Dusty Dune Galaxy

The Dusty Dune Galaxy is a galaxy encountered in Super Mario Galaxy, for the Wii. It's a desert-themed galaxy, inhabited by many creatures, including Pokeys, Cluckbooms, Dry Bones, and with desert-themed obstacles, such as large seas of sands, floating sand structures, cacti planets and even pyramid-styled planets.

This is a very large quicksand planet with several pyramids, stone platforms, many tornadoes, and a few huge dark sand pits. On one side of the planet, there is a very tall tower with a waterfall of sand pouring down the side. Mario must scale this tower to get to the Power Star for the mission Soaring on the Desert Winds. There is also a underground tunnel with Piranha Plants, Thwomps, currents of sand that can force the player back, and one huge boulder that can be destroyed by Fire Mario. This tunnel is the only way between the beginning and the tower.

This planet is a small stone ring accompanied by four small platforms; on the underside of the largest platform is a Hungry Luma, as well as a few items such as a Life Mushroom, a Rainbow Star, and some Item Crystals. There are also four boulders rolling around the ring.

These three stone planets have a very fast sand current moving on them. The first planet is shaped like a snaking line, the second is a ring and the third is a sphere. When Mario steps in the sand it pushes him forward. On the second planet there are five blue Star Chips that Mario must collect in order to progress. There is a Warp Pipe on the surface of the third planet that leads to the interior and a shortcut to the Maze Planet.

This planet is a disk of quicksand with a two sided maze. One side is tan and the other is gray. This planet features tornadoes, Dry Bones, and a reversible tower that must be used for the mission  Blasting Through the Sand and its Speed Run. This is also the planet in which the mission Purple Coins in the Desert takes place.

There are two disk planets. One has a rising and sinking tower on one side and the other side is barren with falling blocks. The other disk has a sinking glass tower on one side and a rising and sinking tower with a Bullet Bill blaster on the other side.

This planet is a small planet with several poles sticking out of it to measure the tide of the sand. This planet also has many Crabbers, a giant Spiky Plant and several Coconuts. A stump with three coins above it is revealed when the sand lowers.

These are two small planets with a giant Pokey on the northern one and tons of Coconuts on the southern one. The Player needs to defeat the giant Pokey, using the coconuts disposed in the planet. To defeat it, the player must spin in the coconuts, throwing them at the pokey. Then, a Launch Star will appear, taking Mario to the next planet.

There are two double sided pyramid planets. One is accessible while the other is not. On the inside of the accessible side lies a maze of rising and falling sand where Mario must find five Silver Stars. The inaccessible ones are not solid.

These are large cacti that are apparently planets but aren't solid. They only float around the Dusty Dune Galaxy and can't be accessed.

Soaring on the Desert Winds
Here the player must jump from platform to platform, and use the tornadoes to progress. The player then goes inside a shaft in which they need to jump over sand, wheels and blocks to get out. Once outside again, the player has to use the Galactic Tornadoes and wall jump to get up the next structure. Once at the top, the player needs to break the crystal to get the Power Star.


 * Enemies
 * Cluckbooms
 * Boulders
 * Dry Bones
 * Goombas
 * Piranha Plants


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet


 * Names in Other Languages

Blasting Through the Sand
After Mario has defeated some Pokeys and traveled through a few planets in a variety of ways, he will land on a large disc-like planet with holes. Because of the gravity, the planet can be traversed on both sides. To make a large puzzle to reach a distant button which causes the land on the other side to pop up, then if the player runs all the way back to use the higher land to reach the Power Star.


 * Enemies
 * Boulders
 * Dry Bones
 * Goombas
 * Pokey Sprouts
 * Pokeys
 * Thwomps
 * Tweesters


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Ring Planet
 * Speedy Sand Planets
 * Maze Planet


 * Names in Other Languages

Sunbaked Sand Castle
Mario hits a button causing a castle to rise, then travels to a Dry Bones infested planet where he must get five Star Chips. If Mario gets squished with a block that a castle raised up, a castle will stop rising and Mario will lose all of his Health Points in this game. A few planets later Mario must enter a hidden pipe to get into a glass building with a Power Star inside. Unfortunately, the sand begins to rise, and there is no way out, and another gimmick is that the player has to climb the structure upside-down. Also, some boxes must be broken to progress, or the player will be trapped and crushed by the sand and the ceiling.


