It's like some others have said - you uncheck ALL sound options in the HLE DSP plugin - change "Audio Backend to OpenAL" - then turn the volume to 1%! Play the entire board where the grand star is for each level this way and you will pass easily onto the next world. Then save, change the sound back to normal - and you're good to go til the next grand star at which time you will repeat this process. I reboot the emu when I make these changes but am not sure that is necessary - works for me though - am on World 3 currently having no problems.
*note - playing with rev4635 i get great speeds and graphics quality - close to full FPS - no AA but fullscreen res at 1440x900. Running Quad Core 32 bit Geforce 8800GT. However with Dophin 2.0 I get horrible slowdown. Your mileage may vary.

can you tell me where u get that revision from because id really like to play at 60 constantly
nvm i got it and i run it at 2x aa and it works perfect now

Wow the game runs very smootly with rev4635. Thanks!
Only a few bugs, the icon file if I choose Mario or Luigi, their eyes are missing.
Oh and one thing, in this revision can you link the third button/wheel button of the mouse with the "shake" It was a great feature in Dolphin 2.0 but here I can't.
So where is this rev located?
Thank you, it really works but only with this revision so far. Do you play with that revision too or is it just to pass the freezing?
thanks, i used 4696 and it works there too.
i play the game so far only using revision 4635 (others played too slow and/or couldn't pass the grand stars). there are some graphical issues in world 3 where you can't see part of an invisible floor in the stage i'm at now so gonna tweak some settings - even so you can still guess where it is - just might cost ya a few men. but yeah - game plays great w/this version and only has some minor slowdown in some areas. glad it's working for everyone else as well.
(05-24-2010, 04:25 AM)Klotzek Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you, it really works but only with this revision so far. Do you play with that revision too or is it just to pass the freezing?
(05-24-2010, 05:49 AM)slaywho Wrote: [ -> ]i play the game so far only using revision 4635 (others played too slow and/or couldn't pass the grand stars). there are some graphical issues in world 3 where you can't see part of an invisible floor in the stage i'm at now so gonna tweak some settings - even so you can still guess where it is - just might cost ya a few men. but yeah - game plays great w/this version and only has some minor slowdown in some areas. glad it's working for everyone else as well. 
(05-24-2010, 04:25 AM)Klotzek Wrote: [ -> ]Thank you, it really works but only with this revision so far. Do you play with that revision too or is it just to pass the freezing?
Can you post your setting because beside the ability to pass through grand star, there is nothing better for me with this revision.
5461 is way faster for me somehow but i need to know your settings tho.
having trouble using yoshi's tongue w/ the older rev. i'll keep trying.