Secret Aquarium
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| The Secret Aquarium | |
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| Course Info | |
| Abbreviation | SA |
| Terrain | Water |
| Setting | Day |
| Water | All |
| Course Items | |
| Coins | 56 (  ×40 •  ×8)
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| Enemy Coins | None |
| Stars |  ×1
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| Star Navigation | |
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| Overview | |
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The Secret Aquarium is a secret stage accessed by entering the hole in the wall on the right side of the Jolly Roger Bay room. It consists of a room fully filled with water; it contains 40 yellow coins that can be used to refresh Mario's air. There are also 8 red coins that must be collected to spawn a star. It is the only stage to have an (albeit implicit) time limit, as you cannot resurface and there are a limited amount of coins you can use to refresh your air.
A Presses
Although the stage itself does not require any A presses, as it can easily be done by swimming with the B button, entering the aquarium is a challenge on its own. The current strategy used is very complicated. Because the final text redirection is done using a door that requires 1 star, the whole strat has to be done without collecting a single star. We have to enter Bowser in the Dark World, get the basement key, and go to Shifting Sand Land. Once in there, the TAS creates a setup using various objects found in the course to make sure Mario gets the right angle and speed for the lobby movement.[1]
Other Challenges
This star cannot be collected in the Coinless Challenge, CCC Challenge, No Buttons Allowed Challenge, No Joystick Allowed Challenge, or UBER Challenge, as it requires collecting red coins and swimming.
This star can be collected in the Capless/Cannonless Challenge, Pacifist Challenge, B Button Challenge, and Z Button Challenge.
There is an unsolved challenge in this course, to reach a Parallel Universe.
Coins
| Location | Count |
|---|---|
| 4 coin rings around 4 of the red coins | 32 |
| Another coin ring above the star marker | 8 |
| 8 red coins | 16 |
| Total | 56 |
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