[Game Journal] A Glaceon dusts off a bunch of games

[ReKoil]

Guess I'll make one of these for my backlog cleanup.

First game I've played is Super Mario Sunshine (from Super Mario 3D All Stars).
Never played this game due to not having a GameCube. Also never played Super Mario Galaxy due to not having a Wii. Decided to play this one first however.


Interesting start... was not expecting to see Mario go to court and jail lol
The opening bit at the airstrip was fairly straightforward. I get to spray water at stuff =3

Explored Delfino Square for a bit and entered a pipe with a slide that goes to a shine. After rummaging through the sewers afterward as well and acquiring some blue coins I then continued the story. Doesn't seem like I can do much more here atm.
Peach gets kidnapped by Shadow/Paint Mario or whatever it's called and after a short chase I follow it through a painted portal to another area.

Road to the Big Windmill
Navigated the area and got the shine and a bunch of blue coins. Spotted a couple more red X marks the spot thingies, but dunno what to do with those yet. Got booted out of the area after collecting the shine so went straight back in and went to go beat Petey Piranha. One more shine collected =3

Back at Delfino Plaza, I free the boathouse and exchange blue coins for a shine. I then hop in the magical wall paint towards Ricco Harbor afterward.
Not an overly difficult area to navigate though I did fall into the ink goop at one point and almost died to it due to not being able to get out for a while lol
Pretty brutal boss fight... not hard or anything though, just... ripping off the poor squid's tentacles 1 by 1? Ouch.

I get booted to Delfino Plaza again... I just hop right back into the portal =3
Time for some... Blooper surfing, apparently? =O
I takes me a couple tries to finish the course and I get told to come back when I'm ready to clear the kiddie pool rofl.
Shaved off 10 seconds on my return for a 42 second time and got the shine =D

I hop back into the portal again just to see how many shines are here... another one.
After some clumsy platforming with the new Rocket nozzle for the blue coins here I eventually get the new shine lol
... and back in... might as well try and see how deep the rabbit hole goes =3
Ricco Harbor Episode 4, ah that gate on the tower is now open. I first grab two blue coins I missed from M graffiti and then head into the tower. My water sprayer gets nabbed from me and I have to do a level without it. Rotating beam jumps... took me a couple tries but got there =D

And back in again =D
Gooper Booper Returns... Boss rematch?
Died twice.. once to the black goop underneath the boss fight, while trying to get the Rocket nozzle, which hits stupidly hard for some reason now. Once during the fight scoping out for new attacks.
Episode 6... Red Coins. Kinda wanna go to a new area already, but I insist on seeing how many episodes each areas has =P
Gamed Over while doing this race... why is losing a race costing me lives? -.-'
Episode 7 Shadow Mario Revisited. Lost sight of it fairly fast, but ended up just looping on the metal beams overhead. Pretty easy.... and back in lol
Episode 8 Yoshi's Fruit Adventure. oh... searched for a while, but need to meet Yoshi elsewhere first lol
Guess I'll go back to the windmill area for some shines then.

Bianco Hills Episode 3: The Hillside Cave Secret. Another water-less parkour huh. Game overed once due to missing the second rotating star jump multiple times smh.
Episode 4... Red coins. Couple tumbles, but nothing too difficult.
Episode 5... Petey Piranha rematch. Died once due to not being able to find one of those inflatable enemies to toss at it... they ran out? =O Not a very difficult boss though.
Episode 6... Secret of the Dirty lake... another parkour without water? Yep...
... ugh this one took a while, if not for the free 1-up after the initial alternating/switching blue/red platform jumps I'd have game overed multiple times D=

Which I'll take as my cue to leave this area for now and continue on with some main story I guess? =P
I cleanse the goo at the lighthouse and open a portal to a new area.

Gelato Beach Episode 1. I first explore the new area for blue coins then press on for the shine. Another no water platform section. This one's pretty easy, did it first try.
Episode 2 - pretty fun. nothing too bad.
Episode 3 - Angry wiggler boss. Easiest boss fight yet though lol
Episode 4 - Well... kinda annoying that I had to wait for the sandbird to loop multiple times due to being unable to get back on it on time after getting pretty much every blue coin. When it went sideways things got pretty perilous too.
Episode 5 - A Race against the clock and another person... easy one, first try lol
Episode 6 - Red Coins - Easy as well, though 1 of them kept diving into the sand so it took me a couple attempts to get.
Episode 7 - Lost sight of it once again... it kept looping though. Not hard at all.
Episode 8 - Watermelon rolling. Grabbed one nearby, which was bigger than the ones the other 3 people brought. Got called tiny. Figured a bigger one would be further away so went up the hill. Yep.
Gah this was infuriating. If the Cataquacks didn't get in the way and demolished either the watermelon or fling chained me up into the air infinitely I'd overdo it and smash the watermelon into something myself... eventually got lucky, or so it feels.
Episode... oh? was 8 the last one? Oh well.

Explored around town a bit, found a secret entrance to a giant pinball machine in the sky... and gameovered on it rofl.
Ignored it after that, grabbed some pineapples and bananas for the townfolks for some blue coins. Wasn't sure where to get Durians in that area and couldn't get the ones on the other side across as Mario can't hold them and only kicks them which sends them flying uncontrollably far. Also went into the boatshack and exchanged a bunch of blue coins for 4 star shines. Went into the crate destroying thingy. Another shine. I pay a guy on a rooftop a coin and he lobs me into a house with another shine.

Time to go to the ship... and apparently I need to get shot out of a cannon now. oh well.
Pinna Park, Episode 1. I try to explore the area, but end up triggering the boss fight.
One rollercoaster of a boss fight later I have another shine. Was a pretty fun one.

Episode 2. I use the incoming rockets to blow up all the crates on the beach for a whole bunch of blue coins. Then I fight the 'boss' of sorts and hop into the cannon afterward. Another waterless platform level huh. Pretty easy one this time thankfully.
Supposedly this area is where I meet Yoshi so I'm just gonna try and keep going =D
Episode 3. Red coins again. First I look around the park and grab the blue coins I got robbed of by the boss fight first time around =P And then... I fail a collect coins within a timer thing. Doesn't seem like I can reset it without leaving. Oh well.
The red coins were kind of annoying, I kept falling off and glitching through the swaying boats. Also lunged off of stuff to collect blue coins while doing this and would have to climb back up again. No real way to die though. Kinda chill.
I go back for the coin timer thingy... collect them all but no reward for it... so I just grab the life at the back of the park and leave =P
Episode 4. Saw Yoshi eggs, but turned out to be an enemy... easy level. Upon returning to town shadow/goop Mario is there however and I chase him down for a Yoshi egg. I somehow feed the egg bananas and it hatches lol

I go back to Ricco Harbor for Episode 8. Can't take Yoshi with me it seems. Found an egg here though, wants a Durian.
Scoped out the course for fruits, but can't seem to find any... it showed the 'fruits' tanks in an intro though... Ground pounding the valve doesn't work as I just bounce off. Ground pounding the top maybe?
Something comes out, but wrong fruit. Other one perhaps? Durian.... and I end up kicking it off the platform lol
Arrow pointing off into the water. I try to eat fishies, nope. Spray them... they become moving platforms? =O
Got stuck here for a while... apparently I need to jump off to the side and feed Yoshi a different fruit for a different platform effect. My first Yoshi disap00fed. Somehow managed to wall jump my dumb butt off while on the final platform with the shine with the second one lmao

Shadow mario again upon return... holding a Turbo Nozzle apparently. I get a new yoshi to hatch and eat a giant pineapple on a rooftop.
Sirena Beach - Episode 1. Pretty chaotic, but a good boss fight =3
Shadow Mario again? meh, pass. Back in I go.
Episode 2. Ghost platform parkour in the hotel lobby and it's... waterless platforming again.
Ugh nearly 1st tried this... mistimed my jump on the spinning thing near the end. Third try.. fell into a hole in the sand pile at the end lol
I lost count of the attempts, but I eventually got the shine... egads that final area... lucky there were 2 hidden 1-ups so I couldn't really gameover =D
I'm taking that as my cue to go elsewhere lol

Back to the dock to double check if the Yoshi episode was the last one... seems so. Back out.
I grab a couple blue coins in town and get a shine. I observe the local boat behavior for a bit as I remembered a pipe on an island here that was blocked. I find a lady who wants coconuts. Seems like a hassle to deal with that now.
I get to the pipe eventually. Red coins waterslide... with insta kill water, oh great.
Had 17 lives going into this.. somehow managed to clutch it on my very last life lmao
There was a 1up on the course, but it was very easy to miss =\
If you missed even 1 coin, you couldn't go back for it and had to die. =\
I use the Boost module to grab 1 more blue coin afterward in the central town area. I grab the 2 1-ups I know of in this area and go back to gather the coconuts for the lady.

I jump back into the Bianco Hills portal.
Episode 7 is a Shadow Mario chase. Easy.
Episode 8 is a red coin balance beam of sorts. Not that hard. Got some Blue Coins I missed. There was a Yoshi at the start though... wth is it for? I see no purpose for it as I had no need for it for anything at all lol

Back in town Shadow Mario shows up again. Rocket nozzle unlocked.
I clean one of the bells and get a shine. I clean the goop off of the big shine statue underneath the pipe the game highlighted some time ago. Another shine. I leave the pipe above be for now, back to the amusement park.

Pinna Park - Episode 5. Puzzley Parkour to the top of the Ferris wheel. Pretty chill level. Also 3 more blue coins. There's a Yoshi at the beach, but dunno what to do with it, or where the food it wants is.
Episode 6. Took me a bit to find the yoshi. Aaaand... another water-less level... ugh. Somehow managed that one first try... =D
Episode 7. Shadow Mario. Easy once again.
Episode 8. Balloon Popping roller-coaster ride. Pretty fun level. got 19/20 in 2 laps and only 1 left on lap 3 =3

Back to Sirena Beach. Episode 3. A Yoshi egg in the hotel, but after exploring for a bit no pineapple to be found. Pretty much just started ground pounding and jumping in random places and found a chain of secret rooms/entrances.
First Yoshi runs out. Second Yoshi... I get it stuck in a room that I can't leave without ditching it while hunting blue coins. Had to wait out the timer for it to respawn. Third Yoshi's the charm, I guess. Fun level though, once you realize it's pretty much just a ghost house and you gotta find hidden passages.

Episode 4. A casino. After exploring I use the nozzle to spray the slots onto 777 and the curtain opens. Takes me a while to get the picture flip right... so finicky. Oh no... a water-less level after all that finicky stuff? T^T
Only 2 lives lost? Both on the beams that slide in and out section due to Mario refusing to actually jump lol
Episode 5.. boss fight ? Yeah, bit of a weird one though. Threw a bunch of food at King Boo and the pepper set it on fire.. extinguishing it didn't do anything.. threw other food at it instead which seemed to work.

Episode 6. Literally just cleaning up the goop huh? Failed it first time... didn't realize I could toss those barrels and that there was water in them. Got it second try, with 6 seconds left. Somehow counted it complete with a smudge still left over. Cleaned it anyway =P
Episode 7. Shadow Mario... is level 7 always shadow Mario? =O
Lost track of it multiple times, but not a hard stage. the blue coin in the lobby was a far bigger pain, took me way too long to get D=
Episode 8. Not that hard, just need to know where the red coins are. Ran out of time once and got it on the second try.

In town I turn in 40 blue coins for 4 shines =3
60 shines total now. time to go to the glowy portal thing I guess. Well ground pound doesn't work. Rocket nozzle doesn't either. Yoshi doesn't either. How do I interact with this?
I spy some Yoshi goop on a rooftop as I head to the high up pipe. Turns out to just be a blue coin. Oh well.

Into the pipe I go.
Pianta Village - Episode 1. Pretty easy, though I didn't immediately know where to send the chomps after pulling their tails. Got like 8 blue coins here as well.
Episode 2. Lost the race grabbing the blue coin near the finish lol
Beat it fairly easy second try.

Episode 3. No water level again... Just followed the path around right and then did the underneath bit. Fell a couple times down there, but overall not a very hard level.
Episode 4. Fun and easy level. Just block the path and douse the Chain chomp and then pull it into the bath when near.
Episode 5. A precarious hop over to the no water area with Yoshi, but the no water area was pretty easy, albeit gimmicky. Aligning the chuckers was not always easy. Was a split in the path at the end. I just went toward the shine.
Episode 6. Save 10 villagers from the goop in... 3 minutes? Saved all with 30 something seconds to spare first try. Got 8 blue coins off of them to.

Episode 7. Shadow Mario once more. Easy again.
Episode 8. All in all a fun level, except for that 1 red coin in the under area. Missed it first time round. Was all the way at the top with 7 coins, saw clouds in the distance that I could get to by riding the fluff. No red coin there and no way out D=
Found the final red coin next attempt, but lost a couple lives making it back topside.

Well still no idea how to work that light portal thingy. Guess I'll have to look it up.
I spy a bell tower I didn't ungoop though. One more shine =3
And I'll turn in 20 blue coins while at it for 2 more shines. Grabbed a couple lives to.

Apparently I need to stand in the light and look up at the sun... by pressing down on right stick and then looking up with left... why the heck does the game not tell me that's even a mechanic when it's necessary to progress... ffs
Sure they keep emphasizing people are looking up, but I never pressed the right stick at any point so how am I supposed to know this is even a thing? xD
Anyway... Noki Bay - Episode 1.
Navigated up a bunch of hills, grabbed a couple blue coins and uncorked a waterfall
Pretty chill stage.

Episode 2. After exploring all the tunnels I can find on the left side for blue coins I eventually go to where I'm supposed to go and brutalize another squid. I spray the urns in the room for some blue coins and suddenly another shine shows up? =O
Well the path here was pretty easy.. I'll go get that one first then, already know how to get there as I explored that area earlier on =3
I spy a blue coin I missed on my way over though... well I can probably only get 1 shine per time so I'll do it next time.
Episode 2, again. I grab the rocket nozzle for a shortcut and brutalize the gooper again. I grab the blue coin I missed in the area underneath outside. I find another one lower down. I swap nozzles and head back to the eastern cliff side.
I spray some more murals and find another blue coin. I notice I can swim without damage near the waterfall base, so I dive down for a blue coin and then use the boat to get the far out blue coin on the water... or not. can't quite seem to get the boat over, such a pain to steer. Oh well I'll just go get the shine =P

Episode 3. Red coin hunt. Pretty original one. Miniaturized into a bottle. Pretty easy one though, just awkward controls for this.
Episode 4. I take the rope shortcut and go see the old geezer, and then plunge down and dive. Brushing an eel's teeth? Well that's pretty original for a boss fight lol
Episode 5. Another race. With the water now clean I grab that blue coin I couldn't get to earlier first. Then the race. Bonked early on and took a weird path, but beat it in 27 seconds? Easy, I guess.
Episode 6. Secret. Ugh another water-less level huh. Two new linked blue coins first. One I manage to get via boat, but the other is way too tight. It seems to be impossible this way so I look up what to do and apparently there's a turbo nozzle. Managed the water-less in 1 go somehow... heart pounding. Such a precarious one. I dislike these sections, this game's controls are far too inconsistent and they are usually pretty lengthy. Throw a Glaceon a checkpoint will ya.

Episode 7. Shadow Mario. A bit of fumbling while jumping around, but not that hard.
Upon returning to Delfino the gate behind the big shine statue becomes unlocked. Guess I had to defeat al the shadow marios for it or something? Anyway, it tosses me all the way back down... you know I'm doing Episode 8 first! Wait... can I even get back? Delfino is flooded.

Well into the cave I go. Corona Mountain... guess I better put on a mask then...
One death to the finnicky boat controls. Another death grabbing blue coins as the boat sank with 3 left and I just jumped out to grab one and took the death =P
A checkpoint at the boat would've been nice, but it's not that hard to get back. Wreck the boat once more. Such a pain in the butt to direct. Only one blue coin left though =D

Bowser fight. I die once figuring out what to do. Glitch through the debris on the second attempt, because there isn't enough buggyness already, let's put it in a boss fight as well. sigh.
Beat it third try. Not a bad boss fight, just wish you couldn't glitch through the debris ass you break off the edges.
I've seen that icon before though.. at the lighthouse. Gonna go back there and try ground pounding it after the fight =3
And... credits roll. Guess that was the final boss =O

After the credits I go ground pound the lighthouse top for a shine. I then use up some more blue coins and head back to Noki Bay - Episode 8.
Red coins. I dash around the high up outskirts first for blue coins on the pillars. I go and do the durian kick into the basket thing for a blue coin which lets me buy 1 more shine =3

I go back to try the pinball in the sky some more. Watching someone else do it makes it seems easy as when I tried this it seemed like a pain in the neck. Only 2 deaths.... I gameovered on this before lol
I spy a Turbo Nozzle gate as I'm looking around for a way back to the airport. Another secret level. Got it first try though I just barely grabbed onto the ledge at the end lol
I end up looking up how to get back and find the guy at the docks. I fetch some coins and have him take me to the airport.

I first climb up stuff with the Rocket Nozzle I brought. Nothing. Red coin switch at the start though. I just follow the coin path and complete this one easily. I go back once more and find a blue coin within the Turbo nozzle gates... but that seems to be it. He wont take me back to the plaza? lol
Guess I'll do the red coins again. Wait what. Another shine spawns in as I collect coins? Is there shines for collecting 100 coins in an area or something? Guess that other extra shine might've been one too.
I'll check Corona Mountain first to see if it has a new episode... nope.
Ah yes... I think it was, looking at the totals screen.

Well then back to the other stages for coins. Pianta Village. Tried episode 8. No dice. Tried episode 1. Got it =3
I get Bianco Hills done next. And it's on to Gelato Beach. Took me a while but ended up with 105 coins and I also nabbed a whole bunch of missing blue coins =D
I find a hidden shine while at it by spraying a wall while collecting coins and go back to collect it.
Then I look up if there's any more in this level and I see there's a red coin one in one of the formerly water-less levels. Ah so much easier now. So I guess I'll be double checking all those levels with 'secret' in the name.

Anyway, Ricco Harbor 100 coins shine is my next target. Took a while, but managed to find an episode to pull it off in.
Redid the blooper race and got another shine. Grabbed a few missing blue coins while here too. Now to go to the stage with 'secret' in the name and do one of those formerly water-less sections with water now =3
Well that drained like 10 lives... made it though =D
Back to Bianco Hills. 2 stages with 'secret' in the name. 2 red coin challenges. Kind of challenging, but I only lost 4-5 lives on each.

To Pinna Park then. 100 coins... easy. And while spraying the beach with water for coins I found fruits. Guess I know how to use that Yoshi now =3
First the stages with 'secret in the name though'. The cannon secret. 1 second off from the last coin on the second try... stingy. Fourth attempt, got it. Now for the other one, Yoshi-Go-Round Secret.
I die 5 times... 3 times due to being too rushed, twice to not knowing where the last red coin was. Only to eventually see it way up high lol
Back for Yoshi... after messing about for quite a while... apparently there's a couple blue coins in the butterflies...

Sirena Beach. Hotel Lobby's secret. Third attempt... got to the end with 7 coins first time. Died finding the final red coin on the second attempt. The Casino secret next. Not too bad, but that final red coin is kinda evil. Getting a backflip on that turning log and then hope you can hover high enough... anyway 100 coins time.
After trying a couple episodes I get it =3

Pianta Village... already did the 100 coins. One level with 'secret' in the name. Dang that drained a lot of lives... 8 deaths. Saw a villager on fire in there too, might have a blue coin? Didn't have time to put him out though.
Guess I'm looking up where the second one is... yeah, never would've found that lol
At least it's not that hard to get there.

That leaves Noki Bay's secret shines. Only one level with secret in the name again. Went in with a Rocket Nuzzle to get into the secret area easier.. forgot you keep the nozzle in there... but managed to do it with the Rocket Nozzle =D
Looking this one up again I guess. Hosing down a golden birb... did see that birb... never tried to hose it lol

Looking up how many total shines there are... 120? Where the heck am I getting 10 more? Well 9 more, I got enough blue coins for 1 more... I can't have missed that many blue coins, can I ? Looking up blue coin totals I guess...
30 per level... 20 in Delfino and 10 in Corona Mountain. Got the Corona Mountain ones. Missing 3 in Delfino Plaza =O
10 in Bianco hills... 6 in Ricco Harbor... 10 in Gelato Beach... got everything in Sirena Beach. Pinna Park missing 6.
Noki Bay missing 2. Pianta Village missing 7. Got 16 on me. 60 total if I find em all and turn them in. So I still need 4 more shines after that huh... oh well.

Blue coin hunt, I guess. Grabbing a guide though. Some are pretty obscure. One is just in a missed spot I could've gotten... the other one though.. probably wouldn't have found that without scouring every bit of the map lol
On to Pinna Park. Two random spots in the sand hide a blue coin and a blue bird at the entrance... that's half my missing coins already lol. Another blue bird and one hidden in a shell on the carousel or whatever it's called. And another blue butterfly and I'm done... makes me wonder if there's blue butterflies in Delfino... or maybe blue birds.

Well... Ricco Harbor is first. Apparently I had to kill some spiders, spray a random spot on a wall and some random fish barrell... lol
Well whatever.. at 30 blue coins now and right next to the exchange shack. Might as well turn these in now.

