Space Junk Galaxy

The Space Junk Galaxy is a galaxy in the game Super Mario Galaxy. Like its name implies, the Space Junk Galaxy contains lots of discarded space junk, including old rocketships, floating debris, and various other objects and platforms.

The Pull Star is used much more here than in many of the other galaxies. Also, the Toad Brigade is found here on a large T-Shaped platform covered in crystals; if Mario frees the Toads trapped in the crystals, the main Starshroom will appear to take Mario to the next location. There is also a hidden wooden planet shaped like Yoshi's head.

The last unique feature of this galaxy is that it has a path that builds itself when Mario approaches it, but crumbles after he leaves. This is later re-used in Bowser's Galaxy Reactor, except the path crumbles after a few seconds automatically. Mario fights two bosses in this galaxy: Kamella and Tarantox.

The starting planet is a small planet with a glass core. A metallic outer shell shaped like a square is attached to the core by small metal triangles. Mario starts out on this planet in only 1 mission. Its core resembles a miniature Prism Planet.

The Prism Planet is a small and long planet made out of glass. It has two metal plates on either side. There are three Item Crystals that contain Star Bits on its surface.

These are two small fields of asteroids that Mario passes through in all of the missions but the second mission. There are two fields one at the beginning of the galaxy and one near the Space Junk area. Mario uses small paths of pull stars to navigate himself through the fields. Strangely one of asteroids in the first field is shaped like an "L". If Mario positions himself correctly he can land on these asteroids by using nearby planet's gravity, as these asteroids do not have their own gravity.

The Orb Planets are three spherical glass planets with Amps moving around them. These planets have a ring of metal around their surface and two metal plates on either side. There are five Star Chips moving about on these planets. After collecting the Star Chips, Mario can use a Launch Star to go to the Rocket Planet.

These planets are big, long, red-and-tan space ship floating around in space. One is encountered in the first and the other is encountered in the third missions of the galaxy. It has two Item Crystals containing coins growing out of its portholes. The one on the route to Tarantox in the third mission, the end of the planet features a Sling Pod, along with a few Scuttlebugs. This planet resembles Olimar and Louie's ship from Pikmin 2.

The Pull Star planets are three large, blue versions of the orb planets with Pull Stars inside of them. These planets act as large Pull Stars that Mario can walk on. The planets seem to amplify the power of the pull stars inside of them seen from the blue glow the planets emit. This means the player is able to grab onto any part of the planets with their cursor and be affected by the pull star.

This planet resembles a tower. It contains some Scuttlebugs. It is also where Mario finds the Toad Brigade, all of them trapped in an Item Crystal. After Mario frees them all, the Starshroom will appear. Various items and a Goomba are also trapped in crystals. On the top of the Starshroom is a Sling Star, which will take Mario to the Space Junk Area.

The only planet in this area is the platform on which Mario starts out on. This planet somewhat resembles the starting planet of the galaxy. The "Space Junk" in this area is made up of Cosmic Platforms. Here, Mario must move around to find that Cosmic Platforms will help him by giving him a floor to walk on. There are five Silver Stars scattered about that, once collected, will combine to create a Power Star. The player however, must be very careful as to not fall off the Space Junk and into a Black Hole. Later, a more stylized Space Junk Area is used for a Purple Coin mission.

Airships
In the second mission, several airships appear. Members of the Toad Brigade are trapped on the airships. Mario must hit a lever on the first airship to open the bridge, leading to a Sling Star and the second airship. The second airship has a Green Shell. Mario must throw the Green Shell at the Treasure Chest to unlock a Launch Star. The third airship has green shells, which Mario should throw at a few enemies on the fourth airship to open the bridge to it. The fourth and final airship is purple and red, different than the other airships. It is also where Mario must fight Kamella. Mario will get a Power Star for defeating Kamella.

The Crystal Planet is a planet that is encountered shortly before the battle with Tarantox. At first, Mario walks on top of it, which is practically a transparent crystal orb. Once he finds the passageway in, he can go under the crystal layer and explore underneath, where there are 1-Up Mushrooms, coins, Star Bits, and Goombas. There is a Launch Star in this planet, which will blast Mario out of its glassy surface, and take him to the Rock Planet. There is also a Hungry Luma on the surface of the planet, which will take Mario to the Yoshi Head Planet.

