Note: Please at least play Galaxy 1 or read my Galaxy 1 Review before reading this because there are Galaxy 1 spoilers in here. If you haven’t done either you’ve been warned.
Ah yes, the Mario series! The best games are Mario games 90% of the time. (No, I didn’t say Mario and Nintendo games are the only good games out there, Sony and Microsoft.).
Super Mario Galaxy 1 took gamers away like no other game could. It took away Mario RPG’s spot as my number 1 Mario game. I thought that would never happen. Then I thought if there were to be a better Mario game than Galaxy 1, it would have to be a sequel. I found out at E3 2009 that along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii there would be a Galaxy sequel. I was more excited about Galaxy 2 than NSMBW - not that I don’t like NSMBW, it was a great game and I was thrilled about the Koopalings’ return because, like most people on this site, I am a Koopalings fan despite the fact I like Bowser Jr.
The only part
I didn’t like was having to wait until spring 2010 for the sequel’s release.
May 23, 2010 it was released, and that week I heard it got perfect scores
from great review websites like IGN and Gamespot. This was the first Mario
game to get a perfect score. A week after it was released I bought it.
Enough hype, let’s see if Super Mario Galaxy 2 can earn the title “Superior
sequel” in my book.
Story: 5/5
The story in this
is pretty nonexistent. It’s a Mario game! Would you really expect a lot
of story? Miyamoto did say that the story would be nonexistent, didn’t
he? If you want something to go by, basically the events of the 1st Galaxy
game are forgotten and they start over again. Mario goes to Peach’s castle
to find a PLANET-sized Bowser kidnapping Peach AGAIN and then taking off
into space. Mario meets up with these Lumas and their leader, Lubba, who
transform their spaceship into Starship Mario, which is a ship that looks
like Mario’s head. Mario sets off to retrieve the Power Stars and Grand
Stars. That’s the entire story you’ll find in this game, if any.
Characters: 5/5
Well it’s basically
the same cast as the first game with a few additions. You have Mario, Peach,
Bowser, Bowser Jr, and the Toads. The Lumas return from Galaxy 1 and instead
of Rosalina (who does appear as a cosmic guide and at the end) you’ve got
Lubba. You have friendly species like Penguins, Piantas, Gearmos, Bunnies,
Bees, and even Bob-omb Buddies to help you out. You’ve got some new enemies
as well as your classic Mario baddies and returning foes from Galaxy 1.
You get to play not only as Mario but as Luigi! You got to play as him
in Galaxy 1 if you got all the stars. I never did (because of 2 very evil
purple coin missions) so Luigi was a first for me. But it’snot Luigi I
was excited about in this game. It wasn’t the new power-ups either (which
I’ll get to later), it wasn’t a hub world based on your own head, it was,
it was, and it was, AND IT WAS!
YOSHI!!!: 5/5
Yes, the reason
I wanted this game was Yoshi. Yes, he gets his own section, he’s that special.
He’s actually useful here, unlike in NSMBW or Super Mario Sunshine. First
of all, HE DOESN’T DIE WHEN HE TOUCHES WATER! Thank DAD Nintendo fixed
that mistake from Sunshine. He can eat just about anything and feels
very useful for the first time since Super Mario World. Yoshi has very
easy controls, which I’ll get to in that section, as well as some new power-ups,
which I’ll get to in that section. He can use his tongue to grab flowers
and get you places you couldn’t as regular Mario. He actually fights some
bosses with you, which is nice. Most of all I’m happy he’s here and that
he adds to the fun of this already fun game. In fact, I may not be typing
this Review if it weren’t for Yoshi in this game. Well, maybe you tourists
could talk me into buying this game, that or the perfect score this game
got from numerous gaming websites.
Controls: 5/5
The controls are basically the same as they were in Galaxy 1. Veterans of that game shouldn’t have trouble with the controls. .I had no trouble at all and started playing like this was Galaxy 1 because they’re practically the same. There’s your jump, double jump, and triple jump, your backflip, long jump, and spin attack, which serves as an extra jump. Not to mention your wall kick, so if you’ve played Galaxy 1, the controls are a breeze. What I like about the multiplayer is that another player can grab not just Star Bits for you as before, but can also get you coins and other things.