I start in front of the Bianco Hills portal, might as well go there next.
Had to spin a random windmill with water... missed one underwater, actually do blame myself for that one =\
Missed one on the lone pillar next to the windmill... weird... could've sworn I checked there... but might've been without spraying water I guess lol
Random enemy on top of the windmill for the 4th.. another at the place where the piranha plant napped on it's rematch. Never actually tried to get over there tbh lol
I eat a blue butterfly and a bunch of bees and missed another invisible one on some random balcony... up to a high up pole to spray a blue bird... one left and the dude has 1 left in the video too. Nope that ain't it... dang.
Figured I'd need to rewatch, but a helpful comment states the blue coin in a tree only appears if you spray the tree.
Turns out to be the missing one. Phew.

On to Gelato Beach. One missed in the water... just vibing out... totally could've and should've found that one. One from spraying a random spot on the beach... make that two. Jump on the Red Cataquack for another, followed by spraying another random beach spot.
I insert a random fruit into the blender on the hut and get another. I spray another random spot on the beach for the 7th one. I decline to check the sandbird area for now. I found a bunch in there.. dunno if it was all 4.
I get another blue coin by eating a blue cataquack napping in a tree with Yoshi. I wait around near some poles and spray 2 blue birds over and over for the final 2 coins. No need to double check the Sandbird area, good =D

Back to Pianta Village, 7 left here. One hidden under the goop in goopy inferno. I put out a dude that's on fire for the second one. Back out for the 'secret' level. I knew it, it's gonna be the on fire dude that was in the red coin area. I shoot water at the moon while standing on the gold shroom first. Magic blue coin. Just... how are you supposed to find that naturally? -.-
I eat a group of blue butterflies for another. Oh... he doesn't go to the secret area... guess I won't either then. Maybe it's just a 1up instead.
I spray a sign for a blue coin. I spray a blue bird for another and find the final one at the side of a palm tree at the edge of the map.

Delfino Plaza. I missed one in a nook in the sewers apparently. Sprayed a blue bird for the 2nd. And the last one is another blue bird, ofc.
I turn the coins in for 3 more shines.

As far as I can tell I'm missing 4 shines in Delfino Plaza. Everything else seems to add up.
And the first missing one is 'spray a random spot on the beach'... again...
Apparently there's a second version of the box smashing game... second missing shine obtained.
I spray down a Golden birb for the 3rd missing one.
A hidden pipe with the final one... an area with tall grass and red coins. Doubt I'd ever have found this place lol
I see a red bird so I hose it down. The rest are fairly obvious, except for one that's down a hole. But I saw the watermelon next to the hole and went down it hoping for the best lol

And done. 120 shines. All blue coins. Credits rolled long ago =P

All in all an enjoyable game. I disliked the no-water levels quite strongly, they were pretty hard. Seemed to be getting easier in later levels, but perhaps I was just starting to adjust to the difficulty, idk.
That Watermelon rolling level was by far the most infuriating one though. There were more enjoyable levels than bad/hard ones though.
Some of the hidden shines and blue coins were way too dang obscure though. I looked them up and am not ashamed of it either, a whole bunch of them would be almost impossible to find naturally.

The game was a bit glitchy/buggy at times, like glitching through things. Pretty old game though, to be expected I guess.
I found the camera very annoying at times. It clips to surfaces far too easily and then it won't budge for a good while and regaining control of it becomes a challenge. Though perhaps pressing the stick could solve that. Didn't learn about the first person camera until pretty late into the game though.

Welp, that became rather lengthy

 

[ReKoil]

Super Mario Galaxy

My first time playing this as well. Hopefully it's easier than Sunshine lol

Bowser creates Lightning and summons an UFO =O
Which then cuts the castle out of the ground and they lift it up? lol

I catch some rabbits on a planet and have to deal with an awkward camera that I have little control over...
I meet Rosalina and get custody over one of her children stars.
I use the sling star and gather some fragments on the next planet and then launch to a metal.. orb? sphere?
I beat up some Goombas and free one of Rosalina's Star children. Then I launch myself to a bigger metal sphere. Some quick Goomba stomping later I punt a big Goomba off and free another starchild.
I head inside the metal sphere. An easy floor switch puzzle later I free a Grand Star.

I arrive at what I assume is a hub world. Looks pretty precarious... I'm undoubtedly gonna fall off at some point.
Some world building later I fly to the Good Egg Galaxy.

First planet... I explore a planet with two sides and launch onwards. A quick star shard grab on what looks like a peanut and I fight a Piranha plant on a green bean, then follow a vine onto a green broken up planet with some spikes on it. I spy a pipe with a Piranha on it to the side, but dunno how to get to it safely.
On to the next planet I guess. I land on an egg and kill the angry plant within with it's own tail.
Upon returning to the hub I feed the black star some bits and then head back.

I try the music note thingy in the house again and this time I get the 1up before it disappears. Takes me a couple tries to launch to the next planet due to the switch between touchscreen presses and button presses. Couple planets later there's a Hungry Star.
Wth.. I launched all my bits at the hungry star and it didn't count most oft them =\
Reloaded and started the level again. The star bursts and gives birth to a new planet xD
From there it's on to what kinda looks like a satellite. After exploring the outside for a way in I get to do some gravity flip shenanigans inside. Then shoot myself out to collect shards at a star platform for my 2nd star of this galaxy.

New Galaxy unlocked, but 1 more star to collect in Good Egg Galaxy so... back I go.
I hop around a bunch of planets and end up on a couple airships. I return to sender some projectiles to cross and yeet myself again.
I play some projectile pong with an angry octopus taking a lava bath and beat it fairly easily. Solid first boss fight.

Time for Honeyhive Galaxy. I become Bee Mario and buzz around a couple areas. Then there's a honey climb.
I get tasked by the Queen Bee to stop the itchiness. Shards apparently... I can climb over her like it's a planet? =O
I launch towards some toads.... Captain Toad is here =O
Captain Toad gives me the star. Wasn't expecting to see him lol

New Galaxy unlocked. The Toads wanna talk to me... they can wait =P
Next Honeyhive star here I come. Some relatively chill platforming while climbing a tower followed by stomping some purple bugs.

Third Star... another boss fight judging from the name. Some exploration and I get to bee a bee again. The Queen Bee asks for help so I yeet myself again to a new area and pick a fight with a non-purple bug, slightly bigger edition.
I hit it once and it starts flying, making it trickier to hit. I hit it again after a couple misses it goes rage mode and speeds up. Missed a couple times, but eventually I hit it.
Sticking to the tree to try to jump to it was rather clumsy. I ended up using the flowers at the edges to propel myself into the air above it.

A hungry star appears so I step out to go feed it. It creates a launch pad to Sweet Sweet Galaxy.
A new Galaxy appeared in the Terrace Dome though. Still needed to do one too.

I go to the Loopdeeloop Galaxy for my Surfing 101 class... which seems to be the only star here? oh well.
Oh god... gyroscope based motion controls... this stuff always sucks on the Lite. Two deaths.
Beat it in 1 minutes 4 seconds on the third try. Had to lay off the gas in the final turn spiral up to not plummet off yet again.
I get a Gold Medal... which looks a lot like a Star =P

Another Galaxy unlocked. It can wait. Flipswitch Galaxy is first =3
Also only 1 star apparently.
Was expecting worse, basically just a walking tile press puzzle. Got yeeted off once by mistiming a jump on one of the moving red platforms. I die once more due to being too rushed lol
Why did these two Galaxies get marked as 'complete' though, and the previous two didn't ? There's no greyed out stars, though perhaps new stuff will unlock later. Well whatever.

The new galaxy. Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor. Sounds and looks like a boss fight. Also only one star?
First area takes me a sec to realize what I need to do. I guide a bullet to the launch star go to the next area.
Bowser Jr. fight... nope some robot of his. I see I can run up one of the legs and go up. I blow up the barrier with a bullet bill. Which creates a new one. I guide some bullets to it but nothing happens... and then some other bullet shows up from the other side and randomly hits the glass behind the barrier... is that supposed to happen or did I just accidentally do something right without even knowing what? xD
Well.. I grab the Grand Star, at any rate.

Upon return to the hub world a new Observation Dome unlocks. Another Galaxy complete message.
Done with the Terrace Dome for now, I guess. I hop in the launch star next to the dome and go to the Sweet Sweet Galaxy. Died twice near the end. That dang laser beam lol
Galaxy complete, guess that was just a single star too. At least it had a checkpoint =D
I quickly check in on the Toads at the 'garage'.

I head for the Fountain Dome and can go to two Galaxies already. I fly to the Rolling Green Galaxy first.
More gyroscope stuff... ugh. I lose 4 lives to this... not too bad I guess.
Basically had to roll a ball with the star in it to the end, and there were like golf holes that would launch you to other sections. New Galaxy unlocked, again.

Off to Space Junk Galaxy. First star of three. Some blue pull star slinging later I collect some star fragments and yeet myself onward onto a Rocket. I swing to some balls with blue stars in them and then use blue stars to navigate an asteroid belt of sorts. I then hop on some space bugs and free the Toads from Crystal prison.
Captain Toad shows up and we talk while upside down. I slingshot to a new section and a path magically appears as I walk along. The path splits multiple times, but I need to do all of them for a small star. After collecting 5 they combine into the power Star. And, I need to go back for it ofc... eh, I'll just keep taking it slow, not a hard section that way =P

I get told a Prankster Comet has appeared. I talk to the purple star nearby about it and then head back to the Fountain Dome. Space Junk Galaxy, Star 2. Another airship huh? I make my way over to the first one and talk to some bunnies about jumping and spin after it... which seems to be gyro based as well. Perhaps I should see how good my Lite compatible controller is for this game. For now though, I manage.
I free a couple toads and toss shells at treasure chests on the next airship. Then I toss one at the MagiKoopa. Time to get yeeted again.
I randomly ground pound a grate on the third ship and I fall in a secret area with lots of star bits. I saw a blue pull star near the front of the ship, but not sure how to get to it now that I've jumped down. Oh well. I throw shells at the Octopuses to lower the bridge.
Final Airship. Kamek fight. Couple shell throws later he goes down. I do get hit a couple times, but was on 6 hits so not much of a problem =D

Space Junk Galaxy, star 3... speedy comet in orbit though... if I go elsewhere will it go away? Let's see. Battlerock Galaxy, Star 1.
I collect some fragments on some metal discs and launch onward. Some more metal discs later I ride one of them past a barrage of cannons and lasers while dodging electrified stuff on my own disc. I only get hit once and arrive at the platform with the Star. Need to unlock it first though. I head to the other metal disc platform here and some bullets get shot out. First I break the cages on this disc and then head back to the star with a bullet.
New galaxy discovered, again.

Space Junk Galaxy, star 3. No Speedy Comet.
I navigate to a new area, with a hungry star. Not enough star bits on me. I feed it what I have and explore the glass sphere I'm on for a way inside. I get enough to feed it but try out the orange launch star. Welp no way back.
I navigate the sticky spider web sling thingies to a big spider web. Boss fight time.
Gotta sling myself into it's week spots while avoiding attacks huh. Seems manageable. A hit on the backside and it flips over. Three hits on red vulnerable spots on it's underneath and it flips itself back. Died once.
Beat it without taking damage on the second attempt lol

I try to go back to see what the Hungry star does, but the Speedy comet is back which apparently locks in a new Star. Speedrun.
Couple screw ups along the way and not enough time for the final section...
I zoom through it the 2nd time and have 1 minute 30 seconds for the final bit and end with 10 seconds spare. Why so tight, Nintendo? =O

Anyway... back to the 3rd Star level. Tarantox's Tangled Web.
I zoom back to the Hungry Star and feed it. I go to the new wooden Yoshi head planet and stomp all the goombas for a Star.
New Galaxy unlocked, again.

I go back to Battlerock Galaxy for Star 2.
I throw some bombs to break some cages so I can progress. I'm at the area with the star, but see a Hungry Star as well, which births another new Planet. I head there instead. I help a janitor robot by blowing the trash up with bombs lol
Beat it second attempt and it lets you retry without leaving or killing you =D
Those bombs take way too long to go off. I get a Star for my troubles. there was a pipe, but I didn't try it.

Back for Star 2. Should be fairly fast. Did not take long to get there last time. Oh it's just a star child and not an actual star lol
I use the bomb to get the zoomies invincibility star again to get rid of the chain chomps. I then free the star child and progress. Oh my... pull stars through a minefield. This might be tricky.
I make it through but kill myself trying to hit a big red button that's circled by electrified things. I give up on the button eventually and enter the pipe. I launch myself a couple times inside the tube to free a star child and progress. I fly towards a blimp. I blow up a way inside... or not. It's a cannon. I shoot myself into the star which is encircled by moving barriers.

Battlerock Galaxy Star 3. I try to kill the moles, but it seems to be impossible. A Star grab and a hop on a laser shooting head later I launch myself to an area with mines. The platform moves through them and I launch off again. I knock the beyblade into the power lines and free the star child. I blast off again and enter a pipe hidden by a crate that I smashed. Some gravity switching shenanigans with hazards, nothing too bad.
I ascend into a new area and make my way up, where I send some more beyblades into the power lines. I get shot out of a cannon to a UFO while the area behind me blows up
I navigate to the top of the UFO and see a boss fight ring. I fight the beyblade boss and his cronies. Cool boss, easy fight though.

Done with Battlerock unless a Comet shows up on it. Two uncharted Galaxies though. first up... Hurry-Scurry galaxy.
Sounds like another gyro motion control thing. Or not. Just a floor you can only step on once. Pretty easy, first tried it.

Daredevil Comet at Battlerock Galaxy. Guess I'm going there then. Ah boss fight rematch with only 1 HP. Well, just goes to show how easy this boss is I guess. First try =P

Time for the Dome boss. Bowser's Star Reactor Galaxy. I navigate the twisty turny path and step on a platform that flips over but that I stick to. Gravity shenanigans up ahead. Pretty easy. I chug along the path. Bowser shows up and I dash along the path he tries to break. I see an extra lives/hits Mushroom along the way but choose to ignore it.
Me and Boswer dance on a sphere as I figure out what to do. Get him to pound the blue things, burn himself and then whack him. Didn't realize that last part straight away on the first time, but did on the second time he burned his butt. I get a second hit on him eventually. He's so speedy now. Third hit and boss fight over =D
Grand Star acquired.

New Dome. Kitchen Dome. I go back to the previous dome... nothing new to do. So I feed the Hungry Star outside.
Sling Pod Galaxy has appeared. Obviously gonna check it out =P
Ah more spider sticky thingy slinging... with cannon fire dodging this time. Hmmm... these things aren't very accurate apparently. Another minefield huh. Checkpoint right at the start of it too =D
I lose a lot of lives here, but I manage to get the Star =D

I see a mailtoad and get 5 1ups back though lol
I check out the newly opened Rosalina's Library. That backstory was actually kinda sweet. Only 2 chapters and it sounded like there was more.
I make my way to the Kitchen Dome. Seems I already unlocked all but 1 Galaxy here lol

I pick the Beach Bowl Galaxy to start with. Star 1.
I explore around a bit and find a pipe that leads to some blocks that become star bits. I dive into the water... oh these diving/swimming controls are gonna take some getting used to... feels so weird.
I collect 5 star bits and go launch myself. I chase some music notes and do two timed platforming sections to get to the star. I break the Crystal and collect the Star =D

Another Hungry Luma appeared. Gonna continue Beach bowl Galaxy though. Star 2.
Gotta find a Gold shell underwater. I look around a bit and while trying to get my bearings underwater bump into a penguin... which results in me having the Gold Shell? Er... okay. Major flukage as I didn't even see it holding the thing but I guess I'll take it? xD

Beach Bowl Galaxy Star 3.
I toss a shell at a chest I saw while exploring earlier on. A launch star, which sends me to a new area. I go around it and have a cataquack launch me into the ? 'coin' in the air. Ice Mario powerup. I climb the waterfalls and launch stars to the top. I escort a cataquack at the top across my ice path so it launches me into a star. Pretty sure that was a hidden/bonus star.

Yep, Star 3 still greyed out so back I go. I toss a couple shells at some chests underwater and then at the wall shown in the intro. I'm in a cave and grounpound a ... cork? I launch myself into a new area.
I follow a winding path with thwomps, platforming and some box-like thwomp that's hollow on one side. I die once going for a risky 1up jump. I ignore it afterward and end up grabbing 3 other ones that aren't as risky lol
I grab the Star at the end of the path after breaking the crystal it's in.

Done with Beach Bowl for now, until a comet shows up. I open Bubble Breeze Galaxy next.
A Poisonous swamp with mines and wind. The Toadship has crashed. I grab a bubble and start swiping my screen over and over. Pretty chill area. Bubble doesn't really seem to burst from bumping into walls of the windmills. Probably does from the mines though. I miss 1 shard so I need to go a 2nd lap. I launch myself into the next area after the launchpad appears.
I get pinched a couple times in the second area and the bubble bursts. I find a path that's 'for experts only'. It's gate already closes by the time I'm in a new bubble. 'Galaxy Complete'. Nvm that then rofl.
The 5th Galaxy unlocks.

Comet at Beach Bowl though. Fast Foe. The third star course, but with fast enemies huh. Oh, I start at the twisty turny thing at the end though. One death to grabbing a 1up again. Another death due to not being centered enough for one of those hollow block thwomps. Fairly easy.

Buoy Base Galaxy is next. I blow up a weight to make the tower ascend... then I uncage a pipe and find a green star at the top... ?
I talk to a Green Luma and apparently I need two more of these to open a trial gate. Not sure I wanna go there, but that's for later anyway... back to Buoy Base Galaxy!

I blow up the weight again and resurface to climb the tower. Near the top I collect some blue shards for a blue pull star. I go to the orb above the tower and unscrew the top which opens it. I swim down and collect the Star.

On to the Ghostly Galaxy. Star 1.
I launch over to the mansion and beat up some Pumpkin wearing Goombas... is it Halloween here or something?
I enter the mansion lobby and beam away some ghosts. I find a Toadette in a crate. I stomp through a ceiling for a hidden room with a bunch of coins. I take the launch star to the next area.
I come across a cowering Luigi and do some pull star juggling for a key. Once inside the key door I evaporate some more boos. I become boo Mario and one of the boos fancies me.. I shall evaporate it with light!
I make my way to Luigi and he gives me a Star.

I go to talk to Luigi at the Garage in the hub world and then head back to the Kitchen Dome.
Ghostly Galaxy. Star 2.
I make my way over to the mansion and... yeet myself over it, apparently. I talk to a boo wearing a race cap and we do a race =3
I fail miserably on the first attempt and exit and restart. I finish the race second time, but never really catch up to the boo. Guess I'll need to look for some kind of shortcut.
Was actually winning on the 3rd run for a while till Mario decided to get clipped on a spinning thing and didn't feel like leaving it for a good 10 seconds despite my inputs. I just leave and re-enter so that I don't lose a life. Gah this pull star parkour race sucks.
I eventually beat the 'best time', but it's not enough to beat the boo. Gah this Star sucks, it was clearly not meant to be done on a Switch Lite. The pull stars handle very poorly.
Beat it in 1 minute 5 next time. Definitely the worst level so far.

I get booted out of the Dome for a Luigi letter. I go to Good Egg Galaxy to 'rescue' Luigi... it's the house at the start... can you really not get down it, bro?
Anyway... figured I'd better get it straight away so he can go find another one.
Well nvm, I try talking to him, but he doesn't want to go find another one yet. Back to the Kitchen Dome.

Ghostly Galaxy. Star 3.
I make my way into the mansion. I nearly die to the black boo before Toadette can tell me that I can grab it by the tongue and fling it around... okay...
I smash the statues with the black boos and launch to the next area. I get punted off the stage trying to fling up a level with the web thingy. I make it to next section on the next attempt. More Black Boos.
I fling myself into some star pieces with the web thingies. I get knocked off stage by a spinning hole thing orbiting a pull star. Make it past next attempt and get shot to a baseball surrounded by a spinning thing. I take the next launch star and arrive at the boss arena. I buy the extra hits mushroom at the Luma Shop.
A boulder covered tree? Well there's black boos, guess I know what to do then. I keep flinging boos into it till the bigger black ghost in the bouldertree is uncovered and then fling another black boo into it. Time for stage two.
Now it's got hands huh. Well that didn't exactly make it any harder lol
Beat it first try =D

Only a comet and Luigi Star left now in Ghostly Galaxy. I unlock Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada and fly to it.
I clear the first airship of enemies and shoot myself out a cannon. Just barely missed the pole due to it launching me while I was still trying to pinpoint the pole's top lol. And again.. ugh some of these controls are just such a drag on the Lite.
I eventually manage to hit the dang pole... that ate way too many lives. I stomp a MagiKoopa and it's into another cannon... well made it into this pole first try. I buy another extra hits shroom in the Luma Shop. I stomp a purple beetle and go on a airship ride. Somehow make it across first try with no hits despite this ship zooming pretty fast.
I stomp a MagiKoopa and Bowser Jr. is here now.
I throw three shells at his airship and he gets mad. I also throw a couple shells at MagiKoopas to keep things manageable. In the second phase his ships shoots glowing hot cannonballs from the front instead of the bullets from the side. I hit his ship twice more and he blasts off? Oh well.. actually kinda challenging boss fight due to how hectic it is. Went from 6 hits to 2 hits =3
Grand Star 4 obtained. Two more to go from the looks.

