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"Welcome to the Galaxy!"

Mario... IN SPACE!

Mario is on his way to visit Princess Peach so that they can observe a comet streaking past the Mushroom Kingdom together, but suddenly, Bowser returns once again to kidnap Princess Peach. The attack launches Mario into space and he awakens on a strange small planet, where he meets Rosalina, a person that protects the cosmos and living star-shaped creatures called the Lumas. After taking Mario to her Comet Observatory, she explains that Bowser has stolen all power from the Comet Observatory to fuel his army and create a new kingdom for himself. Mario must retrieve all the stars for Rosalina so the Comet Observatory can venture to the center of the universe where Bowser awaits...

Released in 2007, Super Mario Galaxy is a Platform Game for Nintendo's Wii with gameplay similar to Super Mario 64, though unlike Super Mario 64 and Sunshine, the gameplay is noticeably more linear with less focus on exploration. In this game, Mario flies around from planet to planet with the help of Rosalina and the Lumas to retrieve Power Stars. There are additional gameplay elements utilizing the Wii Remote, such as spinning to attack enemies and jump higher. Power-ups return to this series, two of which are from the original game that started it all.

The game is also notable for being the first Mario game to feature music played by a live orchestra. Though Mario series veteran Koji Kondo was in charge of the soundtrack, the orchestrated bits were done by Mahito Yokota, who was previously the composer for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. As a result of working on this game, Yokota has become the go-to guy for orchestral arrangements for games that Kondo has composed for.

A direct sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, was released on May 23, 2010. The game also got a high definition Updated Re-release on March 22, 2018 for the Nvidia Shield TV in China only, and on September 18, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch as part of Super Mario 3D All-Stars for the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., featuring the same improvements as the Nvidia Shield TV version.


This video game provides examples of:

