Super Mario Galaxy 2

The first Mario sequel in over 15 years to appear on the same console as its predecessor, Mario is back in the galactic platforming game, joined by Yoshi as he explores additional planets with new mechanics, power-ups, and boss battles.

Wii

Wii U

Overview

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Super Mario Galaxy. It is the first Mario sequel to appear on the same console in over fifteen years. The game uses the same concepts from the first game, but in a brand new adventure bigger than the original.

The game is critically acclaimed, quickly becoming the third best reviewed video game of all time according to Gamerankings. The game was also a commercial success, keeping a spot in the Top 5 of the NPD every month from its release on May 23, 2010 until the month of September 2010.

Plot

The game begins with an invitation from Princess Peach to meet her at the Mushroom Castle. While on his way, Mario stumbles upon a Luma lying on the ground. When Mario inspects it, the Luma jumps up, and greets Mario with a language unintelligible to both Mario and the player. The Luma then adopts Mario's hat as a home, and Mario continues with "a new power surging through him".

Rosalina tells the Lumas about Mario's adventures.

As Mario continues towards the castle, he finds more Lumas, frozen in crystals, as well as stars falling from the sky. As the castle becomes visible, Bowser is revealed along with it, his size rivaling that of the castle as he terrorizes the surrounding area. Upon approaching the situation, it is revealed that Bowser has possession of Princess Peach (who is currently residing in the palm of his hand). Bowser then alludes to his plan to conquer the galaxy, and jumps off the planet.

When Mario approaches the castle, he finds two Lumas, who explain to Mario that he must rescue the princess. They also note that the Luma that was in Mario's hat is in fact the young "Master Luma". One them then turns into a platform by which Mario can begin his quest to stop Bowser. Mario is then transported to a small planetary system where he must face off against his first set of enemies, as well as his first boss, a baby version of Petey Piranha named PeeWee.

With no indication on his transportation, Mario finds himself on a planet inhabited by Lumas who are huddled around a navigator's wheel and a large purple Luma named Lubba. He gives Mario the first of many Stars, and relinquishes control of the planet to Mario. The planet turns into Starship Mario, A planet with features that make it resemble Mario's head. Starship Mario also has the necessary components to be considered a transportation vessel. Upon stepping on the command button of the ship, it blasts off through the galaxy.

As Mario makes his way towards Bowser, he encounters allies Yoshi and Luigi, who aid him in his journey. It is up to the player which planets Mario visits, but inevitably Mario battles with both Bowser and Baby Bowser numerous times before successfully rescuing the princess.

The ending the player receives is based upon the stars that the player collected during the game. The first ending, rewarded for achieving the 70 necessary stars, involves Mario and Peach talking to Rosalina. She reports that Master Luma was safe and sound. Master Luma decides to take Mario's hat and flies back to the Comet Observatory. Lubba will then inform Mario and Peach that it's time for them to return home, after which the credits will roll.

The second ending is only achievable if Mario manages to collect all 120 stars. Rosalina will retell the story of Super Mario Galaxy. Lubba then comes in and informs everyone that they are all together. Rosalina will proceed to tell Mario the story of the Green Power Stars. The credits then roll.

Gameplay

All of the new elements added to the Mario formula for Super Mario Galaxy, such as the Bee Suit and the hybrid of 2D and 3D game-play, return in Galaxy 2. The game has more playable content than the original, with approximately 90% new content and 10% content that could not fit in the original game.

New Features

Luigi want his piece of the action and starts helping in world 3.

Luigi returns as a playable character, and may be swapped for Mario in certain levels. When a level is completed as Luigi, a Ghost Luigi will appear representing the developer's "speed run" that players can race against for completion times or sometimes he will show Mario neat tricks and secrets. Once Bowser has been beaten in World 6, Luigi is unlocked and able to be used on every level of the game.

