Course 8: Shifting Sand Land
To reach Shifting Sand Land, enter the door next to the stairs at the start of Peach's Castle. Now go down the basement stairs to the right and continue down the right hallway. When the painting for Lethal Lava Land is in view, hang a left. It will look like you've come to a dead-end, but jump into the wall at the very end and you'll be taken to Shifting Sand Land.
Instructions on how to get each of the Shifting Sand Land Stars can be found below.
Star 1: In the Talons of the Big Bird
Traditional approach: Upon entering the level, run around the sandhill and head straight to the section with the dark quicksand and rotating boxes. In the bottom right corner of this maze area, there's a Red ! Block. Hit it to get a Wing Cap. Fly to one of the pillars rising around the pyramid. When Klepto the vulture flies overhead jump up and touch the Star it clutches.
Instead of dropping where you are, the Star will launch to the far side of the pyramid. Fly over there to collect it.
Faster/Skilled approach: Upon entering the level, run around the sandhill and do a triple jump to land on top of the pavilion on the right. There's a Red ! Block here. Hit it to get the Wing Cap. Fly around the level until you land on one of the pillars rising around the pyramid. When the vulture flies overhead jump up and touch the Star it clutches.
Instead of dropping where you are, the Star will launch to the far side of the pyramid. Fly over there to collect it.
Star 2: Shining Atop the Pyramid
Traditional approach: Once more run around the sandhill and head to the dark quicksand maze area. Hit the Red ! Block to get a Wing Cap. Now fly to the pyramid and land in the alcove on one of its sides that houses a Star.
Faster/Skilled approach: Upon entering the level, run around the sandhill and do a triple jump to land on top of the pavilion on the right. There's a Red ! Block here. Hit it to get the Wing Cap. Fly around the pyramid until you locate the indented section that houses a Star. Land in there and collect it.
Star 3: Inside the Ancient Pyramid
Make your way into the pyramid. You can either do this using a Red ! Block's Wing Cap or by getting there on foot. Wind your way right and up the ramp. Now cross the monkey bars with the Amp circling the pillar. Continue on and jump over the Grindel as it hits the ground.
Go up the pole and then cross the next section of monkey bars. Now jump up the steps and go right. Be careful not to let the Spindel bulldoze you. Jump over it to continue. Now jump up the shifting blocks, head along the narrow walkways while avoiding the Amps.
Next, dodge under the Grindel while it's rising into the air and jump up on the platform behind it. Make your way right to get to the Star.
Star 4: Stand Tall on the Four Pillars
Make your way to the Red ! Block on either the stone pavilion or on the right side of the quicksand maze. Hit the Block to get a Wing Cap. Now use it to fly to the four pillars. Land on each one to make the top of the pyramid spin off, revealing a hole. To make this easier, try ground-pounding when Mario's shadow appears on the pillars.
Jump down into this hole and you'll be face to face with two Eyeroks. To defeat them, you'll need to wait until they're upright wiggling their fingers with their eye open. Hit the eye while they're in this position.
Make sure to dodge their attacks as they try to smash you or swipe you off the ledge. After hitting them both three times they'll die and leave you a Star.
Star 5: Free Flying for 8 Red Coins
Here's how to get all 8 Red Coins in Shifting Sand Land:
- Immediately upon entering the level, turn directly around and head as far back as you can. A Red Coin is hiding back that way.
- Head to the stone pavilion and hit the large brown block at the back to get a Red Coin.
- Now hit the Red ! Block either on top of the stone pavilion or on the right side of the quicksand maze. Use the newly acquired Wing Cap to gather the four Red Coins floating around the pyramid.
- Another Red Coin can be found at the quicksand maze.
- The last Red Coin is sitting in water near the Bob-omb behind the pyramid.
Once you've acquired all eight Red Coins, the Star will appear on the stone pavilion. Hit the Red ! Block in front of the pyramid if you want to fly to it or simply make your way to the pavilion and do a triple jump to get on top.
Star 6: Pyramid Puzzle
Get inside the pyramid and start making your way to the top as you did before. However, this time instead of getting the Star at the top, drop down on to the platform next to the sand waterfall that has a Coin on it. You'll notice that a number appears on Mario's head when he touches.
Carefully jump down to the next floating platform and collect the Coin there. Repeat this one more time. Now jump down into the sand riverway and collect the last Coin there. After collecting four of these special Coins, a Star will appear at the end of the sand riverway.
Star 7: 100 Coin Power Star
Here's how to collect all 100 Coins from the Shifty Sand Land level and earn a Star.
- Grab the brown box near where you enter and it will launch into the air, bounce, and then finally explode into five Coins.
- Defeating Fly Guys makes two Coins appear. Defeat all the Fly Guys you see.
- If you get a Bob-omb to blow up, it will release one Coin. Defeat all the Bob-ombs you see.
- If you can manage to jump and kick a Pokey's head off, you'll earn a Blue Coin. Defeat all the Pokeys you see.
- Use one of the level's Red ! Blocks to get the Wing Cap and fly around collecting the various Coins floating in the air and atop pillars.
- Inside the pyramid, hang an immediate left and you'll see a Blue Coin Button. Ground-pound it to make three Blue Coins appear, giving you 15 Coins total.
- There are several Goombas inside the pyramid. Defeating them will get you one Coin each. Defeat all the Goombas you see.
- There are several Coins scattered throughout the inside of the pyramid. Collect all the lone Coins to make them add up.
- Eight Coins are dangling from monkey bars inside the pyramid. Just makes sure not to hit the electrical Amp enemy while collecting them.
- Within the pyramid, there's another monkey bar stretch with what appears to be ramped terracotta shingles beneath it. Five Coins dangle from these monkey bars.
- When you're almost as high as you can go within the pyramid, you'll come upon 10 Coins.