Yoshi has special
controls, as you might expect. Yoshi has the jump and flutter jump. He
can swim using the A button. Yoshi has the ability to eat just about anything
in the game. You use the Wiimote as a cursor to aim where Yoshi’s tongue
will shoot, and it will lock on automatically. Yoshi can run faster than
Mario, and Mario will dismount Yoshi if hit. The other way to dismount
Yoshi is to backflip while on him.
Power-ups: 5/5
The power-ups were good in this game. Your favorites from Galaxy 1 return as well as some new power-ups. Mario can transform into Cloud Mario, which allows Mario to create a cloud platform in midair using the spin attack. There’s Drill Mario, wherein Mario uses a giant drill to plow through dirt. There’s Rock Mario, which allows him to plow through almost anything in the game. Your favorites like Bee Mario and Boo Mario return as well as the other power-ups from Galaxy 1, including the classic Fire Flower.
Yoshi has his
own power-ups, as I said earlier. Yoshi has the Dash Pepper, which allows
him to move at a much faster speed and run up walls. What’s cool is that
he can also run on water with that power-up. Yoshi also has the Blimp Berry,
which allows him to inflate and float up to reach higher objects. And the
Bulb Berry lights up hidden areas for Mario and Yoshi to access.
Music: 5/5
I don’t care what
kind of music you like! This is the best music I’ve ever heard in a video
game. The orchestra is back and better than in Galaxy 1. Plus Mario music
never fails to impress me. The new songs as well as the remixes were just
stunning. If you listen to the Road to Bowser song you will get the feeling
of pure epic sounds. Every song fits every galaxy, remixed or not. If Mario
music stays this way I’ll buy a soundtrack! Even for Mario standards this
is the best game soundtrack I’ve ever heard. There’s not a single song
I don’t like in this entire game, and there are a lot out there. You will
like this soundtrack no matter what taste you have in music. The Mario
Galaxy orchestra didn’t just achieve a great soundtrack, they overachieved.
Graphics: 5/5
Sure the graphics
haven’t changed much from Galaxy 1, but they’re still as well-polished
as ever. Everything looks bright and new every time you see the game.
Sure these didn’t take my breath away like Galaxy 1 did, but these are
still some great graphics. Mario games are always 1 step ahead in the graphics
department and that’s no different here.
Gameplay: 5/5
I know I’ve given perfect scores for every section so far, but the game is well deserving of it. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is one of the best games the Wii offers. No, scratch that, it IS the absolute best game the Wii has to offer. The game starts you out in a classic Mario 2D sidescroller at the beginning game but drastically changes to a 3D environment.
The gameplay is
similar to Galaxy 1 and the other 3D Mario games. as you might expect.
You select a world or galaxy, select a mission, progress through that level,
and collect that Star. There are 120 Stars total. Instead of using a device
that transports you to the level, Galaxy 2 has a map that scrolls around
each world, with seven worlds in all. Some galaxies are in classic Mario
2D, but most are in magical 3D. You have massive galaxies to explore as
you have fun in and all of them, which are very creative in their own way.
I can’t find any gameplay flaws
Galaxies: 5/5
You may think Nintendo got rid of a hub world for you to take a break and goof off in. That’s not the case at all. Your hub world comes in the form of Starship Mario. Starship Mario will have things for you to store and stuff like that, like a Toad will store your unused Star Bits, which you can even use them in other save files. You get to collect extra lives here if you wish as well as view all your collected power-ups. You’ll collect one of each species of ally here and it serves as a hub world to the Lumas, Toads, Lubba, Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi for the entire course of the game.
You also have fun, large, and creative galaxies to explore, as did Galaxy 1. My personal favorites were Yoshi Star, Starshine Beach, and a returning world from the original Mario 64. They are teeming with enemies, Star Bits, coins, and power-ups.
