The truly challenging levels in SMG start at around 80-90 stars...at least for seasoned gamers.

Glad it's getting a few GOTY awards. :up:

I've realized that if you pick up 50 coins you get an extra life. Picking up 50 coins in one stage is pretty tough right now.

Also, am I crazy or do the number of lives go back down to 4 every time you restart the game? I had about 20 and I saved and went back to play a few hours later to find out that I only had 4.

Can't wait to join in this conversation tomorrow!

Yes they do reset. I would just leave my game running whenever I finished playing so I kept all the lives. However it's not hard to get extra lives so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Check your Mushroom mail....

I had about 20 earlier when I quit. Doesn't bother me. I've never run out, and they are painfully simple to get.

The coins not being worth anything but life points and a life after 50 is annoying. It's more challenging to stomp enemies for the coin so I figured they would be worth something more substantial.

Well remember it's easier to stomp enemies with the homing attack. Jump, spin, then Z. However I like that usually have the choice. If you want star bits, don't stomp. However I like that when I need a coin I can just stomp a baddie and refill.

Thanks to Santa my SMG adventure starts... TODAY!!!

Woo Hoo!! After countless deaths, I finally finished Luigi's Purple Coins. It's a Festivus miracle!

:shrug: I'm at 90 and haven't had a real challenge yet. Still a blast, but not seeing the challenge yet.

A couple of the purple coin levels are tough, and they don't show up until you beat the final version of Bowser.

There is definitely some challenge to be found here, but for the most part, you're right...it's not too painful.

I didn't notice too much of a challenge until a little after 100 or so stars.

I had to hit youtube this morning to figure out how to get to the secret star in the Freeze Frame Galaxy; and even after I got that star, I had a headache and I had to go play a violent 360 game to mellow out. :lol: I'm at 50 something stars and I'm really hoping the stars don't get as hard as you guys say....

So I've heard the horror stories about Luigi's Purple Coins in this thread, and I finally got to that level.

Please tell me this is the toughest that it gets! I died about 5 times before shutting it off, but I don't know if I'll keep playing if there are many more levels like this one. The first few purple coins levels weren't too bad, but I can imagine another day of frustration tomorrow trying to get through this Luigi level.

I would say that's the hardest level.

Definitely hard, but when you get that star, you'll feel like the f'ing man.

The only other one I thought was close was the fire level with the daredevil comet.

I just did that one last night. Frustrating, but far from impossible. Took about 30 minutes worth of tries.

Well, I played it again today and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. As soon as I figured out a plan of attack, it was just a matter of executing it. I got the first 2 stars as Luigi, and then called it quits for the day. Overall, is the game easier with Mario or Luigi? So far, it seems like Luigi runs faster, and he obviously jumps higher, but its tough to stop him once he gets running.

I beat that fire level on one try with Mario and Luigi. I just never seem to have a problem with Daredevil comets. The comets that give me the most trouble are some of the purple coins, and the cosmic comets with Luigi. I think the most annoying level for me as Luigi was the sand level with the purple coins. It was frustrating when his stupid slippery feet would slide off into the sand with 97 coins. Ugh.

I don't know which is easier. When you're playing with Luigi you already know how to get every star, and you don't have that longer learning curve since you obviously are already pretty good at the game. He is awful to keep on a platform, but his jumps are so much higher, that you can breeze through parts that were tougher with Mario. I think it's really a tossup. However the cosmic stars with Luigi are definitely tougher.

So are there only 5 extra lives in the home world?

- by the space ship
- in the middle where the revolving green platform is
- behind the kitchen, under the stairs
- underneath the 'gate' platform above the kitchen (requires red star)
- top of the spiral (requires red star)

Yes, plus the lives you get from Peach in the mail.

Any tips on how to get a bunch of starbits quick? I only have 4 more galaxies as Luigi but one of them is the 1600 starbit hungry luma and I only have 400. I dont know why I have so few, I had plenty when I was Mario.

The only ones that gave me trouble were the Luigi's purple coins leveles.

Galaxy wins another couple GOTY awards! This time from Gamespot:

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And from Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/12/GOTY.jpg

:D