With Stalagmite Cave done, I stayed in the same room and moved into the next course: Ice-Crystal Tower. Every time I enter, there’s a Goomba waiting to start something. I’ve made a point of ignoring it unless it becomes a problem. So far, that’s worked well enough.

The first task was a rematch with King Whomp. I spent enough time practicing the route up to him that it’s become familiar, even if I wouldn’t trust myself to do it without thinking. The fight itself is different this time. Smaller platform, less room to recover, and if you fall, you’re climbing all the way back up to try again. There is a metal box that can help, but positioning matters more here than anything else.

I’ve seen the trick where you phase through him with a ground pound, but I’ve never managed to make it work consistently, so I stuck with what I know. Wait for him to turn away from the box, move in, ground pound, and reset. It’s slower, but it works. Three clean hits later, the fight was done and the star was mine.

Waters of Pain was next, a section I’d already passed through on the way up. The ice behaves more like lava here, which changes how you approach everything. The star itself sits in a box above a small platform, just out of reach unless you commit to the jumps properly. I didn’t quite get it right, clipped the ice, and ended up bouncing onto the platform anyway. Not clean, but effective enough.

Almost the Top lives up to its name. The climb back up is familiar by this point, but the risk doesn’t really go away. One mistake and you’re either back on the snow or falling out of the level entirely. The Spindrifts are the main problem here, each one placed just well enough to knock you off if you’re not careful. This time they stayed out of the way, and the star was taken without issue.

The red coins came next. Some of the jumps here felt worse than the earlier climb, mainly because there’s less room to recover if anything goes wrong. I started the 100-coin collection at the same time, but it became clear fairly quickly that I wasn’t going to reach the total on that pass. Rather than force it, I settled for the red coin star and moved on, knowing I’d come back to the full collection properly.

How High Can You Get? turned into the real 100-coin attempt. The plan was simple enough — climb as high as possible, then use the Wing Cap to cover the remaining platforms. In practice, it didn’t go cleanly. Two separate mistakes, both costing time and momentum, both forcing me to adjust mid-run. Eventually everything lined up, and I was able to collect the remaining coins before reaching the top. Not perfect, but enough to secure the star.

The final star, Very Well Hidden Star, needed the Wing Cap again. The name isn’t exaggerating. The star sits below the starting platform, easy to miss even if you know it’s there. My first attempt went straight past it, which wasn’t surprising given the angle. The second attempt was better. Adjusted the approach, lined it up properly, and this time the landing worked.

With that, Ice-Crystal Tower was done. Another course cleared, and one less area left hanging over the run.