The Stone Planet is a planet mostly made of gray stone. It has a sort of arch, as seen in the picture. This planet is an entrance to Tarantox's lair. The pre-boss music begins when Mario lands on this planet, and the spider's Sling Pod Planet is nearby. Scuttlebugs also dwell here. The Rock Planet is the first planet in the game to have a Sling Pod and is the beginning of a long path of them. On the last Stone Planet, the player can use the Sling Pod there to get back to the Space Ship, by aiming left and then shooting Mario/Luigi. The gravity will pull Mario/Luigi back to the Space Ship

The Sling Pod Planet is exceptionally large and looks like a giant version of the top of a Sling Pod. In fact, Mario uses a Sling Pod to get to the planet, breaking its shell open and revealing a giant sticky spider web, where he fights Tarantox, who is frozen inside the Sling Pod Planet. Several Coins are also stuck in the web, and can be freed using the Star Cursor to restore some of Mario's health during the battle. After defeating Tarantox, Mario will get a Power Star. There's also a green Toad inside the planet, stuck in a Sling Pod.

The Yoshi Head Planet is a small wooden planet in the shape of Yoshi's head that shoots steam out of its nostrils. This appears to be the third reference to Yoshi in Super Mario Galaxy, the first being the Yoshi game file icon, and the second being the Yoshi Egg planet from the Good Egg Galaxy. This planet is home to a number of Goombas. These Goombas do not release any Star Bits nor coins after they are defeated. When all of them have been destroyed by Mario, he will earn a hidden Power Star. In addition, when Mario defeats two Goombas in a row by jumping on top of them without touching the ground in between, a counting total will appear on the screen beginning with the number 2. If Mario can continue doing this until he defeats a total of eight Goombas, he will receive an extra life. Any further Goombas that are defeated without touching the ground will also earn additional extra lives for Mario. This is the only planet in the entire game on which this happens. This secret feature is extremely similar to the one that is present on the Giant Koopas Planet in the Supermassive Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2. On this planet, if Mario jumps on the shell of one of the three Big Koopa Troopas eight times in a row, and then continues jumping on their shells, he can earn an endless supply of lives.

Pull Star Path
As the name suggests, there are many Pull Stars to be used in this mission. Mario begins at the start and must use the conveniently placed Pull Stars to move to the next area, a planet with crystals. He must then use a line of pull stars to get through a ruin of concrete to the Orb Planets. On these planets, he must get all the Star Chips without getting the Amps. That will create a Launch Star which will send Mario to the Space Ship. Just off to the side of the space ship are the Pull Star Planets which Mario must use to get to yet another pull star path to take him to the Tower Planet. There are several Scuttlebugs on the tower planet which Mario must defeat to get to the top. At the top, all of the Toad Brigade's members are trapped inside crystals. Once Mario frees them, the captain will come down with the Toad Brigade's ship and a launch star to the Space Junk Area. In the Space Junk Area, Mario must travel along the Cosmic Platform path. Using these appearing/disappearing paths Mario must get five Silver Stars from the far reaches of the paths to combine them into one Power Star back at the start of the area. This mission was previously known as Beam Star Trail.


 * Enemies
 * Goombas
 * Scuttlebugs
 * Amps


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Prism Planet
 * Asteroid Fields
 * Orb Planets
 * Olimar's Ship Planet
 * Pull Star Planets
 * Tower Planet
 * Space Junk Area


 * Names in other languages

Kamella's Airship Attack
This mission involves several airships Mario must cross. Once Mario reaches the first airship, he must hit a lever on the first airship to open the bridge, leading to a Sling Star and the second airship. The second airship has a hole that gives Green Shells. Mario must throw the Green Shell at the Treasure Chest to unlock a Launch Star. The third airship has green shells, which Mario should throw at a few enemies on the fourth airship to open the bridge to it. The fourth and final airship is purple and red, different than the other airships. It is also where Mario must fight Kamella in order to obtain the Power Star. Like a regular Magikoopa, she hurls fireballs at Mario, and then throws a green shell which Mario can use to hit Kamella. After two hits Kamella summons Magikoopas of her own, making the battle more difficult. When Kamella is hit the third time, she surrenders the star.


