Flipswitch Panel

A Flipswitch Panel is a type of switch that appears in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2. It starts off as a blue panel with a question mark on it. The panel turns yellow with an exclamation mark when it is stepped on, but it turns back to a blue question mark if it is stepped on again (the only exception is the Flipswitch Panels in the Gateway Galaxy, which all have circles on them rather than a "?" or "!"). However, a Flipswitch Panel does not change if Mario or Luigi jumps and lands on it again before walking off it; Mario or Luigi must step onto another Flipswitch Panel or a regular platform in order to change the color of the Flipswitch Panel. When all of the Flipswitch Panels are stepped on in a specific area, they turn green and display a square on them. After this has happened, they no longer change. After this, an event occurs within the immediate area. A galaxy called the Flipswitch Galaxy has a planet made completely out of Flipswitch Panels. Sometimes Mario or Luigi is chased by Cosmic Clones on Flipswitch Panel planets.

When Flipswitch Panels are stepped on, a tone is heard. The only exception is the panels in the Rolling Masterpiece Galaxy in Super Mario Galaxy 2, where no distinct tone can be heard and they instead produce a strange atonal sound when rolled on. The tones always remain in harmony with the background music and its chord structure, though they are detached.

Flipswitch Panels reappear in Super Mario 3D World and Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, where they are known as Switch Panels. They act as they did in the Super Mario Galaxy series, except this time a Switch Panel can be changed between yellow and blue even if the player jumps off and back on it without completely leaving the switch. When all Switch Panels in a series are activated, they turn into green "!" Switch Panels. Making the last Switch Panel yellow gives the player 2,000 points. on the Wii U or the button on the Nintendo Switch can also be used to activate the Switch Panels.