Be Excellent To Each Other

I think the one thing you should take away from this review: Super Mario Galaxy 2 wholly exceeded my expectations. Leading up to the game’s release I hadn’t expected much more than simply “more of the same.” I loved the original Super Mario Galaxy, but the company would have to do something pretty special to really “wow” me.

Consider me “wowed.” Again. Yes, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is more of what made the original so amazingly good: brilliant gravity platfoming. Incredibly tight and responsive controls. Fantastic musical score. But it’s not a “me too” experience -- a significant majority of this sequel is brand new. New level challenges, new gameplay mechanics, new (and incredible) orchestral pieces. All done up in a package that streamlines the classic Mario experience: a straightforward presentation, a much more intelligent camera system, and a rewarding progression that opens up some seriously devious and fulfilling level challenges.

Mario has always been a universally appealing game design and Nintendo has done an incredible job to make sure its key franchise is just as accessible to gamers of all walks of life. Most of all, Super Mario Galaxy 2 perfectly captures that classic videogame charm, the reason why most of us got into gaming from the start.

Marvel at the pieces, but appreciate the whole. This isn’t a game that redefines the genre: this is one that rolls it up and locks it away. We’ve come so far, from stepping on mushrooms to drop-kicking meteors into the heart of the sun; Galaxy 2 offers a new understanding of where we’ve been, a new sense of wonder at where we’ll go next.

If you loved the first Mario Galaxy, but you're wary that this follow-up is a mere shade of its predecessor, than rest assured that this fan-service laden sequel feels just as new as the first Mario Galaxy. Everything from the sweeping orchestral score (which even includes new arrangements of classic tunes thrown in simply to tickle the nostalgia of long-time fans) to the ingenious layout of traps, puzzles and platforming speaks to a level of craftsmanship that only comes from years of refinement and reinvention. And if you've yet to try out Mario on the Wii (or only played New Super Mario Bros. Wii), than Galaxy 2 proves how good design can make even the seemingly complicated, gravity-defying acrobatics of Mario's world feel completely effortless.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is simply an outstanding game. It never rests on its laurels for a second, constantly presenting new objectives and mechanics to push you to never before seen places. Even the two-player mode offers new abilities and delights, making it even more fun to play with a friend by your side. Everything is so well designed and so entertaining that it's easy to get sucked into this world for hours. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is so phenomenal that it's difficult to imagine where Mario could possibly go in the future. But that's hardly your concern now. Mario proves that he is still the king of fun.

I loved the first but for some reason I never finished it. Distracted by another game no doubt. I doubt I'll be able to resist this though. It won't be my number one priority but I will get it.

A lot of reports coming in that SMG2 is noticeably harder than SMG - no doubt some will relish the extra challenge, but for me SMG was just right on the difficulty front. Still, I'll have mine in a couple of weeks so we'll see if I end end chucking the controller through my monitor.

Added difficulty is a good thing. I played for a couple of hours and never even came close to being killed.

In fact, that may be the main reason I found the original exceedingly boring. None of the cool fun stuff happened anywhere near the start. I saw Riles playing a later level that looked like fun, but to have to play through several hours of vanilla boring wandery stuff first?

No thanks.

I'm certainly going to buy this, so you may as well wait and borrow it. However, I do hate the start of Nintendo games with a passion, and particularly Mario games, for the first half an hour as you get idiot walked through every button press and move even though THEY ARE THE SAME AS IN THE LAST GAME.

which makes the astronomer in me furious...

Based on the first 5 stars it is glorious.

Just hope it doesn't get too hard. Like NSMB Wii.

My main problem is that each "World" contains multiple "Galaxies" - which makes the astronomer in me furious.

I am so tired of these super hard mario games. I just want to have some fun and play some Mario Bros. ffs.

In the states we can use our wii, ps3 or 360 to watch movies/tv via Netflix (like lovefilm). Shame you don't have a similar service. That and Animal Crossing are why my wii still sticks around.

Oh and me using it to play smb 2 and 3 instead of lugging out the nes or snes