I go back to the Kitchen Dome. The comet is here now. Ghostly Galaxy Daredevil comet... probably the black ghost boulder tree thing then? Yep.
I clear the first phase fairly easily though struggle to hit the dang black ghost due to other black boos blocking the one I'm slinging around.
I dance around a bit with it in the 2nd phase, due to no easily grabbable black boos, but eventually manage to snag some that don't get killed by it's hands.

And back in because I don't think that final star is a Luigi star after all. Something hidden in Spooky Sprint?
Oh right the sparkly pillar at the start... which apparently hides a launch star. A new section =3
Basically a section with a moving path you can stand on and have to keep up with, while dodging boos. Then later on it goes up and you need to keep up. Found the Star behind a door while ascending. Pretty chill.

Well that seems to be everything here for now. A Hungry Luma is standing outside, but let's see if Luigi wants to find another Star first =3
Nope. I go to the Library again for some more story time. 3 more touching story chapters. I quite like the backstory for Rosalina and her star children a lot.
I go and feed the Hungry Luma which makes the Drip Drop Galaxy appear. Naturally I launch myself towards it.

I talk to some penguins and hop into the water with a shell. I bop three giant eels with them and a star appears. I also break open treasure chests, but 2 had enemies and the others just had a 1up and an extra hits mushroom. Pretty fun, starting to get used to the wonky underwater controls.

I go back to the Terrace Dome. There's a Cosmic Comet in orbit at Honeyhive. I fly there.
This is a race apparently? What's Cosmic Mario though...
Oh, basically shadow Mario. I lose the first attempt due to some bad backflips. Second attempt was an easy win.
Looks like I need a Comet at Good Egg Galaxy.

I go outside intending to pay the Purple Luma to redirect a Comet... but there's a Luigi Letter.
Looks like Battlerock... which was in the Fountain Dome I think?
Couldn't tell which stage it was from the pic, but the first one has a green question mark so...
I make my way through the stage and get blasted to bits on the metal dish platform ride. Make it through the second time.
It takes me a couple tries, but I eventually manage to guide a bullet to Luigi's cage on the underside of where the Star was before. He complains about me being too slow lol
This one turns out be a Green Star.

I go to the Terrace Dome and head to the Good Egg Galaxy as the comet is there now. Speedy Comet.
Not very fond of this one these tbh.
This one wasn't so bad though. The previous speedrun one was far tighter. Had a minute left over =O

I head to the Bedroom Dome next. All Galaxies available. I open up the Freezeflame Galaxy first. Star 1.
I catch a penguin that calls me an old man while ice skating on an icy donut.
In the next area I navigate some frozen platforms surrounded by ice water that hurts me if I fall in. I use the Ice flower to get Mario to a hidden launchpad far up to the right instead of following the arrows.I nearly die to some ice bats while melting a snowman in a timed fire flower section. 1 hp into the next time fire flower section. I reach a third timed fire flower and dance with some ice bats. I die once here and then again on what feels like the final ice bat, which wouldn't leave me alone on a really high up bit.
Yep, it was the last area. I manage to get rid of it this time just barely within the fire flower time. Some quick jumps in front of a stack of push thwomps and I nab the Star at the summit.

Freezeflame Galaxy. Star 1.
I continue to where I was before and follow the arrows this time. Some more ice and cold water shenanigans while platforming and I arrive at a... boss, I think? An ice thing shooting ice balls while wearing a crown. 2 paths... and ofc I pick the wrong one. I go the other one next for an Ice flower and go up to the ice crown thing.
I nearly die figuring out how to beat it, but manage to do so without dying =D

Freezeflame Galaxy. Star 2. Or not. Cosmic Comet in orbit. Somehow managed to reach the final platform in 1 go only to plummet off without grabbing the Star lol
I get it on the third try =D
Probably would've helped to have already done this area before and not be blind on how to do it =P

Freezeflame Galaxy. Star 2.
I collect shards on the ice donut this time and some pull stars and a launch star appear. I launch into the lava area and do a loop for a timed fire flower which I use to light some braziers. A bridge rises out of the lava and I continue on.
Some more brazier lighting with a timed fire flower while avoiding rolling spiky thingies. A gravity wall activates and I jump up and then gravity flips again. some quick parkouring and I get to the final timed fire flower brazier lighting area.
I get hit a couple times by the floating fire thingies, but do this part first try with 2 hits remaining =D

Freezeflame Galaxy. Star 3.
Ah the race area from the comet, but it's both ice and fire now.
But first some ice skating while dodging fire balls. The next area has some rising and falling tide cold water with spiky rolling ball enemies. I open a gate and go outside.
An area with rising and falling lava is next. I unlock a fire flower and run back to some braziers in the previous area, which unlocks a launch star that leads to the race area from the comet. Timed ice flower run huh.
I fail it once and don't entertain any distractions on the second attempt. My last ice flower ends right at the star as I have to stop myself from sliding off =P
Well that's all I can do here right now.

I open the Honeyclimb Galaxy. Pretty much what it says on the tin. Climb a stickey honey wall as bee mario.
First section is chill. Second section I fall off once being hit by some kind of ball. Third section is not that bad either, I fall off once but onto the platform below so no deaths there. The Star is at the top. Galaxy Completed.

I unlock the Gusty Garden galaxy. Star 1.
I talk to some bunnies and grab a flower and float along with the wind. I use the fluff a couple more times and fling from some vines to hop from planet to planet. I launch myself to a maze looking thing with a fountain eventually.
I lose sight of the rabbit for a bit after I leave the hole, but then it comes hopping at me lol
I catch it not long after.

I go check Mail toad and get shown a photo I don't recognize. I also get some 1ups from Peach.
I go back to the Terrace Dome and check the galaxies 1 by 1. A greyed out star at Honeyhive.
I go off the path and climb up the back to the pipe with the star that lets you destroy boulders for star bits. I fly around to the other side of the waterfall before the tunnel with bee Mario and see a Luigi clinging to a tree. I launch him of with star bits. Star obtained.
Back to the Bedroom Dome.

Gusty Garden galaxy. Star 2.
I ride the fluff to a small planet with a mole and get rid of the mole for a launch star to appear. The next area is rather twisty and turny, but I rid it of 3 more moles to be able to progress. One of them was pretty speedy.
While I fly to the next area I notice some pull stars along the way, but don't respond on time... hidden star perhaps?
I ground pound some corks on an apple and make a worm open a path through multiple apples so that I can progress. Ground pounding some corks in the next area gets me an extra hits mushroom. I launch to the planet shown in the intro.
Boss fight time. I try ground-pounding the mole out, but it doesn't work. I just follow it for a bit and ground pound when it comes out on it's own. Then I whack it with a spin. It gets angry a couple times as I repeat this. His speed in the final bit gets me killed me once. Wth do I even do here in the third phase... I can't chase it, it's too fast. If I try to charge it after making it leave the ground it plows into me and I'll eventually die. Oh.. doh. Just ground pound again before trying to hit it... lol

I try the same area again... after three attempts I manage to land on the ring you fly through. Just some 1ups? meh.
Gusty Garden galaxy. Star 3.
I waste some time getting the burrowing thingies on the starting planet. I navigate my way around and ponder why there's a Golden Chain chomp... I take two hits trying to ground pound it.
I do some precarious platforming on spinning saucers in the sky to assemble the next launch star.
I navigate my way across some blocks and rotating pillars while doing gravity shenanigans and make it to the Star =D

Comet at Gusty Garden now. Daredevil. Against the mole I guess? Yep. That final phase might be tricky, but at least I know what to do now =P
First try =D

Greyed out Star at Gusty Garden. During the 3rd one? Ah right, I missed the final ? coin on the fluff ride last time.
I grab them all this time and get an invincibility star. Oh, the Golden Chain Chomp?
Yep. Star obtained =D

I open the Dusty Dune Galaxy. Star 1.
Insta kill sand and Dry Bones huh. I jump into a Sand Tornado and spin jump and Mario becomes a hovering beyblade...
I make my way across the tornadoes to a pipe and enter it. I waste some time getting on a thwomp just to be squished by an off screen thwomp shortly after lol
Guess that was just for an 1up and an extra hits mushroom. I grab a timed fire flower later on and barrel through the piranha plants. I avoid getting rolled over by a giant boulder and escape the area.
Outside again. I navigate up a pillar with some tornadoes. Then things get dicey with holes in the walls near the top of the pillar, forcing me to slow down. I manage to make it topside and claim the Star without dying.
A Hungry Luma appears.

Dusty Dune Galaxy. Star 2.
I die a couple times to the red pokey mistiming my spin attacks. In the next section I launch myself not noticing the Hungry Luma until too late... but end up being launched back to the start of this area... first I go back for the extra hits mushroom and then I feed it the 20 bits it wants.
A new Planet? Bonus Star then?
I navigate some sand rising/lowering wall maze with squishing danger and assemble star fragments for a Green Star.
Green launch Star unlocked. It's gonna have to wait =P

Back to the Bedroom Dome. Dusty Dune Galaxy. Star 2.
I make it back to where I was last time and launch myself again. Ah a midair launch star, guess I looped due to missing it. I arrive at strings of moving sand between rocks and there's some Dry bones.
I loop a couple rounds getting blue star fragments and unlock the pull stars.
I end up on a planet where the sand flows towards where I landed and I can go two ways. I go left and end up at a pipe. I do another music note thingy for 3 lives this time and end up in a new area upon exiting.
I go through the hole the arrow points at. I navigate to another hole and see a Star high up. Too high. I go through the hole and navigate to a groundpound switch which pushes platforms to the other side.
It's on a timer so I run back. Pretty relaxed timer, had lots of time to spare. Saw another hole though, maybe something hidden there.

Dusty Dune Galaxy. Star 3.
I hit a groundpound switch and the platform rises and I have to dodge stuff. Also dodged all the goodies along the way somehow. I hit a new groundpound switch in the new area. I collect 4 star fragments and wonder what to do with the green koopa shell. I notice a chest off the side of the pillar that rose and hit the other switch, hitting the chest with the shell on the way down. I then make the pillar rise again just in case it matters and use the launch star.
I land on a small sand ball and launch some coconuts until one hits the spike thing, unlocking a launch star.
I land on two close together planets connected by launch stars. There's a pokey on one, a bunch of coonuts on the other. I kick multiple coconuts across and kill the pokey with them and launch onward, landing on a glass dome/cage over the Star. I try to look at the sides, but slide off. I land at the bottom, but remain upside down. Dang, the controls are
weird this way. I break a crate to expose a pipe and it leads me inside. After going inside a bit the tower starts being pulled into the sand. Upside down timed platforming huh...
I get squished only once. Get the Star on the second try =D

I step outside the Bedroom Dome to feed the Hungry Luma. Bigmouth Galaxy has appeared. Naturally I go there.
I talk to a rude old penguin and jump into the water with a koopa shell. I burst through a wall of blocks and search the sea grass for some launch star shards, which then shoots me into the upper half of the water, where gravity is inverted. I get the golden Koopa Shell here and go back to the start to throw it at the Golden Chest.
Captain Toad bursts out and gives me the Star.

I check for mail from Luigi. nope.
Back to the Bedroom Dome. I check all galaxies and notice that Dusty Dune has a greyed out Star and a greyed out comet now. Comet isn't in orbit so I check the level select screen to see where the hidden Star is.
Ah this level... could just be that other hole at the end I guess? Okay no that was the second stage I guess. Zoomed all the way to the end not noticing anything. Back in again, for a more thorough investigation.
Oh... a cork/stump after the tower with the launch star fragments. Coin trail at it too. Couldn't get it though, was I too slow? No, the sand recedes eventually.
I groundpound, collect some music notes and take a newly appeared launch star. New area. Bullet guiding from a pillar that rises, to a glass dome that rises out of the sand at the last moment. Bit of back and forth juggling, but got it eventually.

Comet is now in Orbit... Speedy comet, so another speedrun one. Hopefully it's not on a hard level.
Sandblast... that's the second one?
Not too bad. First tried it with 20 seconds to spare. Even took the other split path this time just to see what's there =D

Nothing else left to do currently so I open the Bowser's Dark Matter Plant Galaxy.
I follow the path and end up in a gravity shenanigans section again. This time with moving platforms and two more directions for the gravity to flip. I go through it in 1 go =D
I climb a pole and need to navigate some moving platforms with dark matter. I just barely touch one of those spots and get disintegrated. I clear the section the second time and it's more gravity tomfoolery. Significantly harder section. I die here 3 times.
I free some lumas from the crystals afterward and get an extra hits mushroom. Bowser fight.
Pretty similar to the previous fight, but he's got some new attacks to make things harder. I survive the fight with 1 hit remaining.
Grand Star obtained. Engine Room unlocked.

I stand on a glowy circle with the number of Stars I still need. 01 lol
And it becomes 0 after Rosalina's talk... okay. Not doing that yet though. I check the Library for some more story time =D
Some more nice backstory for Rosalina followed by some sadness. I head for the Engine Room. All galaxies available.
I unlock the Sea Slide Galaxy first.

Sea Slide Galaxy, Star 1.
I see a launch star behind where I land and check it out. Just a vantage point? aww..
I talk to the penguins and head over to the shark.
I swim after it holding a red shell and easily get this Star.

Sea Slide Galaxy, Star 2.
I talk to some penguins on the beach and we start a race. Takes me a while to catch up to all the penguins since I need to swim to a shell first, but I complete this 1st try and get the Star.
A Hungry Luma has appeared.

Cosmic Comet at Sea Slide. I lose the first round due to not realizing this race isn't entirely a water one lol
Why's he so much faster than me on land? Second loss. Third loss.
Apparently there's long jumping in this game... never had to use it till now lmao
First time looking something up for this game. Managed to get the Star now.

Sea Slide Galaxy, Star 3.
Star pieces on a tree? =O
Was kinda expecting another race tbh =P
I collect two pretty easily though the second involved some Pull stars after launching out of a cannon. Hungry Luma here too, but not enough bits. I fetch some more and shoot myself to the new planet.
4 deaths but I eventually beat the disappearing platform music note collection and grab the Star.

Sea Slide Galaxy, Star 3.
I reclaim the two star fragments I already had and get a 3rd from a treetop near the lighthouse. I take the launch star to the beginning and buzz over to the tree as bee mario. I get knocked out the tree into the water and lose bee mario.
I activate a channel of water to the center though where I get another star piece.
I successfully gather the piece on top of the tree now. I launch myself back to the start to grab the Star.

I go to check my mail. Just more 1ups from Peach. No Luigi star.
I check the Hungry Star, but am 70 star bits short. I enter the Engine Room and unlock Toy Time Galaxy. Star 1.
I ride a toy train and navigate some trippy toys with gravity stuff going on. I unscrew a bunch of stuff and I can launch myself to the next section. I died once trying to take a greedy shortcut.
New powerup. Spring Mario. Perma bounce, well this sucks.
I find a pipe and do some bouncing for... bits.. meh. I have to go back to get another spring due to a toy bowser.
Manage to make it to the next area eventually. Where I jump into a bottle on a plate and it's off to a toy robot.
I unscrew a bunch of stuff as I make my way from the legs, to the chest, to one of the arms. Then I walk towards the mouth and ignore the spring mario powerup. I jump off the side and grab the one there. I bounce up, get hit by one of those annoying laser beam heads, but manage to jump up further without the spring and all the way up. I ground pound the breakable discs and the toys head explodes and I can pick up the Star afterward.

Toy Time Galaxy. Star 2.
I make my way across some kind of toy and find a Hungry Star. I scour the area getting the 5 launch star bits in the progress, but I'm 7 star bits short for the hungry star. Next time I guess.
I launch onto oldschool Mario and collect the silver star pieces. Nearly couldn't make it back due to using up too many platforms on the way over while collecting, but I get the Star =D

I go back in and acquire enough star bits for the Hungry Star.
In the new area I need to press floor switches while dancing around hollow box thwomps and avoiding spiky platforms.
Not very hard, just a bit trippy and some of the switches were easy to miss as they were on all sides.

Fast Foe Comet, Toy time.
The area I just did, but all the red spiky platforms and hollow box thwomps have been sped up so much.
I die once by flattening, but pretty doable.

Toy Time Galaxy. Star 3.
More Spring mario... ugh. I make it to the chocolate bar conveyor pretty easy, but get stuck there due to the timing on the big jump being very finicky. Make it eventually. I die twice on the spinning cake thing with gaps in it.
An ice cream hop onto popsicles, with a frozen area too. Why is this suddenly food land?
I shoot out of a cannon into a launch star and land on a spoon sticking out of a cake. Perilous parkour again.
Two ways to go... I go left.. into a pipe. Just a 1up. Back and to the right it is. I make my way to the top of the cake, but see no way to progress. I first clear the enemies then the crystals. I talk to the toads next, and one says to blow out the candles. After doing just that a launch star appears. I fly to a pie with a tower on it that's this course's boss. I knew it, pies are evil!
There's a Spring powerup at the back. I die once and get only 1 hit in on the top of the tower the first time.
I get two hits in on the second try, but spring mario is such a pain to control I can't get up for a third, except for 1 time, but I get zapped due to mario refusing to ground pound.
Takes a while, but I get the 3rd hit in on the 3rd try. Such a painful boss. Painful powerup. Ugh.
I grab the Star afterward.

I unlock the Gold Leaf Galaxy next. Star 1.
I explore the area for 5 blue star shards. I launch to the next area. I chase a bunny around a planet where I need to make a maze pop up so that it runs into something and I can actually get close to it. I catch it eventually.

Gold Leaf Galaxy. Star 2.
I follow the path with the cataquacks and then fly up to the top of the area and take the pipe into a room. Invulnerability smashing boulders for star bits. Eh.
I continue along the path and have to navigate several small areas with cataquaks trying to fling me off. I somehow make it past unscathed.
On the next planet I have a cataquack fling me into a bee powerup and then I combined the two to land on a Jenga tower from where I hop onto a higher tower. From there I can buzz to some flowers and hop along them to the Star at the end.

Gold Leaf Galaxy. Star 3.
I navigate around and assume the rain clouds will undo my bee mario, so I go on top of them. I go across the platform with beetles and rain clouds and fling and jump up onto a higher level. I go round and round up the tower dodging rain clouds and eventually arrive at the top. Another mole in a cannon boss.
Basically an easier version of the Toy Galaxy boss. Gotta go around to one side, hit a groundpound switch, loop back and hit the boss, repeat. Lost the Bee upgrade during round 3 to rapid fire bubbles. Managed to get back with normal Mario and finish it off though. One more loop around to grab the Star.

A comet and a hidden star remain. Let's see where the hidden star is. 2nd Star area.
Well I think I found it... there's a bubble and a bell at the back of the big tree. Screwed up and can't reset it though. Gonna hop out and back in.
I manage to follow the entire music trail second try and a star appears =D

Cosmic comet in Orbit. Sweet, let's get this over with.
I screw up not expecting some of the route changes and lose badly. I kept going though to recon more of the course.
Took me like 8 tries, but I got it. Why is this one so tight? =\
Anyway that's it for now.

I unlock the Bonefin Galaxy.
I land on a green Toadship and launch myself into the water. Ah, a boss fight.
I hit the bonefish with a red shell and it spawns a metal fish torpedo. I hit it with 2 more green shells and it spawns in multiple metal fish torpedoes at a time. Two more green shell hits and I beat it =3
I fetch the Star.

I unlock the Bowser Jr.'s Lava Reactor Galaxy.
I start next to a blocked of launch star. I have to jump across this section to a bullet launcher and have to guide it back to unlock it. I die once trying to go for a shortcut jump.
It detonates right next to the cage, but doesn't destroy it on the second try... seriously? -.-
I nail a shortcut and get it on the third attempt. In the next area I get an extra hits mushroom and smack some octopi by launching coconuts back at them. Launch star again.
I arrive at the actual boss. It's the fire octopus boss again from long ago. The fight is on platforms that sinks if stood on for too long this time. He has some new helpers and attacks, but I slap his coconuts back at him and defeat him without taking any damage.
Last Grand Star I think? Unlocked a new Dome though.

I feed the Hungry Star first. Sand Spiral galaxy has appeared. I head over.
A MagiKoopa tries to harass me, but after shooting over from the broken ship I fly through the perilous tunnel as Boo Mario. Next section is a spinning spiral platform in a minefield with an invincibility star.
It looks very perilous and I miss the invincibility refill along the way, but I make it far enough to just finish it off as regular Mario.

Still no Luigi letter... did I already do them all? I only did like 3 or 4 =O
I ride the new beam and enter the little house. 'The Gate'. I talk with Rosalina and a red star issues a challenge to me. Collect 100 purple coins with his red star that allows me to fly.
It takes me a while due to how wonky the flying controls and camera are, but I complete it.

I head back to 'The Gate', there's a Hungry Luma outside. 1200 bits? I ain't got anywhere near enough lol
I take the other portal beam to the top, above the Engine Room. I go around back and take a portal beam down, which unlocks a shortcut back up, I guess.
I enter the Garden Dome. 4 more galaxies. I unlock the Dreadnought Galaxy.

To be continued when I finish the game. This is already very long =\

 

[ReKoil]

Dreadnought Galaxy. Star 1.
Some new hazard looking things, I opt to not find out if these beams are. I launch to the Dreadnought and beat up some troopers to lower a forcefield and enter the pipe.
Sideview platformer area with some gravity stuff going on. I make it to the pipe and am back outside. I ride up a platform that keeps getting smaller and smaller and bounce on some bouncy beyblades. At the top I launch to a new area.
I avoid some more of the new 'beam me up' looking enemies and guide a bill to a cage and flood the area I'm on. I resurface and ride the top of some of the beam enemies while dodging others toward the Star.