 * Enemies
 * Bullet Bills
 * Crabs
 * Dry Bones
 * Goombas
 * Piranha Plants
 * Tweesters
 * Spiky Plant


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Disk Planets
 * Rising Sand Planet
 * Pokey Planets


 * Names in Other Languages

Sandblast Speed Run (Speedy Comet)
In this Prankster Comet level, the player must complete the Blasting Through The Sand mission under four minutes and thirty seconds. The only enemies in this level are Pokey Sprouts, Pokeys and Boulders. Tweesters and Thwomps do not appear in this level.


 * Enemies
 * Pokey Sprouts
 * Pokeys
 * Boulders


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Ring Planet
 * Speedy Sand Planets
 * Maze Planet


 * Names in Other Languages

Purple Coins in the Desert (Purple Comet)
This level is accessible when a Purple Comet is in orbit. 100 Purple Coins are on the sand disc. Some are in the air so the player has to use the Tweesters. The player is not timed on this mission.


 * Enemies
 * Tweesters
 * Thwomps
 * Planets Visited
 * Maze Planet


 * Names in Other Languages

Bullet Bill On Your Back
The player has to do the "Sunbaked Sand Castle" level as normal, until the player gets to Sand Tide Planet. Mario will have to find a log and ground pound it, causing a trail of Music Notes to appear. Mario needs to collect all the Music Notes, which will take Mario to a planet with a Bill Blaster and two switches. Mario will need to Ground Pound the blue switch and, at the same time, lure a Bullet Bill into any one of the cages that have risen out of the sand. The cages contain the Power Star, a Rainbow Star, and some Star Bits. Also on the planet, there are many Dry Bones, which the player and the Bullet Bill will have to dodge to get to the Star.


 * Enemies
 * Bullet Bills
 * Crabs
 * Dry Bones
 * Goombas
 * Piranha Plants
 * Tweesters
 * Spiky Plant


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Disk Planets
 * Rising Sand Planet
 * Pokey Planets


 * Names in Other Languages

Treasure of the Pyramid
This hidden Power Star is accessible from "Blasting Through the Sand". The player must traverse the level until they reach the platform near the Boulders, go under the first platform.Then feed a Hungry Luma twenty Star Bits to create a pink Launch Star leading to the bottom of the planet. Once the player is inside the planet, Mario has to collect five Silver Stars in order to get the Green Power Star.


 * Enemies
 * Dry Bones
 * Boulders
 * Goombas
 * Pokey Sprouts
 * Pokeys
 * Thwomps
 * Tweesters


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Ring Planet
 * Pyramid Planets


 * Names in Other Languages

Trivia
This stage is one of the most hated stages in Super Mario Galaxy.
 * The Dusty Dune Galaxy is similarly named to a desert in a SNES game, EarthBound, named Dusty Dunes Desert. This is most likely a coincidence however.
 * The Dusty Dune Galaxy, as well as the Battlerock Galaxy, has the most Power Stars in the game, with a total of seven.
 * On the first speed planet, if the player backflips into the right place, they will be pulled down by gravity and into the sand that causes Mario to lose a life.
 * The music played in this galaxy is a remix of Shifting Sand Land in Super Mario 64.
 * In the underground tunnel, it is possible to defeat the Piranha Plants that are hanging upside down by stepping on them. This can be done by jumping and aiming carefully for their necks.
 * If the player goes in first person view on a certain spot on the sinking tower planet, the player can see a Launch Star hovering between two pyramids. It can only be used by a flying hack. If the player does use it, it will lead back to the sinking tower planet.