was hers when she was young, while the other one was created when Luma's transformation formed the observatory...for some reason. I'm not sure why.
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66	[[folder: Super Luigi Galaxy]]
67	* How does Luigi travel to the different galaxies he becomes lost in in the game? If I recall correctly, he's known to show up in some where the Toad Brigade and their Starshrooms aren't present...so how does he do it? Did Rosalina entrust ''him'' with a Luma like she did with Mario?
68	** Considering that Power Stars can be used to fly, it's possible that Luigi just found one one day and used its power to cruise across space.
69	** Or he was dropped off in those galaxies by the Toad Brigade, who then opted not to stick around.
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72	[[folder: Purpose of Megaleg]]
73	* What was Megaleg doing where it was? Its galaxy doesn't have any sort of buildup like any of the other boss galaxies do - there's just one planet with a few enemies and then the boss robot sitting there alone on the next planet, completely deactivated, floating around in the middle of space. Couldn't Bowser or Bowser Jr. have found a better, more productive use for its Grand Star while still maintaining a way for them to crush Mario if he came along?
74	** Maybe the bullet bills fired by Megaleg are used to destroy nearby planets to harvest resources on them. This explains why the only planets in this galaxy are Megaleg's planet and another one with holes in it.
75	** Since Megaleg's is the first Grand Star rescued, it's probably Bowser didn't have as much time to put it to better use as he did the others. The enemy bases do start to become much more involved from that point forward.
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78	[[folder: Lumalee transforming]]
79	* Why does Lumalee need to transform into a mushroom whenever Mario purchases one from her? She already has both kinds on the tips of the two sticks she's holding - why can't she give him one of those?
80	** Maybe the mushrooms she carries around are just advertising signs, not functional items. She's just showing her wares, but the sticks don't have "real" items on them.
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83	[[folder: Polari's fate]]
84	* What happened to Polari after this game? He seemed to be an elder Luma and an advisor to Rosalina, but he's never seen again after. Did his stellar cycle end?
85	** Chances are, since Rosalina was reduced to basically a background character after her debut in this game, they chose not to include Polari when he would have little to do or say even if he appeared beside her. However, I have heard that he appears in some of her victory animation from a spin-off golfing game, and one of her Luma recolors in ''Super Smash Bros'' also resembles him. In-universe, an argument could be made that Rosalina leaves him to look after the observatory when she's spending time in the Mushroom Kingdom with Mario and co. - given she's the observatory's caretaker, one can assume Polari could thus be looked at her second-in-command, of sorts.
86	*** On the other hand, though, it's also likely that throwing himself into the supermassive black hole reset Polari's life cycle, and so it will be many, many years before he reaches the age he was in this game, in which case, he could be one of many Lumas encountered in ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', or one of them somewhere else across the cosmos that Rosalina hasn't managed to find yet.
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89	[[folder: Polari's relationship with Rosalina]]
90	* Speaking of Polari, what is the exact relationship between him and Rosalina? All of the other Lumas universally consider her their mother, yet supplementary materials note that Polari acts as a father figure to her. Did they always see each other that way?
91	** It's possible that Polari was an old Luma even when he met Rosalina, so their relationship didn't come into conflict.
92	** Also, “father figure” can mean a couple things. The manual describes Polari as Rosalina’s ''advisor'', which as a source of trust and guidance is similar to a parental figure, but they don’t seem to have a parent-child relationship in any of the games. Any material calling him a father figure is probably taking his actual role and oversimplifying it into something different.
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95	[[folder: Why aren't the Star Bunnies more helpful?]]
96	* Why do the Star Bunnies make you find and catch them before giving up their Power Stars? Don't they all live in the observatory, or at least know what it is? Even if they don't recognize that Mario is trying to help them, what's stopping them from returning the stars they have to the observatory themselves?
97	** That's probably due to their playful nature. They would want Mario to chase them around first before giving up the Power Star.
98	** But a good percentage of the Star Bunnies are Lumas in disguise. The Lumas, Mario's supposed allies, are actively hindering Mario's progress towards his goal with repetitive five-minute chases.
99	** It’s likely that they don’t all live in the observatory. There are probably some of them who have never even heard of it. In the sequel, Lubba seems to regard Rosalina only as an old acquaintance, and none of his crew ever acknowledge her as their mother. The ones you have to chase around probably don’t know the Power Stars serve any greater function.
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102	[[folder: Star Bits can do that?]]
103	* During the intro to the game, it's mentioned that during a past Star Festival, the Toads collected the Star Bits that came down and brought them to the castle, where they were said to have formed a great Power Star (which is illustrated to resemble a Grand Star). But as far as I know and have heard, nothing like this has ever happened in normal gameplay, nor can it. So how did it work that one time? Did Rosalina willingly send one of her Grand Stars down to the Mushroom World during a flyby (and if so, why - the Lumas need them to survive), or did it come loose from the observatory somehow and separate on the way down?
104	** Maybe you just need [[{{Cap}} more than 9,999 Star Bits]]? For all we know, it might just take 10,000 to make a Grand Star.
105	** Just because ''we'' the players never got to see them make a Grand Star does not mean that the Toads didn't/couldn't. If VideoGame/AnimalCrossing is to go by then it may be canon that starbits can be used to create other objects as well, such as wands (which may explain the creation of Rosalina's wand!). But mainly stars.
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108	[[folder: Doesn't the idea of the Gate ruin the point of the Star Festival?]]
109	* Why does Rosalina need to plot out centennial visits to her homeworld, when the Observatory has a Gate that connects it to the Gateway Galaxy already?