Dreadnought Galaxy. Star 2.
I jump down from the starting area for some star bits and a 1up. I rotate some nuts to get across a gap and see floor press puzzles. I press the buttons while dodging little chomps. More nuts to rotate across a couple screws. I die on the second one due to the delay from knocking coconuts back at two octopuses.
I get across on the next attempt. A moving platform ride while dodging cannons and lasers. The gravity flips a couple times and I die right at the end... seriously... electrified by the bumper thingy at the end and I fall into the abyss =\
Was a pretty long ride too. Ugh.
Oh sweet. I only need to redo the final section. I make it and grab the Star this time =D

Dreadnought Galaxy. Star 3. Beyblade boss rematch? =O
I help out a starchild by spinning some beyblades into it's electrified cage. In the next area I gather some blue star pieces while avoiding a bouncy beyblade. Off to the next section =3
I land on a missile and have to pull star my way through a minefield with cannons firing in it. I die once before making my way through. Time to dodge to shockwave thingies again. There's multiple chests here, but no visible way of opening them. I press on and arrive at the UFO's underside.
I make my way to it's top and arrive at the beyblade boss once more. I beat it easily once more.

Comet in orbit now. Speedrun huh.
Mostly easy, but that pull star minefield with cannons sections was infuriating. Blegh.

Dreadnought Galaxy. Hidden Star in... area 3. Those Chests I guess?
Or not. I check the underside of the starting metal disc and see a pipe. Another bomb clean section.
I beat it first try with the last bomb going off with 1 second remaining lol

That seems to be it for the Dreadnought Galaxy for now. I unlock the Melty Molten Galaxy. Star 1.
I navigate around some lava rock enemies and hot geysers. I cross some sinking platforms and do some walljumps while avoiding hot geysers. I hit a button which makes the tower I'm on sink into the lava. I opt to use a launchpad at the edge shortly after and let myself drop into the volcano hoping for a hidden star. nope.
I launch back out and the volcano erupts as I shoot off to some far of glass orb planets, with a Hungry Luma on one of them. I can see the path continuing on, but I have enough bits so I feed the Luma.I launch to the new planet.
Rising and falling lava from the looks. I navigate the walkways when the lava is low to gather the 5 star bits and unlock the Star =D

Melty Molten Galaxy. Star 1.
I follow the path from the glass orbs around and it eventually leads me back to the sinking pillar, but at the rear.
I die once, but make the climb as the tower sinks in the lava on the next attempt.
Was that the way I was supposed to go or... I hop back in and see that it was.

Melty Molten Galaxy. Star 2.
I navigate through the meteor storm till I get to 2 unlit braziers. I lure one of the lava rock enemies over to set them on fire. A launch star appears.
New area. Side view Thwomp dodge, gap jumper with meteors raining down. I make it through to the next area =3
Launch star assembly while dodging fire geysers and meteors. Pretty easy section. I land on a glass dome blocking a launch star. There's some walls and lava rock enemies blocking a bullet bill I need to guide back here. It takes me a bunch of tries as the lava rock enemies insist on sacrificing themselves to the bullets lol
ah another Gyro ball roll section... this time on lava... the first area becomes easy when I realize I don't need to do the moving platform stuff and can just jump to the 1up, break, turn back, speed up again and jump across.
The giant rotating thing after though, with all the holes in it.. it ate multiple lives, but i manage to get through it =D
After that it's just two hops to the goal and the Star appears =3

Melty Molten Galaxy. Star 3.
I progress until the path changes and use the new platforms to get to a side section on the tower where I backflip up to a pipe. I navigate across a couple planets and end up on a sideview multi-layer platform ride where I assemble pieces for a launch star. a short sinking platform section and there's a Luma shop. I buy the extra hits mushroom just in case and launch onto the boss. Which is the Piranha from long ago, but now on fire.
Pretty much just have to wait for it's tail to temporarily go out. Get 3 hits in easily, but then it becomes very speedy and eats 4 of my hits before I can land my 4th and final hit on it's tail.

Comet in orbit at Melty Molten now. Daredevil. Please don't be that plant I just fought.
The first area? =O
Seems possible. Make it to the pull star section in between the mini suns first time. Probably gonna be the biggest nuisance during this, pull star stuff usually is.
I die on the launch star assembly on the 2nd attempt. Missed the one to the left at the start and died going back for it lol
I get it done on the third try, not that bad I guess =D

I unlock the Matter Splatter Galaxy next and head there. Ah, more platforming on surfaces that are temporarily available. I make it across the first section to the pipe.
Second section is pretty easy too. Third section... spring mario. Oh no.
I make it pretty far, but eventually fall off and have to redo this entire dang thing D=
Second death due to spring mario refusing to do the big bounce... I bloody hate this powerup.
I made it. Sweet. Pick a path appearing platforms huh. Made it pretty far, but fell once.
I make it to the end on the second attempt.

I unlock the Deep Dark Galaxy. Star 1.
I explore the beach where the toads are vacationing and get multiple 1ups. No other way to progress aside from the cannon it seems. In I go. I miss the invincibility star on the way and get rekt by the rock shooting octopi on the planet I shot to. I kill them all on the second attempt and use the launch star. back on the beach.
I shoot myself to the other planet. I stomp the Goombas and unscrew the planet which makes it deflate and disappear. I end up on the other one again. I take the Fire Mario powerup and go back to the beach. I light one brazier and get blocked by some crabs from lighting the 2nd as well.
Back into the cannon for another Fire Mario... I light the second Brazier and the gate opens. I stomp a MagiKoopa and go for a swim. I avoid Bloopers and nearly drown a couple times, but make it through the flooded cave and resurface.
There's a ship here in some kind of cove. I force a couple boos to evaporate, explore the cove for a extra hits mushroom and dive into the water for a question mark coin which spawn a lot of bits =D
I board the ship. Kamek boss fight. I hit him once with a shell and he comes aboard the ship. I hit him again and he goes to the top of the mast.
Two rounds of grabbing a shell, stomping his MagiKoopas, and shoving the shell back in his face later I get a Star =D

Deep Dark Galaxy. Star 2.
Another water bubble cannon. I kick a couple coconuts at it and it goes p00f. It opens the cannon back up. Guess I need Fire Mario again? I light the braziers again, there's a third one this time. An Ice Mario powerup shows up.
I use Ice mario to skate across the little pond to some pipes shooting water up. I make it up top as the powerup runs out. I hop on a platform with a ? coin.The platform turns into 5 launch stars as I touch it. I hop in one randomly and then break some rocky spikes blocking my way to a pipe. A musical note collecting thingy for a 1up and another ? coin that turns the blocks into star bits.
Back outside I let some water bubble cannons launch me around and eventually get shot to a new planet. I dodge some cheepcheeps as I ground pound some logs and then I water bubble blaster myself to another planet. This glass planet has some balls rolling around in it and a Watermelon in the middle. A helpful Toad tells me I need to make the balls hit the watermelon to get the Star. There's one of those electric pulse thingies making things harder though.
I manage to groundpound all 3 balls into the watermelon and get the Star with 1 health left =D

Daredevil Comet at Deep Dark Galaxy. hmm... which course though... the Kamek fight I guess? Yep.
I waste no time and hop onto the ship. First two stages shouldn't be that hard. Last two might be tricky though.
I manage to do it in 1 attempt, but there was a lot of dancing around in those final 2 phases. It helps to know that you can spin around the shell to pick it up faster =D
Figured that out on the initial fight against him here.

Deep Dark Galaxy. Star 3.
Guppy? A race? Well, I'll just head to the underground lake and see =P
I talk to Guppy and... yep. Chase him again and swim through the rings. Some of the rings nearly ran out due to some difficulties with keeping a shell to swim around lol
Got it on the first attempt though =D

I feed the Hungry Star outside 1600 bits. Snow Cap galaxy unlocked. I head back inside first just do double check the Garden Galaxies. A greyed out star at Deep Dark huh. Must be that Ghost house cube thing you see in the preview. How do I get there though... it's in the 1st star area it seems.
hmm... I make it all the way back to the Ghost ship area with Kamek. The very bottom of that cave felt sus, but killing the eel did nothing. I'm gonna go back if I can and experiment I guess.
I first try getting a shell to the enemies on a chain that look like mines... but accomplish nothing. Then I throw a shell at the mines all the way at the bottom. The shipwreck explodes and reveals a launch star. I shoot myself into the box. I die here once to the spiky ball enemy while trying to figure out what to do.
I get the Star on the second attempt, just gotta keep flipping gravity until you get to the side where you can smash a crystal to open a window and kill the boo with the light.

Done here for now. I take the Hungry Star launch star to the Snow Cap Galaxy.
A quick planet with a chest on top and a green shell at the bottom. I open the chest with the shell and use the newly revealed launch star.
A bunny chase huh. Takes me too long to figure out what to do to get this first try. Gotta press the switches first, but there's 1 hidden in each area under the snow. Then try and guide the bunnies to where you get the Fire flower as they will outrun you otherwise. Only caught one on the first attempt.
I forget one of the switches is near the fire flower and waste way too much time. Still caught two though.
Fail 3... I feel like I keep checking the same areas and am taking too long because of it. the twisty turning is disorientating. Two catches again =\
Third try... I realize I never tried throwing the shell that shows up at the chest up top. Blegh... it was actually in there. 10 seconds to spare lol

And that's my 100th star =D
Still a Hungry Luma left, but it wanted 1200 bits and I don't have nearly enough.
Hmm... there's red Stars for flying at the hub now... but they don't really seem to get me anything? And I lose them if I enter a Dome.
Well nothing left but the Green Star challenges and the Hungry Luma, I think?
I go to the green launch star and yeet myself into the pipe... which just takes me back lol
I talk to one of the Green Lumas instead. Rolling Gizmo Galaxy huh. Sounds like another gyro level.
Yeah, figured as much.

Rolling Gizmo Galaxy
I make it all the way to the final stretch to be pushed off by a rude cube... lmao
Second attempt. Blasted into one of the holes by one of the bombs.
Third attempt. Made it.

I talk to the next Green Luma and shoot to the Loopdeeswoop Galaxy. Oh no... not the ray surfing again.
I beat it on the second try with 1 minute 33 seconds... which is slower than the displayed 'Best Time'. I'm not complaining though. I don't like the surfing and the Penguin at the start said I had 3 minutes so I just went slower and focused on finishing =D

I talk to the next Green Luma and launch myself to the Bubble Blast Galaxy.
A maze with mines, electric fences and what not... 5 pipes. I go into the North one first and die trying to use the launch star back. I ignore the ? coin and just collect the launch star piece on the 2nd attempt.
East pipe is next. Minefield navigation. Got this section first try. West pipe. Moving electric fences. Looks very tight, but still get it 1st try.
South-East pipe. moving electrified orbs. Pretty easy. South-West Pipe. Flamethrower thingy timed passage. Easy too.
I die in the next section due to being too rushed as a bullet starts chasing me. I start back in this area though, nice.
I make it quite a bit further but die again to the 3rd bullet that gets launched.
I die once more on what seems like the final section of this part of the level with 3 bullets chasing me into an electrified wall.
I make it across the bullet bill conference in the narrow passage leading to the star on the next attempt.

Not getting a lot of bits from this though. Gonna need to grind a level.
I head back to the Deep Dark Galaxy and redo The Undergound Ghost Ship multiple times and get the missing bits fairly fast. I max out my lives at 99 in the process =D
I head over to the Hungry Luma at 'The Gate' and feed it the bits it wants. The Boo's Boneyard Galaxy unlocked. I launch over to it, of course.

Oh no... another boo race? I land on a skull and enter a pipe. A very short Boo mario section and I talk to the race boo. Guess I'll be racing as Boo Mario? Yep.
I was in the lead for a good while until I started clipping stuff, slowing me down a lot. I finish the race anyway just to see the track.
I beat the race on the second try. Considerably more doable than the other boo race.

I got 104 stars atm. There's still 2-3 Galaxies per Dome that aren't checked off as complete, but it doesn't look like I can do anything more right now so... time to go to the center of the universe!
I talk to Rosaline and she launches the Observatory.

Bowser's Galaxy Reactor. The Fate of the Universe.
I talk to some starchildren and enter a spotlight for it's gravity flip. I follow the spotlight's around and dodge Dry Bones and a bunch of those rotating fire bars. At the top a spotlight beams me to the next planet where I do some lava ball avoiding and there's some platforms that sink when stepped on.
I make it to a 'blue giant' and do some ice platforming to a next spotlight beam to a sandy planet. I dodge some firebars on a rotating floor and some moving platforms. The next area is blue platforms that appear as I move along, while there's also gravity flips.
I reach a long lava passage that rotates around. There's Thwomps, cannons,platforms that start sinking when stepped on.
I die here multiple times to bullets knocking me into the lava but make it past eventually. Every time I died I have to redo the appearing blocks with gravity flips section.
Bowser Jr. shows up and so does Bowser. Bowser summons a bunch of meteorites to destroy the path as I approach him.
Bowser thinks he's a hedgehog now and hides in a boulder where I can only hit a part of him. First phase of the fight is pretty easy. Hit him twice, but lose the extra hits mushroom in the process. We then hop to another planet.
Second phase is easier. Just gotta hit some of those plant/bush thingies at him to knock him over and then spin attack.
Third phase... looks very similar to the Bowser fights before this one. Some new attacks, but I beat him again.
Grand Star obtained. Mario saves Peach from Bowser Jr.

Our Starchild says goodbye during the cutscene...
The credits roll.

Purple comet unlocked apparently. Upon loading back into the game from the title screen Rosalina shows me there's 15 more Stars for me to collect. Are they all Purple Comet Stars? =O
First things first... gotta go check out the remaining backstory at the Library! =D

The first Purple Comet is at Good Egg Galaxy. Are they in level order? =O
Apparently these comets are purple coin collections, but without the red star flying. Pretty chill, as it's just one giant loop, but I loop around multiple times mistiming the launch stars along the way leading you down alternate paths with purple coins.

Second Purple Comet. Honeyhive Galaxy. I guess they are going in order then.
This one is more of a normal platformer where you got to do occasional trick jumps like a groundpound onto spring and going a round a block to land on top to collect a coin. There's a pipe so I take it and grab the coins here that I can.
There's a bunch going up a slope I can't go up. I take a pipe back and leap across with the vines. I collect the purple coins here, some of which are tricky to get to while others are just on ledges having me take it very slow.
I spy a purple coin down below at some point, but see no way to get back from it, so I leave it for last, hoping the Star will be there. Aaand... I plummet to my demise by spin jumpin in between the vines lol
I had 88 coins too =\
I make it on the second attempt and dread the though of potentially having to redo the entire level again had I missed the final purple coins on that slide down.

I head to the next Dome. Purple Comet at Battlerock.
Just the platform ride huh. 98. Missed two. Talk to the robot at the end hoping for a restart. Nope. Death. Why?
Why ruin it with something like that and not just let a player restart without dying?
Well whatever, got it on the second attempt.

Space Junk Purple Comet next. Collected 90 on the first try and couldn't make it to the last group of 10 =\
Why's this on a timer when it's already been turned into a maze of paths.
100 coins on the 2nd try, but 10 seconds to get back... not enough. Why suck the fun out of this Nintendo? smh.
Get it on the third attempt by being risky and long jumping in a bunch of places navigating towards the purple coins.
Meh, these purple comet stars are becoming less and less fun tbh.

The Kitchen Dome is next. Purple Comet at Ghostly Galaxy. Wth is the Bone Pen?
Oh no... pull star rubbish. Timed as well. 1 minute? Tight timers aren't fun, blegh.
72 purple coins. Not even close.
Oh.. Toadette tells me there's 150 and I need only 100. Well I'm probably still gonna fail, but I guess I'll go bulk over individual purple coins now. I spawn the Star with 1 second left. And of course I need to collect it within the time as well. blegh.
Grab the star with 1 second to spare on the 3rd attempt. Garbage level.

Beach Bowl Purple Comet is next.
Well at least this one ain't on a timer. I head right and grab the purple coins on the palm tree first. then it's across the sinking boxes and small islands. 24 purple coins.
I grab a couple coins near the spring mario powerup and ignore it. I go up the bent over palm tree I can walk onto and jump to a nearby palm, from which I long jump to another. Back to the bent over palm. I collect the coins on top and jump down onto the liana from which I swing around to collect the circles of purple coins. 58 total.
I grab a couple coins in the water and 1 on the box and cross to the other side for some more. I grab some more purple coins lying around and backflip onto a bent palm tree. I long jump to the swing and grab more purple coins, but miss the one on the little column in the water, so I have to get back to the swing again. 74 purple coins. Noticed 2 that require the Spring Mario. Guess the rest is in the water below? I find a couple and collect the spring mario coin behind the waterfall which takes multiple attempts. 80 coins.
I jump up the side and collect the 3 purple coins going up the shell with spring mario and then jump into the water here to get rid of the spring powerup. Can't reach the topmost part with regular Mario it seems. Before jumping down I jump onto the palm tree near the map edge for the purple coin I saw earlier on. 93 purple coins.
I go back up with Spring Mario and grab the remaining purple coins. 3 short. I see them up in a tree at the top, but really don't want to do that with Spring Mario... unfortunately I see no other way as regular Mario can't jump up into the tree. I manage to grab them, falling off only once, but without dying. I really hope that was the last time I have to use that accursed powerup.

Engine Room. Purple comet at Toy Time. Blegh, probably more Spring garbage.
Wait wth, why do I only have 11 lives? I read the sign eventually and learn there's 150 purple coins again and I need 100. I stop trying to get every single one. I game over for the first time. Why did the game rob me of my lives? I had them maxed out before the final boss and there's no way I burned through them all since.

I head to the Deep Dark Galaxy at the Garden Dome to grind for lives. Luckily the purple comet is at another Galaxy =D
I go to the Underground Ghost ship and grab the 3 1ups near the start and all the star bits near the start multiple times. Also go do the coin planet. I kill myself then and redo this over and over. It's like 5-6 lives in this tiny area, minus one for resetting by death.
I grind up to 42 lives. Well the purple comet here is now gone. Nothing in the Engine Room anymore either.

I check the big screen at the start of the hub. Purple comet at Bedroom Dome. Dusty Dune.
Some coin collectathon again. Not timed. Pretty chill despite the insta kill sand. Some of the coins can only be reached by going into hovercopter beyblade Mario using tornadoes. I die twice. Second time I just barely miss a jump and fall into the sand... with 5 coins left. On the third try I get the last coin just as the platform lowers and the star spawns nearby =D

Nothing else here so I check the big screen again. Engine & Garden Domes.
I head to Engine and go to Toy Time's purple comet again.
I eventually make it with 1 minute left. Timer is pretty chill luckily. That area is pretty hard to navigate though. Lost 10 lives on it again =\

Nothing else here. I go to Garden. Nothing here. Quit moving, you stupid comets!
I got to Bedroom Dome and there's a Purple Comet at Gusty Garden. What pain will this one bring... The Maze Cube? Ah, it's timed of course.
I get it first try, but nearly time out having only 2 seconds left.

I check the screen again. Garden & Engine. I go to Engine again. Gold Leaf Purple Comet.
I get all the purple coins first try, but only have 2 seconds for the star... yep too far away, it did seem too chill.
I fail a second time due to triggering the vine before grabbing the coin behind it, which then becomes impossible to collect. pfft.
I get it on the 3rd attempt.

I go to the Bedroom Dome next for the Freezeflame Purple Comet.
Thankfully no timer. I arrive at the summit and end up missing 5 coins. Thought I was screwed, but you long jump down for 2 more and as I shot back to the start there were 2 coins there behind where you spawned in and a quick look around revealed the last one high up in the center.
Got the star first try in the end =D

That should be the Bedroom done. 4 Remain.
Purple comet at Garden and Engine again. Only 1 remaining in Engine... if I do that one I think I'll lock the comet into the Garden Dome and stop this annoying Dome hopping.

Engine Dome. Sea Slide Purple Comet.
I get 49 coins the 1st time and then buzz off the course =\
Complete it the 2nd attempt. Pretty chill course, just pretty slow.

Garden Dome. Deep Dark Purple comet.
I dive in the pool back behind the start for some purple coins. 14 total now. I swim around the surface at the outer edge in the pool with the ship. I then go ashore and fetch more purple coins. 41 total.
I fetch the coins under the ship and on it's sides. I collect the ones on the ship deck and make my way up. I long jump off the top for a far out coin. 99 coins.
I've seen the last one. It's under the ship mast... not entirely sure how to get it yet. Gotta get back first =3
It's too far from the climbable pole. Ah, backflip against the mast and spinjump. Nice chill purple coin Star.

Melty Molten Purple comet.
Probably would've died without the extra hits mushroom at the start, but I managed it first try. No timer, just some lava parkouring.

Dreadnought Purple comet. Hopefully it's not a timed level or on that section with the pull star minefield.
Lost count. Died like 10+ times. Luckily it wasn't timed or in that pull star minefield. It was on the gravity flip platform section. Miss a purple coin = go kill yourself as there's no way back.
Got a bit of a jumpscare at the end... 99 purple coins.. did I miss one? Nope, it's in the path of the Launch Star towards the end. A brief chat with Rosalina... and I have to re-fight Bowser? why...

