Meteors are rocks that fly through space. They are prominently featured in the Super Mario Galaxy games where they are seen crashing onto planets in various Galaxies, if the Meteors hit the plumbers, they will take damage and be knocked back. Meteors are also utilized by bosses such as Bowser and King Kaliente and are also used as weaponry rather than being merely soaring astroids. Meteors appear to be capable of destroying flooring (seen in the Hightail Falls Galaxy) and even Launch Stars (as mentioned by a Luma in the Gateway Galaxy) but this is never actually seen in-game. Meteors also appear to possess the power to freeze anyone hit by them into Item Crystals as seen when several Toads are frozen upon being hit by Meteors in the game's intro. In all their appearances, Meteors cannot be destroyed.
History
Super Mario Galaxy
Meteors are first seen in Super Mario Galaxy, in this game, they are first seen during the game's opening when Mario reaches the central part of Toad Town. Bowser and his fleet of Airships attack the Mushroom Kingdom hailing down many Meteors which freeze all the Toads that are hit inside Item Crystals. Mario luckily manages to dodge each Meteor during the sequence (if he is hit by a Meteor, he merely takes damage rather than being frozen). Meteors are later seen on the first main planet in the Gateway Galaxy where it is mentioned by a Luma that a Meteor smashed the Launch Star up into five Star Chips which Mario/Luigi must find to reassemble the Launch Star. Meteors are later seen in various Galaxies such as Bowser's Star Reactor, Honeyclimb Galaxy, Bowser Jr.'s Lava Reactor, Melty Molten Galaxy, and Bowser's Galaxy Reactor. In most Galaxies, Meteors serve as obstacles to avoid mainly hailing down from the skies, if they hit Mario/Luigi, he will take damage and be knocked back quite a bit. They can be dangerous as they are also found near edges which have potential danger to knock the plumbers off the edge if they're not careful. In his second boss fight, King Kaliente also has the ability to hail down a flurry of Meteors upon his second hit in addition to summoning his Lava Bouncer cronies. If a Meteor hits the plumbers while they're rolling on the Star Ball, they will be knocked back. Bowser Jr. also has the ability to shoot Meteors from his Airship as seen in Bowser's Galaxy Reactor and Bowser also possesses the ability to spit Meteors himself as seen in Bowser's Star Reactor, in both cases, the Meteors are used to destroy the stairs Mario/Luigi are climbing to reach Bowser.
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story / Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey
A Meteor appears in Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story as well as it's remake Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey. In these games, the Meteor is apart of Mario and Luigi's Special Attack (Bros. Attack in the remake) Mighty Meteor, during the attack, the plumbers will launch a large Meteor in the air and they must be quick to Hammer the Meteor back at their foe(s) for some groundbreaking damage (which also has a chance to weaken the enemy). The Plumbers have to constantly hit the Meteor back with their Hammers, if they miss, the attack ends. If the Bros. complete the attack successfully, the Meteor will shatter and the plumbers may have a chance of receiving a random item. In the original, the Meteor was a reddish brown astroid with a "?" in it's center (similar to the one seen on a Question Block) while in the remake, it resembles a real-life meteor more, is glowing red, and the "?" has been removed.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
Meteors return in Super Mario Galaxy 2 once again retaining their role from the previous game. In this game, they can once again do damage to the plumbers and knock them back rather hard however, they are also shown to have a new ability as seen in the Shiverburn Galaxy, here, it is shown that when they land on ice flooring, they can create brief circular pools of lava which linger for about a few seconds before being consumed by the ice again at which point a few seconds after that, more Meteors come raining down to repeat the process. Variations of Meteors called Ice Crystals are also seen in the same Galaxy which have a similar effect (creating ice platforms on seas of Lava). During the Hightail Fall Galaxy's Speedy Comet mission "Hightail Falls Speed Run", they are seen hailing down on the platforms, some parts of the flooring appear to've been destroyed by the Meteors but this is never actually shown in-game (as Meteors are seen hailing on solid ground as well and not destroying it). Meteors are rather uncommon in this game and can only be found in the Hightail Falls Galaxy and the Shiverburn Galaxy.
Similar objects to Meteors called Meteorites are also seen in this game. They are commonly utilized during the various boss fights with Bowser, they are also used to open the gates in Bowser's Galaxies.
Mario Party: Island Tour
Meteors appear again in Mario Party: Island Tour this time appearing in the minigame Meteor Melee. During the minigame, players are out in a garden in the night and Shooting Stars and Meteors can be seen raining down. Players need to collect as many Shooting Stars as possible whilst avoiding the small Meteors that are also raining down. Players earn points by collecting Shooting Stars however if players are to catch a Meteor, they will lose a point and be knock back briefly so avoid these at all costs, whichever player has the most points when time is up is the winner.
Gallery
Trivia
- Meteors are very similar to the Lava Fireballs found in most mainstream Mario games and are often confused with them however the primary difference is that Lava Fireballs are actually fireballs (or rocks engulfed in fire) that have erupted from volcanoes whereas Meteors are asteroids that fly through space.