Mario's second galactic adventure bests its amazing predecessor, providing hours of diverse platforming excellency.
Putting their imaginations and skills together for a second time, Nintendo released a direct sequel for the Mario franchise for the first time in console generations. After finishing the first "Galaxy" over two and a half years ago, it was hard to imagine how Nintendo could top it. "Super Mario Galaxy 2" does the inevitable, besting its astounding predecessor in every way.
The game's story doesn't really differ from any other Mario platformer. Bowser is humongous in "Super Mario Galaxy 2", and has used his size to raid the Mushroom Kingdom, and once again, kidnap the Princess. In order to save his damsel in distress, Mario must navigate through the many wacky, creative, beautiful, and diverse galaxies, collecting power stars in order to advance. Mario traveled to various galaxies in the first game by entering into rooms in the space observatory, which served as the headquarters where all of the galaxies can be accessed.
"Super Mario Galaxy 2" gives Mario his very own spaceship which looks like his face..a "faceship". Using the spaceship, Mario navigates through the game's worlds much like Mario games of old such as "Super Mario Bros. 3" and "Super Mario World". Each galaxy contains one to several power stars that must be obtained by Mario, who must scale obstacles, platforms, and challenges to reach them. Each power star brings forth a new challenge. With 241 total power stars to collect in all, implementing a new obstacle with each power-star is an amazing feat, and is a testament to the game's diversity.
One of the game's greatest surprises is the return of Mario's beloved dino-steed, Yoshi. This isn't the Yoshi that we got in the last 3D Mario adventure in which he appeared in. In "Super Mario Sunshine", Yoshi had to constantly eat berries to stick around with Mario. For the first time in a 3D game, we have the Yoshi we all know and love from "Super Mario World". He is back with an impressive appetite. He can eat enemies smaller and larger than he, spiky enemies, rock enemies, almost everything in sight. Yoshi controls like a charm. There are new power-ups in the form of berries and a chili pepper for Yoshi to eat. The power-ups for Yoshi are more than just cool little enhancements. Entire stages are built around them.
One of the coolest stages is a water fall level where the dash pepper is introduced. When Yoshi eats it, he dashes with tremendous speed, his mouth burning like fire. With such great speed he can run across platforms that are vertical at a 90 degree angle, dodging enemies and objects along the way. The bulb berry is another power-up which laminates the room for a limited time, revealing hidden platforms. There is an air berry that causes Yoshi to inflate and float for a certain amount of time in order to reach greater heights. All of the stages where Yoshi is present are built around his abilities and power-ups, making the power-ups feel relevant each time they appear.
Of course, Mario has a great arsenal of power-ups available at his disposal as well. A few power-ups from the first Mario Galaxy make an appearance, such as Boo, Bee, and Spring Mario. Those power-ups don't appear as frequently as the new ones. Some of the new power-ups include the rock, cloud, and drill suits. As with the Yoshi power-ups, the Mario power-ups have entire stages dedicated to them. The cloud suit allows Mario to make 3 cloud platforms in mid-air, which allows him to reach distant platforms. It may be my new favorite power-up. Rock Mario makes Mario turn into a fast rolling rock with the shake of a Wii-mote, which allows him to pummel over enemies and knock down bridges and more. The drill power-up allows Mario to drill into dirt and come out of the opposite side of the planetoid that he is on. The drill brings forth some interesting puzzle elements to the table.
The boss battles in "Super Mario Galaxy 2" are also a blast. Many of the boss battles are also built around the game's power-ups. You may be fighting a rolling hedgehog made of stone on a small planetoid, who must be defeated in a rolling rock battle. There are plenty of great boss battles and mini-boss battles in 'Super Mario Galaxy 2". Usually there are anywhere from 3-5 bosses in each world. Bowser Jr. and Bowser interchangeably take turns as the final boss battle at the end of each world. Bowser Jr's boss battles are probably among the most creative and challenging. The Bowser boss battles are no fluke either, as they attain a great sense of epic, in spite of the easy difficulty.
One of the first game's strengths was the astounding, diverse soundtrack. The second game brings forth new remixes of classic Mario tunes, orchestral masterpieces from the first game, as well as a wealth of new tunes that make playing each galaxy a joy. The music in the game compliments each galaxy and its surroundings perfectly. One of the game's best tracks can be found at "Puzzle Plank" galaxy, which has an awesome fiddle along with spacey sound effects. Some galaxies are even built around the soundtrack of the stage. One galaxy in particular, at a certain beat in the stage's music track, makes platforms appear and reappear. There are many galaxies which introduce elements that could be made into games on their own. One galaxy is lit for a brief second, then all is dark. Then when there is a flash, as if a giant camera has been clicked, causes the stage to light up for a brief second, revealing where you can go next.
Aside from the power-stars that are to be obtained in each galaxy, there are comet coins that must be collected as well. There is a comet coin in each stage, and some of them are a bit to tricky to find. Nabbing a comet coin opens up new challenges because they make something called prankster comets randomly appear in other galaxies, which open up new challenges. Many gamers may be worried that "Galaxy 2" is too easy, like its predecessor. Personally, the difficulty in the first game did not hinder my experience and enjoyment of the first game at all. But Mario veterans looking for a good challenge will find it in "Super Mario Galaxy 2", especially with the prankster comet challenges.
The prankster comet challenges range from daredevil runs, speed runs, clone chases, and timed purple coin collecting. Some of these challenges will push you to your limits. I was proud to see the "Game Over" screen appear more than a few times in "Super Mario Galaxy 2". For the first time in a long time, a game had me saying things like "How is this possible!?", "This isn't even fair!". But it's all fair game baby. Completing these daunting challenges are by far the most rewarding in the game.
The game's currency are star bits and coins. Collecting 100 of either will give Mario a 1-UP. Star bits and coins are more valuable in "Galaxy 2". Star bits are spread throughout the galaxies and hidden in places such as grass and flower patches. Spin attacking an enemy causes them to spit up a few star bits when they're attacked, and when Yoshi eats an enemy, he poops out a few star bits as well. Jumping on enemies rewards the player with a coin. Throughout the galaxies there are pink lumas who eat a certain number of coins. When fed the number of coins they want to eat, they will transform into a new planetoid, unlocking a new challenge. There are lumas on the world maps that you can invite onto Starship Mario and feed whatever number of star bits they need, and they will transform into an entirely new galaxy.
"Galaxy 2" is packed with content. You can probably collect the first 120 stars within 20-25 hours, but the challenges that ensue could easily make for 40-50 hours of time. It is a game that will suck you in for hours per sitting. I have booted up my Nintendo Wii 7 times to play Mario Galaxy and have already invested 26 hours in it. Everything in the game is executed flawlessly. The controls are flawless, the camera did not hinder the experience one bit, the graphics and animation are beautiful, and the gameplay is constantly fun. "Super Mario Galaxy 2" improves upon its predecessor in every way possible, constantly throwing Mario into new wonderful worlds filled with many diverse challenges.