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    #-B 
  • Absurdly Short Level: The game has galaxies that only contain one Power Star, which are mostly opened by feeding Hungry Lumas or by returning to earlier parts of the Comet Observatory with enough total stars. Some of them have good length to their missions, but ones like Flipswitch Galaxy (a single three-sided planet made entirely of flipswitch panels), Hurry-Scurry Galaxy (a short intro path followed by a planet made entirely of vanishing platforms), Drip Drop Galaxy (a shallow water planet where the only goal is to defeat three Gringills), and Snow Cap Galaxy (Mario starts on a tiny glass bubble, with the actual mission being on a pill-shaped planet he launches to) don't take much more than a couple minutes to explore and complete.
  • Accordion to Most Sailors: While there is no sailing in Beach Bowl Galaxy or Sea Slide Galaxy, this trope is invoked by their shared Palmtree Panic beach setting combined with an accordion in the area's music.
  • Action Bomb:
    • Bob-ombs as usual, though they lose their legs when attacked and become throwable inanimate bombs. Bob-ombs can also be found in this inanimate state from the start, and those ones light when picked up.
    • This game introduces the Bomb Boos, explosive shadowy Boos that you swing by their tongues into obstacles. They explode on impact, but also have a roughly 10-second timer to prevent players from holding onto them forever.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: The names of many galaxies. The Kitchen dome alone gives us the Beach Bowl, Bubble Breeze, and Buoy Base galaxies.
  • Advancing Wall of Doom: Mario has to escape a rising wall of sand in upside-down gravity in the Dusty Dune Galaxy. Later on, he has to get to the top of a rocky spire as it sinks into the lava in the Melty Molten Galaxy.
  • Airborne Mook: Cluckbooms are chicken-like mooks that drop bombs on Mario or Luigi. The moving sand's currents makes them harder to deal with (even when you bring them down with Star Bits).
  • Alas, Poor Villain: When you defeat Bowser in the final battle, he reappears in a cut scene on a collapsing planet and grieves over that his galactic empire is falling apart while a sadder version of his Leitmotif is playing in the background.
  • All Gravity Is the Same: The gravity of the various planets, planetoids and other structures in no way affect how Mario (or Luigi if you're playing as him) moves. In the case of artificial platforms and starships like Rosalina's Comet Observatory, it is possible that the Artificial Gravity accomodates to Mario's personal sense of gravity, but the miniature planets (both regular whole ones and the crumbling shells with quantum singularities at their centers) are less justifiable. The scientific implications of this according to Austin on THE SCIENCE are "god damn terrifying!"
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: The final level is Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, and consists of a large path to Bowser's whereabouts filled with obstacles and planets based on past levels: A crumbled castle passageway like those of Bowser's previous boss levels, a lava planet based on Melty Molten Galaxy and the fiery side of Freezeflame Galaxy, an ice planet based on the snowy side of Freezeflame Galaxy. a desert planet based on Dusty Dune Galaxy, a path that builds itself as you traverse it like in the first star mission of Space Junk Galaxy, and a hollow cylindrical lava area that mixes assorted elements like Bullet Bills and sinking platforms. Even the final battle against Bowser takes place on different planets, continuing the trend and crossing over with Multi-Stage Battle.
  • Already Done for You: After you rescue him from the haunted mansion in Ghostly Galaxy, Luigi will go out looking for Stars on his own. However, he invariably gets stuck in whatever galaxy he's in, forcing you to go rescue him to obtain the star. There are also several galaxies in which Toads have already retrieved the Star, you just have to go get it from them.
  • Always Accurate Attack: Doing a Ground Pound just after spinning in midair allows it to home in on enemies.
  • …And That Little Girl Was Me: The girl in Rosalina's story happens to be her in the end of the story.
  • Antepiece:
    • Nearly every boss level features a game mechanic or enemies with unique defeat strategies (if the boss is a King Mook) that will be used to defeat the boss.
      • At the very first part of Gateway Galaxy, the Baby Luma that you meet grants you the Spin Power-Up. You'll be using that a lot in these boss battles (prime examples include the Dino Piranhas and Bowser).
      • Both of King Kaliente's encounters (Good Egg Galaxy and Bowser Jr's Lava Reactor) will see you fight some Octopus enemies (Roctos) who spit coconuts before he can proceed. Defeating them involves spinning their coconuts back into them, teaching you how to beat King Kaliente, whose fight consists of playing tennis with him when he shoots a non-flaming coconut.
      • Mandibugs can only be defeated with a ground pound. Bugaboom is a giant-winged Mandibug, so...
      • The only way to break the cage with the Launch Star leading up to the Megaleg fight is by luring the Bullet Bill to it. Megaleg clearly has the Grand Star protected with material that can only be destroyed via Bullet Bill.
      • The "Kamella's Airship Attack" level revolves around throwing Koopa shells to break chests and progress through the level. Kamella is defeated by throwing the shells she summons at her. A much later mission featuring airships has you do the same thing with Bowser Jr.
      • "Tarantox's Tangled Web" introduces the Sling Pods, particularly in the planets leading up to the fight. The only way to defeat Tarantox is by using the pods.
      • Topmen can only be defeat when they are spun into electricity. Topmaniac is an enlarged Topman, so...
      • Bomb Boos are introduced in Ghostly Galaxy's "Beware of the Bouldergeist" mission, and can be used to break stone. Guess what you have to use to defeat the Bouldergeist himself?
      • Major Burrows' minions are the Undergrunts, enemies you have to ground-pound to get them out of the ground, and then jump on them/spin them to kill them. Major Burrows is a very large Undergrunt, so naturally, the same strategy is required, though you have to chase him once he's out of the ground.
      • Baron Brrr is an enlarged Li'l Brrr. The Li'l Brrrs are defeated by spinning them (they float) to extinguish their ice cloud and bring them to the ground. They will turn darker and bounce around the ground, trying to fall into ice water to revive themselves. If you kick them by walking into them in this state, they will be defeated, and drop a coin. Their Baron is very much the same, but with added attacks.
      • An example between levels comes with Bonefin Galaxy, featuring the Kingfin boss fight. The fight takes place underwater while you ride Koopa shells and throw them to hit the boss. Drip Drop Galaxy precedes the level, teaching you about this style of fighting as you're tasked with hiting three Gringills underwater with Koopa shells. In fact, Bonefin Galaxy only becomes available after clearing Drip Drop, ensuring the player has a safer tutorial for underwater fighting before they take it to the boss.
      • The Spring Mushroom is featured very prominently in Toy Time Galaxy. Since the Undergrunt Gunner boss is located on top of a tower, the aforementioned power-up is required to defeat him.
      • Throughout, in various levels, there are rolling geode/boulder obstacles that can be destroyed by spinning their red crystalline cores. In the first phase of the Final Battle, Bowser takes on a boulder covering, and due to the boulders before, the player should have learned by this point that spinning his exposed face breaks it. This might work the other way, however- it's not the most intuitive to try to break the giant invincible boulders, so the final boss may instead suggest that the obstacles are vulnerable.
      • The second phase of the Final Battle does not have lava within glass to harm Bowser, so what does Mario have to do? The rubbery bulbs seen throughout many galaxies that harm enemies when hit can also harm him, so...
    • On a level standpoint though...
      • The first mission in Toy Time Galaxy has Mario either screw or unscrew setpieces that are attached to walls and floors, which can be done by shaking the Wiimote (or the Joy-Cons in the 3D All-Stars version); and in the second half, he begins using the Spring Mushroom to jump onto high areas. When time comes to storm Mecha-Bowser at the end, Mario has to disable its parts by screwing some parts and unscrewing others, and eventually he has to reach the head by using the Spring Mushroom so he can Ground Pound it and destroy the whole structure.
      • Sand Spiral Galaxy only becomes available after completing the first mission of Ghostly Galaxy (which introduces the Boo Mushroom that Sand Spiral prominently features in its first half)note . The Hungry Luma leading to Sling Pod Galaxy is only unlocked after the third mission of Space Junk Galaxy (which introduces the titular Sling Pods). The Hungry Luma leading to Drip Drop Galaxy itself is only unlocked after the first mission of Beach Bowl Galaxy (which teaches the player how to swim underwater). And lastly, Matter Splatter Galaxy is only unlocked after the first mission of Toy Time Galaxy (which introduces the Spring Mushroom that is required to use for part of Matter Splatter).
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • There are 1-up Mushrooms scattered around the observatory, and more will appear when you unlock new domes, up to a total of 5. They will even respawn if you enter and exit a dome. Combined with an additional five 1-ups you receive from Peach's letter (or in Luigi's case, 20), you should be really well prepared to face the toughest challenges ahead without worrying about a Game Over so much.
    • In Honeyhive Galaxy, if you fall off the tree platform in the first mission or the windmill tower in the second mission, then Launch Stars will appear back down on the mainland to take you back up there, saving you a lot of trouble of having to go all the way back through the long default route.
    • In Dreadnought Galaxy, on the moving-platform sequence, it's possible to spend too much time on one of the stationary platforms scattered throughout and subsequently lose the platform you were riding, especially in the Purple Coins mission. Fortunately, if you do, another platform will come along in a few seconds so you can continue.
    • Hidden Stars will show up as a question mark above the icon of one of the previous levels in the mission-select screen, alerting you to their presence and sparing you the trouble of figuring out which mission to look in.
    • The bomb-exploding minigames are difficult enough as it is timing-wise, so the game tells you exactly where to aim the bombs by way of coin-dispensing lights on the ground that serve as guides.
    • "Purple Coins in the Woods" in Gold Leaf Galaxy is set on a linear platforming challenge and has a time limit and no excess Purple Coins. As a result, the path has markers that tell the player how many coins they should have collected at each point, letting them know if they're on track or not.
    • A few of the game's levels have a hungry Luma as the last stop before the boss fight, selling an extra life or a doubled health meter for only thirty star bits. This ensures the player has more wiggle room at the end of a particularly hard level.
  • Apocalypse How: After the implosion of the sun Bowser created at the universe's center, it's heavily implied that aside from Mario, Luigi, and Rosalina, nothing was actually saved, per se — rather, the Lumas recreated everything.
  • Artistic License – Space: Among other things, Mario can survive without a spacesuit, planets are not necessarily spherical, black holes appear wherever, and within galaxies, planets do not seem to rotate around a central point. Rule of Fun applies here, of course.
