Melty Molten Mountains is the 8th course in SM64: Last Impact.
In this course, Mario can pass from volcanic lava to glacier ice without any middle ground, and find multiple ways to reach almost any place he wants to go. Counterintuitively, all those shortcuts can make it easier to get lost until you learn your way around.
Acts[]
Star 1: Clamber Up the Volcano[]
Head left and up the path past the Fire Freezie, then take a sharp turn right and jump on the ledge with yet another Fire Freezie to the right. Go right and look down to see the entrance of the volcano. Drop down onto the platforms floating in the lava, and make your way to the edge of the cave. From here you will have to alternate between wall ledges and the spinning platforms as you make your way to the top. Once there, wait until Mario sees the entrance to the next chamber of the volcano and jump in. A few more jumps and Mario can add the star to his collection.
There’s a shortcut to reach the volcano by using the canon in Ice Side. To reach it, instead of going up the path to the right, go through the passage on the left, and aim the cannon a little above the tree. The entrance to the volcano will be through the passage to your right.
The “longer” shortcut is to walk all the way to the top where the Fire canon is, and from there you can jump on top of the spinning platform, saving you all those platform-ledge jumps.
Star 2: Frosty Veers[]
Make your way to the Ice Side by taking the first left path. Continue on until you reach the 3rd area, (which also contains the teleporter) and you will see the entrance to the slide (a big black hole in the middle of the wall). It’s not a race, so you don't have to complete it in time. Complete it and grab the star at the end of the slide.
Star 3: Hot Cold Puzzle[]
Again there’s a long way and a short way to find your way to the hidden entrance of the puzzle. you can find the long way on your own, but for the shortcut take the first path to the left and use the canon in Ice Side aimed at the corner of the mountain. Once up top, take a turn right and walk across the bridge, then slide onto the small ice patch. Ground pound the patch of ice, and fall through it.
Once inside, grab one of the power-ups in the connecting room and return to the one with ice blocks and puzzles. Look into each one and see what colour the switch is- if it's blue, the water will need to be frozen, and if it's red, the water needs to be melted to liquid form. Use the nearby ice flower and fire flower to freeze and melt the water as needed so that the state of the water matches the colour of the switch in it. Once they match, the path ahead will open up to allow Mario to enter the next room.
In the next room, there are four intersecting paths, with four puddles. If the puddle is frozen, the snowball or bomb will make its way into a slot with a switch in the walls, but any snowballs or bombs that roll into the water will be destroyed.
To spawn the Star, all four switches in the walls need to be pressed with snowballs. Once a snowball is in a slot, it will stay there until it is destroyed with a bomb. The easiest way to solve this puzzle is to enter the room with the ice flower power-up; two out of four puddles will be frozen and two will be melted. It should spawn snowballs first, meaning that the switches can get filled with the first round of rolling things.
Star 4: Search the Silver Stars[]
All of the silver Stars are scattered in the Fire area. As with all the other levels until now, there’s an easy way, and a hard way of doing this. Remember one of the perks of the Ice Flower power-up?
Mario must make his way up the path to the right of the Fire Freezie, and as he reaches the top there will be a lava lake with the first Star waiting across it.
Back on solid ground, there is a hidden pathway in-between the one you just came and the one leading down towards the ledge, that will take you to the second lava lake for the second and third. Go back and now take the left path all the way down, and there will be a silver Star on the island with the Fire Freezie, no need to say be careful while grabbing this one.
Continue forward and up the wide road until you reach the top. Drop down into the left cave (you can see the entrance to the volcano from the first level), and there on a small platform you will find your fifth and final Star. It is recommended that you leave this one last, because the Power Star appears where you collect your last silver, and making your way all the up the wall of the mountain again is a pain.
Star 5: Glacial Red Coins[]
These red coins stick out like a sore thumb on the icy white background... mostly. First, go straight from the beginning of the level and take the first left to enter glacial side. Once there, don’t forget to grab the Ice Flower power-up, you’ll need it to cross the dry ice pond in the next area.
- The base of the tree
- Straight across near the ice flower power-up
- To the right of dry ice pond with the Nep-Enut (blue floating monster)
- On top of the boxes near the dry ice pond
- Frozen in an ice cube
- On top of boxes
- Upper glacier – on the frozen pond
- Upper glacier – on the bridge
(To reach the upper glacier you can use the cannon aimed at the tree). The Star will appear in the first ice area Mario entered, where the cannon is located.
Star 6: Beat the Blarggs[]
Remember those two Ice and Fire blobs floating around that Mario completely ignored until now? Turns out they are bosses, their names are Gargantua Blargg & Nep-Enut (Sweeds, I guess?), and their time has come. In an epic battle between good and evil, fire and ice, crisscross the elemental power-ups to defeat them. Give Gargantua a nice cold shower to cool him down, and Nep-Enut a warm hug to melt his heart. The Star will appear in the neutral area at the beginning of the level.
Star 7: 100 Coins[]
As with many of the beginning courses, its coins-o-plenty over here. Sure it may be confusing, and sure you may feel like you are going around in circles, but there are plenty of enemies to be killed for their precious coins. Also, remember the Ice Flower power-up lets you walk on that hot lava.
Remember, if you are using a power-up when you collect the Star, it will make the power-up disappear, so make sure you are in a safe area.
Enemies[]
- Freezies (ice and fire) - 2 points damage - cannot be killed
- Scuttlebug
- Spindrift
Trivia[]
- In a patch of ice under a red coin, some type of Shy Guy can be seen frozen under the ice.
- Whenever you get a Star in this level, the "you got a Star" theme fails to play.