Unlike in previous 3D Mario games, levels are not accessible through areas in the game's hub world. Instead, players navigate with a Super Mario Bros. 3-style map. This map is accessed via the wheel of Starship Mario, an explorable space containing NPCs and hidden power-ups. New levels on the map must be unlocked using Power Stars collected during levels. Coins and star bits can open secret areas on the map, while hidden Comet Medals are used to unlock more difficult challenges.

If the levels are completed manually without the help of the Cosmic Guide, the player will earn Power Stars which are used to unlock more levels. If the player uses the help of the Cosmic Guide, they will only receive a Bronze Star, which aren't as useful as the Power Stars as they do not unlock more levels or worlds. Each world is completed by a battle with Bowser or Bowser Jr.

New Mario forms

Super Mario Galaxy 2 introduces Rock Mario, Drill Mario and Cloud Mario.

Mario becomes Rock Mario by picking up a Rock Mushroom, the player can then shake the remote to turn Mario into a rolling boulder, once set in motion he cannot be stopped until the rolling wears out after awhile or he hits a wall, he's not completely out of control though, players can still control the direction and making him jump. It is actually possible to stop the rolling Mario early if the Z button is pressed while midair, but this won't work in all areas. Mario will lose the Rock Mario power by taking damage or using the Launch star.

Mario can become Drill Mario by grabbing a Drill power up. On soft surfaces he can shake the remote to drill into the ground, digging straight down and appear on the exact other side of the planet he's on. Sometimes the planets have small rooms inside them that Mario will need Drill Mario to get into to. Drilling into enemies will also hurt them. Mario will lose this power by taking damage or using a Launch Star.

Mario becomes Cloud Mario when he gets a Cloud Flower, it creates three clouds that follow Mario. Mario can use one of the small clouds as a temporary platform. If he need to refills his clouds, he needs to collect another Cloud Flower. In addition to that, Cloud Mario is much more floaty or lighter than regular Mario, he falls slower and reaches greater distance with long jumps etc. Taking hit or touching water makes him lose the power, he can bring it with him in Launch stars however.

Yoshi

The original Super Mario Galaxy had a small Yoshi Easter egg which resulted in many fans begging for his appearance in a future Mario game. Nintendo later added Yoshi in this game. He's trapped in a Yoshi egg in some Galaxies, Mario and Luigi can smack it open to free him, then they can ride him.

He runs faster than the plumbers and are not effected by muddy surfaces that would slow down the player otherwise, his iconic move, the Flutter Jump makes a return, a move that really boost airtime. Yoshi can also use his long tongue to gobble up fruits and enemies, eating enemies will turn them into Star Bits. Aim at something with the remote and press B to eat it; larger objects requires him to hold B and move Yoshi away from it to drag it loose then eat it. (Example of this is Piranha Plants). He can also use his tongue to grab on floating flowers, which he then can use to swing to the other side.

If Mario takes a hit while on Yoshi, he's tossed off and Yoshi starts to runs around in panic, Mario have to jump back on or Spin nearby him to ride him again. If left alone for too long Yoshi returns to his egg. Falling into space or getting electrocuted will make Yoshi return to his egg immediately.

As mentioned before, Yoshi can eat all kind of fruits in this game, and each one has a different effect on him.

Red Berry: All over the place in most Yoshi stages, he gets Star Bits every time he eats one, eat ten to earn a 1UP.
Flotacius Blimp Fruit: A blue, balloon like fruit, it turns Yoshi into a balloon which allows him and Mario to float up for a short time, he can hold "A" to stop rising, and shake the remote to cancel the move early.
Bulb Berry: Found in dark areas, eating one will make a light zone around Yoshi for a limited time, invisible platforms and objects will become visible and useable if within this light zone.
Red Dash Pepper: Eating one will set Yoshi's mouth on fire for awhile, in this state he can't stop running in great speed, he can still control his direction and jumps though. Yoshi runs so fast he can run on the water and run up walls with ramps at the bottom when like this.

