After 25 years, Peach is playable in a main series Mario title again. And like in Super Mario Bros. 2, Mario Party, and the cartoon, she can use all of the powerups and items the Mario Bros. and Toad can. Fire Peach◊'s Mythology Gag to her NES sprite magnifies the awesome.
Peach, Toad and the Mario Bros. are taking a casual stroll when they come across a broken pipe. Mario and Luigi fix it in time for a Sprixie Princess to come out and tell them about Bowser's plan before Bowser captures her as well. And who's the first one in the pipe chasing after them to save the day? It's Princess Peach.
Bowser's car became a meme before the game even came out, as fans universally thought it was awesome and hilarious.
Bowser's plot to take over the Sprixie Kingdom. If the Green Sprixie Princess hadn't managed to go through the crystal pipe, thereby alerting the heroes to the danger, then it's quite likely that Bowser could have succeeded!
Rosalina makes her main series playable debut as an unlockable character, and her ability is the Spin Attack from Super Mario Galaxy. On the flip side, this means that Bowser and his troops—even Goombas or Koopas—can kill Rosalina.
The OST cover◊ shows the entire cast forming a band.
The Golden Express is a golden space train loaded with coins, making encountering one a memorable, fun-filled experience.
Double Cherries, a concept that was created by a developer accident, are used in several levels and boss fights, including the final one (although in that particular case, not by the player).
The final boss, which involves Bowser using a Super Bell to transform into a feline version of himself named "Meowser", then you climbing a tower while dodging his attempts to clamber around and destroy your footholds. Then, after you use a POW Block to land a hit on him, he uses Double Cherries to multiply himself and continue the assault!
Let's put this another way if you can't grasp the significance: Bowser is using powerups. After all these years, he's finally thought to use Mario's powers against him. You thought the Cat form let you break the game? Guess what? The final boss just got hold of that, and multiplied it by eight or so for good measure.
Just to paint a picture about the scene: The climax of the final showdown has you reaching the top of Bowser's skyscraper while being increasingly swarmed by several Clone Meowsers that are climbing on all sides of the building as you reach the goal, while another Meowser roars on top raining fire down from above while the others attack from the side. Not to mention the intensifying music adding to the final moments.
The music alone is enough to deem the whole battle as awesome.
Just the presentation of the battle is amazing. You see Bowser use a Super Bell and once you enter a clear pipe during the first segment, you hear the the Double Cherries' Signature Sound Effect, and the camera pans to show multiple Meowsers climbing the tower.
In one of Captain Toad's stages, he finally gets to kill an enemy by falling onto it from above. In the last stage, after being harassed by a Fire Piranha Plant throughout the entire level, it ends with Captain Toad killing it the same way. Captain Toad is far from the Miles Gloriosus he was in the Galaxy games, to the point where he received his own game, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
Auto Scrolling Levels tend to be the bane of speedrunners, but expert players can outrun the screen and have it catch up to them, even if it means effectively playing the level blindfolded. LuigiMaster06 provides an excellent example of this impressive feat for 6-7, and it's also possible to do the same thing with the final Bowser tower.
◊'s Mythology Gag to her NES sprite magnifies the awesome.
