Prologue

Every one-hundred years, a comet appears in the skies above the Mushroom Kingdom. The comet was so large one year, it filled the skies and sent countless shooting stars raining down. The Toads brought the shooting stars to the castle, where they became a great Power Star. It should have been a very happy time for the citizens of the Mushroom Kingdom.

That was the night of the Star Festival, held once every one-hundred years to celebrate the comet.

Chapter 1

The Star Festival.

It was a beautiful warm summer's evening. The sky was clear with no clouds in sight, leaving the small town beneath covered with a blanket of bright stars. The air was filled with various noises, from the happy chirping of the resident Toads, to the twinkling sound of Star Bits falling from the sky onto whatever they landed on.

The Star Festival was in full swing.

Toad Town played host to the Star Festival and was full of life as Toads were merrily celebrating and collecting all the Star Bits they could find. Along a short path leading away from the town stood the castle of Princess Peach, heir to the throne of the Mushroom Kingdom. The princess was standing with two Royal Guard Toads on a balcony high upon the castle, overlooking the festival. She held in her hands a small star-shaped creature which flew down from the comet earlier that day - she didn't know what this creature was, but it seemed to mean her no harm. Whenever there was a celebration of any kind, the ground floor of the castle would be prepared for guests who wished to visit. It was no different this evening, as there was a grand buffet prepared for the castle's guests.

The gates on the other side of the town swung open to allow entry for its latest guest. It was a short, portly man wearing a pair of red dungarees and matching cap... it was Mario. Princess Peach had especially invited him to be her guest of honour. Mario's brother, Luigi, had already arrived at the festival, and had joined several Toads at the castle buffet, where there was a generous selection of succulent Italian food on offer (something that Mario was looking forward to as well).

As Mario headed for the castle, he was greeted by many resident Toads, most of them showing off their Star Bits.

"Isn't this Star Bit the shiniest you've ever seen?" one particular Toad was overheard saying.

Mario raced towards the castle. He was always pleased to see the princess, more-often-than-not whenever he'd freed her from the evil clutches of his enemy, King Koopa.

As he approached the town, he felt a change in the air. Looking up at the sky, he suddenly saw a fleet of airships swooping towards them. Almost as fast as he saw them, they fired their cannons indiscriminately. He knew what was happening; the evil had returned to disrupt the peace. He knew that King Koopa was about to make another attempt to kidnap the princess. At that point, an airship approached the balcony that the princess was on. A giant, fearsome, turtle-like creature walked casually towards the front of the ship and addressed her.

"Princess Peach!" growled Koopa. "You are formally invited to the creation of my new galaxy!"

Peach stared in disbelief and horror at Koopa; this once-in-a-lifetime festival had just been ruined by that evil turtle! She was also secretly annoyed at the cowardly Toad guard hiding behind her, not that she expected much of them, as their nature didn't make them the best of guards in these situations.

"Gwahahaha!" Koopa's laugh echoed throughout the castle grounds and the small town. "This festival's over!"

Through a window on the ground floor, Luigi watched as the events outside unfolded. He was joined by a group of four other Toads, showing the same cowardice as the Royal Guard on the balcony. Luigi wondered if his brother would be able to reach the castle in time, then they both would take on the might of Koopa and bring an end to this invasion.

Mario ran to the castle as fast as he could, avoiding the cannonfire that was either destroying the town or freezing the Toads in a solid case of crystal. He tried to help the frozen Toads, but he couldn't break the crystals.

"Help! My buddy's trapped in that crystal thing!"

"It's Koopa!"

"St-st-stay calm, everyone!" yelled a Toad, furiously running in circles

There was never anything worse than a panicking Toad.

Mario had crossed the bridge leading to the castle grounds. He could see Peach on the balcony.

"HELP ME!" she screamed.

As Luigi pondered over his and Mario's impending victory, he felt a strong rumble in the floor. Looking out of the window, he saw four airships firing giant chains into the ground near the castle. Mario, on the other hand, was standing on the bridge to the castle entrance and had already witnessed a strange flying saucer firing three lasers in a large circle around the castle. The airships tugged at the chains with all the might they had and slowly pulled out a section of earth with the castle atop.

Koopa had been successful in bringing the Star Festival to an abrupt halt, and had claimed his prize in the form of the princess and her home.

The airships pulling the castle had left the planet's atmosphere and were now hovering in Space.

"Mario!" Peach called out, completely forgetting that Luigi was still inside the castle.

Mario looked up at the balcony, exhausted from dashing to the princess as fast as his little legs could allow. As he regained his breath and was about to ascend to the princess, Kamek, a Koopa Troopa wizard (or a Magikoopa), hurled himself into view and prevented the plumber's access to the princess by blocking the way.

"So long!" laughed Kamek, waving his magic wand. "Enjoy your flight!"

Kamek's wand charged with a brilliant red light, and with all the gusto he could manage, fired a magic ball towards Mario. It destroyed the remaining section of the bridge that Mario was standing on, sending him flying away from the castle.

Luigi looked on, frozen in terror (much like the Toads, Luigi was never too good in a dangerous situation, but he always had it in him that he could be as brave as his brother), he knew that it wasn't going be too long before Koopa's army would enter the castle and seize them all. He had to do something, but what? What would Mario do? As he thought about the next move, a Toad fell from the ceiling in the main hall, where the buffet was being held.

"Hey, guys!" he shrieked, excitedly. "Look what I've found!"

In the Toad's hand was a Power Star.

"Where did you find this star?" Luigi asked. He knew that there were Power Stars in the castle, but they were few and far between and not too easy to get hold of.

"I was just looking at a painting of the princess in one of those rooms." the Toad began to explain. "I wanted to get a closer look at it and I suddenly fell in! Next thing I know, I'm at the top of this slide thing. So I go down it, and I can tell you, I had some close calls, I nearly fell off twice. Anyway, when I reached the bottom, there was a ? box, so I hit it and this Power Star came out. Before I know it, I'm back in the Great Hall!"

Evidently, Koopa's previous spell on the castle's paintings was still in effect. He had created worlds in the paintings and hid Power Stars in these worlds so that Mario couldn't get them and rescue the princess. It didn't work; Mario had reclaimed the stars for the castle and rescued Peach. Inside a portrait of her was a slide which was home to one of the secret Power Stars that was hidden from Koopa

"Maybe we can use it to get out of here." Luigi hoped, knowing full well that it wouldn't work, as the star had just transported that daft mushroom man from the castle's secret slide to the hall.

"We can try." another Toad said. "Anywhere's got to be better than here. Even if we don't know where the star will take us."

They all huddled together and grasped the star. It shone a bright light, nearly blinding its gropers. As the light grew denser and brighter, the party could feel themselves getting lighter - almost as if they were losing a lot of weight. When the light vanished, so had Luigi and the five Toads.