9-7 has me at my wits end. Does anyone have any tips? I figured out that using the mid-air spin is finally mandatory to get through a level, and that the fire flower is necessary to get all the Star Coins (double-edged sword though it is), but that section on the ice bridge with four plants in a row always gets to me. Help!

9-7 was actually a walk in the park for me. Here is the trick I used. Think about how it would work best to speed run the level. Everyone of them is designed so that you can blow right through it. Just keep going full force and you should be good.

Also, don't kill anything you don't have to, and remember to duck.

Gotcha. What trips me up is getting that second Star Coin. Should I just grab it ASAP and then build up steam again, or...?

I went to grab it asap. One thing I was sadly didn't think of until I died a couple times was which way to face when grabbing the coin. One way screws you, and the other way changes nothing. You should still have plenty of room left to build up steam if you get it fast enough. The gaps will be one block long if you do it right.

I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

....The game is going to gt hairy in world 7, 8, and 9, I assume

Not as much as I thought it would, but most of the levels are fun challenges. 9 in particular is interesting. And they keep up the variety nicely!

World 9-6 is bullshit. On a related note, there is no super guide for World 9. None of them are all that super difficult in my eyes, but definitely enough to get you to your A game to beat them all and collect the coins. World 7 and 8 were not much different than all the Worlds before them in my eyes.

8-1 was one of my favorite levels. I thought it was a really good intro to the final stretch of the game, with the chaos coming from all directions.

What was wrong with 9-6? I thought the homage to Ice Climbers was pretty cool (no pun intended). Getting that last Star Coin was more hassle than it should have been though.