Bowser rematch. I die a couple times making my way over. I repeat the easiest Bowser fight in the game. Honestly the way over is more likely to kill you lol
Why'd I have to redo this? He had no new attacks and there's no new star.
"You can now play as Luigi."
Err... kinda looks like you want me to redo the entire game with Luigi... that ain't happening Nintendo xD

Far more enjoyable game than Sunshine was. Not as many hard levels, in the main game anyway. The Gyro sections and the pull star stuff is not that easy to do on a Lite and just turned into a drag. The only level I detest in the before the credits was the Boo race one in Ghostly Galaxy, though I also hate that accursed Spring Mario powerup.
The postgame though, those purple coin levels? Now most of those were a pain in the neck. Like roughly half of them at least.

I'm not gonna bother replaying the game with Luigi, I already saw the credits twice and my save with Mario is marked complete.
There's one more game on this cartridge, but I've had enough Mario for now. Time for something else.

 

[ReKoil]

New Super Lucky's Tale

Foxes vs the Dreaded 'Kitty Litter' huh. I can't really dread it with such a name lol

Heavy Heads - Sky castle.
I decline talking to the mail/police robot for a while and just explore the area for what I can, nearly flying off an edge trying to do a backflip.. this ain't Mario... =P
I collect a bunch of small coins, 2 big coins and a diamond. Then I talk to the... mailgolem? Looked like a robot before the zoom-in tbh.
I follow the tutorial level around and meet 'Master Mittens'. I just wanna pet the ninja kitty
While exploring I find a L letter. I guess these are like the KONG letters in DKC? I fight some derpy caterpillars and dive into a hole.. new level, apparently...
err.. I see a clock, which I grab. Time coin collection... and that's it apparently. Bonus stage/area then I guess?
ah no. I arrive at a new area at where I was before with a Golem head. I grab the K letter above the cage and take the golem head to the bell. Then I grab the already present golem head and take it there too. 1 remaining.
I escort a golden orb to a statue and reveal a hidden hole for another level/area. I also collect the remaining letters to spell LUCKY. I dive into the hole.
There's a platform with a sign that says SKIP to the right. It's a short boss fight? some flowers that attack and plant their faces in the ground and then I jump on the back of their head. I collect another of the greyed out thingies in the top right and then upon exiting the area fetch the 3rd golem head to wake the giant golem which gives me the last greyed out.. ah, these are pages from the book huh. Level Complete with 100% =3

I get taken to a hub world. 4 more pages to unlock a gate.
I explore a bit and enter a level/area hole again. a puzzle huh. start over and skip buttons? Nah.
I whack a couple statues and get a book page.
I'm at 5/22 pages? Is that for the whole game or is that just like world 1. We'll see I guess. Into the next area hole.
Another puzzle. Easy as well. I jump off the roof and enter the level underneath through the door portal.

Aqueducts.
I go to the back of the starting area for a L letter. I progress the level until I open a passage to some rotating gears where there's a timed coin challenge. Actually fail this a couple times, but its resettable.
I pick up the remaining letters along the way and find the second hole to another area in the level. I run to the end and free Portal Pete. 100% complete =3
10/22 pages. The locked gate opens. I check the Shop, but it's just costumes and I only got one I can buy atm. I'll pass for now. I find another level hole in the hub world while exploring. Yep another puzzle. Still easy.
I go to the next level.

Go Fetch.
First section is straightforward. Just carry a head around while running from stuff. Most of the letters are here.
Second section. I earn enough coins for the coin page and then find a subsection and collect some coins for another page. I collect the final letter tucked away in a risky to go get to corner. I climb back up continue the path to open a bridge. The fire ball 'doggo' shows up on the other side. I expect a boss fight, but the giant golem just slaps it down a couple sizes lol
100% complete.

In the hub world I enter another hole for another puzzle. This one required some actual thought, but still easy.
16/22 pages. Next level.

Dungeon Run.
Auto level? oh no. Only got the main page at the end on the first run D=
Oh.. it remembers the letters I did collect. Only collected the first one and I got the page for it. Also managed to get 300 coins this run. Which leaves the hidden page. One more run and I collect it too. Kept missing the jump to it on previous runs. 100% complete. 20/22 pages.

I find two more holes to puzzle levels. Thought I screwed up the first one for a sec, but I solve it anyway.
22/22 pages. Boss next I guess? Yep.
Some bullet hell while fighting mind controlled golems. Died once to the golems as I keep getting in too close before hitting them. Did it without getting hit on the second try.


I arrive in a new world after my book grew in size and I jumped into it.
Another puzzle hole... or not. I get shrunk and have to do a maze while in a ball! Ah one of these rotate the board to roll the ball thingies. Once back out I head into one of the levels.

Egg Roll.
I tail swipe some chickens into an enclosure for a letter. I put some eggs in a nest, another letter.
I initially miss the K, but find the Y. I search the area and see nothing. Then I remembered the chicks that were following me and a chicken that was freaking out. I go see if I can escort them. Yep. K obtained.
I beat the stage and find the hidden area all the way at the end. collecting coins while perma-bouncing. Lax timer so pretty easy. I grab the story page afterward.

Piggy Peril.
Lots of hazards while forced into a sideview platformer. I find the secret page early on and have to do hidden areas for letters afterward. I make it to the end with 100% complete.

Another maze thingy behind the costume shop. Easy, though the launch thingies were too easy to snap to while in the ball leading to needing an extra lap lol

To the next level: Pungent Paths.
A quest to help the Carrot King oust the Garlic King =O
I die once in the maze to some garlic fumes, but my progress seems to have been saved. I find the hole for the hidden page at the back of the maze. Some of the rabbits I need to save are awfully chatty. I navigate around the maze multiple times for the letter U, the last thing I need before picking up the story page. I eventually find a bouncy pillow that disappears and moves, I hop on all in the sequence and the U shows up.
14/22 Pages.

I navigate the hub world for the next level: Ripe Rollers.
Pretty straightforward level, but I can't seem to find a way to the letter C. I know where it is. Died a couple times trying to get it and then just decided to finish the level. A couple more lives down the drain before I realize there's a plank up high, where the little bird is sitting on. I slam down on it. Yep. I get the missing letter and finish the level again. 100% complete.

Next level. Harvest Festival.
I spy a clock up on the platforms at the top which results in a timed coin collect and a page. A pretty lengthy level after that, kind of like a series of quests. I have to reach one of the performers without resurfacing as I dig through dirt. Collect some fireflies for the second while platforming around. And the 3rd is some sort of key platform raising shenanigans. 100% complete.
22/22 pages.

Time for the boss.
Aww... looked like a cool boss, some kind of robot insect. All I did was just avoid it's attacks and a couple waves of enemies and I don't get to attack it directly.


Next world =3.
I take a look around and just hop into the nearest level portal. Ladder Match of the Mind.
Climbing level with bouncy pads and levers that extend/retract platforms. I find a hole to the hidden page behind some crates along the way. I find a hidden K by collecting all big coins in an area. Some timing related switch flipping near the end, but still fairly easy. I arrive at the top. 100% Complete.

I enter a hole in the hub world. what will it be? puzzle? maze? something new?
Oh the same puzzles from the first world again. This one looked straightforward, but required some thought.
I hop into another puzzle hole nearby. Some back and forth juggling, but pretty easy.
A third nearby puzzle hole. Starting to get a bit harder I guess.

Melon Madness.
The hidden page is in an area where your vision is obscured by boxes and you have to navigate a small maze of sorts.
Died on the melon roll at the end grabbing the letter Y. 100% complete though =3

I hop into another puzzle hole. Actually had to hit start over on this one as I screwed up =O
Two more resets, but then I solve it, just needed some more back and forths on my first try actually =D

Next level: Crawl, Walk, Run.
Oh, another one of those forced movement levels where you can only continuously keep going forward. Well not that bad, 100% it on the first try.
16/26 page.

Peaceful Place.
Time coin collection for a letter and I find a hole... another timed coin collection lol
This one involves digging though and I plunge off the platforms to my demise once. Pretty chill except for that rotating platform spike thing near the end. Kinda hard to pull off without dying lol
Some bomb launching catbats after that followed by a platform ride up while fighting enemies.

Another puzzle hole. Get stuck for a bit and reset twice before figuring it out =3
And one more puzzle hole. No resets and after some trial and error I solve it =D
22/26 pages.

8-Fold Path.
I quickly beat up some bugs that I need to dig up onto their back first. I collect some moving coins for the L.
I hop on a yellow bird over and over while avoiding falling off moving platforms for the U. Hidden area time coin collection with moving platforms for the hidden page. I collect some coins on some moving platforms for a hidden K and then ring the gong to scare of cat napoleon. 100% complete.
26/26 pages

Boss time. Cat Napoleon and his hulk goon on their airship.
Gotta avoid his goon stomping on me and then a wave of projectiles. Then swing some bombs back at them and try to avoid having the catbats bomb too may of my platforms. I die once. I get hit on every round of the sequence second time round, but make it to the end and watch the two kitties get dipped in... chocolate?
And off to the next world.


A tropical beach world... with a spoiled rich cat lady as this world's opponent.
I hop onto one of the floaties I saw go past while talking to the cat and nab some coins and then hop into a hole for another puzzle after. Another pretty easy statue slide puzzle.
I see another hole to a puzzle level past the level I was heading for. Almost no free spaces on this one. Not that hard though. On to the first level of this world.

Securing the talent.
I navigate around the area as everyone is forced to dance and gather three of the letters. I find a hole leading to a secret area. A Donkey Kong style rolling barrel dodging while platforming up area. No page at the end? Just coins.
I find another secret area hole. time coin collection on erratic moving floaties. Ah this is the hidden page.
I realize I can break the speakers and get to backtrack to everywhere I've been as it's what I'm supposed to do lol
The diva cat shows up and spawns a couple waves of enemies. I beat them to destroy the final speakers and get the page shortly after. 100% complete.
6/18 pages.

I head for the next level: Trapped in Paradise.
One giant lever flip wall turn maze huh. I find a hidden hole for a secret area. A big rotating totem pole with stuff hidden in it and ladders on it. I get all the items and then align it so I can climb up and press a switch to open a path to the hidden page. I pick up enough coins and all the letters for their pages. I get called a peeping fox collecting the final letter from the showers =P
I restore the final sun umbrella and all the guests are happy again and diva cat complains about ruining her photoshoot. 100% complete.

I hop into a nearby puzzle hole once more. I solve it fairly easily though it looked more complex =3
I spy another puzzle hole while looking for the next level and hop in. Got stuck on this one for quite a while. Multiple resets. The difficulty for these is all over the place atm lol
Three pretty hard ones while the vast majority is easy.
Anyway, 12/18 pages.

I find the shadowy golem who's totally not a cat in disguise yet again. Then I come across another puzzle hole.
Not very evident what to do immediately, but I get it somewhat fast.

Next level: Three Cannon salute.
Sideview platform level. I do a time coin collection for a letter and bump into catpoleon and his derpy hulk again.
I then have to dodge rockets which I can also use to blow up explosive barrels to reach things for the rest of the level. Some areas provide a temporary block against the cannon fire. I find a hidden hole in one of them and die just as I grab the hidden page. Somehow still counted? I redo it anyway just to check. Yep.
One more timed coin collection for the last letter. I hop into a hole at the end of the level and board their ship, where I have them blow themselves up with their own cannons. 100% complete.

I find another puzzle hole while exploring further on.
Pretty specific order of sliding the statues but I end up getting it on the first attempt. 18/18 pages.

Time for the boss. On a dance floor huh. Kinda fits the world theme I guess.
First I got to stay on the blue dance floor tiles as the others will go red and burn me. Then after that a disco ball lowers down and shoots lasers in 4 directions at once.
Second phase. Enemies added during the first round and the floor burn carries on into round 2.
Third phase, the same, but the tiles you can stand on shrink and the disco ball shoots additional laser when it comes down while there's also enemies. Suddenly feels like a touhou game. I die once in the third phase and then beat the diva cat off the discoball =D


Next world... an amusement park overrun with ghosts =O
I first find a puzzle hole while taking a look around. Oh it's science cat again. More tilt mazes huh.
There's spiky hazards now and I die twice to them before completing the ball roll.

First level: Carnival Court.
Looks like a bunch of minigames that I need to complete to earn prizes. I head into the first ride I come across to earn a ticket. A race on a dirt track against a chicken. I can dig up boosters and on lap 3 mines appear. Won first try while collecting all the coins =3
I hop on top of bumper cars that move over electrified ground to collect coins and earn a second ticket.
I explore around and earn the 300 coins page along the way. Third 'ride', fortune teller. Or not, she wants her crystal orb back. Later I guess. I navigate the nearby area and do a time coin collection and navigate some rotating balloons for two more letters and unlock the strength smash for a ticket.
I check all the trash cans for the crystal ball and eventually find it. The moment I pick it up some ghostly creatures start chasing me. I take a hit but deliver it safely.
I hop into another ride. Three rounds of moving platforms while fighting waves of enemies. I go down to 1 heart, but clear it for another ticket. Two more rides.
Whack a Mole on a rotating platform. Easy.
Last ride, cannon shooting while the cannon is moving and the targets are stationary... okay. Timing related, but I end up beating it with 5 shots left before running out of ammo.
I unlock all the prizes except for the story page and then end up unlocking the Ferris wheel. I see some balloons of to the side and follow them to the last letter I needed. Then I follow the Ferris wheel around for the hidden page.
I go back to collect the story page. 100% complete.
Pretty big, but also very fun level.

Second level: Terror Train.
Sideview platformer on a moving train. Pretty straightforward and easy. The train gets boarded by some ghosties at some point, which I need to bop on their head for a letter. At the end I detach the final cart which makes another train come up and the story page spawns.
9/18 pages.

I buy everything I can at the costume shop, because why not. I hop into the puzzle hole next to it. Probably the last one in this world. Three deaths to the spikes due to weird handling in this level, but I beat it =D

Third level: Grave Awakening.
I die on some log rolling trying to get the L. I make it next time. Some 'lantern to reveal hidden floors walking' later I make it to the next area. Two invisible paths for the lantern. I head left first for a couple letters and the hidden page. I dig push the tombstones in the order of the amount of candles on them and awaken the first 'mighty ghost'.
Got to make mushrooms glow in the next one, but I follow a timed coin challenge across moving invisible lantern platforms for a letter and end up in another mighty ghost area. Defeat 12 enemies. Easily done. I keep following the path and get the last LUCKY letter. Time to backtrack to the glow mushroom thing.
I brute force the last one as there didn't seem to be a safe path across the spike platforms to it. I awaken the last napping ghost. The assembled ghosts unblock the path onward. Level 100% complete.

Next level: Dungeon Crawl.
Another auto move don't stop level. Meh.
I tailflip a sign early on for the hidden page. I keep misjumping the U and killing myself to try again for it. 4 deaths to that and I clear the level on the first run where I do grab the U. I end up getting the 300 coins and LUCKY pages at the same time lol
Level 100% complete. 18/18 pages

All the people I've helped show up for this boss. Guess it's the last boss?
Pulsating beam bombs. Re-shifting the platform I stand on. Laser eyes. Then I stomp some ghosties and the boss turns itself into one. Make it to phase two in 2 deaths. Had to jump on the ghost versions head apparently.
I eventually manage to reach phase three and die instantly. Phase two is so hectic. All the same attacks, but faster and pretty randomly mixed up and it takes much longer.
Phase 3 is... equally hectic, but the patterns are all jumbled up. And he now splits up upon being jumped on in ghost form. Only die here twice though.


A cutscene and credits later Foxington is unlocked. Bonus world, I guess?
Guardian trials huh. 16 medals to earn. I talk to the people nearby and try one: You Roll Me Right Round.
One death. More tilt maze ball rolling, but now there's buttons to flip the main area that's always sideways in one way.

Roller of a Lonely Heart. Are all the ones in this area tilt mazes? One death and I solve it.
Head over Heels. Pinball machine time lol
Three rounds, 2 hearts lost on the first, but manage to beat it first try =D

I love Fox and Roll - Pinball like again, but horizontal.
Revenge of the Nerd - slanted hill and bouncy pads that move back and forth. I die once, but this one is mostly timing and patience.
Roll with it - Rough shape of a Pyramid with slanted sides and some launch pads and some spikes. I die once, but it's fairly easy.

Upon finishing these 3 I get a little celebratory cutscene. I hop onto the hill afterward and see a big hotdog that says 3/16. So that's what those are for.. gonna have to go back I guess.

I check the last 3 levels first. Roll With It still has a hotdog in it. In that case hotdog on the sign means I've collected it. Which means 'I love Fox and Roll' should have one too, but I just went into that one and didn't see anything... back in again I guess.
Oh.. there it is... guess I'm blind lol
Second missing hotdog obtained. Which level has the third... Roller of a Lonely heart apparently. Re-completed it pretty fast, collecting the hotdog on the slide this time. Skipped this one because as far as I could tell collecting them only resulted in a single coin gain, didn't know there was a purpose for them.

Well that's all the puzzle levels. 6/16 medals. 6/16 hotdogs.
I go to the wrestle yeti area next. First level: The Fluffle Shuffle. Boss fight rematch against catpoleon and his goon, but now they're robots. I kill myself once, due to missing the hotdog basket flying over early on. I die a second time right at the end of the fight. I beat the boss on the 3rd attempt. The bullets in this fight behave so erratically.

Next level: Gotta get back in Time.
Ah the inventor/mechanic cat again, but robot. They put this laser dodge flip switch rubbish on treadmills? Oh no. It was too easy before, but this is a lot harder than any boss fight so far, bar maybe the final boss.
I die like 5 times and then I manage to die right as the boss gets defeated in the background... lol
I defeat it two attempts later.

WriggleMania.
No boss rematch. A wrestling arena with waves of robot versions of enemies instead. 4 rounds. Additional hazards added as it goes along, lasers, spikes, etc. The hotdog bucket shows up along the way. Beat it first try.
The cat inventor boss rematch was far harder lol.
9/16 medals. 9/16 hotdogs. Which leaves CH1P's levels.

First level: Might as well Jump.
A more challenging platforming level with robot enemies huh. I nearly die on the first area, but skate through the rest. Bunch of bounce jumps that rotate with each bounce while dodging projectiles near the end.

Second level: Under Pressure.
'Stealth' level? =O
Basically I have to stay underground the entire time after crossing the starting line. I make it to a section with moving platforms with mines on them and die there. It's a hassle to stay on the platform submerged, as lucky will inch forward at the very least and he can't stay completely still =\
I make it through eventually and arrive at giant hamster wheels. I ride them to the end and get blown up by a mine once.

Third level: A Road to Nowhere... oh no. Crash Bandicoot flashbacks. Harder platform level with treadmills huh.
Make it to the first checkpoint with no real problems. Rotating pillars with treadmills on two sides and spikes on the other two... I die here once... twice... and then I make it. Oh that's the end? Looked longer lol.

Fourth level: I ain't Afraid.
I got to keep up with a ghost that holds the lantern for me for the path that I need to follow to appear. 6 deaths just to get to the checkpoint. blegh.
Second part gets called a doozy by the ghost. Hectic, sure. But I blast through it on the first try so... I beg to differ lol
The first part was far harder for me =\

Fifth level: Step by Step.
Sideview platformer with lots of ladders to swing from and to. Pretty easy, but the sinking ladders right before the second checkpoint get me killed once. I die once on the spikes right after the 2nd checkpoint.
No hotdogs missed so far in these =D
14/16 medals. 14/16 hotdogs.

Sixth level: Can you dig it.
Digging level huh? Oh, another of those 'can't stop, always run levels'. meh.
This one was pretty chill. Just run until you bump into the pillow thingies and they'll change color and you go in the other direction. Back and forth over and over while flipping some switches for new paths and dodging spikes and enemies.

Should now be on the final level: Top That.
Platforming level with timed platforms that rise up out of the goo when I hit a target like switch.
After the first checkpoint the platforms that rise are entire sections. Back to a mix of both after the second checkpoint. Only died once on this level.

16/16 Medals. 16/16 hotdogs.
Another couple cutscenes. The end I guess =3
I load back in to see what the hotdogs were for.
Ah man, the hotdogs were just for a hotdog vendor costume? lame.

A very fun game to play. There are a couple pretty challenging levels, but most of them are just fun levels to play =D
The bonus world was good, except for that ghost that has to guide you level. That one was just not fun to do.

 

[ReKoil]

Transformers: EarthSpark - Expedition

Wondering if this is a sequel to another games based on that intro... apparently not. Looked it up. The intro seems to be referencing the cartoon this is based on.

Looks like I can only talk to the person the game wants me to talk to. Tried talking to the other transformers, no response.
Combat tutorial. Guess this is a brawler. Standard fighter game combo stuff. Beat it fast and got the 'Gold' reward... some random parts?
Jumping tutorial. Feels a bit clunky, but still pretty easy.
Shooting tutorial. Took me a bit to find the 3rd target, but still managed to get gold on this too.
Transform/drive tutorial I guess. I unlock being able to transform and do a lap around the starting area for another Gold medal.
Optimus calls for a mission. Tutorial over I guess.

After a custcene I explore the area and then head to the marker. Seems this area is just a hub world or something.
Canyon Road - 0/10 & 0/3 of something. Collectibles?
Cards and Glyphs apparently. I explore the initial area and beat up some robots at a mandroid base, which unlocks the map. Oh, this reminds me very much of Far Cry. Enemy camps to liberate, secondary missions, side stuff indicated. Looks like a fairly big area too. I explore the other way next before progressing. More powerups and smashable crates and a gap I can only jump with Nitro, which I don't yet have.
Back to the base I cleared so I can go beyond it.

The path splits up and down. I head left and down. Dead end, but a couple enemies to beat. I follow the other path and drive across a ramp across a shorter gap and then find a side mission... which turns out be an easy two lap race against Twitch.
I talk to Twitch again as the side quest icon is still there. Same race, probably in case you don't get Gold straight away, but I did.
I find another sidequest while roaming around. It's a timed beat em up. I get Silver, which seems to count as a fail judging from the dialogue? =O
I do the side quest again and get Gold this time =3

I follow a path I skipped on the way to that side quest and it leads to a camp. I clear it out with little difficulty.
I end up at a gate with 3 times switches I need to shoot. I open the gate. An 'epic camp' apparently. I double back and take a sidepath where I blow up some rocks for a hidden area with a Card. Further back I find a jump that requires a Grapple. I'm forced to ignore it.
I drive all the way back to where the race side quest was and take a side path, which leads back to a gate I can open as a shortcut back to a charge shot barrier, which I also don't yet have.
Back to where the game told me about cards and showed me one I couldn't reach. I take the sidepath this time, which splits, but I need to do both paths as one side has a gate and the other a switch I need to shoot. I grab the card behind the gate. Back to the epic camp.

A couple new enemies, a miniboss, and then I blow up a couple generators and all the nearby gates open. I get told to come back to base in a cutscene after.
A consumable shop and upgrade shop have unlocked. I can buy skills, combos and special attacks.
I buy 'Critical Mode' from the Passive section of the Skill Tree. I then also buy 'Increased health' and 'More Kits'. Damage boost while at low hp, more base hp and also be able to carry more health kits, no brainer to me. Survivability focused upgrades. Was never in any real danger so far, but it's bound to ramp up in difficulty sooner or later.
I also unlock 'Turbo Launch' from Combos. Car mode, yeet yourself at the enemy attack.
I then get 'Beat'Em up from Special attacks. A powerful 1 hit charge attack.
That's all I can buy right now, the cutscene mentioned new combat tutorials though.
I roam the base and find a place to decipher glyphs and a terminal for buying car horns and energy beams. Seems like a bit of waste to me atm, but I buy two of them. I try out the heavy punch at the training dummy room.
I buy a single damage booster just in case and then head back to Canyon Road, which is currently marked 42% complete.

I load back in at the epic camp. I go through a gate which should lead me to a Glyph. After navigating a somewhat lengthy tunnel full of enemies I make it to the Glyph. the cutscene ends asking if I can decipher it. Bumblebee says 'here goes'... and then I can't do anything with it, but the Glyph is marked off as obtained. Probably need to decipher it at the base.
I don't think there's much more I can get by backtracking right now. I head out the northern gate for a new area.

I go past a switch I can shoot to activate an elevator and head to the passageway beyond it to clear out a camp. Then I head back for the elevator to find a Card. I explore the rest of the immediate area and go back to talk to Twitch for a new sidequest. Another race perhaps?
Yep. This one has explosives on the track and it takes me longer to overtake Twitch, but it's still pretty easy.
I press on past a couple turret enemies and then see a path going back, but up, which I follow. Just some pickups. Meh.

I head back and continue on. I blow up a wall for a card off to the side. I find another grapple jump.
I bump into Nightshade who wants me to retrieve some items. Collected the items with 15 seconds to spare as I had some difficulty locating them lol
Need to collect them with 2 minutes to spare for Gold and to pass though. I get it with 1 second to spare for the Gold medal the next time.
Back onward. A Charged shot blockage. A path close-by with walls that can be blown up, which leads to a big health. Aw.
I press on and find a Card on top of a building. I clear a nearby camp and find another grapple spot and a wall I can't blow up from this side. I follow a lengthy path back for some... scrap.

I follow a lengthy passage north which leads me to a back entry into the epic camp. There's a grapple hook thingy along the way. I head into the camp and clear the waves of enemies. Skullcruncher fight. I use a damage boost powerup for this fight for the first time as I'm dealing very little damage to this boss. I win when half his boss bar is down? =O
I destroy the generators and the epic camp is beat.

After the cutscene I head out a side gate and come across an enemy clearing side mission.
Silver Medal and bumblebee talks like I failed again... kinda dumb tbh.
Gonna need to use those damage boost powerups I guess. Second fail, second fight took way too long so abandoned it to retry from the start.
Third try. Made it, but not much time to spare.

I double back through the epic camp and take another exit. I find a race side mission and a mine I can enter in vehicle form, but also see some destructible rocks so I head there first, for a card apparently.
Race side mission. A long one, but it's only 1 lap. A race back all the way to the first camp you clear along some side paths. I clear it first try with 12 seconds to spare before losing Gold.
I navigate the mine path which leads to first camp I cleared as well. Didn't see any diverging paths tbh.

I fast travel to the rail-yard camp I cleared and head south from there, to Mandroid's lair. All the gates are open and nobody's around. It screams being a trap to me. Once inside my exploration gets interrupted by a cutscene. Rude.
Afterward I continue exploring the area. I break a generator and a wall of planks and go deep into a tunnel system and eventually find a single robot. Another breakable barrier and I find some more enemies. After that it's a lot of big empty hallways and corridors until I reach a door that I'll need to open by destroying a generator.
I follow the side path and do just that, defeating a couple enemies guarding it. Beyond the gate is more empty halls and corridors... there's gotta be a huge horde of enemies or a big boss at the end of this.
I eventually drop down in a sewer with some lovely brown water. Skullcruncher again?

Well this was a lot harder than last time, even with the damage boosters. His goons hitting me with rockets through him felt like cheating on their end though.
A door opens and I go deeper and grab an electrified blue cube. Nitro upgrade unlocked. There was a place that required Nitro in this area, but after navigating some tunnels I get a cutscene and am back at the base. I'm not going back there unless I also get the grapple upgrade.
Canyon Road - 92% complete - 6/10 cards & 1/3 Glyphs, for now.


A bunch of cutscenes later I go to the store to see what new stuff I can buy :fufu:
I buy the 'Great Stomp', 'Car Stomp', 'Rocket Stomp' and 'Car Flip' combos.
I go to the Skill Tree and buy the 'Nitrous Charge' & 'Increased Nitro' abilities, and the 'Super Increased Health' passive.

New area available 'Jungle Citadel'. 0/12 cards & 0/3 Glyphs.
I head here. After landing I check the map. Looks smaller than the last area, but still fairly big... or perhaps it's just more compact and not smaller.
I spy a card high up on a cliff right outside the starting area, taunting me, but I can't reach it from this side =\
No real choice but to follow the path to the enemy camp dead ahead for now. New enemy. Guardian. Kinda looks like the riot police with that shield. Kinda annoying to deal with when there's also ranged enemies shooting rockets at me, but I survive the fight with 3 bars of health and clear the first camp.

The map opens up now and I can go in any direction. I head East and find a grapple hook thingy again. I follow the road further and take a lengthy path past multiple fights and timed gates... for a single card... really?
A bit further down the main road heading East I come across and clear out a camp. I go through the tunnel here and head down a mountain side into an area full of ruins. I follow an upper path along to a hidden Card.
There's a camp nearby; might as well head for it. I take out a new turret enemy just outside of it, the previous ones shot a charged laser, this one shoots up missiles of some sort and carpet bombs the area you're in.
Had to heal up a couple times, but I beat the camp =3

I navigate the area and shoot 3 switches to open the gate to the nearby epic camp. New enemy? Gunner Defender. Why is there two? One as a regular enemy and one as the 'Defender' boss. Well whatever, it was hectic, but I managed to clear the epic camp. Inside the camp is a charge cannon blockage I can't clear.

On the map I see a nearby sidequest and another camp. I go for the sidequest first. Timed enemy clearing again.
I gameover once on an annoying shield + ranged enemy combo fight and then crash on the second attempt...
Third attempt, I miss Gold by 3 seconds. Now that's stingy. Another gameover on the 4th attempt due to being too rushed. Forget this. I'm coming back when I got some damage powerups.
I clear out the nearby camp instead. I find another grapple thing for a card.

I return to base from the menu. I buy a whole bunch of powerups and then buy the Shield Overcharge passive in the skill tree. I then head back to the level and back to that side mission. I get the Gold Medal this time and it's rewards.
I return to the main area as there seems to be nothing else in this side area I can do right now.

I find a Nitro jump and clear the area beyond it of enemies and shoot some switches for a card. I navigate around the area afterward and find a camp and clear it. I double back into the direction I came from and go into a tunnel which leads down into the moat around the Mandroid Lair. I find a destroyable wall, but its just a health pickup.
I go back to the camp I just cleared and take the tunnel north.

A winding path going up and I find a breakable wall with a card behind it at the base. I make the Nitro jump and continue into the next area. A new type of side quest from the looks. I explore the area first. I find a nitro jump in a side path, which apparently leads me to the epic camp entrance, to which I could also have gotten from near the side quest... oh well. Back to the side path, but now we're going down. I clear the area and at the end find the grapple thing again. So annoying.
I further explore the main area here and I head to the eastern side area. I make it through a little maze thingy and grab a Card. I go back into the maze and find a couple powerups.
I then clear the nearby camp and take a final missed path in the main courtyard here.

Time to see what this side quest is. Got to defend a couple antenna and keep them above 60% health. I clear it with 90% left on them. Time to go to the epic camp entrance, nothing else left to do here that I can actually do now.
It eats up a lot of my powerups, but I manage to clear the epic camp. Those agile purple enemies are annoying.
I head to a sidepath in this area now that the epic camp is down and gates have opened. I find a race side mission. A race around this section of the ruins, alternating between the upper and lower floor. I screw up horribly early on and am way behind, but overtake Twitch on lap 3 and still get Gold lol

I fast travel back to the basic camp that leads to this area. I explore around and find another tunnel to the moat. I shoot a switch further West and ride the lift it activates. A side mission. Scanner part retrieval... more pink orbs to collect I guess? They're all behind switch activated gates and I have to find the switches first. I get Bronze.
Pretty sloppy on the second run, but good enough for Gold.
I jump down and see a race side mission. Twitch only gets further and further away on this race. I start using the Nitro boost during the race to win the Gold medal. Finally making the races harder huh? =3

I explore the path leading South and find some hidden goodies tucked away in a couple side paths, including a Card.
I come across an enemy camp. New purple enemy 'Brute'. I clear this camp fairly easily, the new enemy is pretty slow and easily dispatched.

I navigate further south and find another grapple thingy. Even further south I find two side missions. I do the northern one first. Another enemy clearing mission. Silver medal. I lose my first attempt due to a single agile purple enemy... annoying things. Even if I dodge they still hit me. I get it on the second attempt, 4 seconds to spare before losing Gold.
To the other side mission... new type? Oh an escort mission. Got to protect Hashtag while she drives around. 60% HP left on Hastag for Gold, I clear it with 80%.

I get a cutscene as apparently I've made enough progress to enter the Mandroid Lair now. Nah, there's still the entire Western area which has a bunch of stuff! I fast travel to the last basic camp I cleared and take the tunnel to the Western area. I navigate through the ruins and find a charged shot door thing that I can't use yet again. And then another one. I find another pink orb collection side mission.
As per the usual the first attempt is failed and I only get Bronze, due to being unfamiliar with the area. I get the Gold Medal on the second attempt. Wait what, why are they talking like I failed... I got Gold? =O

I navigate further into the sawmill area and end up using a lot of health powerups on an annoying agile purple bots fight. Which was apparently an enemy camp... lol
I follow the path of conveyors and end up in a fight with enemies in a room with moving saws.. which only hurt me and not them. Cheaters. I beat them and collect a Card at the end of the path.
I go back and follow the other conveyor path which has saws along the way and ends up with 2 mortar turrets. I continue down the path. More saw dodging with a time switch shooting at the end to open a path forward.

At the top I get a cutcene for the epic camp. It starts with a cramped close quarters fight against multiple enemies. Not too hard, fortunately. The gate opens and I make my way outside at last. I jump down and head right to fight the 2nd wave of enemies. After clearing them I go back as this is a dead end.
A split path of conveyors... I go right, which leads to a single powerup and then goes back. Left path then.
It splits further down, but I go straight and get to fight some more cheating bots amongst saw blades. This one seems easier than the previous one. Afterward a couple gates open and I fight the Defender, which has turrets backing him up. I fight him near the entry so that the turrets don't activate.
I backtrack through the area a bit to destroy the generators. Epic camp cleared.

I go out a newly opened gate and follow a path down to unlock a shortcut gate myself. I go back up and see a race side mission. Two annoying enemies on the path that keep hitting me and wont let me race by... but I still get Gold =3
Nothing else left to do that can be done atm. I fast travel to the camp nearest to the Mandroid base and I head inside.

A cutscene and I fall down. I move ahead and come across a closed gate and there's only 1 side path. I follow the path, defeating enemies as I go, until I reach a big room. Is this the boss already? =O
Grimlock. Well this might be considerably harder than the last one then. I navigate the maze thingy and take down the generators that provide Grimlock's shield... and then he bugs out. I'm forced to click return to base. The generators are dead and Grimlock's shield is up and he is immobile.

I buy all five Combat skills at the base while I'm here. I also buy the 2 remaining Passive skills. I also seem to be able to buy an upgrade for the Charged Shot despite not having it yet... might as well, I guess?I buy two more combos and I'm out of purple stuff.

Back to the level. I enter the Mandroid Base and it starts me off back at the Grimlock maze. Nice.
A cutscene after destroying the 3rd generator. Not bugged this time =D
Now the actual fight starts. I takes a while as he sponges damage really well and has infinite minion backup, but I beat him without any real difficulties.
I go through a newly opened door and then jump up and fall down into the room with another cube thingy. This time it's green. Grapple unlocked.
I navigate up using grapples and lifts and find the way out. A cutscene triggers.
Jungle Citadel - 92% done, 7/12 cards and 0/3 Glyphs.


I'm not gonna backtrack until I have the blast/burst upgrade as well, so next level/area it is!
Glacial Mountain. 0/8 Cards. 0/3 Glyphs.
I destroy someone's house upon landing in the area... =\

I explore my immediate surroundings and head forward. A cutscene.
After the cutscene I move forward and see a split in the path. I head right. It opens up and connects with the other path, but there is a side path, which I ignore for now. I fully explore the initial area and find a grapple, which I ignore for now as well, a charge shot barrier and a side mission. I do the side mission. Pink orb finder again. Probably gonna fail the first time again and get it the second time.
Yep, not even close on the first try. Bronze. These are impossible to get gold on on the first try without prior knowledge. I abandon the 2nd attempt after taking way too long trying to find a faster path.
I take a likely unintended shortcut and get Gold with 6 seconds to spare... why's this one so tight?

I take the side path I skipped earlier and find a Card tucked away in a corner as well as an escort side mission.
70% or more HP remaining for Gold. I finish with 84% HP left on Hashtag. Just a couple small groups of enemies. The turret over a gap at the start was more of a nuisance lol
This seems to be all in this area. Back to the grapple thing. I follow the sequence of grapples into the epic base, seeing a charge shot barrier along the way.

I jump down into the epic base and get pounced on by enemies immediately. Cramped close quarters fight and at some point Bumblebee bugs out while doing a Car ground pound or whatever it's called... forcing me to sit there and wait for an enemy to hit me and knock me out of being immobile.
Second enemy group. New enemy: Mystic. Controllable chakram thrower? Eh I dispatch it pretty easy.
I use a grapple and drop down on enemy group three. Close quarters fight again. Bit hectic.
Time to go find the Defender. One of those annoying agile purple robots. I dispatch it more easily than expected... the slow-mo upon dodging skill I bought really helped me a lot here.
I destroy the generators and the epic camp is beat.

I follow the only new path I can find until I leave the complex behind me, picking up a Card along the way. I enter a big open area eventually and Nova Storm shows up. Boss fight? =O
Skywarp then also shows up. 2 vs 1 ? I knock one of them to half health, and she short-circuits. A cutscene.
Wait that was an enemy camp? Oh well.

The area opens up afterward. I head left onto the ice hoping for a way to the card that got taunted in the cutscenes. A grapple spot next to a tanker. I hop on and obtain the card. I explore the rest of this area. Doesn't seem to be anything here, probably just the area for the race mission I saw near the tanker.
I head back for the race mission.
Only 5 seconds to spare, but I beat it first try despite screwing up with one of the checkpoints which forced me to go back for it lol

I follow a path I saw during the race back into the complex, which leads to a card apparently. I fast travel back to the camp I cleared last and go down the path again as I saw a side mission along the way.
I see ledges going up next to the side mission robot. I follow them first and obtain another Card at the end of this path.
Another pink floating orb collection side mission. No enemies on this one. Oh I can actually follow Nightshade on his one. Following him was previously pretty unhelpful lol
Way too slow though, as usual for the first run on these. Bronze.
Four seconds to spare on the 2nd try. Just barely made Gold. I used Nitro and went way ahead of Nightshade not that I knew where to go lol

I take the only remaining path and do a grapple sequence. It leads to a pit with some enemies at the bottom and some moving platform and on the other end a destroyable wall. I go across and destroy the wall and then jump down the pit anyway for a fight. Afterward I continue to the passage I blew up. I jump down and follow the path to another facility.
I explore around what appears to be an airstrip and find a grapple I can't use yet and 2 blast walls I can't use either. I shoot some timed switches to open a door onward and then explore around more, finding some side quests and walking into an enemy camp. I clear the camp and then go back to near where I entered to drive down a tunnel, which leads me to a Card.

I fast travel back to the airstrip enemy camp. I head to the nearest side mission. Jawbreaker's satellite dish defense again. 70% HP remaining for Gold and I finish with 92% after quickly clobbering a couple waves of enemies.
Next side mission. Race mission. A lengthy race all across the map, all the way back to where I started this level, but I finish with 14 seconds to spare before losing Gold.
Third side mission in this area... another base clearing one. Probably my least favorite of the bunch.
I beat 3 of the 4 groups and lunge at another group... and then I realize this is the 1st group I fought, but they've respawned... what? You're timing me to clear enemies and you let them respawn before I'm even done? wth.
I abandon the mission and restart it. I go the correct way for the 4th group now and earn Gold with 10 seconds to spare.

Nothing left to do but progress in this area now. I go through the door I opened by hitting timed switches. The epic camp intro plays. I fight two big groups of enemies inside the warehouse. Then I take a nitro jump to the other side and go outside for group 3. The initial wave is easy for this group; they're all spaced out and don't really respond to me picking them off 1 by 1. The second wave spawning in seems to fix this.
The Defender loads in after beating the 3rd group. One of those chakram throwers. Easiest Defender yet tbh.
I destroy the 2 generators afterward. The second one had a tricky jump to get to that I missed several times. Epic camp cleared.

I go through the newly opened door and navigate several corridors and end up back outside. I destroy a wall for a shortcut back and see another blast gate I can't do. I press on and enter the Mandroid Lair. Probably gonna be a rematch against those 2 flying decepticons from earlier. A cutscene with Mandroid.
I enter the big cavern and fight multiple groups of enemies and then take a side path. Dead end, but a door at the end.
Another sidepath. Gate at the end. A path blocked a stationary fan I feel like I should be able to break it or slip past tbh =P

Third path. Some grapple jumps into a ventilation shaft. Inside I destroy a turret and shoot some timed switches to activate the ventilation. That fan that was blocking me earlier is moving now. I head over and enter the area. some grapple jumps while dodging moving saws. I jump down at the top. I fight a group of enemies and shoot a switch a bit further down. 1/2. The door opens.

Not sure where to go now. I explore around and find a switch hidden behind a rotating fan near the grapple spots I used not that long ago. The giant excavator/drill starts up now, which apparently opens the locked gate.
I head past it and get chased by a drill... no, multiple drills. Pretty chill initially, but enemies get added eventually and they start going faster. I get caught by them once due to being too slow after smashing some crates for scrap.
I make it past all the drills next time and arrive at a helipad. Yep, the two flying decepticons again.

I initially focus on Nova Storm, but then end up switching to Skywarp and take it down first. Then I finish of Nova Storm. Not a very hard fight tbh. That heavy hitting punch helped speed things up to, used one on each.
A cutscene. 'What could possibly go wrong now' - Bumblee. Guess I'm dying then huh? =P
A new path opens and I blast open a breakable wall. I grab the pink cube inside. Charged shot upgrade at last.
I follow the path outside, blasting a couple charged shot barriers along the way.
Glacial Mountain - 90% Complete - 6/8 Cards & 0/3 Glyphs.


Back at the base. The locked door opened up. Some cutscenes which at one point hint that I should complete whatever is left incomplete first before heading in there.
So naturally, I turn around and head back to buy upgrades and then go grab the remaining collectibles first =3
I buy the two remaining combos and the two remaining abilities left in the Skill Tree. Only Special attacks left, I've got exactly enough purple things to buy the 5 remaining ones so I buy them all.


