Cover art
Super Mario Galaxy is the newest sequel to the series of Mario's 3-D platformers, after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. It uses parts of the canceled Mario game for the GameCube, Super Mario 128. It had 700,000 copies preordered in Japan, and 400,000 in the U.S.
Super Mario Galaxy, unlike other Mario games, takes place in deep space. Most of the game's levels consist of many small planets and planetoids, however some are as big as real life planets. The game has 121 stars to collect, although the player will have to go through the first 120 stars twice (once as Mario and once as Luigi.) to unlock the final star.
Story
Every hundred years a comet passes over the Mushroom Kingdom and rains down magical stars and stardust. Princess Peach invites Mario to her castle to join in the festivities and receive a special gift. As the citizens of the kingdom are celebrating the centennial event, Bowser attacks the Toads with his airships and freezes them in crystals. He "invites" Peach to the creation of his new galaxy and warps into space with her castle to the center of the universe. When Mario tries to save her, a Magikoopa breaks the airborne path to the castle causing Mario to fall onto an unknown land.
Mario later wakes up on a small grassy moon and meets three Space Rabbits who promise to tell Mario where he is if he catches them. When he does so, they take him to meet Princess Rosalina, who tells Mario that the universe is in great peril after Bowser attacked her "ship", the Comet Observatory, and stole the Power Stars, including the seven Grand Stars. Without these, the Comet Observatory is doomed. Rosalina asks him to rescue the Grand Stars in order to defeat Bowser, who took Peach to the center of the universe. Mario then starts his journey across the galaxies, freeing Power- and Grand Stars. Once five of the Grand Stars are collected, the Comet Observatory becomes a starship and takes Mario to the center of the universe.
Here he defeats Bowser in his brand-new galaxy, retrieves the last Grand Star, and rescues Princess Peach. Without this Grand Star, the sun of Bowser's near-complete galaxy undergoes a supernova and becomes a gigantic black hole. Everything in the universe begins to fall in. The Lumas from the Comet Observatory, including the Luma who had faithfully accompanied Mario, throw themselves into the black hole, in order to neutralize it. The Lumas attack the black hole's singularity, and then it soon disintegrates in a massive explosion. Mario appears in front of Rosalina, who had somehow managed to save him from the cataclysm. She tells him that this is not the end, but a new beginning for the universe, and that the universe is an endless cycle, but one that never repeats itself exactly the same way each time.
Mario later awakens in the Mushroom Kingdom near Peach's castle. He sees everyone he's met throughout his adventure celebrating, while Bowser and Peach sit next to him. When he looks in the air, he notices a green light of a new galaxy. "Welcome! Welcome new galaxy!" Mario exclaims, as the camera zooms out into space, revealing that the whole universe has been merged into one giant galaxy, but the galaxy Mario saw in the sky is not shown. If the player continues with the file, Rosalina will say if you collect all 120 Power Stars, the player can travel the new world. If the player has finished the game with 120 stars, after the credits Rosalina and a group of Lumas appear on the planet Mario started on at the beginning of the game. Rosalina says "I'll be watching you from the stars," and flies off to the Comet Observatory. Then the white Luma is shown to be alive, now residing on the small planet. Finally, if the player has just beaten the game with 120 stars with Mario, a Luigi tab will appear with him saying "Super Luigi Galaxy!".
The Luigi Story goes exactly the same as Mario's. Even the Luigi in Mario's story is still Luigi. When the player has defeated Bowser and continue with the Luigi story, Rosalina will again say if Luigi collects all 120 stars, the player can travel to a new world. When the player collected 120, the player can travel to Grand Finale Galaxy, the new world and the same new galaxy Mario saw in the ending movie. This galaxy is parallel to the Mushroom World. This explains why there are two Luigis. The last 121st star can be found here.