Prankster Comets

Prankster Comets are back from the first game, they work a little different however. In Galaxy 1 they appeared then disappeared later, it was also fairly random which stages it appeared on and their color told the player what the challenge would be. (Red ones meant speed run etc.) However in this game they're all yellow, they don't go away until completed on that stage and each comet needs a set number of Comet Medals to appear.

This means the Prankster Comet challenges is a bit more unlimited this time around, some stages will have Mario speed run, defeat all enemies before the time limit runs out or even complete whole stages with only one hit allowed.

Navigation

Galaxies consist of 49 "get the star to win" planets, stardust toll gates, star gates (which Mario needs a certain amount of stars to pass through), boss planets, and bonus secret planets. The game has a total of 242 stars to collect in all; 120 normal stars, 120 green stars and in the last stage one Grand Star is available, the other Grand Star is unlockable.

To get to new worlds, Starship Mario uses a wormhole to travel through hyperspace. The 'worlds' are visually represented as actual Galaxies, and Mario can point and click on a planet previously visited to jump straight to it, instead of physically taking Starship Mario there.

Development

Super Mario Galaxy 2 conceptually began life as a remixed version of the original Super Mario Galaxy with new elements added. As time progressed, however, the idea of a remix was dropped in favor of an all-new game with its own original worlds, powers, and story. The first playable version of the game was shown at Nintendo Media Summit 2010 on February 24, 2010 and its North American release date on May 23, 2010 was finally announced.

The Japanese, European and Australian versions of the game came packaged with an instructional DVD manual, explaining the basic controls, as well as showing advanced play. The same controls can also be seen on the North American website.

Soundtrack

The critically acclaimed OST was released for Club Nintendo members.

Just like in the previous game, Super Mario Galaxy 2 received it's own specially made orchestral score. Performed by the Mario Galaxy Orchestra, the music was composed by Mahito Yokota, Koji Kondo, and Ryo Nagamatsu. Nagamatsu accepted with great excitement the position to make music for the game, but he later confessed he was very nervous, ending up not being able to sleep for a few days, since he did not know 'what to do'.

Even though it was originally meant to be an expansion, the musicians wrote a tremendous amount of new themes and music, despite Miyamoto's warnings that they were working too hard. The new music they composed helped in moving the project from an expansion to a full blown sequel.

The composers looked at the concept art for the game to come up with a feel for the music. The poster for the game, showing Mario with a blue sky background (by contrast, the first game was Mario against a starry sky), helped them compose the melodies. The music was made a lot more cheerful than the original game, after comments that the music for the first game did not feel like what would play on a Mario game.

The Super Mario Galaxy Orchestra in session.

Yokota was very nervous while working on the first game, but by the time he started working on this game, he felt he 'found his bearings', and started to understand the philosophy of 'Mario Music' that the other composers tried to achieve, to 'make it fun to simply listen to the music'.

Yokota took everybody involved in the production, every member in the staff of the game, to the recording session to hear it play the music for the game in person. Although this would normally be extravagant, Miyamoto was fine with it because it was close by. Not everyone could fit in the hall at once, so they had to take shifts to watch the orchestra play.

"One of the designers said, "We'll have to raise the bar for our picture quality much, much higher, so we don't lose out to this music!", and some members who'd never say they were moved about anything said, "Well, I was really moved". - Mahito Yokota, on the staff's reaction to the music

Takemoto conducts the Super Mario Galaxy orchestra for the staff.

Koji Kondo created five pieces for the game, three of them being Yoshi Star Galaxy, Starship Mario, and Bowser Jr.'s Fortress theme. Starship Mario was written to be an opposite to New Super Mario Bros. Wii's World Map, to be a place for the player to calm down and rest in between levels, which had very active music. The composers decided to have the 'big-band' sound, to make it a 'swinging' piece to give style to how the player moves about the level. Yoshi's drums also returned, playing whenever Mario is riding him.

The 2-disc soundtrack holds all seventy songs from the game. Here is the tracklist: