One of the more interesting Stars to try and get in Super Mario 64 is the Fall onto the Caged Island Star. This one boils to either a huge amount of trial and error or exceptional timing. You can get this star in the fight mission in Whomps’ Fortress.
You won’t be able to do this one alone, and will need some help from an owl called Hoot. You can find hoot by climbing the tree near the start of the level. When you get high enough, Hoot will pop out and you can jump up and grab him by holding the jump button.
Now, you need to find that cage, so head to the right and prepare for a bit of a journey. Hoot will keep climbing upwards and things will get a bit easier when he reaches his maximum height because the camera will switch to top down angle. Just keep flying until you see the island below you.
Now comes the tricky part. You will need to perfectly time letting go of hoot to drop onto the caged island (it’s really more of a cage than an island, but who are we to judge?). Wait until just after Hoot has flown past the island, then let go. This allows you to compensate for the weird camera angle. If anything, you should let go at the moment the feels almost too late, as it really is very easy to think you are passed the island and let go too early.
It may take a couple of tries to get it right, but it’s not that difficult to get the hand of, thankfully. Now that you have Fall onto the Caged Island Star, we can also help you nab the Plunder in the Sunken Ship Star.