  • Attack of the Town Festival: The story of the game begins when Bowser attacks the Mushroom Kingdom during the Star Festival.
  • Attack the Tail: There are two Dino Piranha bosses (with the second being Fiery) that Mario can defeat only by attacking the bulb at the end of their tail, knocking it up to strike their head.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The penguins in Beach Bowl Galaxy can't concentrate on their swimming lessons because they're distracted by the "sparklies" (Star Chips) in the ocean.
  • Baby Planet: Practically all of them. Heck, some planets aren't much bigger than Mario himself, yet still have enough gravity to hold him down. The most extreme example is in Deep Dark Galaxy, where Mario can encounter a bonus planet that, once he undoes a screw to reveal a circle of coins, starts shrinking. No matter how small said planet gets, Mario won't escape from its gravitational pull until the planet vanishes completely. Also quite literal as some Lumas (which are literally babies) will explode into planets when you feed them enough Star Bits. Some will explode into galaxies as well.
  • Back Story: The Library allows the player to read Rosalina's backstory, which explains how she got into outer space and became "Mama" to the Lumas. It also describes her longing for the home and family she left behind.
  • Bait-and-Switch Boss: Bowser Jr.'s final appearance in the game. He kidnaps Peach and fires cannonballs to destroy Mario's steps… only to watch the final battle between Mario and Bowser from a safe distance.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Whether it's Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach, the Toad Brigades, or Rosalina, every single character can breathe and talk just fine in the cold, empty vacuum of space. Thank the Toon Physics for that.
  • Battle Theme Music: This game has a wide array of boss music, meaning that each theme will only be shared by three bosses max and some will be unique to only one. Galaxy is also the first 3D Mario game to incorporate Variable Mix in certain themes, like when Mario is throwing back a projectile from King Kaliente or viceversa or when Bowser is being stunned. The latter's theme evolves into full Ominous Latin Chanting during the last phase of the last battle, even without the need of variable mix.
  • Battle Tops: One of the bosses, Topmaniac, is a robotic spinning top. He is the leader of the Topmen, smaller sentient tops.
  • Big Bad: Bowser has become a Galactic Conqueror with the power of the Grand Stars, and kidnaps Peach with the intent to have her become his bride as he makes himself king of the universe.
  • Big Boo's Haunt: Several galaxies. Ghostly Galaxy is the classic haunted mansion iteration, while Bonefin Galaxy is an underwater variation, and Deep Dark has underwater portions and a beach.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: The game has the Mandibugs and Flipbugs. The former are giant beetles that charge at either Mario/Luigi and can only be killed with a Ground Pound, due to them having a large star on their backs. The latter are cowardly insects that will run away if they see Mario/Luigi in normal form (and falling over if they get too close), but will chase them if they see them in bee form.
  • Big Eater: Hungry Lumas will guzzle exorbitant amounts of your Star Bits until they look like they're about to pop, and indeed, they soon explode with "snacky happiness" to transform into new planets or galaxies. Lumalee instead transforms into 1-Up Mushrooms or Life Mushrooms as a Luma Shop service, and the Prankster Comet Luma on the Observatory will shift the positions of the Prankster Comets when fed.
  • Bigger on the Inside: All of the Domes of the Comet Observatory. This is justified by Rosalina's cosmic powers, though.
  • Big Good: Rosalina, who pilots Mario throughout the universe, provides him with resources to rescue Peach, and takes care of the Lumas.
  • Bittersweet Ending:
    • Princess Peach is saved and Bowser's plans are thwarted, but the Lumas end up sacrificing themselves to stop the universe from being sucked into a black hole, resulting in the destruction of Mario's galaxy. However, the cycle of life begins anew, with a brand new galaxy filled with all of Mario's new friends taking its place.
    • The storybook's ending. Rosalina's mother is "sleeping under a tree" and she‘ll likely never see her father and brother again. And the Luma she was traveling never found his own mother either. However, they decide to create a new family together, with Rosalina becoming the "mama" of a large group of Lumas and devoting herself to protecting the cosmos, while the Luma is reborn as a comet that powers the Comet Observatory.
  • Bizarre Alien Biology: Octoombas are ostensibly space Goombas, but they have antennae, snouts, and three feet.
  • Bombardier Mook: Cluckbooms, chicken-like enemies that drop bombs on Mario and Luigi.
  • Bonus Feature Failure: The Grand Finale Galaxy. You'd think this would be a tough bonus stage designed to reward players for getting 100% Completion like Grandmaster Galaxy or World S8 Crown, right? It's not, it's just the game's intro scene, with purple coins added and all the characters present. The atmosphere is nice enough, but it's not really much of a level nor a decent true finale.
  • Bonus Stage: Some Warp Pipes lead to bonus rooms where you can collect more Star Bits, coins, or 1-Ups.
  • Bookends:
    • The first boss in the game is Dino Piranha, and the last boss (not counting Bowser) is Fiery Dino Piranha. In fact, Dino Piranha is the first Star in the first galaxy (not counting the Gateway Galaxy), and Fiery Dino Piranha is the last Star in the last galaxy (not counting Prankster Comets or bonus galaxies).
    • In the opening of the game, you're in the Mushroom Kingdom, celebrating the Star Festival. Guess when and where the Grand Finale Galaxy is situated?
    • The first challenge you do in the game is play hide-and-seek with bunnies on a small planet. The last Hungry Luma level involves you finding bunnies in a smaller, snowy planet.
  • Bootstrapped Theme: The Gusty Garden Galaxy theme, particularly at around 1:24, became the main theme of the Galaxy games, and was featured prominently in the Super Mario Galaxy 2 soundtrack.
  • Boring, but Practical: In both the original and the sequel, Mario is this compared to Luigi. His weaker jumps make extreme feats harder to perform, but they are still always sufficient to complete the level, and his higher traction makes him easier to control and reduces the risk of accidentally falling to your death. However, Luigi has a separate playthrough from Mario on the same save file, so they cannot be chosen between.
  • Boss-Arena Idiocy: Topmaniac would be invincible if he would just get rid of that electric fence around his arena.
  • Boss Arena Recovery: Many of the boss arenas have little lights or plants on the ground that you can shoot Star Bits at to produce coins to restore your health. Some of the fights even have coins and star bits in the arena itself, and Bouldergeist sometimes throws coin-producing rocks in his fight. Daredevil Comet missions with boss fights remove all of these to keep Mario at one hit point.
  • Boss-Only Level:
    • The first Bowser Jr. level (located in the Terrace) is short for this reason as, once Mario moves on from the first planet, in the next he'll confront Megaleg.
    • Bonefin Galaxy. The only mission in it begins on a Starshroom, and when Mario uses the Launch Star, he's launched to the only actual planet in the galaxy. The battle against Kingfin begins immediately, and the mission ends when Kingfin is defeated and Mario can collect his Power Star.
  • Bottomless Pit Rescue Service: Rosalina will pull Mario up if he falls off the Comet Observatory, encasing him in a bubble and dropping him off where he last stood on solid ground.
  • Boundareefs: The Bubble Breeze Galaxy takes place on a planet covered with a sea of poison. The explorable areas (and them only, the rest of what we see of the planet is devoid of rocks) are some sort of reef labyrinths in which Mario must navigate while Floating in a Bubble.
  • Bowdlerise: In the Japanese version, the last main galaxy is known as Hell Prominence Galaxy. In the English-speaking versions, it was renamed Melty Molten Galaxy, despite the other language versions giving the level similar names to the original (i.e. Infernal Stroll Galaxy in the Spanish version). Also in the Japanese version, the minor level where you race against a Boo through a spooky underground course is known as Death Promenade Galaxy, while in the English localization it's called instead Boo's Boneyard Galaxy (again, this is not the case for the other language versions, which give it synonymous names like Sinister Promenade or Lethal Stroll Galaxy).
  • Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Freezeflame Galaxy's mission structure plays out like this: the first level is focused on ice, the second on fire, and the third on both. Or in other words, Mission 1: Freeze, Mission 2: Flame, Mission 3: Freezeflame.
  • Breakout Character: Rosalina is one of the most prominent examples in the Super Mario Bros. series; while she was originally intended to only appear in this game, she made a cameo in the sequel and has since been playable in multiple iterations of Mario Kart, the fourth and fifth installments of Super Smash Bros., Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, and is even unlockable as a secret character in Super Mario 3D World.
  • Brick Joke: Halfway through the game, the napping yellow Toad will mention the word rotisserie. In the Grand Finale Galaxy, you can find the Toad Brigade roasting a rotisserie meat.
  • Bubblegloop Swamp: Bubble Breeze Galaxy. Mario does not actually explore the swamp on foot, since most of the stage here is explored within a bubble and platforms to stand on are minimal.
  • Bubble Gun:
    • The Water Shooter obstacles create powerful water bubbles that can trap the player in a bubble and carry them in the bubble's trajectory if the player doesn't Spin to break out. Most of the time, the bubbles are a nuisance if not outright hazardous, but the second mission of Deep Dark Galaxy requires you to ride said bubbles to go to further planets.
    • The blue Water Shooters, yellow electric orb shooters and red flamethrower spouts encountered throughout the game also serve as a Call-Back, since they're all very similar to the head of the F.L.U.D.D. pack from Super Mario Sunshine. The electric versions are essentially identical, since the F.L.U.D.D. pack is also yellow.
  • Build Like an Egyptian: In Dusty Dune Galaxy, there are planetoids that resemble double-sided pyramids, and one of them can be explored within to find a secret, green-colored Power Star.
  • Bunnies for Cuteness: Star Bunnies are adorable, playful and helpful rabbits with starry ears, teaching more advanced jumping techniques like spinning at the top of a jump to gain a little extra height. There's three of 'em at the start of the gamenote , and they re-appear several times, including in Gusty Garden Galaxy and the last bonus galaxy. Major Burrows relentlessly chases a defenseless Star Bunny before you whack him to begin his boss fight.
  • Busman's Holiday: Bowser attacks the star festival with battleships and kidnaps Peach to make her his prize when he conquers the universe.
  • Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: When Mario wakes up in the new galaxy in the ending, there is a butterfly sitting on his cap.
  • Butt-Monkey: Luigi always gets captured or trapped while he is looking for a Star. At one point, he gets trapped on the top of a small house that Mario can easily triple jump up to, and at the Honeyhive Galaxy, he's cornered by a simple enemy and has to be shot down from the tree he's clinging to in terror.