 * Enemies
 * Goombas
 * Scuttlebugs
 * Koopa Troopas
 * Octopuses
 * Magikoopas
 * Kamella (boss)


 * Planets Visited
 * Starshroom
 * Airships


 * Names in other languages

Tarantox's Tangled Web
The player must traverse various planets until they finally break open Tarantox's planet and fight him. Sling Pods are first seen here. Mario must travel through several planets using Sling Pods before getting to Tarantox on the Sling Pod Planet. To defeat it, Mario must use the sling pods all around it to hit the large bulb on its butt. Destroy that and it will flip over, revealing three more red bulbs which Mario must destroy before Tarantox flips back over. Each time Tarantox is hit, it will spray sludge out of it's bulbs and mouth at a faster rate. There are also four bulbs on its side but breaking them serves absolutely no purpose other than to stop them from spraying sludge. When defeated, Tarantox will go flying through its web and a Power Star will come out.


 * Enemies
 * Goombas
 * Scuttlebugs
 * Tarantox (boss)


 * Planets Visited
 * Starshroom
 * Prism Planet
 * Asteroid Fields
 * Crystal Planet
 * Stone Planet
 * Space Ship Planet
 * Sling Pod Planet


 * Names in other languages

Pull Star Path Speed Run (Speedy Comet)
The Speedy Comet mission for this galaxy. Mario must go through Pull Star Path in a time limit of under four minutes.


 * Enemies
 * Goombas
 * Scuttlebugs
 * Amps


 * Planets Visited
 * Starting Planet
 * Prism Planet
 * Asteroid Fields
 * Orb Planets
 * Pull Star Planets
 * Tower Planet
 * Space Junk Area


 * Names in other languages

Purple Coin Spacewalk (Purple Comet)
Mario must collect 100 Purple Coins in the area at the end of Pull Star Path. The coins come in ten bunches of ten on several platforms. The player has only two minutes to collect them all and get the Star.


 * Planets Visited
 * Space Junk Area


 * Names in other languages

Yoshi's Unexpected Appearance
After Mario feeds a Hungry Luma on the Crystal Planet 50 Star Bits, it turns into the Yoshi Head Planet. On this planet, the player must kill all the coinless, star-bit-less Goombas to make the Power Star appear. A counter is kept for the amount of times Mario or Luigi jumps on Goombas consecutively and if the count goes over eight Mario or Luigi will get 1-Ups. Once all the Goombas are gone, a well-deserved Power Star will appear.


 * Enemies
 * Goombas


 * Planets Visited
 * Starshroom
 * Prism Planet
 * Asteroid Fields
 * Crystal Planet
 * Yoshi Head Planet


 * Names in other languages

Trivia

 * A glitch can be found in Tarantox's Tangled Web. The player must go to the stone planet where a Toad is trapped in a Sling Pod. The player must then fire the Sling Pod as far as it will go back along the way that Mario just came. If performed right, the Toad should be standing in midair. Also, if he is flung off toward deep space, depending on the angle, he will either land on the Sling Pod Planet or fall into a black hole and die.
 * The Orb Planets in this galaxy are extremely similar in appearance to the small glass and lava planets from the Melty Molten Galaxy, only slightly larger.
 * This is the only galaxy to have both a Speedy Comet mission and a timed Purple Coin mission.
 * Another glitch can be found in Kamella's Airship Attack. The player must go to the second airship, and long jump off the front of it. If performed correctly, the player shall then fall all the way towards the Tower Planet. However, the player will be trapped there and cannot get back without hacking.
 * There appears to be unused data in the source code of the game for a Cosmic Mario race which was never added in the official release of Super Mario Galaxy, being replaced with the Speed Comet mission instead, likely due to the Pull Stars. However, if the data for the Speed Comet mission is replaced by Cosmic Comet data, the mission can be played like a regular Cosmic Mario race.

Sternenstaub-Galaxie