110	** Maybe the Gate only opens when she's near the Gateway Galaxy itself?
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113	[[folder: Dawn of a New Day]]
114	* After the universe is reborn in the ending, how does everyone keep their memories?
115	** [[AWizardDidIt A Luma did it.]]
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118	[[folder: Rosalina's wand]]
119	* What are the specifics of Rosalina's wand? What can it do?
120	** From what we see, it allows for force field projection (try jumping on Rosalina and watch what happens), telekinesis, and mild gravity manipulation. Rosalina also has the power to [[PowerFloats float]], change size (as seen in the ending cutscene), and generate light around her body, but it's not clear if those are innate abilities she naturally possesses (which isn't that far-fetched, given that Princess Peach has been shown in several games to have inherent special powers of her own) or skills granted by the wand. As for its power source, I'd wager that it's fueled by either Power Star magic or cosmic energy; Kamella the boss Magikoopa proves that the Stars can fuel wands, as she keeps a few trapped inside her own to conjure her spells.
121	** We don't know for sure whether the things Rosalina does are actually attributed to the wand or to her, technically speaking. It could be that she uses the wand as a way of focusing some innate powers she has, in which case, the wand itself doesn't need to have a power source.
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124	[[folder: Mario needing to breath]]
125	* How is it Mario can breath in outer space, but not underwater?
126	** Thanks to the Luma he has beneath his hat. When Rosalina says that Luma allows him to fly through the cosmos, presumably she means that to include the RequiredSecondaryPowers that would be necessary for such an ability, like protection against extreme temperatures, the effects of being in a vacuum, and of course, the lack of oxygen. It must be assumed, though, that these powers are strict enough to only protect Mario while he's in space, and don't kick in when he's just swimming around in water. Possibly, the Luma's protection only kicks in upon the activation of a Launch Star. (Or Sling Star or Pull Star.)
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129	[[folder: Cosmic guardian]]
130	* What does Rosalina's role as self-designated cosmic protector entail, exactly? If she really does have all the powers she displays in other games, why does she seemingly need to rely on Mario to collect her missing Power Stars?
131	** Most likely, with the observatory’s power gone, she has to put her power toward protecting it and its occupants. Collecting Power Stars herself wouldn’t do much good if Bowser can just come back and steal them while she’s away. Another possibility is that as a guardian, she takes it upon herself when problems arise to find someone capable of solving them. Like she found Mario.
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134	[[folder: Mario surviving Megaleg's explosion]]
135	* When Mario destroys Megaleg, he's on its head. After the final hit, though, Megaleg violently explodes... and roughly 5 seconds later, Mario is now safely on the ground, when he should have been blown to shreds at the top of Megaleg's exploding head with no way to get down. How?
136	** You may recall that the Grand Stars exert some kind of levitating force on things in their vicinity; they do a little twirl in the air with Mario when he collects them before flying back to the observatory with him. Thus, it’s likely the one you freed from Megaleg carried Mario out of range of the explosion, then deposited him safely on the ground.
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139	[[folder: Speedy comets]]
140	* When you fail a Speedy Comet mission, Mario just dies. There's nothing, no black holes, no lava, no enemies, nothing. Mario just dies. What kills him?
141	** The Game Over is probably meant to function as a Reset button in-universe, with a penalty thrown in because you failed the challenge. Assume that each Prankster Comet leaves the vicinity of its respective galaxy in the event that you fail -- but that would leave Mario with no way of obtaining that Power Star. Hence, the only solution is to restart the level and try again.
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144	[[folder: What happened to the baby Luma?]]
145	* Why is Rosalina frequently accompanied by a single yellow Luma in spin-off materials? Given she's the mother of what must be several hundred of them...if they're going to feature one alongside her, why not at least make it the Luma who helped Mario in his quest, since he was the reason she became their mother to begin with? Not to mention how in ''Super Mario Galaxy 2'', she seems to have a stronger bond with him especially, sending him all the Star Bits in those letters and seeking to reunite with him at the end of the game.
146	** The majority of Lumas are that yellow color, so Rosalina's probably paired with one because it's the most recognizable type of Luma.
147	** The Luma who teams up with Mario is often referred to as a baby, as noted, and seems quite helpless when he's not riding around in Mario's hat. It's possible Rosalina leaves him on the sidelines in spinoffs because he's too young to safely participate in them.
148	** Another possibility: that yellow Luma she’s often with ''is'' the baby Luma. He just grew up in between games.
149	[[/folder]]
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151	[[folder:Miscellaneous]]
152	* Where did Rosalina get the magic wand she carries with her? It's never explained in the storybook.
153	** The wand is just one of her possessions. It doesn’t matter where it came from. She could’ve gotten it anywhere.
154	* Who exactly was the mother the Luma was originally looking for before settling on Rosalina as his new mother? Did Rosalina have a predecessor? If so, what happened to her?
155	** The ending suggests that the death and rebirth of the universe has happened before, but that it’s a little different every time. It could be that once such “difference” involved Rosalina (or her predecessor) being reset back to her home planet or reborn on a new one. Something like that.
156	* The Ammo Depot in Battlerock Galaxy was just created by a Hungry Luma, yet the Gearmo there claims that people have been dumping their trash here as if it were always there. It makes more sense in Dreadnought Galaxy, where it's accessed through a pipe. However, both missions have Mario get timed to clear out the trash for no apparent in-universe reason. And the trash just somehow respawns.
157	[[/folder]]

Context Headscratchers / SuperMarioGalaxy