    C-F 
  • The Cameo:
    • Yoshi actually makes a brief appearance in this game as two different planets: one as the save file avatar, and the other as a Hungry Luma planet in Space Junk Galaxy (in the level "Yoshi's Unexpected Appearance").
    • During the prologue, when Bowser captures Peach and carries both her and her castle high up into space, when Mario starts to go after Bowser as he is about to fly away with his airship brigade to save the princess, a Magikoopa immediately swoops down and attacks him, sending Mario toward a small planetoid nearby and knocking him unconscious. According to the tie-in trading card game, that Magikoopa is actually Kamek (which confirms a piece of early Fanon).
    • During the opening narration detailing the Star Festival, there's a graphic of a pair of Toads watching the shooting stars together. It's Toad and Toadette.
  • Camera Centering: Pressing the C button centers the camera behind Mario. This is particularly useful in gaining better visibility and easier control while swimming.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: For all its cheerful charm, the game includes some melancholy elements. This includes Rosalina's storybook, as well as the ending, where the entire universe is nearly destroyed due to a massive black hole and all of the Lumas throw themselves into the black hole to neutralize it and save the universe.
  • Chainsaw Good: Topmaniac has a red-hot saw blade, with ten yellow spikes on his side.
  • Chasing Your Tail:
    • Dino Piranha is defeated by spinning on his tail. The same goes for Fiery Dino Piranha, but you'll have to exercise a lot more caution due to the periodic flames that will cover his body, not to mention the trails of fire he leaves behind or the fireballs he spews all over the place.
    • To damage Bowser, Mario must spin on Bowser after getting a platform to explode under him. Because Bowser is smart enough to run away, Mario usually has to chase him by heading him off in the direction he's going.
  • Checkpoint Starvation: The Prankster Comets disallow checkpoints (namely those triggered when Mario or Luigi lands onto a new planetoid in a level), so their objectives must be completed in one run without dying. The Speedy Comets and most Purple Comets are difficult for this reason, as is the Daredevil Comet from Melty Molten Galaxy.
  • Climax Boss:
    • The second fight against Bowser in his Dark Matter Plant from the Bedroom dome. Afterwards, you only need to collect a certain number of Power Stars to reach Bowser's Galaxy Reactor (you can skip the Engine Room and Garden domes entirely).
    • The rematch against King Kaliente from the Engine Room dome, as it's technically the last Grand Star mission before you face Bowser one last time.
  • Colossus Climb: Megaleg and Mecha-Bowser are both giant mechanical constructs that must be climbed and destroyed at the very top. This is also present in a smaller degree in the first level of Honeyhive Galaxy, where Bee Mario has to crawl all over the Queen Bee's massive body in order to collect the five star chips embedded in her hair.
  • Collectathon Platformer: In general, the game matches the description, though it is a rather downplayed example. Power Stars are the only real collectible (though there are a couple of special variants that unlock additional things, but they still count toward the star count), and the levels are much more linear in structure than is typical of the genre. So much so that when Nintendo discussed Mario's history upon the release of Super Mario Odyssey, they grouped the Galaxy games as "course games," putting them alongside games like Super Mario 3D World and even Super Mario Bros. 3.
  • Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: Battlerock and Space Junk Galaxies have two types of these. First are pair of small greenish metal spheres with electricity flowing in between them. Such electricity can also bend, depending on the obstacle. The second type are slightly larger metal spheres that frequently emit obvious electricity.
  • Convection, Schmonvection
    • So off the wall here, it has to be mentioned twice. The final fight between Bowser and Mario has them fighting on an exposed battleground inside an artificial star. Not to mention Melty Molten Galaxy, which takes place on a planet made of lava!
    • Ice Mario can freeze lava. As said below, Rule of Cool.
    • In the Freezeflame Galaxy's third mission, not only can you skate on a ring of ice with several stars embedded in it, but you can stand as close as physically possible to lava before you actually go in it and not get hurt.
    • Surprisingly, it is averted in the final cutscene after the final boss fight. Bowser falls into the artificial star, and he starts burning even before he physically touches the lava, like he would in real life.
  • Co-Op Multiplayer: The Co-Star Mode in both games. The second player can collect and shoot Star Bits, freeze enemies and some obstacles, and, with good coordination, give Mario a high jump. The sequel expands on it by including an orange Luma.
  • Cosmetic Award: Get 9999 star bits? The coconuts turn into watermelons.
  • Coup de Grâce Cutscene: Upon delivering the final hit to Bowser, a cutscene will always play of Mario delivering said final hit and its after-effect (which is usually just Bowser getting knocked back down to his castle, except after the final boss fight where he gets knocked into his own artificial star).
  • Cowardly Mooks: Flipbugs, who flee from the player in a panic until they tire out and flip over. On the flipside, they'll actively pursue the player if they're using the Bee Mushroom.
  • Crate Expectations: There are crates in several levels, which can be broken up with spin attacks or fireballs (via Fire Mario).
  • Critical Annoyance: The "low battery" sound and icon implemented in the game for the Wii Remote. Really just there to annoy you since the game will helpfully pause when the battery finally bites it. Similarly, an alert sound will play when you're down to one wedge of health… and won't stop until you replenish it.
  • Darker and Edgier: This time, Bowser goes beyond kidnapping the Princess, and actually trying to taking control of the whole galaxy/universe. And said galaxy gets destroyed and recreated. Add to that the aforementioned Cerebus Syndrome and the result is a Mario game with more than just the usual Princess that needs saving. Downplayed in that it is still quite cheery, though.
  • Deadly Dodging: Many levels require you to lure Bullet Bills to crash into things you need blown up, and Megaleg is a boss beaten in this way.
  • Death Mountain: The snowy part of Freezeflame Galaxy includes a frigid mountain whose top has a hidden star. Due to the altitude, Mario has to keep an eye on the moving walls to avoid falling.
  • Death World: Some of the Galaxies qualify as this, such as Melty Molten Galaxy, Bubble Breeze Galaxy and Dusty Dune Galaxy which are all almost entirely covered in lava, poison and quicksand respectively.
  • Degraded Boss: Inverted with King Kaliente. He first appears as a standard boss in Good Egg Galaxy (thus a Mini-Boss in relation to the Grand Star bosses in the game) and then returns as a Climax Boss guarding his own Grand Star in the Engine Room's last galaxy.
  • Deliberate Injury Gambit: Sometimes it pays to let an enemy hit you in order to lose an inconvenient power-up, notably the Spring Suit.
  • Dem Bones: Kingfin and the Dry Bones. The former is a skeleton shark and the latter are Koopa skeletons.
  • Developer's Foresight
    • Purple Coins on the Battlerock and Battlestation's Purple Coins (in Dreadnought Galaxy) are linear levels that require you to collect 100 Purple Coins on a moving platform to get the star, or the Gearmo at the end kills you. Getting 0 coins will surprise her before berating you for pulling such a stunt (though in Dreadnought, she does acknowledge in that it might impress some). Amusingly, the normal Launch Star of the Dreadnought version of the level has the last Purple Coin in its path, but there's an out-of-the-way Sling Star that Mario can reach specifically for the purpose of ending with 0 coins.
    • When you clear a level, you return to the Observatory and Mario will take off his cap and the Luma hiding underneath it will be floating above his head. If you play as Luigi, he will take off his hat in the same manner, and the Luma will also appear. However, since Luigi is quite a bit taller than Mario, the Luma will be bouncing off his head instead.
    • In the Star Bit shooting tutorial, if your Star Bit count reaches zero before feeding Polari five Star Bits, another set of Star Bits will spawn to prevent a softlock. This will repeat until you have successfully completed the tutorial.
  • Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
    • The Toy Time Galaxy plays a more modernized version of the classic Super Mario Bros. theme.
    • When you collect a Life Mushroom, the first few notes of the original Super Mario Bros. theme are heard as a short brassy fanfare.
  • Difficult, but Awesome: In both the original and the sequel, Luigi is this compared to Mario. His lower traction makes him more difficult for the player to control, but he also runs faster and jumps higher/further, making him capable of crazy feats such as going into orbit around a small planetoid using only a long jump, or using his superior jumping to Sequence Break past part of a platforming sequence.
  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Fiery Dino Piranha is a half-Petey Piranha/half-dinosaur monster like the original, but can also spew fire with reckless abandon.
  • Disney Death: Bowser collides with the artificial star that he was creating when he is defeated. However, in the next cutscene, Bowser is still alive and well, witnessing his own galaxy falling apart around him. Every main character also suffers this when a Black Hole sucks the Universe in and the Lumas stop it. Even Bowser survives his ordeal in the gravitational abyss.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: The five different-colored Toads from Super Mario Sunshine are back, and this time, each one has his own distinct personality.
  • Divine Assistance: Rosalina, for the cosmic-power stuff that Mario's not capable of.
  • Do Well, But Not Perfect: In the levels where you have to swim behind Guppy and go through the rings that he puts out, if you're such a fast swimmer that you actually catch up to Guppy, the knockback from when he hits you can easily cause you to miss a ring.
  • The Dragon: Bowser Jr. once again takes this role.
  • Dramatic Choir Number: Bowser's orchestral battle theme has a Variable Mix that adds a choir, making the song more intense.
  • Dramatic Wind: Bowser's flapping hair is rather hypnotic, isn't it?
  • The Dreaded Dreadnought: The Dreadnought Galaxy is one of the last and hardest galaxies in the game, and its levels take place in a huge spaceship.
  • Dub Name Change: The galaxies all had English names even in the original Japanese version. A few of them stayed the same, but most were changed despite the fact none of them really sounded very Engrish-y (for instance, Melty Molten Galaxy was called Hell Prominence Galaxy in the Japanese version). This is averted in other language versions of the game, such as Spanish and French.
  • Dungeon Bypass: Downplayed, but good platformers can find several shortcuts in the game. For example, in the Bigmouth Galaxy, you're supposed to find Star Chips in the large underwater section, to create a Sling Star up to an upside-down pool of water a little bit above the one you're in. Or you can swim to the top of your pool and wall-jump on the wall between the two pools to get into the upper one. In Freezeflame, it's possible to reach the ice planet's summit with minimal uses of the Ice and Fire Flowers. And in Deep Dark Galaxy's second mission, you're supposed to defeat the Undergrunt Gunner over the cannon to launch to a planet with a Fire Flower to light a torch that will give you an Ice Flower to climb some fountains to the upper section of the cavern. Or you can run right past the Gunner and backflip and wall-jump onto a ledge that will take you to the upper level you're supposed to unlock with the fight and Ice Flower.
  • Dynamic Loading: The Launch Star flying animations are used to hide the game loading the next planet, and often feature chances to collect Star Bits while the animation plays.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: A strange case for a level. Most Prankster Comet missions are only available after you've completed the normal mission they're based upon, but the Cosmic Comet in Freezeflame Galaxy, which takes place on an all-ice version of the square platforms at the end of "Hot and Cold Collide", can appear and be played before the player has completed that mission of the galaxy.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The Ice Flower makes its main series debut in this game. Rather than a light blue colored outfit and the ability to toss ice balls, the power-up turns Mario into a living ice sculpture that freezes the water he touches. The next game would feature an Ice Mario with closer abilities to Fire Mario, while this version would almost completely fade away (being the most notable power up to not return in the sequel.
  • Earn Your Bad Ending: A downplayed example in that it's for a level rather than the whole game. In Battlerock Galaxy and Dreadnought Galaxy, the purple coin challenges are autoscrolling levels, in which if you don't collect all the purple coins, you lose a life. If you manage to collect zero coins, unique dialogue plays, with the Gearmo who would otherwise award the star pointing out that you must have done that on purpose.
  • Easter Egg: If you drop down the side of the Warp Pipe platform on the third planet in Toy Time Galaxy's first mission and enter the first-person camera view, you can see a tiny model train inside one of the cracks in its walls.
  • Electric Jellyfish: There's a huge one guarding the entrance to the underground lake in Deep Dark Galaxy and another in the Bigmouth Galaxy.
  • Eternal Engine: The game has Battlerock Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy (a bonus level) and Dreadnought Galaxy, particularly in the 2-D sections. In them, Mario has to avoid hazards like laser barriers, electrified beams of light, multiple active cannons and enemies like Bob-Ombs, Sentry Beams and Tops. They double as Remilitarized Zone levels.
  • Everything in Space Is a Galaxy: The game refers to individual levels as "Galaxies", which at most are planetoids. Realistically speaking, each level would at best be referred to as a planet, and each area containing the levels, a solar system.
  • The Exact Center of Everything: The final mission of the game, Bowser's headquarters, is stationed in the center of the universe.
  • Excited Title! Two-Part Episode Name!: The Spanish version does this with many of the Prankster Comet missions, usually with the format "[Comet's effect]! [Name of the mission that is being remixed]"
  • Excuse Plot: The main plot is as simple as most Mario stories, but the semi-extensive backstory to Rosalina given in the storybook isn't.
  • Expy: Cosmic Mario, a Galaxy stand-in for Sunshine's Shadow Mario. But this time, you're not chasing him — you're racing him.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Some of the death animations involve Mario getting disintegrated by dark matter, sucked into a black hole, suffocating in quicksand or dirty water, and electrocution, which leaves behind a skeleton.
  • Final-Exam Boss: Bowser makes use of previous spin techniques and such for defeating him when you battle him in Bowser's Galaxy Reactor.
  • Fire, Water, Wind: Three of the planets encountered in the final Bowser level of the game, in order of appearance, are a lava planet, a dry ice planet, and a quicksand planet surrounded by tornadoes.
  • Fixed Camera: In most smaller areas/planets and 2D areas, the game doesn't allow you to change camera angles or enter first-person view.
  • Flight Is the Final Power: The final power-up Mario accesses is the Red Star, which is only available for a single mission. Touching it lets Mario freely fly through the air.
  • Flight of Romance: Mario and Peach have such a moment after he delivers an epic beatdown to Bowser at the end. He catches her as she falls from Bowser Jr.'s airship and whisks her away with the final Grand Star.
  • Floating in a Bubble: The Bubble Breeze and Bubble Blast Galaxies use bubbles as the main gameplay mechanic, controlled by blowing air with the Wiimote cursor. You can also use a bubble to obtain a secret Star in the Gold Leaf Galaxy.
  • Floating Water: The Beach Bowl, Sea Slide, Loopdeeloop, and Loopdeeswoop Galaxies all feature this. The latter three take this even further, featuring a long flow of floating water where Mario participates in races.
  • Flunky Boss:
    • Topmaniac's battles begin with two Topminis or two Spiky Topmen on the arena, and he can summon more at certain points.
    • Kamella summons Magikoopas during the last phase of her boss fights in Space Junk Galaxy and Deep Dark Galaxy.
    • Kingfin summons Fishbones (that attack in the same way as Torpedo Teds) during his battle.
  • Flyaway Shot: The final scene of the game is the camera zooming out from Mario into space as he embraces the reconstructed galaxy.
  • Flying Saucer: A giant flying saucer commanded by Bowser cuts Princess Peach's castle from the ground and lifts it up in a beginning cutscene.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Rosalina states at the end a bunch of stuff about the galaxy never repeating itself the same way and that "you'll see", obviously implying that the differences will be important later on.
    • If the obvious arena platform didn't give away that there was a boss, the Bouldergeist planet swarms with spirit orbs, warning the player that there's some serious ghost activity to be found there.
  • Forest of Perpetual Autumn: The Gold Leaf Galaxy is completely covered with fallen orange leaves and its theme is clearly autumn. Given the name of the galaxy, and that the Honeyhive Galaxy (the galaxy it quite literally mirrors) is always in spring, it's likely stuck in this state.
  • Four Is Death: The rolling ball stages are full of massive iron dice blocks threatening to knock you into the abyss. Every side on these dice blocks read four.
  • Four-Legged Insect: The bees that appear in galaxies like Honeyhive Galaxy have four limbs. This also applies to the Queen Bee.
  • Free Rotating Camera: In larger, more open areas and planets, the camera can be rotated and a first-person view can be entered, though it follows realistic limitations and can only rotate 180 degrees, requiring the player to exit first-person and turn Mario to change the view.
  • Free-Sample Plot Coupon: Mario's goal is to retrieve the Grand Stars that fuel the Comet Observatory built by Rosalina. Luckily for him, the first of these Stars is the only one that isn't guarded by any of the bosses. Also a case of Back from the Brink, since the machine it was secured within is already starting to use its power for evil purposes.
  • Futile Hand Reach:
    • Mario and Peach reach out for each other as they're being sucked into the black hole after Bowser's defeat and the collapse of his star.
    • Bowser looks like he's trying to reach out to Mario after his final defeat, but fails and falls into the sun as a result.

