The Ultimate Galactic Sequel

User Rating: 10 | Super Mario Galaxy 2 WII
Waiting patiently for the sequel game to Super Mario Galaxy, I finally had the opportunity to play SMG2. At the beginning of a whole new game, it starts off with Mario going through some basic training to allow players to refresh their skills from the first SMG in a 2-D position. Then Mario discovers that Bowser who is now almost the size of a single planet once again abducts Princess Peach and plans to create a galactic kingdom fit for his ultimate height. The way Peach cried for help and desperately yelled "MARIO" is much similar to the original SMG game. It is probably because the creator(s) didn't want to waste much time having the voice actors and actresses portraying many times until they find the right audio. After the Giant Bowser left with the kidnapped Peach, it's up to Mario to save the Princess once more. But he won't be doing it alone as he came across another Luma that is purple, big, fat, and have blue eyes, mouth, a glowing ball on his antenna, and pants named Lubba. Instead of Rosalina's Comet Observatory that was featured to travel to many different galaxies, Mario gets to pilot Starship Mario that is shaped like his head in honor of his heroism.

The best part of this game is the major appearance of my favorite Nintendo character, Yoshi. The green dinosaur has finally returned to assist Mario in some of his very arduous journeys beyond the stars. I haven't seen Yoshi in any of the 3-D platformer games since Super Mario Sunshine. While riding Yoshi, the star-shaped cursor becomes a red dot that still can pick up star bits, but cannot shoot them. The red dot cursor can be used to aim for the enemies and berries to eat. I've just learned that eating 10 berries will give the player 1-up life. Yoshi also get to gain different abilities depending on which fruit he devours. The Dash Peppers turn Yoshi orange and makes him super fast like Sonic the Hedgehog able to sprint on walls, the steepest hills, and on water like a Basilisk lizard. Another type of fruit called the Blimp Fruit transforms Yoshi into a light blue balloon that releases air out of his mouth much like a leaking bag of helium. The Bulb Berry turns Yoshi bright yellow or gold like a light bulb while lighting the way through invisible halls and jumping on hidden platforms. So far, Yoshi has been such a great help for Mario.

While some old power-ups have returned like the Fire Flower, Bee Mushroom, Boo Mushroom, Spring Mushroom and Rainbow Star, two new power-ups include the Rock Mushroom and Cloud Flower. Being Rock Mario is usually difficult to control because when the player becomes a round rolling stone, it makes things hard for the control joystick to get control of. But it took awhile to master its maneuvers. Cloud Mario is very easy to use because he is much lighter than his original form. He is able to perform a very long jump and create cloud platforms by Star Spins. Even when the player used up three cloud platforms, Cloud Mario still remains in his cloudy form. Being exposed to water and turning back from Cloud Mario to normal is similar to Bee Mario's weakness. Cloud Flowers are one of my most favorite power-ups. The only two power-ups that didn't return are the Ice Flower and Red Star (for flying).

Discussing about the enemies in the game, we see that some of the enemies from SMG have returned while others from much previous games make their appearances. Also, new enemies and sub-species of foes are added to make the game challenging. The most annoying enemies are the Cosmic Clones that consist of dark matter, and the only way to get rid of them without fighting them is do what must be done, such as collecting five star chips, break the crystal to free the Power Star, etc. My favorite enemies in this game are Boomerang Bros. Big Boo, Bomb Boo, Lakitu, Octoboo, Skeeters, Paragoomba, Koopa Troopa, Bullet Bills, Banzai Bills, Brr Bits, Dry Bones, Magikoopa, Piranha Plants, Jack O'Goomba, Blarrgs, Magmaws, and Magmaaraghs. Some of these enemies can also be eaten by Yoshi while others can be kept in his mouth until they are spat out.