I revisit Glacial Mountain first. I fast travel to the airstrip camp and blast the charged shot barrier. I navigate up to the top of a tower for a Card. I jump down and blast another Charged shot barrier for a Glyph.
Back to the airstrip camp again so I don't have to walk =P
I go to the back of the big hanger and blow up the final charge beam barrier here. I follow the path all the way to the bottom for a Glyph.
I jump down as I see the next charge barrier not far away. I destroy it and follow the path for a Glyph.
I look around the map and see the final card. I drive straight and do a couple grapple jumps from where I was. I destroy the charge barrier and grab the Card. Done here, back to base. Glacial Mountain - 100%

Canyon Road is next. I load in at the trainyard camp. A Glyph and a card not far North of here. The nearby Glyph is just a short Grapple hop away. I destroy a wall to get out and then go to the long corridor nearby. I find the grapple spots fairly fast and collect the card. 3 cards and a Glyph remain.
I look around the map to see where they are and travel back to the trainyard camp. I go east for quite a while and then see the grapple spot. I follow the path for a Card.
I fast travel to the Eastern epic camp and head west... can't reach it from here. I take the north western exit and go west. I see the grapple and hop up. A charge shot barrier. I destroy it and grab the card behind it.
I fast travel to the very first camp you clear in this area. I navigate the area with the help of the map and blow up a charge shot barrier for the last card here. I navigate towards the original starting point of this level and take a Nitro Jump up. A new area, so I clear out the enemies and head into the cave. I fight more enemies and find the Glyph. Back to base. Canyon Road - 100%

Jungle Citadel. Saved this for last as it has the most left. I start at the actual area start. I see the taunting card again and drive around it the long way for the grapple. I fight some enemies near it and claim the card.
I fast travel to the area's first camp. A Glyph is nearby. I navigate towards it and fight some enemies in front of a grapple. I grapple up and scan the Glyph.

Eastern area next. I travel to a camp near a Card. I head West along the beach for the grapples and follow the path for the card.
Back to the camp, North east now. I destroy a charge shot barrier inside the former epic camp and find the Glyph at the end of the passage.

Northern area next. Looks like just 1 card remaining here. I fast travel to the camp and head West, navigating the ruins. I still remember this one. Followed the entire path, but got denied the final grapple hop toward the card. I grab the card this time.

Western area. I fast travel to a camp here and head south east. I see the blast shot barrier and blow it up. I fight the enemies behind it and follow the winding path up for a card. I then go back to the cave I skipped along the way.
Inside is some grapple spots and some parkouring around for another card.
I head back to where I entered this area and go up the hill a bit and jump down a hole. I shoot the charge shot barrier here. Behind it is the last Glyph. Back to base. Jungle Citadel - 100%


Inside the base I go to the room with Alex and the Glyphs. I inspect the completed runes for what are basically proverbs lol.
I then remember I could upgrade stuff on my car form and buy everything =D
I got one of those green upgrade thingies leftover ? =O
Well whatever. I buy a couple damage powerups and head back to the newly unlocked room at the base.
I open the door and it's... Optimus... can't say I'm surprised tbh. A cutscene and Optimus knocks me out and frees the bosses I had beaten previously and he takes the colorful cubes.

After waking up I take a quick look around and head forwards. Boss fight against Optimus. Was half expecting a gauntlet with the other previous bosses having to be beaten again. Mandroid is a robot? =O
Was expecting something more... human-shaped. Anyway... Optimus Prime fight, with Mandroid firing rockets as support.
I beat him into a cutscene fairly easily. The cutscene hints to grab one of the cubes. I do so and a door opens. Optimus still seems to be taking a nap? Well whatever. I go into the door and shoot a big purple thing. Mandroid doesn't like it. Nothing else here it seems so I go back to the arena.

Optimus comes to greet me and has got a couple new easily dodged attacks. Mandroid shoots more firepower at me and has summoned a bombarding turret, which are more of a pain than Optimus is xD
I beat up on Optimus until he takes a nap again. I grab the next cube and grapple hop to the newly opened door. I follow the passageway to the end dodging some turret fire as I can't reach them to destroy them. At the end I shoot another big purple thing, kinda looks like one of those fancy DnD dices. Back into the boss arena for round 3.

I beat up poor Optimus again, but at least this time he actually hits me a couple times lol
Mandroid shoots a now beam pulse attack thingy. Gotta jump to avoid the terrain pulse. He also ups the rockets by like double. Again Mandroid and his turrets are the bigger threat.
After beating Optimus I grab the third cube and make way down another corridor for another shot at a big purple DnD dice.

Mandroid is a sore loser and I have to fight the other bosses I already beat anyway lol
... or not. The gang shows up and they undo Mandroid's mind control on them. Awwww.... I actually wanted to clobber them again =P
A lengthy cutscene... we get medals for our efforts? Pfft... they better be made of chocolate!
The credits roll.
I take a look around the base afterward, but there seems to be nothing new, guess that's it.


Wasn't sure what to expect of this game. Bought it to give it a try. It was very fun to play =D
The three areas were fairly big and had a decent amount of things to do spread out around them... just wish they locked less stuff behind upgrades you don't get until later.

Some buggy stuff here and there unfortunately. Bumblebee got stuck in place once and I had to wait for an enemy to hit me to be freed. The Grimlock boss fight locked up due to Grimlock bugging out, forcing me to leave and re-enter. Also had a crash at some point. Fairly minor things in the end, which didn't stop the game from being very fun =3

 

[ReKoil]

Balan Wonderworld

I get pulled into WonderWorld by a tall creature with eye-holes in it's hat. Pretty colorful opening.
I load in on a small island in the sky. and pick up some small creatures who seem to want something from me, but idk what it is yet.
I try pressing all buttons and everything seems to be jump or pickup nearby creature lol

Well there's a Glowing thing off to the side. Portal to a world I guess? Oh... 2 doors show up?
Once inside the stage falls apart and gets remade into a castle. I grab a bunch of tear shaped crystal thingies and put a key into a locked... powerup? Tornado Wolf unlocked.
I open the way ahead and grab a Balan statue. I go through a mirror and explore the new area as much as I can before using a key I found here on another powerup thingy. Jumping Jack. I hop over to a hat. Timing minigame with Balan. I mistime once and can't tell if I beat it or not. I explore around as much as possible, but there's paths I just can't reach. I open the door/gate onward. The little bird chick things that have been following me assault some statue thing and I get a pink/purple heart.

I feed the little chick things some gems and wait for them to spin around a wheel and unlock the Tower o' Tims.
I space out for a while and they reach the second sub-objective of 70. First one was 30. The contraption expands... is this just one giant playhouse thing for the chicks? =O
The counter for the expansions seems to just keep going if I idle here... nope they eventually stop at 117/420... of something.

Back to world 1, door 2.
I follow the path and unlock the Elastiplant powerup/costume. I navigate around a bit and find the Footballer costume. Apparently this is just for a minigame. I shoot some panels out of a goal like thingy while a cardboard goalie moves back and forth. No idea if I did that right. Got 15 teardrop shaped gems.
Next portion of the area. Dainty Dragon costume. I can shoot fireballs. I navigate around some more and get the Pounding Pig costume. I also learn what the black goop on the floor does, it eats your costumes. Lost the Elastiplant and went back for it. I also go back for the golden hat thingy and do another QTE Balan superhero thingy. Seems to be the same?
I lose two powerups not realizing the ball thing homes in on me and follows me.
I battle a shadowy goop monster not long after with my Dragon powerup.
I watch the chicks do something to another another portal thingy on a statue and a sphere with a hole for the heart we got in the last level appears. Only got 2 Golden Golden statues here =\

Oh I get loaded into a boss fight straight away after some cutscenes. A big shadowy cut in half wolf with a green fire burning in it. It becomes the farmer of the cutscene afterward. I just dodged it's attacks for a bit and hit it twice as the dragon when it sat on the ground. Needed the pig costume once while it was up on a tower to bring it down.
I get to watch a little musical performance afterward.


A custcene and I ride a train back to the hub world through space. Two new worlds unlocked, but I feed the chicks some gem tears first.
I watch them for a bit and then go to World 2, door 1.

New costume, of course. I explore around a while as the Jellibolt and get stuck for a while until I notice an obscured passage.
I platform around a bit in the Jump costume and find a Golden hat. I mistime the first prompt due to not paying attention, but get the others. Balan is fighting the 'evil looking dude'. New Bubble blower costume shortly after. Worse jump costume imo I navigate across. Dynamic Dolphin powerup. Worse jellyfish imo.
I open a gate and go to another portal statue thingy. Purple heart again.

Back for door 2.
New costume. Telepotter. I fall off trying it out xD
I find a Baseball costume. Another minigame only one? Yep.
I explore around and find some things and am forced to leave stuff behind due to not having the right costume with me.
I finish the level for another sphere with a heart hole. Next boss fight after some cutscenes I guess?

Yep. I fight a big dressed up fish with pointy teeth. I dodge the jellyfish and fling them back in my own jellyfish cutscene. Broadway time again. Oh only 2 of 3 Golden Balans on that fight? Well w/e. I'll worry about whether or not to 100% later on.
Time for World 3.


Door 1: 2 new costumes. a lightsource and a spider one. More stuff I can't reach, but the level is fairly easily navigated. Not a single Golden Balan though.
Door 2: Sickle Thrower & another jump based one, except this one lefts you butterfly jump a lot when the light is dimmed by one of the special thingies in this level. Pretty sure I skipped a section near the end... no way back. Eh whatever. Boss time undoubtedly.
I knock some balls back at a giant... spider... mantis? Anyway, I did it with 3 different costumes in case it matters. Musical time again.
Hmmm no 2 out of 3 again... must've used the wrong costume? Oh well. I'm at 22/25 for the next milestone so I'm probably gonna have to redo something.

I refight the boss I just fought... nope, not related to hitting it with a specific costume. I retry again, going for unique ways of hitting it. I get the 3rd Golden trophy this time.
I refight the chapter 2 boss as well, this time doing something I deemed too risky last time. It gets me the 3rd fighting style trophy.
I double check the Chapter 1 boss as well. I get the missing fighting style trophy here as well. 25/25 trophies, should get some new levels now. Yep, another train ride cutscene. Three new levels available.


Level 4, Door 1:
Soaring sheep costume. Float + ride air currents. Aero Acrobat, lock on to balloon and aerial enemies and lunge at them. Pretty handy.
Box Fox. Timed uncontrollable transformations into an indestructible box....
Pass. Kinda annoying, though I seem to need it to beat some spiky enemies which gets me a golden balan. I miss multiple Golden balans as per usual.
Door 2:
New powerup: shooting lasers while stationary. Meh. I hop on a sky whale at the end of the level though, kinda cool!
Boss time:
Some kind of weird bat/plane hybrid. I purposely keep looping the fight until I manage to ride the balloons to his nose for what I assume to be a fighting style. Musical time again =3

Nope missed one. Must be with the soaring sheep then. Got the acrobat one, knocked a propeller back at him. Back in I go.
Well I figure out what to do, but the boss only gives me 2 chances to do it... gonna need to try again. Blegh.
First chance. Failed again. Manage to get it on the second chance thankfully. 36/50 golden statues to unlock the next series of worlds.


Level 5, Door 1:
New bird costume. Shoot tornadoes while in the air. Followed by a Lickshot Lizard costume later on, which I can use to grapple up those weird balloon things I've been seeing. Weird miniboss, summons minions over and over, but you can just wait for him to pause and hit him. Don't even need to bother with his minions.
Door 2:
New powerups: Hothead and Bowler. The latter is just a minigame thing again. Hothead lets me light torches and fuses.
Also figured out you can open a costume change at the checkpoints during this stage.
Boss time:
A giant bird with a long neck wearing a skull diaper. Pretty easy. Tried to land hits with all 3 costumes present, but unsure if they all counted or not. Musical time. Nope only unlocked two fighting style golden balans.
I refight the boss a couple times to figure out the remaining one. Apparently I gotta jump up at it while it's airborne. Timing it was a pain though.

I feed the tims at the hub for a bit to clear the goal of 420. Next goal: 770.


Level 6, Door 1:
Gear Prince costume, allows me to interact with those gear things I've seen here and there. Pumpkin Puncher, lets my punch reach things out of range. Somewhat useful, I guess?
Door 2:
A bunny that can go through special mirrors which freeze time and a cat that can do a Sanji and air walk/kick. I see a mirror out of reach behind the end of the level. I fall to my demise once trying to get into it with the aircat and then ignore it to finish the level.
Boss:
Some weird chubby cat doll thing. Not hard to beat, pretty sure that only gave me 1 fighting style though. Musical time.
Yep, only one. I go back to fight the boss again. Apparently you can knock down the traffic lights it jumps from. And the final one is hitting the belly while it's in slowdown time mode with the pumpkin puncher... took me multiple retries to figure out that last one =\
50/50 required Balans now though. Three new levels unlocked.


Level 7, Door 1:
New costumes: Speedy cheetah, speed boost when running. Chess cannon thing which shoot when standing still. Floating Flower, glide through the air if you press b. Okay I guess. I got the cat air run on me, seems far more useful....
... well, lost it at some point lol
Pretty big, wide open level.
Door 2:
Tackling Bull costume after a lengthy floating flower section. I can break those black blocks now =3
Boss:
A tiny pawn sized king on top of a king sized... rook? Chess boss. The musical after is in mid air =O
Missed a fighting style. Figures, only used the bull costume lol
I head back in and try to hit it with the floaty flower somehow. Gotta time a jump as he smashes the board so I can float at the boss off it's side.


Level 8, Door 1:
Seal Skater costume. What it sounds like. It's an ice level. Frost Fairy, basically an ice version of that cat costume that could airwalk, but with a seemingly worse range.
Door 2:
Ice Hammer. Attacking powerup. Frost Giant. Same. End up in a situation near the end of the level where I only have costumes that can't jump lol.
Boss:
Kinda reminds me of some weird shaman like thing. Probably got 2 fighting styles. They only hand out jump-less costumes here and there's a section where I need to jump up for a different style =\
I replay Door 1 for a couple Frost Fairy powerups and then try the boss again. Apparently I didn't need the Frost Fairy, just something that can jump lol


Level 9, Door 1:
Castle amusement park. Iron Panda costume, turn myself into an Iron ball. Railrunner costume, one of those costumes that only works in certain areas. Happy Blaster costume. I go kuhb00m. Slow Tortoise; shoot things to slow them down.
Door 2:
Some toy robot costume that lets you ground pound. A Merry Ghost costume that lets me levitate... hmm... no. more like hover over ground to avoid ground based hazards. Apparently you can't hurt enemies while in this costume... had to swap for the miniboss lol
Boss:
Oh look, it's another boss fight where the powerups hinder you and aren't helpful at all for the boss... second time in a row lol
Artificial difficulty inflation I guess? The harlequin tank thing actually beats me as these powerups are horrid for this.
Well I beat it second try, but that's only 1 fighting style lol
One Golden trophy short of unlocking more levels so... back in I go. It takes a couple attempts, but I eventually get both in 1 run. The hitbox for the slowdown boss one is so annoying to get. First annoying boss so far.

Another train ride later I feed my flock of rotund birbs to try and reach the next sub-objective milestone by idling for a bit.


Level 10, Door 1:
X-Ray Ape; reveals invisible blocks and lets me see items out of sight lol ReKoil is X-Ray hacker now
Inky Blaster. Throw paint at stuff, if thrown at a canvas it unlocks stuff =O
Pretty trippy level. Floor swap stuff, going through mirror makes the ceiling or the wall the floor.
Door 2:
Sneaky Chameleon costume. Teleport to big crystals... what if I mess up? Those crystals will be gone =O
Pretty lengthy level, but not that hard.
Boss:
Some kind of haunted painting with a weird blob thing coming out of it. 2 Fighting styles, missed one.
Got it next time round, figure it was during the part where bits of the arena go missing, but I lacked a costume that could jump.


Level 11, Door 1:
Key Mouse, allows me to open costume cubes without unlocking them with a key. Seems pointless, but there's probably an use for it. Bulldozer costume, lets you push bulldozer blocks. Oh I've seen these before. Kinda annoyingly slow though. Iron Apollo costume tucked away to the side. Blast of like a rocket and break blocks overhead lol. Only allows for vertical movement while going up though, and is slow as heck when walking.
Water Blaster. Solidify lava and put out fires. *shrugs*
Door 2:
Ladder Man, set up a climbable ladder to reach high up places. A hidden Fire Blaster powerup. Shoots fire and can walk on lava.
Boss:
Fire Hydrant hydra lol
The Fire Blaster makes me almost invincible, but I lose it to the meteor attack. I beat it with 2 fighting styles probably. Think I know what the 3rd is, but it requires a power not in the fight I think. Yep, it was the bulldozer shoving the box back at it. Why's there no bulldozer powerup then smfh.

I then idle for a considerable amount of time after feeding everything I have to the tims. I reach 7260/7600 for the next unlock.


Level 12, Door 1:
Vacuum costume, suck in enemies and shoot them out like bullets. Invisible Man costume, randomly switch between being visible or not, meh.
Fixer Upper, fix some broken stuffs in certain areas. Pretty fun level, the final spiral thing is kinda hard though. Used a combo of the ladder costume + Fixer Upper's floatiness to partially bypass it.
Back at the hub I feed my fl00fy chicks and wait for the next milestone.
Door 2:
Jolt Tiger, build an electric charge while standing still + no damage from electric stuff.
Kinda annoying miniboss due to the game's reluctance to replenish the powerup/key.
Boss:
Mecha... bull.. like... thing? Not very hard to stay alive. Getting the fighting styles is another matter. Think I got 2 ? Yep.

Kinda wanna go back for the 3rd, but full steam ahead triggers. A scary looking new door shows up which scream *final boss* to me.
Back for the third fighting style I guess =3
Tried a couple times and looked it up. Need a costume that's not in the dang boss fight again. Ugh.
Had to replay the last level for a couple Jolt Tigers, but got the 3rd fighting style straight away with them.

Accidentally entered the final boss out of curiosity at seeing 114/228 balan trophies wondering if I needed them all or not. I last quite a while but get defeated due to no costume replenishment and not being sure what to do, only getting 1 hit in.




Backtrack time.
Level 1, door 1. I use a spider costume for the first missing trophy. I find a hidden costume locked behind a Frost Walker/Space Cat gap. Metal Bad Boy, perform on those stage music note thingies I've been seeing. No trophy from it though, just crystal drops. I use the frost fairy to navigate my way up to a missed trophy up above the first fight and then use the gear costume... which raises a platform up to there, guess I did it the hard way lol
One trophy remains... can't find it. Looked it up, getting a perfect score on a Balan Bout gets you a golden statue. Tried twice. Worst part is you need to defeat the level boss again just to get another shot at it. Guess I'm not 100%ing this game then xD
Level 1, door 2.
One golden statue hidden where a ball comes bursting through a wall. Never checked lol
Second one requires Jumping Jack and Pumpkin Launcher. Pity I lost my Frost Fairy while screwing around in this level, was my last one.
Third is hidden in a cornfield. Can reach it with Jumping Jack, fortunately. End of level so I backtrack after beating the miniboss.
I find a gear prince thingy for another statue. One more. Balan Bout I guess.
Yeah. I give it a try, but only get a 'Good' on the last one instead of excellent. I ain't retrying. Gonna finish the level for one of those rainbow crystals and Level 1 is done imo.

This level showed me something though... I need more Frost Fairies or Space Cats. Their long range navigation over gaps is just too dang good.
So... to the ice level for some farming an potentially some missed statues, I guess.
Well time for some idling at the hub world first after feeding the chicks. Roughly 1k short of the next milestone and they stop... so then, the ice level =P

Hmm... 3 missing statues here, and there's 2 balan bouts. So only 1 missing statue here. Well there's this out of reach place I currently can't get to, probably requires a hidden costume from somewhere. I grab 2 Frost Fairies and complete the level. Probably gonna need to run it another once or twice with how easy it is to lose a costume in some levels.

Level 2, door 1. I grab 2 missed Golden statues with the help of the Frost Fairy and the Floaty Flower thing.
Door 2. I use Frost Fairy and Floating flower to find two more Golden statues and a new hidden Double Jumper costume.

Level 3, Door 1. Oh my. Not a single Golden statue here at all yet? Well I mostly used the Frost Fairy and Double Jump costumes, but had to swap the third costume around a couple times to find 7 out of 8 statues. Last one is a Balan Bout. Pass.
Found a Tiny Elf costume or whatever it's called. Let's me go mini and enter those smol doors I've seen around. Grabbed multiple of them.
Level 3, Door 2. 4 missed golden statues found. 1 of which was just me not realizing you could just hit one of them with the sickle thrower to collect it lol.

Level 4, Door 1. Two more golden figures. 1 in a Time bunny mirror and the other required sacrificing a Frost Fairy. Lame.
Level 4, Door 2. I recover a Golden statue from behind a bulldozer block and use a spider costume to get a new happy horn costume. Another stage related one. Useless so far lol I use the rocket costume much further in the level for another missing golden balan, just barely reaching it.

Level 5, Door 1. I nab 4 more golden statues thanks to Frost Fairy and double jumper. Remaining 2 are Balan bouts, I'll pass.
Level 5, Door 2. I nab 3 missing Golden statues. I also find a new hidden Sickle Slayer outfit. Doesn't seem particularly useful, though I needed it to beat some spiky enemies for 1 of the golden statues. Got the other two with Frost Fairy + Double Jumper and the Flower Glide costumes.