    G-J 
  • Gainax Ending: Mario watches as a huge black hole forms in the center of the universe as the Lumas fly into it and cause the hole to implode at first, sucking Mario, Bowser, Peach, and everything in the universe into it, then explode violently. After that, Mario faces a huge Rosalina that says new baby stars are being born as a result (complete with baby crying). After that, Mario and the gang wake up in the Mushroom Kingdom, only it's now a fusion of all the worlds that he visited.
  • Galactic Conqueror: Bowser wants to conquer the entire universe.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: Although this game has received top-notch QA, some glitches exist, making Mario die if he spend too much time orbiting around a planet without actually landing on it (especially frequent with Luigi, by abusing the long jump/lock-on spin, or with some glitchy planetoids like that bouncing ball), but they merely send you at the start of the level. However, it is painfully played straight under some circumstances. In the final level in front of Bowser, no less, where you can cause it to freeze before the final confrontation with him by managing to go up to him before the Event Flag that activates the meteor shower, and then try to activate said Event Flag. It's possible.
  • Gangplank Galleon: Deep Dark Galaxy hosts a pirate ship that shows up in several missions.
  • Genius Bruiser: Bowser, in stark contrast to his depiction in various spinoffs. He came up with a master plan to establish a galactic empire involving his own galaxy reactor, which implies that he knows how to use (and possibly build) galactic-scale technology to achieve his ends. Moreover, it speaks volumes to his intellect that his master plan nearly works even with Mario's intervention, and it would have gone without a hitch if he had just waited to kidnap Peach until after his galaxy had been created (as Mario wasn't even aware of Bowser's plan until that point).
  • "Get Back Here!" Boss:
    • Bowser, who will run away from the player in his battles after burning his tail on a lava core on the arena planet. Due to the small size and gravity, it's easy to head him off by walking around the planet.
    • Major Burrows will run away from the player once popped out of the ground, though the last time, he'll chase the player faster in a rage and need to be popped out again.
    • While it's not her entire tactic, Kamella pulls this in her rematch by moving upwards on the arena after a few hits.
  • Ghost Ship: There's one located in the underground area of Deep Dark Galaxy, and it's surrounded by Boos. It is there where Kamella, previously found and fought in Space Junk Galaxy, reappears for a rematch.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: This game marks the debut of the Crabbers. Their claws and front body are hit-proof, but their backs are vulnerable. There's a cyan-colored variant that is more elusive and drops an extra life upon defeat.
  • Gimmick Level: The game has several Gimmick Levels, the most recognizable ones being those involving the Wiimote's motion-sensing abilities to control different actions, like balancing Mario on top of a rolling ball, riding a manta ray around a course, or using a fan to blow a bubble around an electrified maze of doom. Those types of levels appear at least twice each: One where you can practice with them, and then a harder variation that appears later.
  • Glory Hound: Downplayed. After rescuing Luigi from Battlerock Galaxy, he reveals that he found a Green Star but says he won't hand it over unless Mario personally credits him to Rosalina. He doesn't do this for any other star that he finds (whether the Green Star is the exception due to its rarity or another reason is unknown), and his threat to withhold the star is a bluff given he hands Mario the Green Star immediately after he's done talking (the player also doesn't get the opportunity to tell Rosalina that Luigi found the Green Star).
  • Godhood Seeker: Not quite as literal as in the sequel, perhaps, but Bowser has definite shades of this trope in this game. Seriously, he's trying to destroy the universe so he can recreate it as his own galactic empire. With Princess Peach as his (probably unwilling) queen. Granted, it blows up in his face at the end (rather literally, too), but then the universe nearly gets destroyed in the aftermath anyways.
  • Goomba Stomp: Spinning may get all the attention in this game, but for most enemies, jumping on them still works just as well, and usually causes them to drop health-replenishing coins instead of Star Bits. In fact, Goombas themselves take an extra hit to kill after spinning, but still fall to one stomp.
  • Gotta Catch 'Em All: You need Power Stars to complete the game. While only 60 are needed to unlock the final boss, there are rewards for obtaining all 120.
  • Gratuitous English: The galaxies all had English names even in the original Japanese version. A few of them stayed the same, but most were changed despite the fact none of them really sounded very Engrish-y (for instance, Melty Molten Galaxy was called Hell Prominence Galaxy in the Japanese version).
  • Gravity Screw: A recurring theme, most often exercised with rounded planets that have all-around gravity that can be walked around like a sphere or cube and jumped between into other planets' gravity, though there are other variations.
    • The second mission of the Dreadnought Galaxy has platforms going up, upside down and sideways at various points along a route where Mario is being fired at by various cannons.
    • Gravity Walls have the power to control the direction of gravity. They appear in several galaxies, most notably in Bowser's Dark Matter Plant, where they give you four directions of gravity!
    • Bowser's Galaxy Reactor features gravity spotlights that pull the player to the nearest wall or planet while he stands in them.
  • Gravity Sucks: The sizes of some of the black holes are pretty ridiculous by astronomy standards…
  • Green Hill Zone:
    • The first planet of Gateway Galaxy is grassy and somewhat flowery.
    • The first planet of Good Egg Galaxy has some grassy elements.
    • Honeyhive Galaxy plays this straight since it is the traditional Mario grass area. The presence of trees, bugs, and a lot of honeybees combine it with The Lost Woods and Hornet Hole.
    • The first area of Gold Leaf Galaxy is the same as Honeyhive's first area but mirrored and in an autumn color palette.
  • Growling Gut: Young Rosalina's belly is said to rumble in the storybook as a result of not having much to eat during the long journey to find Luma's mama.
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • The Cosmic Comet races become much easier once you learn the technique to get a speed boost at the beginning, and the speed boost is extremely helpful in beating Cosmic Luigi. The only problem? The game not only does not tell you how to execute it, it doesn't even tell you it exists.
    • Deep Dark Galaxy's hidden Star, "Boo in a Box", gives you no indication on how to reach it. You're supposed to throw a shell at the mine enemies in the underground lake in order to blow up the shipwreck and reveal the Launch Star to the next planet, but the game directs you away from the area if you select the first mission for the hidden Star (which is what the game tells you to do), and besides the presence of a shell underwater, there's nothing making it clear that all of the mines will explode or that they need to be detonated.
    • Oddly enough, this exists for a simple collectible: the 1-Up Mushroom on top of the tall skinny tree in the Gold Leaf Galaxy, which is probably the hardest extra life to get in the game, and one that most players probably haven't. Not only is it easy to miss, but it can't be platformed to, and flying to it from the top of the waterfall with the Bee Suit doesn't get you to the tree, either. It requires a trick of the Bee Suit, that button-mashing the fly button gets more distance than holding it, which is never explained to the player. Doing that will allow you to reach the branches and fly up to the top.
  • Gusty Glade: Gusty Garden Galaxy, located in the fourth dome. The wind is essential to fly between planets without a Launch Star.
  • Hailfire Peaks:
    • The Buoy Base Galaxy, located in the Kitchen Dome, which has features of Eternal Engine and Under the Sea.
    • The Freezeflame Galaxy, located in the Bedroom Dome, has two major planets alongside a few smaller ones: One modeled after a snowy mountain, and one after the volcanic core of a dissected planet. Though because each level is broken up into "missions", it's actually quite rare to encounter both the fiery and icy parts of the stage at one time, except in the third Star mission which has a planet featuring both lava and ice and a passage where Mario (while using the Ice Flower) has to freeze the lava into ice platforms to skate on.
    • The Beach Bowl (located in the Kitchen) and Sea Slide Galaxies (located in the Engine Room) lean more toward Palmtree Panic and Under the Sea. The former galaxy also learns towards Slippy-Slidey Ice World when a secret Star mission revolves around using Ice Mario to walljump up parallel waterfalls in a tropical planet that includes a cold lake with spiky icebergs.
    • The mission "Bouncing Down Cake Lane" in Toy Time Galaxy (located in the Engine Room) is a mix of Toy Time, Level Ate and Slippy-Slidey Ice World, which has Mario traversing through frozen desserts to reach a giant cake inhabited by an Undergrunt Gunner.
    • The Deep Dark Galaxy, located in the Garden Dome, which is a Gangplank Galleon overlapping with elements of Big Boo's Haunt and Under the Sea.
  • Hard Mode Filler: Most of the Prankster Comets in the game just make a previous mission harder for a new Star. Speedy Comets give you a time limit and take away checkpoints, Fast Foe Comets make hazards move faster (thankfully you're usually only forced to redo a segment of a mission), and Daredevil Comets make you redo a boss, or even a whole mission, with one hit point (turning Bouldergeist from a relatively easy foe to a much harder one). However, the Cosmic Comets (a race against a shadowy doppelganger) and Purple Comets (a coin hunt) are unique.
  • Have a Nice Death: If you get to the end of the Battlerock or Dreadnought Purple Comet missions without all the purple coins, the Gearmo will mock you for not trying hard enough and then take away one of your lives. If you collect 0, they will comment that you had to have done it on purpose, and then take away your life.
  • Heart Container: The big, star-tattooed Life Mushrooms serve this function. Your life meter is usually 3 points worth, but these items increase it to 6. Keep in mind that the Mushrooms' effect only lasts for the current level, and losing the extra 3 points returns your maximum to 3.
  • Heavy Sleeper: The yellow Toad is often seen sleeping, and even sleeps in the snow in Freezeflame Galaxy. He can even sleep through you jumping on him, spinning into him, or shooting star bits at him.
  • He Knows About Timed Hits: In the intro, A luma disguised as a rabbit tells Mario "C'mon! Jump with A"! Afterwards, Luma tells Mario to shake a wiimote to spin.
  • Hell Is That Noise: The sound when you get sucked into a black hole.
  • Helpful Mook: Plenty!
    • Cataquacks fling you high into the air and deal no damage.
    • Koopas can be stomped to make them retreat into their shells, which can then be used as projectiles or swimming aids.
    • Bob-ombs and Bullet Bills can destroy things the Mario Bros. are too weak to shatter, like glass cases.
    • Green Topmen and Jump Beamers have a spring in their body which can be exposed if they're damaged, allowing their heads to be used as trampolines.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of the game, all the Lumas throw themselves into the black hole to neutralize it and save the universe.
  • Homage: What with the tiny planets, way of slinging around space, and the plot of the storybook (not to mention Rosalina herself), the whole thing seems to be inspired by The Little Prince.
  • Hornet Hole: Honeyhive and Gold Leaf Galaxies. At least the bees are friendly.
  • How Did We Get Back Home?: At the end of the game, after defeating Bowser and rescuing Peach, Bowser's galaxy explodes and destroys the universe. The Lumas all throw themselves inside the black hole that is tearing up the universe in an attempt to stop it, and after their sacrifice results in the birth of a completely new universe altogether, Rosalina appears and tells Mario that the material left from dead stars are actually used to create new ones, followed by him, Peach, and Bowser finding themselves back in the Mushroom Kingdom as if nothing even happened.
  • Hub Level: The Comet Observatory is rather small with relatively little to explore, but it still houses the astral domes from which the majority of galaxies (including the main 15) can be accessed. 12 stars can be gotten through the miscellaneous galaxies accessible from here, including both Bowser's Galaxy Reactor and the secret Grand Finale Galaxy. It also has five 1-Up Mushrooms, a Bottomless Pit Rescue Service, the Library where Rosalina tells her backstory (divided by unlockable chapters), and can be flown around with the Red Star later in the game.
  • Human Cannonball: Square-shaped cannons can be used by Mario (as well as Luigi in the New Game Plus) to launch onto distant spots. Gravity is never a problem here, so it's always a straight trajectory.
  • I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: The Japanese version has "Hell Prominence Galaxy" (Melty Molten Galaxy) and "Death Promenade Galaxy" (Boo's Boneyard Galaxy), which are sorta kept in some translations. The English game has a milder example, "Deep Dark Galaxy".
  • An Ice Person: Ice Mario, who's literally made up of ice. He can skate on both water and lava, creating a hexagonal platform of ice wherever he walks or skates.
  • In Case of Boss Fight, Break Glass:
    • Megaleg is defeated by making Bullet Bills break the metal and glass cages around the Power Star in its head.
    • To defeat an Undergrunt Gunner, Mario must ground pound or send a coconut into the cockpit, which is made of glass.
  • Incendiary Exponent: Fiery Dino Piranha is a fiery version of Dino Piranha, the first boss in the game.
  • Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt: Conveyor belts are frequent in the first mission of Toy Time Galaxy in the Engine, and one is also present in the third mission. They wouldn't be a big problem aside from their moderately high speed, except you have to cross them while using the difficult-to-control Spring Mushroom powerup.
  • Infinite 1-Ups: There are several 1-up Mushrooms scattered around the observatory hub which respawn if you enter a door and come out again, not to mention the frequent letters you get from Peach containing five 1-up mushrooms each (or 20 if you're Luigi).
  • Insect Queen: Queen Bee or the Honey Queen is the queen of all bees in the universe, and dresses in appropriate regalia. She's also playable in Mario Kart 7, where she is decidedly smaller. She's probably the only King Mook (or King NPC) in the Marioverse that's female, as opposed to King Bob-omb, King Goomba, et al.
  • Instakill Mook: Since crushing damage is one of the few kinds of damage that is instantly fatal, Thwomps, Whomps, and Tox Boxes play this role with their ability to crush Mario.
  • It's Up to You: Hey, looks like Mario doesn't have to get all the Stars himself. Luigi and the Toads are going to help him! But then they get captured or stranded, so in the end, you still have to do all the missions, same as if they weren't helping you.
  • Interface Spoiler: Like Super Mario 64, the game advertises having 120 stars to collect. Players going for 100% Completion will notice two things: first, unlike minor galaxies, the game won't display "Galaxy Complete!" for each of the fifteen main ones (as well as Gateway Galaxy) even after collecting seemingly all the stars there, suggesting that there are more to unlock. Second, if one collects every available star before travelling to Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, they'll only come up with 104 stars, spoiling the fact that the final fifteen are only unlocked afterward, before the game introduces the Purple Comet sidequest to you.
  • Invincibility Power-Up: The Rainbow Star, which also increases Mario's and Luigi's speed greatly. It replaces the series-classic Super Star to prevent confusion with the similar-looking Power Star.
  • Invincible Minor Minion: Thwomps are so massive that there's no way to defeat them, not even with the Rainbow Star.
  • "Jaws" First-Person Perspective: The battle with Kingfin opens with the camera looking out of its mouth.
  • Just Before the End: The entire universe is destroyed. Sure, everyone gets reincarnated, but still, everyone dies.

