Super Mario 3D All-Stars has been out for a few days now, and I’ve been digging returning to these old 3D classics — especially Mario Galaxy. The game originally popped on the Wii, one of the most popular consoles of the last few generations, and the game holds up really well. Who doesn’t love exploring tiny planets and hunting down stars?
And it’s always 120 stars. That’s how many are in Super Mario 64, so that’s how many are in Super Mario Galaxy! Right? Okay, I have something terrible to admit. I never actually knew there were 121 stars in Super Mario Galaxy. Honestly, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping you guys didn’t know that too. This game came out in the early days of Youtube, and we didn’t have easy access to endless information — and you have to do an absurd amount of work to get this final star.
Getting The 121st Star In Super Mario Galaxy
Getting the 121st Star is no easy feat for one simple reason — Super Luigi Galaxy. After collecting all 120 Stars in Super Mario Galaxy, you’ll be able to save Luigi in an inverse of Luigi’s Mansion — Mario saves Luigi from a haunted house, instead of the other way around.
Super Luigi Galaxy puts you in control of Mario’s bumbling brother Luigi. He can jump higher, has less friction in his movements, and takes longer to reach his top-speed when running around. Basically, he’s harder to control — and to get the last star, you have to re-collect all 120 Stars with Luigi. Look, I have more than enough patience to get all 120 Stars and unlock Luigi. I absolutely did not have the patience to redo everything with Mario’s less-cool brother.
But, we’re talking about the 121st star. After getting all 120 Stars with both Mario AND Luigi, you’ll unlock a special bonus area called Grand Finale Galaxy. This is the final zone, a truly special place that I seriously doubt many of us managed to reach. The zone is Princess Peach’s castle from the beginning of the game — and there are 100 Purple Coins to collect here.
It’s pretty cool to replay the first area and get a chance to explore in full detail. Finding all 100 Purple Coins gets you that last 121 Stars — but seriously, it’s more like 241 Stars.
In the sequel, Luigi is just a playable character. That’s a whole lot more tolerable than replaying the game with a lame version of Mario. But I’ve got to give props to the original Super Mario Galaxy, it gave us something cool at the end of a long completionist road. I totally can’t say the same for Super Mario Sunshine and that lame postcard you get for 100%-ing the game.
