3D Platformer Analysis – Best and Worst Missions of each game

As I’m done talking about the levels, this week’s finisher goes into part of what makes the levels better – missions. This time, I’m going to cover all six games, as I go over the best missions of each game and the worst missions of each game. There are some special cases as well. For instance, Donkey Kong 64 had character-exclusive bananas. My rankings would be different for that.

Super Mario 64

Even for a game with a plethora of short missions that are sometimes repeats, this game isn’t without its best and worst missions. Climbing missions are better when there’s more obstacles. Red coin missions are better when the red coins are neatly distributed and not difficult to complete.

Ten Best Power Stars:

#1 – Stomp on the Thwomp
#2 – Stop Time for Red Coins
#3 – Inside the Ancient Pyramid
#4 – In the Deep Freeze
#5 – Into the Igloo
#6 – To the Top of the Fortress
#7 – Red Coins on the Floating Isle
#8 – Swingin’ in the Breeze
#9 – A-Maze-ing Emergency Exit
#10 – Treasure of the Ocean Cave

Ten Worst Power Stars:

#1 – Cloud Hopping for Coins
#2 – Rainbow Ride’s 100 coins
#3 – Rematch with Koopa the Quick
#4 – Big Penguin Race
#5 – Snowman’s Lost His Head
#6 – Can the Eel Come out to Play
#7 – Big Boo’s Balcony
#8 – The Manta Ray’s Reward
#9 – Elevator Tour in the Volcano
#10 – Red-Hot Log Rolling

Super Mario Sunshine

Because of its story-based structure, the missions are a lot better in Super Mario Sunshine than they are in the other games. At the same time, there’s also at least one (or two) missions where Shadow Mario steals FLUDD like he did to Princess Peach, forcing Mario to rely on his acrobatic moves when crossing the platforms. Just letting you know, this is only out of the 96 shine sprites that you can collect without collecting the blue coins.

Ten Best Shine Sprites:

#1 – Mysterious Hotel Delfino
#2 – The Shell’s Secret
#3 – Red Coins of the Pirate Ships
#4 – Red Coins in the Hotel
#5 – The Manta Storm
#6 – The Shine Gate Sparkle
#7 – Mario Toss
#8 – Turbo Dash
#9 – Boxing Clever 2
#10 – Boxing Clever 1

Ten Worst Shine Sprites

#1 – Lily Pad Ride
#2 – Pachinko Game
#3 – The Watermelon Festival
#4 – Father and Sone Shine
#5 – Red Coins on the Water
#6 – Red Coin Chucksters
#7 – Secret of the Village Underside
#8 – The Red Coin Fish
#9 – II Piantissimo’s Surf Swim
#10 – II Piantissimo’s Crazy Climb

All FLUDD-Less Stages, Ranked:

#1 – The Shell’s Secret
#2 – Dune Bud Sand Castle Secret
#3 – The Hillside Cave Secret
#4 – The Secret of Casino Delfino
#5 – The Secret of Ricco Tower
#6 – The Beach Cannon’s Secret
#7 – The Yoshi-Go-Round’s Secret
#8 – The Secret of the Dirty Lake
#9 – The Hotel Lobby’s Secret
#10 – Secret of the Village Underside

Super Mario Galaxy

This time, I’m not going to do a top ten list, but I can go over the top five stars from each area of the game. Some did it well, others did not.

The Main Galaxies:

Not counting any of the power stars earned from the side galaxies and the prankster comets, here are the five best missions of the game:

#1 – Conquering the Summit
#2 – The Frozen Peak of Baron Brrr
#3 – The Secret Undersea Cavern
#4 – Blasting through the Sand
#5 – Beware of Bouldergeist

And here are the worst:

#1 – Dreadnought’s Garbage Dump
#2 – Revenge of the Topman Tribe
#3 – Fiery Dino Piranha
#4 – A Very Spooky Sprint
#5 – Dreadnought’s Colossal Cannons

The Prankster Comets:

All 15 main galaxies have two prankster comet missions. One of them can be a speedy comet, a fast foe comet, a cosmic comet, or a daredevil comet. Some of these missions were done better, but others were made worse.

