In late 2007 Nintendo released the superbly designed and brilliantly executed Super Mario Galaxy for their sixth generation console the Nintendo Wii. Super Mario Galaxy was a vastly superior title compared to their previous entry in the Mario cannon on their previous console. It boasted the best level design ever seen in a 3D platform game and it entertained its players for hours and hours on end. When Nintendo announced a sequel to the smash-hit title many people were surprised, it had been fifteen years since a Nintendo console last saw a Mario sequel so there was a lot of excitement, but there was also a lot of doubters as people couldn't imagine how Nintendo could ever top the last title. Well, Super Mario Galaxy 2 rightfully deserves all the excitement surrounding its released and it's certainly silenced its doubters as it surpasses its superb predecessor in almost all aspects; but as well as this Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't just top its predecessor, it also a better game than Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario Sunshine. Now that's something to get excited about.
For me the biggest reason as to why Super Mario Galaxy 2 is such a brilliant 3D platformer is because it sticks extremeley close to Mario's 2D roots, but combines the elements of his 2D roots flawlessly with 3D elements of the series.
The game starts out in pretty much the same manner as the original Galaxy, with Mario heading to Mushroom Castle to meet Princess Peach for some cake as they plan to watch the centurial Star Festival together. As the game starts you'll first take control of Mario is a side-scrolling situation just like in his 2D days, and the game plays brilliantly this way. Eventually as you make it through the opening sequence Mario will discover a Luma who wants to tag along with him, then he eventually gets to the Castle only to be confronted by a huge planet-sized Bowser who again kidnaps Peach. So again Mario sets out on a huge adventure across the universe to rescue the damsel Princess.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 plays exactly the same as its predecessor, but the game is slightly differently presented to you. Mario no longer has a main hub like in the previous 3D games in the series in which he can access levels through. Instead Nintendo gives you the Starship Mario, which is basically a planet transformed in to a ship that looks like Mario. This does technically act as a hub, but like I said you can't access the games Galaxies directly through it. What Nintendo have done with Galaxy 2 is re-introduce the series console brethrens to the classic World Map screen, and you fly the Starship Mario across the World Map to access the Galaxies. There are six Worlds for you to explore in Super Mario Galaxy 2 (and there's an additional one that opens once you've beat the games last battle), each containing seven Galaxies (apart from the additional one which has six) and each Galaxy contains a few Power Stars which again you have to collect in order to reach the end of the game; seventy are needed to face the games last battle.
Each Galaxy is brilliantly designed, expect each Galaxy to again but full of little planets that you have to travel between. To be honest some of them do look very similar to ones found on the previous title, but Galaxy 2 mixes things up a bit because there are some Galaxies that offer levels in the typical 3D style, some that offer you levels in the classic 2D style and some levels that even offer you a mixture of the two. And Galaxy 2 also pushes the laws of physics even further than the original Galaxy as now there are even more ways to defy gravity. As you'll expect there are fire Galaxies and snow Galaxies (and a fair few other new ones that the series haven't seen before) and they are all designed brilliantly. Also some of the Galaxies are throw-backs to previous Super Mario titles. Like you get a Galaxy called Supermassive where all the enemies are giants (reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. 3) and there's even a updated version of Whomp's Fortress from Super Mario 64. Yes I know the series have seen these things before, but the reason I like Super Mario Galaxy 2 so much is because of how reminiscent the game is towards the older Mario titles. Anyway none of the old level designs and ideas have ever looked as good before as they do in Galaxy 2.
One thing Super Mario Galaxy 2 has that the original never had is Yoshi. Now this isn't Yoshi's first 3D outing with Mario, but Galaxy 2 uses him far better than Super Mario Sunshine ever did. I'll just say now that I've never been a big Yoshi fan (I avoid using him as much as I can when I play Super Mario World) but he works very well here and mixes the gameplay up a bit. He can still do his usual trick where he can fire out his tongue and swallow enemies, but Nintendo have made him be able to do other things so that he takes a more central role in the game. For instance he can latch on to certain flowers and can swing on them to reach higher places. And now Yoshi also has power-ups like Mario does. There are three types of special fruit that Yoshi can eat and each result in him doing something different. The Blue Berry turns Yoshi in to a sort-of Blimp so you can fly to higher places, the Dash Pepper makes Yoshi run at high speeds for a certain amount of time and the Bulb Berry turns Yoshi in to a living light bulb that can illuminate previously invisible floors.
And talking about Yoshi's power ups takes me on to Mario's new power ups. Galaxy 2 includes all of the original games power ups - the Fire, Bee, Spring, Rainbow and Boo transformations - but also introduces some superb new ones. You now have the Spin Drill (which lets Mario dig underground through soft ground patches to reach different places), you have Rock Mario (who can turn in to a powerful ball of rock which rolls around like the Gorons from the Zelda games) and you have Cloud Mario (who can make three clouds that acts as platforms so you can cross massive gaps with ease). I said in my review for the original Super Mario Galaxy that it had the best power ups the series had seen since Super Mario Bros. 3, well Super Mario Galaxy 2's power ups aren't just better than the original titles, no; they are the best the entire series has to offer. If you add up the addition to the game of Yoshi and the new power ups you'll find that Galaxy 2 has much more depth than any of the previous 3D Mario titles. And Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a harder game that its predecessor, I found some of the hidden Power Stars a lot harder to get than the hidden ones found in the original Super Mario Galaxy, although I still didn't find Galaxy 2 as challenging as Super Mario 64.
Another reason why I liked Super Mario Galaxy 2 is because it has a brilliantly high level of presentation. The game looks and sounds nothing short of perfect. The first Super Mario Galaxy pushed the Wii to its limits and the results were a game that visually more than matched anything found on the HD consoles. Well unbelievably Super Mario Galaxy 2 pushes the Wii even further, resulting in visuals that are even better than the originals. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the best looking game I've ever played; it's as simple as that. I still can't understand why you need HD when you can makes games look this good without. And musically the game is immense. Imagine in your head all the classic Mario tunes; imagine how good a game would sound with all those tunes in it. Well you don't have to imagine any longer, whatever your favourite tune from the Mario series is it'll be in Galaxy 2 in some sort of form. The game sounds brilliant.
If there are any criticisms I can have with Super Mario Galaxy 2 is that it doesn't feel as new as the original title did, but this was going to be obvious as the game plays the same and uses the same basic gaming engine. But it's not really a criticism of Galaxy 2 in saying it's too similar to the previous title because the original games mechanics still work fantastically well and the game is still great regardless of its similarities.
Oh and another thing that I can criticise Super Mario Galaxy 2 about is, like its predecessor, its camera. The camera still doesn't work as well as you'd like it to when you're in the levels where the gravity effects take you where ever it wants you to, but again in this situation the camera is always going to have problems no matter what game it is so really this isn't that much of a problem.
I'm still amazed at how Nintendo managed to make Galaxy 2 surpass its predecessor and I'm still amazed at how much I like it. It's quite hard to find any significant flaws with it. As far as 3D platform games go it's one of the greatest ever made, and as far as Mario games go it's also one of his best adventures. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is easily the best game released on the Wii and also in the current generation.
Review by: James Widdowson
Score: 9.5/10