@Zero
For the Sand Kingdom one: Yes, use a Bullet Bill. Don't forget to shake in addition to holding Y to speed.

For the art one you mentioned, try looking in Cloud Kingdom.

For the Secret Paths:
Wooded Kingdom - This one will depend on which kingdom you chose to visit first, Wooded or Lake. It'll either be found in Metro Kingdom or Seaside Kingdom.
Seaside Kingdom - This one will depend on which kingdom you chose to visit first, Seaside or Snow. It's either going to be in Mushroom or Bowser Kingdom.
Bowser's Kingdom - This one is in Cascade Kingdom.

I totally forgot to shake lol. Small little details holding me up.

I now have everything now except the final moon.

Is it going to destroy me?

@Zero You got all that in four minutes?! Impressive.

I also forgot about it. It's funny how we totally ignore the on-screen prompts in front of us when they'd actually be helpful, hee hee.

Anddddddddddddddd that's a wrap. Slightly disappointed by the last run not being nearly as hard as some of the last runs in other recent 3D Mario games (it probably could have been but it gives you so much health back continually that almost the only way to die is to fall off) but I'm glad to finish up and be able to move on with my life!

Slightly tempted to collect a bunch of coins so I can buy other outfits but then another part of me is like... why would you do that?

My review will be posted soon.

@Mop it up I had already done most of them! The tip for the sand kingdom one helped though!

I totally forgot to do that with the Bullet Bill too, lol. I thought the final level's difficulty was perfect, though. Just hard enough to feel impossible at first without actually being impossible once you know what you're doing.

Zero said:

I sort of wonder if noobs who never played Mario 64 would ever think to do that? I only did it in that game because literally controlling a camera was a whole new experience for me so I was doing it all the time.

This is something I think about a lot with older more obtuse games. I never "traded secrets on the playground," so I'm really lost as to how I ever figured some of this stuff out. I almost wonder if the secrets weren't actually as amazing as I remember them--back in the day finding out that you could pop the top off the pyramid in Mario 64 was mindblowing, but I figure if I played that game for the first time now I'd find secrets like that pretty quickly due to playing these games more methodically.

I'm definitely more methodic now, plus we probably have a better idea of the language of games, so to speak, so we know what to look for. With that said I used Hint Toad a lot, there's just so much packed into these stages that without hints I feel like I'd have to sweep every kingdom like 10 or 20 times to find everything.

It's actually weird to me when I think of how I play games now because when I'm just casually thinking about it I'd say yeah, of course back in the days I had more time and played games more and got way deeper into them faster! But if I think about it harder it's like... no, I didn't? For instance I remember not even getting around to going through, for instance, world 7 in Super Mario Bros. 3 until months after I had the game. I was more ok with just "beating" a game (in that case, using warps) and not worrying about all of the extra content. Nowadays I play through every level in a 2D Mario game in a month or two, not to mention get all of the coins and unlock the bonus stuff blah blah blah. I must actually play games more now?

Which sort of makes sense when I think about it, because games were just one of my hobbies back then. I skateboarded a lot, did sports, played guitar (when I got older), actually had friends that I hung out with regularly, etc. Now if I'm not making games I'm probably playing them... or watching Netflix here and there.

I didn't know there was a first person mode either... I'm guessing you press the right stick?

Granted, I just figured out you can swing the camera behind by pressing a shoulder button.

@mrbiggsly

That first person mode, It's actually required for something in the game too. Later on. Not for the main story.

I FINALLY GOT THIS GAME!

IT IS AMAZING

I AM IN LUNCHEON KINGDOM

I GOT THE GAME 2 DAYS AGO

I LOVE IT

THAT IS ALL

The tone of this video was a little "extreme" for me, but its content is pretty fascinating:

@Pokefreak911

Sounds like you're doing it right.

Finally playing this game. I bought it day one, but as some of you might remember, I was trying to decide if I should play it, or make a Christmas gift. I went with the gift.

I'm on the 3rd or 4th world and loving it. My 7yr old son is playing it too, and while I'm more about moons, he's charging thru the story. Little things in this game just scream Nintendo charm.

Almost at 600 moons now, still having a lot of fun.

Some of the later unlockable suits are really awesome.

Going through and getting all the moons right now. This might be the best Mario game ever for me, at least the 3D ones. It's nearly perfect.

One small gripe... because moons are SO plentiful, I wish it didn't go to the cut scene every time you got one. It doesn't break up the flow that much, but for random ones like sitting on the park bench , I wish it'd just do a quick animation. That so far is my only complaint.

I’m baffled that some people feel spoiled about the reveal of the Mushroom Kingdom by the reveal of the Mushroom Kingdom.

@Brandon

I would suppose they are disappointed in the fact they couldn't just run around at that moment. That's probably the logic behind it. It was one of the most enticing teases in the game for sure.

@DrFinkelstein

I liked it. It was a great 'Oh cool!" moment, closely followed by "I can't wait to get there!".

Yeah I loved the way they did that. Anticipation is a great feeling.