Without further ado, here are the best missions of the game:

#1 – Fast Foes on the Cyclone Stone
#2 – Fast Foes of Toy Time
#3 – Sandblast Speed Run
#4 – Topmaniac’s Daredevil Run
#5 – Bouldergeist’s Daredevil Run

And these are the worst:

#1 – Lava Spire Daredevil Run
#2 – Topman Tribe Speed Run
#3 – Cosmic Mario Forest Race
#4 – Underwater Cosmic Mario Race
#5 – Frosty Cosmic Mario Race

The Purple Comets:

The other prankster comet in each level is the purple comet. When you load the level with a purple comet, you’ll have a mission where you have to collect 100 purple coins. Some have a time limit, but others don’t.

Without further ado, here are the best missions of the game:

#1 – Purple Coins on the Summit
#2 – Red-Hot Purple Coins
#3 – Beachcombing for Purple Coins
#4 – The Honeyhive’s Purple Coins
#5 – Purple Coin Spacewalk

And these are the worst:

#1 – Battlestation’s Purple Coins
#2 – Purple Coins in the Bone Pen
#3 – Purple Coins on the Battlerock
#4 – Luigi’s Purple Coins
#5 – Purple Coins on the Puzzle Cube

The Side Galaxies:

Finally, let’s rank the power stars earned from the side galaxies. While this may include grand stars, these are all of the other galaxies that aren’t part of the main galaxies, and they account for 28 of the power stars.

Here are the best missions of the game:

#1 – The Floating Fortress
#2 – The Secret of Buoy Base
#3 – Bigmouth’s Gold Bait
#4 – Choosing a Favorite Snack
#5 – Rocky Road

And these are the worst:

#1 – The Galaxy’s Greatest Wave
#2 – Surfing 101
#3 – Star Bunnies in the Snow
#4 – A Very Sticky Situation
#5 – Racing the Spooky Speedster

Banjo-Kazooie

Whether they are simple or more complex, these missions are a lot of fun. Some have done well, but others have missed the mark. And if some are too hard, the Wonderwing move will improve them, especially if you have the infinite gold feathers cheat turned on.

Ten Best Jiggies:

#1 – Break the Big Egg
#2 – Feed the Croctus
#3 – To the Lighthouse
#4 – Bomb the Buttons
#5 – Find Three Presents
#6 – Crash the Party
#7 – High Rise Huts
#8 – A Watery Puzzle
#9 – Leave It to Beaver
#10 – A Forty-Five-Second Race

Ten Worst Jiggies:

#1 – Mean Mr. Vile
#2 – Light Up the Tree
#3 – Sled Race Part II
#4 – Crab Cakes
#5 – The Deep Key
#6 – Sled Race Part I
#7 – Hoop Laws
#8 – Potty Mouth
#9 – Organ Lesson
#10 – Stop the Props

All Gruntilda’s Lair Jiggies, Ranked:

#1 – Into the Urn
#2 – Where’s the Witch Switch
#3 – Coffin it Up
#4 – More than a Molehill
#5 – A Fishy Witch Switch
#6 – Witch Switch First
#7 – To the Top of the Sign
#8 – To Bee or No Jiggy
#9 – The Long Jump
#10 – The Agony of De Feet

Banjo-Tooie

Not only will jiggies be covered here, but pages will be here as well. While that defeats the purpose of today’s entry since this is about primary collectibles, I did want to get started on the pages too.