The bosses in SMG2 are proven to be very tough, but I managed to defeat them. After practicing, I am able to kill the enemy bosses with ease. The Gobblegut is kind of like Dino Piranha because they both have fiery counterparts. Giga Lakitu is the fat king of all Lakitus with eyeglasses, gold crown, blue shell, red-and-white scarf, and a riding purple thundercloud. He can throw more Spinies than normal Lakitus. The only SM64 boss that returned to seek vengeance is the Whomp King. Unlike their previous battle, the Whomp King is able to summon Mini-Whomps and generate shockwaves to temporarily paralyze Mario. Also, the Throwback Galaxy is very much similar to Whomp's Fortress, which brings me back when I had the N64. Bowser Jr. owns two different gigantic apparatuses; Megahammer and the Boomsday Machine. While Bugaboom makes its second appearance in this new game, the rest of the previous villainous bosses (Dino Piranha, King Kaliente, Major Burrows, Bouldergeist, and Fiery Dino Piranha) from the first SMG came back in the Boss Blitz Galaxy. Dino Piranha and Peewee Piranha are way too easy for me to finish off quickly. Yoshi can also help Mario defeat them instead of fighting them alone. The Undergrunt Gunners returned, but not as enemy bosses rather they are now just minor foes like Goombas and Koopas. Megaleg, Kamella, Kingfin, Baron Brr, Tarantox, and Topmaniac never came back.

To make things better, Luigi is once again a playable character. But instead of having his own adventure in which he dubbed "Super Luigi Galaxy", the player can now switch between Mario and Luigi. Even when the player saves and quits the game, Luigi appears in place of Mario while soaring in the sky with an orange Luma and Yoshi behind them. I still think Luigi is a far better character to play as than Mario. At least there is only one Luigi, not like SMG with two Luigi's. When Luigi recovers a Power Star in a galaxy, the ghost of Luigi appears after reentering the galaxy. For some reason, Luigi's ghost can only locate Comet Medals that are used to summon Prankster Comets.
Like the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, SMG2 includes assistance for troubling players. The Cosmic Spirit that strongly resembles to Rosalina will only appear after the player loses too many lives trying to get a certain star. After asking the Cosmic Spirit for help, the Power Star will turn from gold to bronze. Not only she reminds me of Rosalina, she also could be a reference to Cosmic Mario and Cosmic Luigi. However, the cosmic versions of the plumbers are antagonistic rivals while the Cosmic Spirit is an ally to the Mario Bros. Speaking of friends, some of Mario's buddies came back from previous games including new ones in this game. My favorite allies are the blue Star Bunnies, Bob-omb Buddies, football-shaped-headed Whittles, and the Baby Luma. Another reference to the NSMBW is the midway points that save your spot in the galaxy after a player lose a life.

The battles against the Giant Bowser are far much different than the ones from the first SMG. Instead of performing a Star Spin to knock him out, golden meteorites are used to ground pound and smack the planet-sized monster. I always believe that fighting the Giant Bowser was much more invigorating than doing battle with his original size. My last battle with him had a twist when Bowser came back up and swallowed the Grand Star to become gigantic once more. I never thought that fighting Giant Bowser would be even better than fighting him in his original size. Of all of the battles I ever faced with Bowser, this one is beyond cosmic proportions.

After defeating Bowser, Rosalina makes her appearance before and after the credits. During the credits, Mario and Luigi can still be controlled by the player. Yoshi got to be in the credits with the plumbers, especially Bowser who is much smaller than Mario after losing his powers. After recovering all 120 gold Power Stars, another trial involves collecting 120 Green Stars. As an added bonus, the last galaxy called the Grandmaster Galaxy appears with the last two Power Stars. The Grandmaster Galaxy is nothing compared to the Grand Finale Galaxy because the Prankster Comet challenge in Grandmaster Galaxy proved to be exceedingly difficult, but I managed to pull through. On my way to the very last gold Power Star, Rosalina congratulates Mario or Luigi for his ultimate heroism.

So far this game has been the most difficult but awesome of all of Mario games ever played. I got to ride on Yoshi once again. Fighting against the Giant Bowser was the ultimate. It would have been cool to see the Koopalings once more since the NSMBW. After I finally conquered the entire game with 242 Power Stars, I was announced the "Master of Galaxies". The only question that remains… Is this the very last Mario adventure game ever made or will there be more in the future?