Megaleg

"Megaleg! Destroy Mario!"

- Bowser Jr.

Megaleg is one of the cosmic bosses in Super Mario Galaxy; it somewhat resembles a large, mechanical Snifit. It is found in Bowser Jr's Robot Reactor and is owned and possibly commanded by Bowser Jr.. It will return in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Appearance
Megaleg is incredibly large and lives on a planet just big enough to hold it. It has three long legs, like a tripod, and each leg has tricks and traps designed to trip up Mario. It has a Snifit-like face and fly-like eyes with huge lights beaming out of them.

Attacks
Megaleg shoots Bullet Bills from its underbelly, which consists of various cannons. Megaleg fires them at Mario while he attempts to climb up its legs. It also attempts to stomp on Mario while he runs around Tech Planet.

Introduction
When Mario enters the Robot Reactor, Megaleg is perched on the bottom of Tech Planet. When Mario uses the Launch Star to reach Tech Planet from Mix Planet, Bowser Jr. appears and orders Megaleg to attack Mario.

Strategy
To defeat Megaleg, Mario must run toward its feet and wait until they stomp down, then jump on them and climb up his trap-filled leg, until he reaches to the top where Bullet Bills are ready to chase him. Obstacles on Megaleg's leg include a row of rotating gears which are easy to slip off of and a triple cannon that shoots Bullet Bills.

Megaleg has a large cage on the top of its head; this is its weak point. Several cannons scattered around its head continuously fire heat-seeking Bullet Bills. There are about six coins to find on the edges of the head. To defeat Megaleg, Mario must have a Bullet Bill home in on him as he's near the cage on Megaleg's head, and duck out of the way. The Bullet Bill cannot turn to hit Mario if it is timed right. The crash will obliterate the cage. Once that cage is annhilated, several walls will emerge and start spinning to protect the flashing CPU that controls Megaleg through the Grand Star inside it. Mario must then have another Bullet Bill break the walls and ram into the CPU, thus obliterating the tremendous Megaleg and freeing the Grand Star.

Trivia

 * It was actually called Snifit Bot in Beta images, but was changed.
 * The concept of climbing atop and moving on a large being was originally intended to be used in the final fight against Ganon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, though this was scrapped due to the fact that one would be unable to see Ganon while atop him. It was later reused in Super Mario Galaxy, much to the excitement of the development team.
 * It is one of the four bosses to have its own battle theme.
 * Megaleg's design and functions has some similarities to the original design of the Tripod Walkers from H.G. Wells' novel, "War of the Worlds", such as having search-lights for eyes and three legs.