Ten Best Jiggies:

#1 – Navigating Generator Room
#2 – Pack the Twinklies
#3 – Ordinance Storage
#4 – Crushing Shed
#5 – Icy Side Train Station
#6 – Cough up 20 Doubloons for a Jiggy at Pawno’s
#7 – Riding the Saucer of Peril
#8 – Winning the Dodgems Challenge
#9 – Defeating Old King Coal
#10 – Braving Power Shed

Ten Worst Jiggies:

#1 – Canary Mary’s Rematch
#2 – Inside the Pot of Gold
#3 – Roar at the Gate on the Mountain with Baby T-Rex
#4 – Find Superstash’s Combination
#5 – Colosseum Kickball Tournament
#6 – Mayan Kickball Tournament
#7 – Defeat Lord Woo Fak Fak in Davy Jones’ Locker
#8 – Protect Chris P. Bacon
#9 – On Top of the Spiral Slide in the Inferno
#10 – Defeat the Tintops

Best and Worst Page Locations:

That’s all for the jiggies in Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie, but let’s go to Cheato pages. So we know that Grunty ripped out pages from Cheato. I’m not sure if she’s doing this because Cheato betrayed her or because he’s making Banjo’s and Kazooie’s quest easier (remember, she’ll delete your save file in the first game if you put in too many illegal cheats), but the cheats feature improved in Banjo-Tooie.

These are the best pages:

#1 – 5 Doubloons at Pawno’s
#2 – In the Icicle Grotto
#3 – Dippy’s Water Hole
#4 – Saucer of Peril Mini-Game
#5 – On top of the Treasure Chamber

And these are the worst pages:

#1 – Canary Mary’s Final Match
#2 – Pot of Gold Mini-Game
#3 – In the Haunted Cavern
#4 – Defeat Weldar
#5 – Unclog Loggo

Donkey Kong 64

Due to the nature of the game, I’m going to just list my three favorite golden bananas from each Kong, my favorite blueprint piece location, and my least favorite golden banana from the same Kong.

Donkey Kong’s Golden Bananas:

He’s the leader of the bunch. You know him well. He has quite a few golden bananas that were fun collecting, but there’s also one that I really don’t like.

Best Banana #1 – Light the Lighthouse
Best Banana #2 – Motorboat vs Seal
Best Banana #3 – Match the Pictures
Best Blueprint Location – In Angry Aztec
Worst Banana – DK Arcade

Diddy Kong’s Golden Bananas:

As the star of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Diddy Kong Racing, Diddy is one of the most entertaining of the Kongs. Best sound effects and some of the best moves.

Best Banana #1 – Diddy’s Minecart Challenge
Best Banana #2 – Free Tiny Kong
Best Banana #3 – Light the Candles in the Lodge
Best Blueprint Location – In Crystal Caves
Worst Banana – Follow the Owl

Lanky Kong’s Golden Bananas:

Lanky is my least favorite of the five Kongs, and has my least favorite golden bananas in general. But I’m only going to pick one bad golden banana and three good ones.

Best Banana #1 – Sound Matching Game
Best Banana #2 – Free Chunky Kong
Best Banana #3 – Quick Grab at the Lodge
Best Blueprint Location – In Crystal Caves
Worst Banana – Rabbit Race

Tiny Kong’s Golden Bananas:

On the other hand, Tiny Kong has some of the best golden bananas in the game, and the best moves. Even my least favorite of the golden bananas isn’t that bad.

Best Banana #1 – Under the Igloo
Best Banana #2 – Race the Beetle
Best Banana #3 – High in the Production Room
Best Blueprint Location – In Gloomy Galleon
Worst Banana – Battle the Spider

Chunky Kong’s Golden Bananas:

As the biggest Kong, Chunky is a tough one. He was involved in two of the hardest bosses in the game, but he also had a few fun golden bananas as well.

Best Banana #1 – Break the Chests
Best Banana #2 – Vase Matching Game
Best Banana #3 – Stealth Lodge
Best Blueprint Location – In Jungle Japes
Worst Banana – Target Practice

That’s it for this week. Next week, I’ll be comparing games on where they are the best and where they are the worst.

Palm City Life 2026