Level 6, Door 1: I find a Golden statue I could've easily gotten but missed and use the Telepotter to get a new hidden costume: Pounding Duck. Ground pounding = shock wave. eh. I use Frost Fairy to 'cheat' my way up a stair that keeps retracting for another golden statue. Or perhaps that's the intended way.
Floaty sheep for a third and done.
Level 6, Door 2: A double jump and a metal crate smash for the first two missing statues. Box Fox + Fire hydrant guy for the third. And a flower float all the way from the end towards a far of crystal for the final one.

Level 7, Door 1: I smash a metal box for 1 missing statue and I manage to grab the one on the glide to the end this time.
Level 7, Door 2: I find a hidden powerup behind a destroyable metal box: Paladin Puncher, better Pumpkin Puncher? *shrugs*
I grab a Golden statue behind a gate using Frost Fairy, though I was probably intended to use Telepotter or Double Jump for it. It's a bit tricky, but I manage to claim another statue with the Frost Fairy in the miniboss area.

Level 8, Door 1: Pretty sure I'm only missing one here as I was here not long ago to farm frost fairies. I manage to get the last statue with the floaty sheep of all things. How'd I not notice those air current indicators before? Well whatever, might as well restock some Frost Fairy costumes, only had 2 left lol
Level 8, Door 2: I scour the level and find a missed statue tucked away off the side near the end. No hidden costume though.
I go back to door 1... didn't check very thoroughly here as I already knew where the statue was, just not how to get it. I find a hidden Amadeus costume near the bottom of the first ice ramp down. Another podium one, so useless.

Level 9, Door 1: I find 3 missed balan statues. 1 I could've gotten earlier, but just never noticed lol. 1 at the end requiring Frost Fairy to get to. One near the start that required hitting a high switch, also used Frost Fairy. Missing 4, 3 of which are Balan Bouts. I did notice a broken mirror, but didn't have any Fixer upper costumes left =\
Level 9, Door 2: I take note of another fixer upper mirror. I grab a statue using the telepotter and one using the tiny elf costume. The other 3 are Balan bout rubbish.

Level 10, Door 1: Already seem to have all non Balan Bout statues here. Found a hidden mirror leading somewhere though. Unfortunately only had 1 doublejumper and lost it in that area... gonna need to restock first. Also low on Frost Fairies already... smh. Four new Double Jumper costumes and 4 new Frost Fairies. Back for... Air Unicorn costume? Another version of Air Cat / Frost Fairy. Seems to last slightly longer. *shrugs*
oh well. I grab 4 of them and restock 2 Xray apes while in this level as well.
Level 10, Door 2: A combination of Air Unicorn and Double jumper gets me my first missed statue. I also spy a mini door, but need to flip the room first for it. The same combo gets me another statue much higher up. Took a while to navigate here. Gonna be here a while I guess.
After flipping the room I find the mini door and go in as the elf for the third statue. I find a new costume while exploring: Double Trouble, create a ghostly 'clone' and become invincible temporarily. Not sure how useful that will be due to the limited time/range, but I stock up on a couple. Also restocked some lickshot lizards at some point due to being out of them. I eventually find the 3rd Balan Bout hat, so I guess I'm done then.

Level 11, Door 1: A Door bugs out... after I shove a bulldoze block onto it's switch, but doesn't open it. I use the Unicorn and double Jump to cross a large gap and circumvent it =D
I actually manage to get all excellents on a Balan Bout I try and get a statue for it. I try another one and end up with 3 excellent and 3 great. Yeah, not gonna bother completing these after all lol
Mainly did them to multiply my crystals as I'm getting way too little of them and I do wanna try and complete the tower of tims thing in the hub world. I see my missing statue all the way at the end, way high up. No way I'm getting to that with my current costumes. Gonna need something that can go way higher... =\
Level 11, Door 2: Well I lose a Unicorn costume straight away due to some bs where the game didn't let me jump when I press jump, great start.
Tiny elf door. Hidden Balan Bout. Meh, I do it for more crystals, but 5 excellent and 1 great... because that pretty much always happens =\
Tricky, but I get a statue I couldn't reach earlier with Double jumper and Unicorn... and then I lose all my equipped costumes on a pain in the neck timed fire section. =\
I stock up on the Hothead costumes because that fire immunity is amazing in this level. I try to telepotter into a sewer pipe for a statue, but end up requiring the vacuum costume to suck it out instead? Err.. okay. xD
I actually manage to get the gold statue for the 3rd and final Balan Bout of the level. One statue remaining, I know where it is, but it's gonna be annoying to get.
yep. Missed and fell down multiple times and had to run through the level over and over to get back up. Eventually managed to get it with my last Unicorn costume combined with double jumper, but it was so finnicky, kinda as if there was an invisible barrier blocking me.

Level 12 is next, but I'm gonna restock the Unicorn first =D
Forced to grab a couple more Double Jumpers as well, due to losing one getting the Unicorn.

Level 12, Door 1: I find a missed statue by jumping over a breakable iron block at the start of the level with double jumper and then use the Unicorn to navigate the area behind it. 3 Remain, probably all Balan bouts. Yep. Had to finish the level anyway though, fixer upper is near the end and I had to stock multiple to make sure I can tend to the broken mirrors in level 9.
Level 12, Door 2: I lose a whole bunch of costumes here while trying to stock up Bolt Tiger due to some annoying bugs, such as platforms I'm supposed to step on not being solid for some weird reason. I find the first missed Golden statue near the first checkpoint behind a laser grid. Been here before, but didn't have anything to smash the metal blocks with at the time. Second statue in a trash can... all I had to do was turn around to see it smh. Third statue underneath a rotating platform. I just sacrifice a Frost Fairy to get it. I ride the rotating platform around for a passage I missed before. Sun Walker costume. If I stand still I get Za Warudo. Situational, I guess? I first try the annoying miniboss fight this time now that I know what to do lol
Still missing 1 non-Balan Bout statue though....
I see it all the way at the end, but my Double jumper got replaced by the sun costume. The platform doesn't go back so I yeet myself off in the invisible man costume in the hopes of trying again. Well nvm, even for double jumper it's too dang high. Might be able to do it with the Rocket, but I can't sacrifice any of my current costumes.

I go back for the broken mirror in level 9, door 1 and follow the train tracks behind it to their end for the missing statue. Also do 2 Balan Bouts and get a statue on one of them, had all but 1 excellent on the second.
Level 9 door 2 for the other fixer upper mirror and it's now time to actually go fight the final boss I guess.
I get wiped out of costumes once more. Aaaand there's a phase 2, because ofc there is.
Somehow beat phase 2 first try, what the.... looked more impressive than it was I guess? Musical time lol
A lengthy cutscene and then it's credits.

"You've unlocked a secret third act" - figured there was more tbh. Those final 2 Golden statues are unreachable with my costumes lol
Completely ran out of frost fairies and air unicorns though.



Level 1: Door 3. I find 5 out of 6 rainbow balan statues, I think I know where the 6th is, but got no way of reaching that high up island.
Kinda annoying level tbh, only 1 checkpoint and multiple statues that require multiple costumes to get to... had to run back to start like 6 times or so just to swap costumes. Also harder platforming wise, but this one was still ok.
Found a new rollerskate costume, but didn't try it out.

Level 7: door 3. Pretty much going counter clockwise with the levels.
I find a triple jumper costume here =O
That should let me get the statue I couldn't reach in level 12, but I don't see it going high enough for the one in level 11. I sit at this costume for quite a while waiting for it and it's key to respawn, to stock up on them. It's a better double jumper, ofc I'm gonna stock up =P
I find all but one statue. No idea where it is, spent like 45 minutes looking for it. Ended up looking it up... I need a upgraded vacuum suit that can suck things through a wall... what. Why just randomly hide one in a wall with no way in? -.-
Anyway I use the regular vacuum costume instead and it lets me grab it as well. What a weird one.

Level 2, door 3. I find a new Leap Frog costume. Gradually increasing height if you press jump right as you land. Seems tedious. Probably doesn't go much higher than Triple Jumper anyway. I stock up on a couple just in case, 4 should be enough for now.
I find all 6 Rainbow Balan statues in this level. The last one had me happy that I had both Air Unicorn and Triple Jumper, made that one way easier.

Level 11, Door 3. It takes a while, but I find all 8 statues. The last one involved a lengthy perilous loop up and around an abyss using triple jumper and air unicorn. Didn't find the new costume though... probably behind that door with a triple switch in front that I couldn't all hit at the same time, probably need some kind of penetration bullet costume for it.

Level 6, Door 3. New costume, the upgraded vacuum. I grab 3 of them as they will probably not see much use and move on. I find 5 out of 6 statues and can't find the last. I decide to look it up due to the vacuum costume in this level, expecting another hidden in a random wall bs. Nope. Didn't look up high enough in 1 spot lol
Got the final one by gliding down from the highest point near the end with the floaty flower all the way to it.

Level 12, Door 3. Well I see the costume, but can't get the required height to pick up the key for it.
I'll just have to settle for getting all 6 statues I guess

Level 8, Door 3. I get screwed over hard at the flipping platform section. I get hit by a hazard, lose 1 costume. I get flipped off the platform directly after, losing another costume. Both being rare and useful ones I'm starting to run low on: triple jumper and air unicorn.
I also realize I can use the dang key mouse for the costume here as the key is again way high up and unreachable... could've done that in the last level too smh.
Well... new costume: Lethal Laser Blaster, the charge/pierce shot I needed before, perhaps? We'll see. I stock up on a whole bunch of them. Lost my last Air Unicorn near the end =\
Got all statues at least.

Guess I get to restock again... yippy. I restock Air Unicorn and go back to level 12, door 3 for the costume. Air Double Trouble. The clone thing again, but the clone can fly this time... I wonder if I can grab statues with this? Would probably get me both missing basegame statues if it can tbh. I try it out by grabbing the egg on a block high up not terribly far from here... nope, just barely can't reach it. Doesn't have the reach I need then. I stock up on a bunch and leave again.
I restock Triple Jumper after that.
I decide to try Level 11, Door 3 again to see if the new Lethal Laser can trigger the 3 switches in a row for me... and it can! As expected the costume is behind the door they open. Airy Apollo. An upgraded apollo with more height... but still the bad horizontal movement when in the air (none at all lol). Not what I need either I guess.

Level 3, Door 3. Got stuck on finding the last statue. Looked it up and I need a costume I don't yet have =\
Apparently this act's costume is there too... =\

Level 9, Door 3. Dumb level. The costume required to make progress is not replenished. You run out, you're screwed. I had 2 and lost one.
Found 1 statue inside a wall, but was expecting it this time as I remembered that wall opening in the original version of this area. Mistimed my jump for the final statue and no way back so now I need to rerun the entire level again... and I find the costume, but the key is out of reach so I need the key mouse for that. Probably gonna require 2 reruns. Blegh.
Well I get the final statue, but plummet to my demise, which means I'm out of the train track runner costumes. Gonna need to restock just to get the costume at the end smh. Back to door 1 and I farm the first train track runner I see.
And back to Door 3 for another attempt for the costume at the end. I lose multiple train runner costumes near the end and opt to reset the level by beating the boss. Dunno why this jump is suddenly so hard.
First try make the jump now. Guess it bugs out if you try it again after beating the level without resetting by defeating the boss?
Which I have to go do again now... Can't get up to the costume with Air Unicorn, need the triple jumper. smh.
Make it back on the last costume lol So many costumes lost on this level =\
Moon Costume. Za Warudo when I move and the world gets to move only when I stand still. Probably useful, but I doubt I'll use it much so I grab only a couple.

Time for some chilling at the hub so that the tims can go reach the next milestone, hopefully....
Or not. All those crystal tears I fed them and the count did not even go up 1.000? Nah I'm not gonna bother finishing this. It's just a giant crystal drain while you sit around tweedling your thumbs, doing nothing but waiting.

Level 5, Door 3. Lucky Bird costume, auto collect nearby items. *shrugs* Doesn't seem to have a particularly good range tbh.
It takes forever, but I eventually find the last two statues. One hidden way up high with platforming. The second one was in a barrel at the end... I pretty much just started using the vacuum on random stuff xD

Level 10, Door 3. Fun level, kind of a nuisance to check for statues though. Find the costume fairly easy though, Dawn Butterfly. This thing's got some pretty good height. Seems to go higher a bit higher than triple jumper, but has better horizontal navigation.
I lose a whole bunch of triple jumpers, but eventually get all statues and clear the level.

Level 4, Door 3. I get 4 statues and end the level as I see no way back up and definitely missed stuff. Oh wait... new cutscene dancy time? Oh, right that was the last new 3rd door.
Afterward I hop back into the level and sacrifice a Floaty flower for a statue I saw last time. 1 remaining. I find the Gear King costume next, it's the costume I needed earlier on. Played all levels and need it in like 2 spots? I'll grab 3 I guess. Should suffice.
I find the last statue in an inside area quite a bit below the initial main island you start next to.



Back to level 1, door 3. I use Triple Jumper + Air Unicorn + Dawn Butterfly to get the missing rainbow statue.
And Level 3, door 3 for the final rainbow statue. I use the Gear King costume to access the area I couldn't get to.
Bullet the Kid costume, multi lock on range attack, which I used to defeat the enemies that spawn in and defeating them earns me the missing statue. I stock up on a couple more costumes and then leave the level. 72/72 rainbow Balan statues.

Back for the final 2 golden statues. Level 11, Door 1 - high up all the way at the end, my notes say. I try Air Unicorn + Dawn Butterfly + Triple Jumper. Dawn butterfly runs out way too fast... does this level count as night time? Let's try Dusk Butterfly. Yep. Guess I could've gotten this long ago then. Only ended up needing to parkour up with Dusk Butterfly and then go across the gap with Air unicorn... oh well.

Next up, Level 12, door 2 - also at the end according to my notes. I rush through the level and use Air Unicorn + Triple Jumper for it. Easy.
183/228 Golden statues. All that remains now is Balan Bouts and I'm not gonna bother with those.

I notice a greyed out costume in act 5 though. I head into door 1 and eventually find a Lucky Egg costume in a far off the path area. Auto attract items but if you jump or get hit the costume breaks. 1 will do fine for something useless like that. I'm done with the game anyway =P



The core gameplay for this game is actually really solid and 90% of the time very enjoyable. It's a pity that it was rather buggy and had several general performance issues for me.
Also really wish they would've given you infinite costumes after beating the final boss, for the ones you've already found that is. Restocking the really good costumes that you pretty much need in the later game over and over and over was pretty annoying.

Took me a really long time to finish playing this due to general business on my end, but I checked my play time and it said 45 hours or more so... that's really good mileage for a 8 euro game lol

 

[ReKoil]

Crash bandicoot 3 - Warped (Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy)

Kinda don't wanna play this, but I feel like I should finish the trilogy, so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Area 1:
Level 1 - Toad Village. Pretty chill level. I break all crates for a change. Game feels oddly well responsive for some reason. Could just be the perpetual lag from Balan Wonderworld I guess xD
Level 2 - Under Pressure. Get forced into playing as Crash =\ Pretty fun underwater level, just nice and chill.
Level 3 - Orient Express. I get to ride across the great wall of China on the back of a big kitty while dodging oriental kite dragons
Level 4 - Bone Yard. I run from a Triceratops in one of those chase sections and then the level becomes a swamp navigation... and then another chase section. Already significantly less fun than the previous levels as I die multiple times in the last section due to annoyingly precise jumps, but nothing horrible yet.
Level 5 - Making Waves. Weird level. Ride a boat while dodging bombs and cannon fire and pirates in row boats. Pretty fun though.

Boss - Tiny Tiger. The boss itself is really easy. The danger here is dodging the lions in between the boss fight stages, which is pretty precise unfortunately.

Area 2:
Level 6 - Gee Wiz. Kinda feels like Toad Village, but harder. The Magic Missile wizards are kinda annoying as their projectiles home in on you and they fire pretty fast. Also discover what happens when one of the toads hits you. They turn into one of Cortex's goons and they kiss you xD
Level 7 - Hang 'Em High. An Arabian town straight out of a fairy tale like Aladdin... full with monkeys carrying jugs, scorpions and mages riding their magic carpets. Not overly hard, but a couple annoyingly placed enemies kill me a couple times.
Level 8 - Hog Ride. Race level. Crash on a bike vs several cars. It takes me multiple tries due to requiring first for the crystal, but at least it doesn't kill you for not getting 1st, which is shocking given how these games generally are. Just barely manage to get first after several tries.
Level 9 - Tomb Time. Exploring a Pyramid. Nothing overly hard tbh, though a couple jumps were more precise than I would've liked.
Level 10 - Midnight Run. Orient Express at night? Kitty riding time! =D
Or not. They made it more annoying. I game over once and then get it on the next try.

Boss - Dingodile. Stupid thing jukes me multiple time and I game over again. I beat it after losing several more lives, but before gaming over again. Not a terrible boss, but it's easy to get juked by it.

Should probably grind some lives. Haven't seen any good levels for this yet so I just grind the easiest one... the first one =P
I get an introduction by the new boss while I load in lol
Like 4 lives per run? Pretty solid. Perhaps I should try that water level too, it was pretty easy. Okay no, only 3 lives and I lost one swimming too close to a mine. Back to Toad Village for the grind, feels like a faster level too.
I grind my way up to 36 lives and decide that should suffice for a world or two.

Area 3:
Level 11 - Dino Might. A pretty lengthy level where I get to ride a Dino after hatching it from an egg and then get chased by a triceratops again later on. I die a couple times, but nothing too bad.
Level 12 - Deep Trouble. Underwater level again. A lot more perilous than the previous one.
Level 13 - High Time. Rooftop level, couple deaths. Some new fire potion throwing ninjas or whatever those are supposed to be.
Level 14 - Road Crash. Ah no, another bike race. This one has more hazards and is a lot more twisty turny. Just please don't be as tight as the previous one....
And ofc it is. This level freaking sucks. I don't even know how to do that rapid turn sequence without flying off the track atm. To make matters even worse there's no reset option you can use when you already know you're not gonna make it (other than quitting to hub, which takes pretty long due to loading times).
Keep getting 6th due to how absolute garbage this level is. The handling of the bike is absolute garbage too. Actually get 2nd eventually, losing first on the final bloody hole in the road. I eventually finally get 1st. What absolute garbage. Well it wouldn't be a Crash Bandicoot game without a garbage level like this I guess?
Level 15 - Double Header. Named after a new enemy apparently. Two goons in 1 set of clothing and I can't knock them out so I need to dodge their attacks when I pass them. A couple deaths, but a pretty solid level. Especially after that previous garbage level.

Boss - Dr. N. Tropy. The boss eats a bunch of lives very fast, but once I start to get familiar with it's attacks it becomes fairly manageable.

Area 4:
Level 16 - Sphynxinator. New Sarcophagus enemy and spear trap. Couple deaths, but still a solid level.
Level 17 - Bye Bye Blimps. Air race level? No, an air fight =O
Feels kinda random, but I did it first try and it was actually kinda fun =3
Level 18 - Tell No Tales. The next boss introduces itself during the loading. Another boat level. Pretty chill actually. Even has checkpoints unlike the previous one. Only die once to a seagull on a crate or whatever it was.
Level 19 - Future Frenzy. A futuristic city with some new enemies to fit the theme. I take a couple deaths, and am for the first time ignore finishing the bonus area as I can't seem to pull off the jump near the end.
Level 20 - Tomb Wader. A tomb level with rising and falling water. Insta death in the water when it's too deep to stand. Kind of annoying, but only a couple deaths.

Boss - Dr. N. Gin. A spaceship vs a Gundam like robot fight in space. This is just a fun 'fight' tbh. I die only once in the second phase of the boss, having taken too much damage in the first phase and being unfamiliar with what's to come.

Area 5:
Level 21 - Gone Tomorrow. The futuristic city returns. I eat a couple deaths due to a new mech enemy that shoots rockets. I kept trying to slide under it, but apparently all you do is wait for it to finish shooting and then spin into it's behind when it shows it. *shrugs*
A couple more deaths on the final section. Neither a good nor a bad level I guess.
Level 22 - Orange Asphalt. Oh no, another bike race. I get 3rd on my first attempt. This one has annoying cop cars going back and forth on the road. 2nd on the second attempt despite some screwups. I get it eventually, this one feels more forgiving than the last one. Not quite as garbage, still bad though.
Level 23 - Flaming Passion. Another middle eastern town rooftop level. I manage to remember that I got a bazooka now and use it to clear both optional areas, though the skull one drains a lot of lives.
Level 24 - Mad Bombers. Another plane level? Last one was fun. Yep. Got to shoot down bombers this time. Still fun =D
Level 25 - Bug Lite. Partially outside, but mostly a tomb level where you're guided by a glowbug who lights your path. Take too long and it runs out and you end up in pitch black darkness. Good luck jumping gaps in that =P
Not overly hard though, lose some lives, but nothing bad.

Boss - Dr. Neo Cortex. Not very hard once you realize what to do. Dodge his attack three times, attack him while his shield is down. Then spin attack some more till he falls into the hole. The more annoying part is dodging the two flying masks that are fighting each other. Lose about 10 lives here and finish with 7 remaining.

Was half expecting either a second stage or another separate fight against just the mask... but nope, credits. Suits me fine, lol.
It's the most enjoyable of the three games, but some of the levels were still garbage. Finished with 32% complete which is absolutely fine with me. Goodbye to this series at last =D

As far as enjoy-ability goes I guess I'd give this one a 6.5/10, the 2nd one a 5/10 and the first one basically just gets a 0/10 =P
They became better as the series went on at least. And I'm glad I did play this one, had some really fun levels.