    K-M 
  • Karma Houdini: Because Kamek never shows up again after blasting Mario into space, we never see him get comeuppance for it, unless you count defeating the regular Magikoopa enemies.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • An odd example, but Bowser kidnapping Peach could be seen as this. Despite the fact that he does it in practically every game, kidnapping Peach was completely unnecessary for his overall plan in this one, as he was already well on his way to conquering the universe. That means he did it either because he couldn't help himself, to piss Mario off, or both.
    • Before his boss fight, Major Burrows can be seen chasing after a terrified and defenseless Star Bunny for no real reason other than to be a dick.
  • Kill Enemies to Open: Some Warp Pipes and Launch Stars are only unlocked after Mario beats all of the Mooks in the area.
  • Kill It with Fire: Ice Bats, who only appear on the mountain in Freezeflame Galaxy, cannot be killed by anything but Fire Mario's fireballs.
  • King Mook: All the bosses, big time.
    • Dino Piranha (and his fiery form) is one to the Piranha Plants.
    • King Kaliente is one to the Octo-enemies, especially the Roctos.
    • Bugaboom is one to the Mandibugs. A previous mission has the Mandibug Stack (to a lesser extent).
    • Megaleg can be considered as this to the Bill Blasters (being a gargantuan robot shooting Bullet Bills).
    • Kamella is one to the Magikoopas.
    • Tarantox can be considered as one to the spider enemies, mainly the Sproings and the Spranglers.
    • Topmaniac is one to the Topmen.
    • Bouldergeist is one to the Bomb Boos (especially once his true form is revealed).
    • Major Burrows is one to the Undergrunts. The Undergrunt Gunners fought in later missions are these (to a lesser extent).
    • Baron Brrr is one to the Li'l Brrrs.
    • Kingfin is one to the Bonefins. As a matter of fact, the Bonefins only appear during the fight against Kingfin.
    • And of course, Bowser and Bowser Jr. themselves are one to the Koopa Troopas.
  • Knight of Cerebus: Surprisingly, Bowser. He's depicted as a hugely threatening and surprisingly cunning villain, and whenever he appears, the atmosphere gets much more tense. It helps that his boss themes are marked by Ominous Latin Chanting.
  • Last-Second Word Swap: When talking to Captain Toad at the start of the first star in Deep Dark Galaxy, he's about to say that he and the brigade are on vacation before switching it to an exploration mission.
  • Lava Adds Awesome: Melty Molten Galaxy is the last major galaxy to be unlocked in a dome, and it's pretty epic.
  • Leap of Faith:
    • Played straight by certain sections of Space Junk Galaxy and the final dungeon, which both feature paths that magically form from debris floating around as you approach, and certain sections of both will require you to jump without seeing the path in front of you.
    • Averted during the Freezeflame Galaxy Purple Coins mission, as you can actually see the platforms you're leaping to the whole time.
  • Lethal Lava Land:
    • Freezeflame Galaxy has a planet that consists of a large round sphere of cooled magma. Its center has a large fissure filled with molten lava, and this is where Mario will look for the Power Star.
    • Melty Molten Galaxy is made completely from lava and rock. It is placed between two binary stars.
    • Bowser Jr.'s Lava Reactor is a giant ball completely made of lava.
  • Level Ate:
    • The Sweet Sweet Galaxy is mostly made of cakes and biscuits.
    • "Bouncing Down Cake Lane" in Toy Time Galaxy features oversized cakes, chocolate bars, an ice cream cone, popsicles, lollipops, and huge ice cubes.
  • Level in the Clouds: Gusty Garden Galaxy has all the various platforms being suspended in the sky. The third Star mission in particular evokes this. Other levels have clouds, but they are only solid when Mario has the Bee powerup.
  • Living Ghost: Mario is capable of turning into Boo Mario in both this game and its sequel, giving him the ability to phase through walls like a Boo. He's even required to turn back to normal to calm down a trapped Luigi.
  • Lone Wolf Boss: Several bosses, such as Major Burrows and Bugaboom, have to be defeated because they're threatening innocent characters for personal reasons, not because Bowser told them to do so.
  • Long Song, Short Scene: The track "Birth", which is heard at the very end of the game as the camera pans back into outer space to show the galaxy is reset. Only the first half is heard before it fades out, with the unheard half consisting of a quiet piano rendition of the Gusty Garden Galaxy's theme.
  • The Lost Woods: Honeyhive and Gold Leaf, which are a bit more whimsical than your standard Lost Woods, but they do have giant bugs, lots of bees (including a power-up), and in Gold Leaf, rabbits. Enemies that are standard fare for these worlds appear too, like Wigglers and Monty Moles.
  • Macro Zone: The Toy Time Galaxy features many huge toys, and in one star mission, huge food.
  • Made of Explodium: Airships, Megaleg, Mecha Bowser, some bosses and enemies… and apparently Kingfin. Yes, an exploding, semi-biology-fail, skeleton shark.
  • Made of Iron: Bowser gets punched right into a star at the center of the galaxy, and then shows up unscathed in the next cutscene lamenting the collapse of his empire. And then dies. And then wakes up in Peach's front yard.
  • Marathon Level:
  • Meaningless Lives: It's pretty easy to stock up on lives. Good thing, since you start with 4 lives whenever you begin playing (regardless of how many you had when you finished your last session).
  • Mechanical Monster:
    • Megaleg is a gargantuan robot modeled after the Snifits (a subspecies of Shy Guys) which Mario has to destroy in order to claim the Grand Star it has in its top.
    • Mecha-Bowser is a very large robotic toy loosely based on Bowser, located in Toy Time Galaxy. In it, some Gearmos are kept captive, forcing Mario to disassemble it to rescue them.
  • Metal Slime: The Starbag, an invisible walking pouch of Star Bits that you must spin at its footprints to reveal, and then attack again for it to release a large amount of Star Bits.
  • Meteor-Summoning Attack: Bowser summons meteors during the final stretches of his levels when you're approaching him.
  • Miles Gloriosus: Captain Toad, leader of the Toad Brigade. One of the other Toads lampshades this. In the Grand Finale Galaxy, upon learning that the captain is being promoted to Royal Guard Commander, one Toad says "But the leader is the least brave of all!"
  • Mini-Boss: The game has lots of minibosses, which are the bosses of the galaxies that precede the Grand Star stages (where the major bosses reside).
  • Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode: There aren't many occasions where the second player is really useful, besides freezing the occasional rolling rock. The super jump requires perfect timing, and any areas it can be used to get to can be reached more easily with other techniques. Trying to freeze an enemy close to Mario can throw off the first player's timing, or worse, cause Mario to jump at exactly the wrong moment. The sequel adds an onscreen character and a pair of actions that greatly increase Player 2's utility.
  • Moon Rabbit: Just in case you're wondering why there are rabbits living in planetoids.
  • Multi-Stage Battle: The first two thirds of the final battle against Bowser take place on two different planets; the third and final stage takes place inside a molten star.
  • Musical Gameplay: Coins that pop up out of blocks or bushes will have their usual coin SFX be in tempo and harmony with the backing music. Additionally, when fighting King Kaliente, every time you hit one of the coconuts (or it hits him) a musical cue plays. The harp glissandos heard when using Launch Stars and Sling Stars are also matched to the music track, and the noises that play when stepping on blue switches are as well.
  • Musical Spoiler:
    • There's an example heard in a few cases, there's a certain ominous theme appropriately titled "A Tense Moment" in the small section of the level before a boss battle, as can be seen when on the UFO before fighting Topmaniac, the small section of level before Tarantox and before the first King Kaliente battle (although really, it's kinda ironic the only bosses this happens for are those that don't need the warning because they're generally easy). Similarly, there's a kind of dead obvious giveaway of the boss battle about to start in Bowser Jr's reactor levels, in that his theme tune starts just before the boss starts attacking (and Bowser Jr himself will fly in and taunt you.)
    • This game and its sequel also use a method similar to Twilight Princess, in that during the fights with Bowser, Ominous Latin Chanting will be added to the music when he's vulnerable to attack.
    • Galaxy subverts this with Bowser Jr's appearance in the final level, where at first it looks like you're going to fight him before actually fighting Bowser for the last time, but it turns out that you actually fight Bowser directly instead. Although he does rain meteors down on the stairway.
  • Mutually Exclusive Power-Ups: Most combinations of the power-ups in the game (Fire Flower, Ice Flower, Spring Mushroom, Bee Mushroom, Boo Mushroom, Red Star, and Rainbow Star) are impossible. Attempting to combine them will result in either the old power-up losing its effect or Mario kicking away the new power-up.
  • Mythology Gag:

