Saddle Up with Yoshi

Saddle Up with Yoshi is the first mission of the Yoshi Star Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2. The objective is to utilize Yoshi to get around the galaxy.

Layout
The player starts on the Starting Planet at the bottom of a hill that contains ledges, thorny flowers, Piranha Plants, and an Octoomba. At the end of the hill is a springboard that can help the player get up a tall ledge. When the player gets close enough to the Yoshi Egg in the center of the field, a Magikoopa will appear, and defeating it will remove the barrier around the Yoshi Egg, allowing the player to rescue Yoshi. While riding Yoshi, the player needs to make their way across a mud path to reach a large berry. Grabbing the berry with Yoshi's tongue and pulling back will uproot the berry, revealing a Launch Star. Using the Launch Star will send the player to the next planet, along with causing the volcano to explode, releasing Star Bits.

On the small Earth Planet, the player has to find and break a crystal that contains a Launch Star that will send the player to the Tower Planet. The Tower Planet has many vertical ledges the player needs to jump up and cross, while using Yoshi to Flutter Jump over ledges and other obstacles like Thorny Flowers. At the top is a Flower Grapple Yoshi can use to swing to the next planetoid a use a Launch Star to reach the final planet.

The Fossil Planet is a series of upward-scaling platforms with Paragoombas and Spranglers in the gaps. At a few points, the player has to pull out platforms using Yoshi's tongue, much in the same fashion as with the large berry earlier in the mission, or use Flower Grapples to reach higher ledges. At the top of the planet are several Flower Grapples the player has to swing between to reach the Power Star trapped in a large crystal.