Fluzzard

"You flew! You flew! Even Fluzzard looks happy! Happy!"

- Jibberjay

Fluzzard is a shy bird character that appears in Super Mario Galaxy 2. His name is a portmanteau of "fly" and "buzzard." He appears in only two galaxies: the Wild Glide Galaxy and the Fleet Glide Galaxy. In both galaxies, Mario (or Luigi) must participate in the Fluzzard gliding minigame, during which Fluzzard acts as a form of transportation for the player. As such, gliding with Fluzzard is the only way to progress through these two galaxies.

Fluzzard is found at the beginning of the level, and an orange Jibberjay tells Mario that Fluzzard is very shy and cannot fly very well, but he can glide. The Jibberjay then notices that Fluzzard seems to be OK with Mario and asks Mario if he will fly with Fluzzard. The Jibberjay then gives Mario a tutorial on how to control Fluzzard and tells him to try to fly through the big sun circle at the end of the race. After Mario completes the race, the Jibberjay gives him a Power Star. Fluzzard later reappears in the Fleet Glide Galaxy and flies again with Mario. After Mario completes the initial races in both of these galaxies, Fluzzard can race the black Jibberjay to see who is faster.

Trivia

 * The Loftwing from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword resembles Fluzzard in some ways, since they both have a similar color scheme, sounds, and controls.
 * When Mario or Luigi collects a Green Star while gliding with Fluzzard, Fluzzard suddenly vanishes, leaving behind a few pink and green feathers while the brother gets the Star.

Alapinta Tuku-Gleiter