    N-R 
  • New Game Plus: Getting all of the stars with Mario unlocks Luigi, and lets you play through the game again with him. He runs faster and jumps higher than Mario, but has less traction and is flung farther when an enemy touches him. He also loses extra oxygen when spin-boosting through water, and his Cosmic Comet races are harder. He gets more 1-Ups from the Mailtoad in exchange, though.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mario inadvertently dooms the universe when taking back the final Grand Star, causing Bowser's sun to be unstable enough to collapse into a supermassive black hole.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Bowser attacking the Mushroom Kingdom is what clues Mario in on the former's plans to conquer the universe.
  • Night of the Living Mooks: Bomb Boos are black, explosive Boos with extendable tongues. They overrun Ghostly Galaxy during the level's third episode, and Mario can use them to destroy obstacles. Their King Mook is Bouldergeist, which covers itself with a rocky body.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Kingfin is a skeletal shark. That summons robot fish.
  • Noble Demon: The Spooky Speedster, a Big Boo racer, keeps his word and hands over the Power Star when you beat him in the races.
  • No-Damage Run: invoked The daredevil comets force you to complete a challenge without taking any damage. Usually it's redoing a boss fight, but one of the more sadistic ones— "Lava Spire Daredevil Run" in Melty Molten Galaxy— forces you to replay an ENTIRE LEVEL like this, namely, the "The Sinking Lava Spire" mission (this is probably because a daredevil run against Fiery Dino Piranha would be even more sadistic than that). There's also the second segment of "Scaling the Sticky Wall" in Honeyclimb Galaxy, when meteors can, in a single hit, rob you of your bee suit and send you falling to your death by black hole.
  • Nominal Importance: For some reason, the English translation didn't give names to any Lumas, while the original Japanese (which called them Chikos) did indeed have names for some of them. You know the Luma that grants Mario's ability to spin? The one that Rosalina introduces with the line, "To save your special one, you'll need to power to travel through space. Luma can give you this power. I will entrust you with his care"? He is named Tyke in the Japanese version. They also didn't mention the name of the black/dark brown Luma who is always at Rosalina's side and in the observatories. His name is Polari, after the star Polaris. This oversight makes the storybook a tad confusing in the English version, since upon meeting the Lumas for the first time, Rosalina makes a point of thinking up names for all of them.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: Whenever you fail to complete a timed challenge, collect 100 purple coins, or lose a race to a shadow clone, Mario will stomp his feet in frustration and you will lose a life and be sent back to the beginning of the level.
  • Nostalgia Level: Flipswitch Galaxy has a background which features a scene from the original Super Mario Bros..
  • Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: In the second mission of Beach Bowl Galaxy, "Passing the Swim Test", you have to retrieve a golden shell in the ocean and bring it back to the coach in order to pass the test and get the Power Star. However, there aren't any golden shells lying around on the ocean floor. One of the other penguins eventually clues you in that the actual way to pass the test is to find a penguin carrying a shell and steal it from him.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Dino Piranha is the first boss of the game and a pretty easy one at that. The fiery version, however, uses the same attacks as the first one, as well as using its fire powers offensively and defensively.
  • Number Two: Polari, the dark brown Luma who's always at Rosalina's side or in the map domes, appears to fulfill this role aboard the Cosmic Observatory.
  • Ominous Floating Spaceship: Bowser uses a flying saucer to laser-carve out the ground underneath Peach's castle and carry it away, kidnapping Princess Peach in the process.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: Bowser's battle theme invokes this for both the regular boss battles and his final boss battle, although no actual words are spoken; it's a choir singing "ah" and "ooh" in the style of ominous Latin chanting.
  • One-Hit-Point Wonder: The daredevil challenges reduce Mario's max health to one unit, which means that any damage will kill him. There are also no coins in these challenges.
  • Opening the Sandbox: If you collect all the Stars in the galaxies as they become accessible to you, you'll very quickly reach the point where you can take the remaining Star missions in any order you want. In fact, two of the domes (namely the Engine Room and the Garden, not counting the Gate due to its status as the tutorial) are completely optional because the 60 stars needed to fight Bowser at the center of the universe can all be obtained in the first four domes, and the level itself is unlocked after fighting Bowser in the Dark Matter Plant (though it still can't be entered unless the aforementioned 60 stars are collected). One of the Grand Stars (from Bowser Jr.'s Lava Reactor) can even be skipped in this manner, the only time across both Galaxy games where a Grand Star is optional.
  • Our Dark Matter Is Mysterious: In Bowser's Dark Matter Plant, dark matter is depicted as a purple-black form of Grimy Water that causes Mario to disintegrate upon falling into it and creates square holes in space that cause platforms to disappear when they travel under them, requiring the holes to be jumped over.
  • Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: The underwater bubbles restore Mario's air meter instantly when he gets them.
  • "Pachelbel's Canon" Progression: The "Luma" theme is built around a slight variation on this progression.
  • Painting the Medium: Ghostly Galaxy's music makes such a point of being spooky that the notes looping in its background are a sequence of "D, E, A, D".
  • Palette Swap: Gold Leaf Galaxy's main planet is an autumn-colored mirror image of Honeyhive Galaxy.
  • Palmtree Panic: Beach Bowl and Sea Slide Galaxy have beach areas with water, sand, scales, and palmtrees.
  • Parallel Universe:
    • Rosalina speaks about the cycle of the galaxy at the end of the game and that it repeats itself, but never in the same way. Almost like a parallel universe (or rather, galaxy), but with each one following one after the other, hence "cyclical time".
    • It's implied that the Prankster Comets (aside from maybe the Cosmic and Purple Comets) create these for certain missions in the various galaxies, as the levels' conditions aren't just different, but the comet-affected missions contain exclusive Power Stars, rather than the ones you've already collected.
  • Pass Through the Rings: Both times you meet Guppy, he asks you to swim through eight rings.
  • Personal Space Invader: The Slurple enemy latches on to the player until is shaken or hit with a star bit.
  • Pickup Hierarchy:
    • Primary: Power Stars, Grand Stars.
    • Secondary: 1-Up Mushrooms, Life Mushrooms, Purple Coins, Silver Stars (5 for a Power Star), Comet Medals (2-only).
    • Tertiary: Star Bits. Launch Star Pieces. Coins, Notes.
    • Extra: Green Stars.
  • Pivotal Boss: King Kaliente, Tarantox, Bouldergeist, and the Undergrunt Gunner all stay in one spot, pivoting and attacking Mario.
  • Plant Mooks: In addition to the regular Piranha Plants, a purple-headed species known as Spiny Piranha Plant appears. It will perform a slow, but strong pound at Mario with its own head. As it tries to recover, you have to stomp it to defeat it.
  • Portal Endpoint Resemblance: Most galaxy domes in Rosalina's observatory avert the trope, as they're based on the specific areas of what was originally her house (a bathroom, a kitchen, a bedroom, etc.), instead of the galaxies you can access from them. However the Engine Room plays it straight, because many active mechanisms and gizmos can be seen in it, with a Gearmo maintaining it, and one of the galaxies you can be launched onto from it is the mechanical Toy Time Galaxy (it being inhabited by multiple Gearmos also helps).
  • Power-Up Magnet: One of the uses of the pointer is attracting Star Bits.
  • Pumpkin Person: Jack-O-Goombas are Goombas that wear Jack-O-Lantern masks, which protect them from being stomped on. A spin will smash the mask, or a Ground Pound will take out the mask and Goomba in one fell swoop.
  • Pushy Mooks: The various types of Topmen, spinning top-shaped enemies that try to bump Mario off ledges or into electrified rails.
  • Quicksand Sucks: Dusty Dune Galaxy has sands behave in different ways due to the game's bending gravity mechanic, though classic quicksand (which instantly sinks Mario to his death) is still present — it can be distinguised by having a darker orange color.
  • Racing Minigame: Several. To start with, there are the four Cosmic Comet races. In two levels ("A Very Spooky Sprint" in Ghostly Galaxy and "Racing the Spooky Speedster" in Boo's Boneyard Galaxy), you race a helmet-wearing Boo to a Power Star. You also race a group of penguins in "Faster Than a Speeding Penguin" in Sea Slide Galaxy, and there are at least four levels in which you encounter rabbits who want you to chase them. Then there's the "Surfing 101" mission in Loopdeeloop Galaxy and the "The Galaxy's Greatest Wave" mission in Loopdeeswoop Galaxy, in which you have to make one lap around a watery course on a manta within a (fairly generous) time limit. The game designers apparently think players can't get enough racing.
  • Rainbow Speak: In dialogue, important words are often highlighted with various colours.
  • Recurring Boss: Topmaniac has to be fought four times: twice in regular battles ("Topmaniac and the Topman Tribe" in Battlerock Galaxy and "Revenge of the Topman Tribe" in Dreadnought Galaxy), once in a daredevil battle ("Topmaniac's Daredevil Run" in Battlerock Galaxy), and once as part of a speed run ("Topman Tribe Speed Run" in Dreadnought Galaxy). Kamella and Bowser have to be fought three times each (Kamella in "Kamella's Airship Attack" in Space Junk Galaxy, and "The Underground Ghost Ship" and "Ghost Ship Daredevil Run" in Deep Dark Galaxy; Bowser in "The Fiery Stronghold" in Bowser's Star Reactor, "Darkness on the Horizon" in Bowser's Dark Matter Plant, and "The Fate of the Universe" in Bowser's Galaxy Reactor) and there are several other bosses you have to fight twice.
  • Recycled In Space: Super Mario 64 IN SPACE!
  • Reincarnation: A major theme of the game. Lumas are born from star dust, and grow into stars, moons, and planets, the latter of which have people on them. Eventually, they decay and crumble back into star dust, which goes on to create new Lumas. With the ending, this game has been interpreted by some as looking very, very Buddhist.
  • Remilitarized Zone: The airships from Super Mario Bros. 3 show up in a couple of levels. Battlerock and Dreadnought Galaxies also have shades of this, crossed with Eternal Engine.
  • Reset Button Ending: Implied when the entire universe implodes and is recreated afterwards.
  • Ret-Gone: This almost happens to Mario/Luigi, Peach, Bowser, and the Lumas at the end of the game, thanks to the universe being destroyed (and recreated) by Bowser's black hole.
  • Ridiculously Cute Critter: The Lumas. You can feed the Hungry Lumasnote  Star Bits and they'll thank you and spin around (one of the little ones responds with "Happy!"). You can't help but Squee!
  • Ring-Out Boss: Topmaniac is defeated by jumping on it, which forces it to retract its spikes, then spinning into it to make it hit the electric fence around it.
  • Rise to the Challenge: "The Sinking Lava Spire" in Melty Molten Galaxy. "Sunbaked Sand Castle" in Dusty Dune Galaxy is an unusual example; Mario is trying to make it to the top of a tower before it fills up with sand, but the game turns the controls upside down, so it appears that the ceiling is trying to crush Mario before he gets to the bottom.
  • Royal "We": The Queen Bee speaks this way.
  • Rule of Cool and Rule of Fun: This is definitely one of the least realistic games in the series, what with all of the Art Major Physics and stuff. All in the name of fun, though.

    S-X 
  • Save the Princess: As usual, Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser, and Mario has to save her.
  • Say My Name:
    • Peach screaming for Mario's help. It doesn't help that, outside of her letters, it's her only line in the game.
      Peach: MAA-REE-OOO!note 
    • Luigi also screams Mario's name in fear whenever he approaches him caged in the Ghostly Galaxy.
  • Scenery as You Go: The platform maze in the "Pull Star Path", "Pull Star Path Speed Run" and "Purple Coin Spacewalk" missions in Space Junk Galaxy, as well as the ice bridges in Bowser's stage.
  • Scenery Porn: Just look at some of the space backgrounds. They look absolutely amazing, and in 480p no less. For example, in the first level of Melty Molten Galaxy, there's a sequence which consists of Mario shooting through several launch stars in a row. The main point of the sequence seems to be to show off the impressive graphics of the volcano level.
  • Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Those are not galaxies, those are clusters of asteroids, or small moons at most. And there is no implication that Mario is just visiting the part of the galaxy relevant to him. Each gateway also looks more like it's selecting from a solar system, and several of the dome-boss galaxies are very small compared to how they are viewed on the map from a large distance.
  • Sea Hurtchin: Remember the Urchins from Super Mario World? They are now mobile and will chase Mario around. They can also extend their spines to extend their reach.
  • Secret Level: In the Comet Observatory, Hungry Lumas take Mario and Luigi to secret galaxies after they're fed with enough Star Bits. In the main galaxies, they instead transform into extra planets where hidden Power Stars can be found.
  • Serial Escalation: Previous games simply had Bowser trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, but the stakes have been raised considerably this time around. Now, Bowser means to create his own galaxy at the heart of existence from which he will conquer the entire universe and rule over it for all eternity. Since you can't really get much grander than that, later games toned down Bowser's goals.
  • Selective Gravity: No matter how weird the gravity is, certain objects like coins and platforms can float.
  • Self-Damaging Attack Backfire: Bowser's Ground Pounds hurt him when he performs them over those glass covers that happen to be on top of molten hot liquid.
  • Sentient Stars: The Lumas are tiny living stars that can become planets if fed enough.
  • Sequel Escalation: This game is more of a successor to Super Mario 64 than Super Mario Sunshine, and it begins with Bowser stealing Peach's castle. Super Mario 64 took place entirely in and around that castle, and Bowser just hoists it off like it was nothing. That's a clear sign that the stakes are much higher this time.
  • Shifting Sand Land: Dusty Dune Galaxy. The nonstandard gravity makes sand move and behave in unique ways (sometimes working in Mario's favor, sometimes not).
  • Ship Level: Along with the airships used by Bowser to kidnap Peach and her whole castle, there are a few that appear in the game. King Kaliente commands two in Good Egg Galaxy, Kamella commands a larger fleet in Space Junk Galaxy, and Bowser Jr. commands a whole fleet which acts as an end-of-world level halfway through the game.
  • Ship Tease/Pair the Spares: Luigi gets some with Rosalina in his New Game Plus, including a picture together at 100% Completion in the same vein as Mario and Peach's.
  • Shout-Out:
    • The planet shaped like a Poké Ball in Buoy Base Galaxy. It even opens like one.
    • In Space Junk Galaxy, Mario walks on Olimar's ship.
    • In Rolling Gizmo Galaxy, there's a fairly well-hiddennote Rupee made of blue star bits.
  • Single-Biome Planet: There are plenty of Single Biome bodies, in single biome galaxies. You've got the Good Egg Galaxy, which has a planet of each elemental type, Melty Molten Galaxy which is all lava planets, Beach Bowl/Drip Drop/Bonefin Galaxy which is all water planets and quite a few more strange single biome ones including a haunted house galaxy (Ghostly Galaxy), Hailfire Peaks (Freezeflame Galaxy), two battlestation themed galaxies/planets (Battlerock and Dreadnought Galaxies), a Level Ate galaxy (Sweet Sweet Galaxy), and one where all the planets are autumn themed. This also applies to the levels of Super Mario Galaxy 2, of which there are even more per world.
  • Sliding Scale of Linearity vs. Openness: The levels are mostly linear compared to Super Mario 64 and Sunshine.
  • Slippy-Slidey Ice World:
    • A planet in Freezeflame Galaxy is a snowy, rocky mountain with ice and cold water.
    • An section of Toy Time Galaxy features popsicles and ice cubes.
    • Snow Cap Galaxy is a snow-filled garden where three rabbits hang around. Mario can challenge them in a hide-and-seek minigame where the player has to use the Wiimote's pointer to temporarily remove the snow from the floor and find clues and gizmos to locate the rabbits.
  • Space Zone: Naturally, everything in the game can be considered this because it takes place in outer space. Space Junk Galaxy is the best example. It contains discarded space junk, including old rocketships and floating debris.
  • Spin Attack:
    • Spinning and jumping are Mario's two main forms of attack. The spin also has other uses, especially when it comes to extending air time on a jump. The maneuver is repurposed as a boost and Power-Up Magnet while underwater, turning intangible with a Boo Mushroom, and throwing fireballs with the Fire Flower.
    • Bowser has one of his own that he only uses in the second boss battle against him.
  • Spring Coil: The Spring Mario powerup, which wraps a spring around Mario. In this form, he can only move by bouncing, but has a vertical leap that rivals Luigi's triple jump.
  • Spring Jump: The main purpose of the Spring Mushroom, a power-up that wraps Mario in a metal spring and allows you to bounce up to previously-unreachable areas.
  • Stat Overflow: The game features Life Mushrooms. When collected, they will increase Mario's HP to 6, wearing off once it drops back to 3 or less. They're typically uncommon, but some boss fights let you buy one for coins beforehand.
  • Stealth Pun: "The Dirty Tricks of Major Burrows." As in, the dirt that he digs through! Most of the levels are like this to some extent.
  • Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The whole game is level after level of pure joy, but at the end, the universe ends and the Lumas give themselves up to bring it back.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Unlike Super Mario 64, getting crushed in this game kills you instantly, like how it would in real life.
  • Suspicious Videogame Generosity: There is always a Life Shroom just before a boss or difficult section, often sold by a Luma Shop. The area right before the Luma Shop would also tend to have just enough star bits to pay for the item, which is also the checkpoint area so you can buy the item again in case you get killed by the boss. And a Musical Spoiler where it changes to the 'Tension' theme. Both of these are in the sequel, too.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: Several examples.
    • King Kaliente shoots flaming projectiles and then ordinary coconuts at Mario; the plumber can deflect the latter into Kaliente to hurt him, meaning his attacks provide the sole method of defeating him.
    • Bouldergeist is a ghost that encases itself within stone. Normally it would be invincible to Mario's attacks. However, during the fight it will occasionally throw black rocks at Mario, which will become Bomb Boos, which Mario can use against Bouldergeist to break apart its stone casing. When it reaches its vulnerable phase, it still spawns Bomb Boos.
    • Kamella is defeated by throwing the Koopa shells she summons to attack Mario back into her.
  • Tech-Demo Game: A twofold case. The game was used to show off several things not seen before in a Wii game, like the unique gravity system and the amazing space opera-like scenery. Then there's the special trio of minigames (Manta Ray riding, ball guiding and the bubble flight), whose motion controls were implemented to show off the controller's potential.
  • Temporary Platform: There are green checkered tiles that shrink until totally disappearing after you walk on them, and two planets are constructed of these alone, and there are yellow panels that never stop rotating once stepped on, making them very difficult to use afterward.
  • Tennis Boss: King Kaliente is defeated by reflecting his coconuts at him.
  • The Power of the Sun: Befitting the space setting, the game utilizes the sun as the power source for Bowser's Galaxy Reactor.
  • Thematic Sequel Logo Change: The "Galaxy" portion of the logo shows a starry sky to represent the fact that the plot involves Mario traveling through space to rescue Princess Peach.
  • 13 Is Unlucky: A subtle example, but the first Prankster Comet will always appear immediately after Mario collects his thirteenth Power Star, no matter what order the levels are played in. The effects of these comets on the galaxies range from merely unusual (such as making Purple Coins appear, initiating a race against Cosmic Mario), going through potentially dangerous (making enemies and hazards move faster, dying if a Power Star isn't collected under a time limit) to genuinely lethal (dying upon the first hit from an enemy). In fact, that last effect is the most common.
  • This Cannot Be!: After defeating him for the final time, Bowser watches in disbelief as his empire crumbles around him.
    Bowser: NOOOO! My galaxy! My empire! This can't be happening…
  • Threatening Shark: Kingfin, which is basically a skeletal shark.
  • Throw the Mook at Them:
    • Kamella and Bowser Jr. are both fought by using Koopas in their shells as projectiles.
    • Bouldergeist, a ghost that encases itself within stone. Normally it would be invincible to Mario's attacks. However, during the fight it will occasionally throw a black rock at Mario, which will become a Bomb Boo, which in turn Mario can use against Bouldergeist to break apart his stone casing. When it reaches its vulnerable phase, guess what it still intentionally spawns?
  • Timed Mission: The speedy comet challenges, as well as the ammo depot mini-games have time limits. Some of the purple coin missions are timed as well.
  • Title Scream: Just like the rest of the 3-D platformers, Mario screams the name of the game whenever you open it in the Wii Menu.
  • Toggling Setpiece Puzzle: There are levels where Mario (and later Luigi) can find green arrows that point at the current direction of gravity. When one of these arrows is hit with a spin attack, they turn red and lean 90 or 180 degrees (depending on the case) to a new direction, shifting the gravity at it. In the case of Gusty Garden Galaxy, this is best illustrated by the color and brightness of the gizmos with toggleable gravity: When a planetoid is being pointed at by a green arrow, its biggest tiles are colored yellow with big red exclamation marks; when the arrow is hit and becomes red, those tiles turn off and become deep-green with clear-green question marks, indicating that their gravity has been turned off (Mario and Luigi then fall onto a previously-weightless planetoid that is now turned on, pointed at by the hit arrow). Using these arrows is important to make way into one of the level's stars.
  • Took a Level in Badass
    • Bowser. In previous titles, his goals are to kidnap Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom (or the world). In Galaxy, capturing Peach seems to just be a bonus for him; his real goal is the conquest of the entire universe.
    • Some bosses in the game do get stronger on much later missions, especially those fought in the Garden Dome galaxies.
      • Not only is the Engine Room King Kaliente rematch much harder (you're fighting him entirely on lava with sinking platforms, he summons lava bubbles already at the start of the fight, and meteors fall on the last phase), you have to fight him for the Grand Star.
      • Kamella also takes more hits in her Ghost Ship battle in Deep Dark Galaxy than on her personal airship in Space Junk Galaxy (not to mention, unleash an additional attack where she transforms into an orb and teleports constantly around the arena). The icing on the cake? She'll get smart and have the second half of the fight be on the Crow's Nest. Oh, there's also another mission where you fight her on Daredevil Conditions.
      • Topmaniac is fought once again on Dreadnought Galaxy, but his arena has electric barriers that move around (making it a little harder to electrocute him). Oh, and he'll summon Spiky Topmen much earlier this time.
      • Dino Piranha has a brand new fiery counterpart that'll make a relatively easy boss much tougher to handle (his tail leaving flames, and his last phase spitting fire balls).
  • Tough Beetles: The Mandibug Clan are stag beetle-like enemies with large mechanical-looking pincers. Mario can't defeat them by just jumping and needs to use a Ground Pound.
  • Toy Time: Toy Time Galaxy is the Trope Namer, and features oversized toys like a toy train on a train track.
  • True Companions: The overarching theme of the storybook is how Rosalina and the Lumas are like this.
  • Truth in Television: A surprising amount of the galaxies in the game seem to take inspiration from real things in space. Remember Freezeflame Galaxy? A planet like that actually exists.
  • Tunnel King: The Undergrunts and Major Burrows, who are mole-like creatures, are pretty good at digging.
  • Turns Red: Every boss in the game gains new attacks once you get a couple of hits on them. About half of them literally turn red to let you know they're pissed.
  • The Unfought:
    • The UFO Bowser uses from the opening sequence simply lifts Peach's castle into the air and into space. It also appears in the cutscene just before the final level and during the ending. It has absolutely no impact on the gameplay, though.
    • Kamek. He blasts Mario off into space in the opening and, although other Magikoopas and Kamella are fought, Kamek just disappears from the story.
  • Under the Sea: Three main galaxies (Beach Bowl and Sea Slide, which are crossed with Palmtree Panic, and Deep Dark, which also has a beach and is a Big Boo's Haunt) and four mini-ones (Buoy Base, Drip Drop, Bigmouth, and Bonefin).
  • Underwater Boss Battle: The battle against Kingfin, a huge skeletal shark, takes place inside the waters of an aquatic planet in Bonefin Galaxy. Mario has to throw Koopa Troopa shells at it while avoiding the Skeletal Fish Guards that home at him like Torpedo Teds do (and collecting air bubbles to keep his Oxygen Meter full).
  • Unintentionally Unwinnable: In the Sea Slide Galaxy, it's possible to use some clever flying with the Bee Suit to reach the island in the middle in missions where the water tunnel to reach it normally is not available. However, there's nothing for you when you get there and there is no Sling Star to get you off the island because you were never supposed to reach it, forcing you to quit the level.
  • Unlockable Content: Getting all of the Stars with Mario unlocks Luigi, and lets you play through the game again with him. He runs faster and jumps higher than Mario, but has less traction and is flung farther when an enemy touches him. He also loses extra oxygen when spin-boosting through water. And, his Cosmic Comet races are harder.
  • Unmoving Plaid: Cosmic Mario has Mario's character model with an unmoving texture of a night sky.
  • Unrealistic Black Hole: Several are localized around planets and are only a couple of feet in diameter. And the black holes are extremely picky about what they want to suck in. In real life, all those black holes in Honeyhive Galaxy (for example) would suck in the entire level and everything in it, not just Mario!
  • Variable Mix: All over the place:
    • Gateway, Battlerock, Beach Bowl, Buoy Base, Sea Slide, and Freezeflame Galaxies all feature instrument variations in their background tracks depending on what you're doing or where in the stage you are. Other tracks that change up at will include stage select domes, the ball rolling minigame, rabbit chasing, and any boss fight with Bowser. That a significant number of these tracks were recorded by a full orchestra makes the switchovers all the more impressive.
    • Additionally, no matter what stage you're in or what song is playing (including Rainbow Star, Fire Flower, or Ice Flower tracks), touching a Launch Star or Sling Star adds a matching harp to the music, with the arpeggio varying in intensity with how big the star is.
  • Verbal Tic: The rabbits have one, boiyoing!
  • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, taking place in the center of the universe. It has multiple planets, and it's there where Mario faces Bowser for the last time in the game. It can be accessed when five Grand Stars are retrieved and a minimum total of 60 stars overall are collected.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: You can feed regular Lumas Star Bits by aiming with the cursor. It doesn't do anything to help you, but their adorable gratitude makes up for it: Yummm! ♪
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: During one mission in Space Junk Galaxy, you'll encounter a Toad trapped in a sling pod. To progress, you have to get him out of the sling pod so you can use it yourself, but the game progresses whether you fling him to a safe spot or launch him offscreen into open space. Many players get a sadistic kick out of doing the latter. (Not that it ultimately matters, since he shows up again on the Comet Observatory either way.)
  • Villain Ball: The only thing that sets Mario on Bowser's trail is Peach's kidnapping. When the game begins, it can safely be assumed that Bowser is incredibly far into his plan, and at this point, Mario has no idea about it. Kidnapping Peach was such in irrelevant part of the plan that Bowser clearly did it just to piss Mario off. If Peach was left alone, Mario would have had no clue about his plan and Bowser would have won.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Mario reaches Bowser in time for the final confrontation, with the latter telling Mario how he and Peach will rule over the entire universe with a great galactic empire at their fingertips that will last forever. After being punched into the sun, Bowser soon emerges from the rocky remains, groggily moving forward until he stumbles onto his knees and sees his entire galaxy and space empire in shambles and finally screams towards outer space his disbelief over his defeat.
  • Villain Respect: After their second battle, Bowser shows some slight admiration towards Mario.
    Bowser: BWAHAHAHA! Not bad! I guess I chose the right guy to be my archenemy.
  • Virtuous Bees: The friendly and benevolent bees and their ruler, the Honey Queen, who live in the Honeyhive Galaxy.
  • Voice Grunting: In place of the full voice acting from Super Mario Sunshine. Though somewhat Zig-Zagged as Peach had a full line of dialogue with her letter to Mario, and Rosalina has a few voiced lines such as "Let us begin!", "Thank you!", and "Go, Mario!/Luigi!".
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: Bugaboom is the first boss who's likely to give players a challenge. He isn't exactly hard, but if you don't have your jump timing down yet, he can be very tricky to beat.
  • Waterfall into the Abyss: The planets of Beach Bowl Galaxy let their water fall through the sunny space via multiple waterfalls, but they never run out of water. The exception is the cylindrical "Cyclone Stone" planet, whose water originates from a black hole and flows into another.
  • Water Is Blue: The water has a weak tint of blue, which is easily visible in galaxies like Loopdeeloop and Beach Bowl.
  • Weird Moon: The Sand Spiral Galaxy has a very small moon that generates light.
  • Wham Line: Chapter 7 of Rosalina's Storybook, when Rosalina breaks down sobbing, missing her mother.
    Rosalina: "But I know she's not there! I knew all along that she wasn't out there in the sky! Because...because...she's sleeping under the tree on the hill!"
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • The flying saucer seen in the opening, which is equipped with lasers capable of slicing through the ground effortlessly, and which is obviously not from the typical Mario world, is never mentioned after the opening.
    • In the storybook, what happened to the girl's father and brother?
    • At the start of the game, Peach tells Mario to come to the Star Festival because "there's something I'd like to give you." We never find out what that something is. It may be the Luma.
    • Kamek blasts Mario off into space in the opening, then completely disappears from the game.
  • What the Hell, Player?: In Buoy Base Galaxy, if you talk to the Gearmo after destroying the weight that's keeping the fortress from rising to the surface, he says, "You destroyed the weight! So you just go around breaking stuff, eh? You think that's OK? Breaking stuff?"
  • What Other Galaxies?: Exaggerated. Rosalina claims Earth's sun is the center of the whole universe. So, it's less "what other galaxies?" and more "what other planetary systems?". This is coupled with Everything in Space Is a Galaxy given that the individual levels are called galaxies yet, in truth, are no more than weirdly-shaped planetoids. Oh, and groups of five galaxies comprise a dome. In turn, the Galaxy mentioned in the title is the complete collection of domes. Yeah, confusing but fun.
  • Wide-Open Sandbox: You only have to get half the Stars in the game to be able to take on the final boss, giving players who aren't going for 100% Completion a lot of leeway in deciding which missions to play.
  • Wintry Auroral Sky: The entire Freezeflame Galaxy is surrounded by a massive green aurora which can not only be seen from the icy planet but even from the fiery ones.
  • World Shapes: There are many others, not just spherical ones, and many are strange indeed — there are planets shaped like perforated Wiffle balls, planets shaped like disks, a planet shaped like a bowl, a planet shaped like a giant fish…
  • Worm in an Apple: In the mission "The Dirty Tricks of Major Burrows," if Mario ground pounds a stump on an apple planet, a giant caterpillar comes out and burrows into a nearby apple planet, acting as a makeshift bridge for Mario.
  • X-Ray Sparks: In addition to the standard usage, if Mario is killed by a shock, he dies as just a skeleton. If Mario hits a coin during the electrocution animation, he's brought to one point of health and gets his flesh back, saving him but looking incredibly unnerving.

"May the stars shine down on you..."
Rosalina

You can now play as Luigi.

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Dry Bones

Across the series, Dry Bones are famous for their ability to pull themselves back together a few seconds after being stomped. While they can be gotten rid of permanently, the opportunities to do so are uncommon, so it's better to just stomp 'em and run.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (15 votes)

Example of:

Main / RevivingEnemy

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