That one returning galaxy I said was one of my favorites made me and 97% of Mario 64 fanboys almost cry with tears of joy. After seeing that, I realized that Nintendo does care about what we think of bringing things back. In fact, I want to fly to Nintendo Headquarters and give the entire Galaxy 2 team a big hug for caring about the fans. That galaxy is the true form of what games should be about: fun, enjoyable, and bringing back good memories. In fact, all the other galaxies were fun, enjoyable, and most of all, memorable. There wasn’t a single galaxy I didn’t like.
Bowser’s Galaxy
Generator is ENORMOUS. It’s big even on the map screen; in fact I think
this was Bowser’s biggest castle ever. If you don’t like the level design,
you don’t like 90% of the game.
Bosses: 5/5
Galaxy 2 has completely
original bosses. I don’t think there was a recycled or copied boss. This
doesn’t count the boss galaxy that has our fan faves from Galaxy 1; that
galaxy was a throwback to the original Galaxy bosses. The same goes for
Diggaleg and a 64 boss, those were also throwbacks. I liked all the Bowser
Jr. boss fights, I thought those were pretty cool. Gobblegut was a little
tough but he was beaten after a few tries. I liked Megahammer a lot because
you had Yoshi, it had cool boss music, and it was an all around cool boss.
I thought the Flipsville Galaxy boss was pretty enjoyable. I liked the
fights against planet-sized Bowser. I liked all the bosses from this game,
the new ones were all original and the throwback ones were cool as well.
Difficulty: 5/5
This had to come
sooner or later, didn’t it? Well Galaxy 2 has a great difficulty scale,
just like its prequel. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is definitely harder than the
first one. Still, getting all 120 Stars isn’t that hard and the game can
easily be beaten in 2-3 days. In fact, I actually got all 120 Stars, unlike
in Galaxy 1 and 64. So now Sunshine isn’t the only game where I have all
120. It has levels for beginners and experts alike. Some of the Cosmic
Mario levels were a little difficult, but it’s not bad if you don’t retrace
your steps. It’s strange that it’s more challenging than its prequel, yet
getting all 120 Stars is easier. Well, maybe the cosmic guide helps that.
Cosmic Guide will appear after you’ve died on a level a certain number
of times and can help show you a way to the Power Star. You won’t get a
gold Star, just a bronze Star that still counts as a Star, so if you want
the real Power Star you need to complete that mission on your own. The
difficulty level ranges from easy to medium to hard. Still, all levels
are beatable and it’s not impossible.
Replayability: 5/5
As with Galaxy
1, it has great replayability. If you manage to collect all 120 Stars you
get to go through the entire game again and collect Green Stars. If you
collect all 120 Green Stars you unlock the last galaxy in the game. Yeah,
this adds many more hours to game. Again, it has great replay value.
Fun Factor!: 5/5
It’s a fun game
that anyone can enjoy, young or old. I would consider playing Galaxy 1
before this though, just to get caught up on the story and references to
that game. It’s a classic and one of the best games out there. This game
has hours and hours and hours of fun in it. Fans new and old to this beloved
series will love this game.
Overall: 40/40 (GET THIS GAME OR YOU WILL MISS OUT SO MUCH)
That’s a perfect score! This game is flawless at every turn. This game is $50 but it’s worth every penny you spend. It doesn’t matter where you buy it, just get it! After this game I will never consider not buying a Mario game ever again. I loved every moment of this game. I will treasure this game for the rest of my life. It doesn’t matter what kind of games you like! Get this game at all cost! This took away Galaxy 1’s spot as my favorite game. It’s not just my favorite Mario game, it is my favorite game period! It should win game of the year 2010! There is not a better game out there than this one (at the time of this Review). I want to go to Nintendo and give everyone there a big hug for their great job on this game. This is Mario’s best game yet, and Super Mario Galaxy 2 has earned the title of Superior Sequel in my book. I loved this game so much, I hope along with many Mario fans for an even better Super Mario Galaxy 3!
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