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It's hard to believe that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first official sequel to a 3D Mario platformer. It's even harder to believe when you consider the fact that the first 3D Mario platformer, Super Mario 64, was released fourteen years ago. It only took nine months for Super Mario Bros. to get a sequel, and then it was only another couple of years before we were graced with the presence of Super Mario Bros. 3.
That was different, though. Super Mario Bros. 3 is widely regarded as one of the best games in videogame history, even more than twenty years after its original release. It didn't seem like we needed a fourth instalment, hence the release of a spiritual successor, Super Mario World, not long after. Fast-forward fifteen-odd years to 2007, the release of Super Mario Galaxy and dozens and dozens of rave reviews, and it's easy to see why a sequel was unexpected. Galaxy was hailed the best game ever by outlet after outlet. It couldn't be topped. Even so, a sequel couldn't be anything less than outstanding, could it?
Knowledge of the original Super Mario Galaxy isn't necessary here. The game, at least in Japan and Europe, comes with an informative DVD with all the controls discussed, as well as some pretty nifty moved showcased for more advanced players, so even if you've never played the original, you'll be able to learn the controls easily enough. The story doesn't carry on, either: Galaxy 2 is set on an alternate timeline, so whilst some areas and characters might be present from the original, the events of that game never happened at any time around this one.
As you can expect, being a 3D Mario platformer, Super Mario Galaxy 2 starts off with some princess-kidnapping, and as always, Bowser's involved. There's no sinister reason behind the abduction this time, though: the large blighter wants Peach to bake him a cake. We'd question why he couldn't just ask her to, but we're not ones to question Bowser. As always, though, Bowser proclaims his desire to create a brand-new universe all to himself, madness ensues and the pink princess is whisked away into the stars, with Mario left behind to follow.
As you'd expect with any 3D Mario platformer, there are a total of 120 Power Stars to collect initially. You'll need to collect a certain number before you can reach the very end of the game: in this case, you won't be able to complete the game with fewer than 70 Power Stars. As a result of the higher number, and to try to ensure players obtain as many as possible throughout the game, Super Mario Galaxy 2 takes a very different approach to its prequel in regard to the galaxy layout. Galaxies can no longer be accessed through one main hub, á la the Comet Observatory of the original game: a world map instead takes its place, inspired by some of the best 2D Mario platformers such as the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World.
There was some concern over the decision to implement a world map, for sure: the most frequent comments against the idea noted that world maps were born for the 2D platformers and so should stay there. There is a hub, though, in the form of Starship Mario: a small planet with an engine room that Mario can use to travel around the game's world maps. Over the course of the game, the hub will become even more helpful, with some characters, such as bees and robots, taking up resident on the starship. Even Mario's power-ups appear in collectible fashion in the starship's engine room after a short while. The mixture between a sole hub and a larger world map has definitely paid off: access to galaxies is quicker and more direct and there's still a hub world to explore.
There's no fear of uninteresting galaxies, either. There are nearly fifty galaxies in the new instalment, with only two or three at the most taken from previous Mario games, and each is as masterfully designed as the last. Each galaxy houses up to three Power Stars initially, so there's a lot more scope for adventure when it comes to finding them, which means you get to see a lot more of the stunning scenery on offer. It's a clear improvement on some of the galaxies from the first game, which were clearly designed with the purpose of hiding only one Power Star away. On the other side of the coin, it also means that Power Stars are much better placed within the galaxy, rather than having seven easy-to-find Power Stars in the same area as was sometimes the case in the first game.
Of course, the biggest new addition to the game comes in the form of Yoshi. In some galaxies and scenarios, you'll be able to jump on top of Yoshi's egg to let him out, after which point you can ride him around. Yoshi can eat enemies, gaining you coins or star bits to collect, and can jump a lot higher than Mario can as well. Yoshi can also use his tongue, controlled by pointing at the screen and pressing the B button, to grab onto flowers suspended in mid-air and get to higher places that couldn't normally be reached. He can also make use of new items: he can eat the Dash Pepper to move around at lightning speed and scale vertical floors; the Blimp Fruit lets him inflate and float up to difficult-to-reach levels; and he can also eat the Bulb Berry to light up dark areas and also invisible floors as well. Letting the effects of the Bulb Berry run out, though, will mean Mario and Yoshi could fall through the floor if it disappears.
Some of Mario's best power-ups return as well, sitting proudly alongside some newer, more exciting ones. The Fire Flower, Bee Mushroom, Boo Mushroom and (unfortunately) Spring Mushroom all make their returns, alongside three new power-ups: the Cloud Mushroom lets Mario jump farther and higher and also lets him spin to create up to three cloud platforms; the Rock Mushroom turns Mario into a giant boulder so he can hurl himself at objects to destroy or push down; and the Spin Drill lets him drill through soft surfaces, letting him get inside planets and other objects. Rock Mario can be a little difficult to control, and Spring Mario's always been hellish, but the pair only appear a handful of times overall. Cloud Mario is their saving grace, being, without a doubt, one of the best Mario power-ups there's ever been.
One aspect of the game that's clear throughout is its raised difficulty level. Anyone who had trouble with the first game - anyone who wasn't able to get every single Power Star, rather - will have real trouble getting them all here as well. At times, it does get frustrating, but never enough to get annoying as well: it just brings about a huge sense of pride and relief when you eventually get to the end of the stage and beat the damn boss. There's even more of a sense of achievement upon beating the game for the first time as well, due to the fact that you need to go through more galaxies and get more Power Stars to get there in the first place. Still, newer players who haven't played the first game will find this one a challenge, though the aforementioned DVD packaged with the game in some regions is a real help to those gamers.
In terms of the graphics and soundtrack, if Super Mario Galaxy was anything to go by, these two highly-important aspects of the game will have been cleaned and polished to within an inch of their lives for the sequel: Galaxy has often been credited for being one of the prettiest games on Wii, with one of the best videogame soundtracks to boot. Galaxy 2 has, by far, the most beautiful and enchanting graphics on Wii, putting 90% of other titles on the console - even some of Nintendo's - to utter shame. Screenshots have never done the game justice, and they never will: you have to play the game just to understand what amazing work has been done here. Anyone who truly believed the Wii was lacking just because it didn't support high-definition video has been well and truly shamed here.
The soundtrack itself is enough to put a lump in a grown man's throat as well. With fully-orchestrated music harking back to 1985 and the days of Super Mario Bros., the game also includes revived pieces from the likes of Super Mario World, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy. Anyone who fell in love with Bowser's theme from Super Mario 64 will surely appreciate the clever inclusion of a choir - yes, a choir - to fully accentuate the power the piece holds. And you just wait for the music in the credits: if that's not enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up at least a few times, you must be dead inside.
It's always seemed as though there hasn't been a true sequel to a 3D Mario platformer for good reason: sequels can never really live up to their expectations. They take the original and change things for the sake of change. They warp and distort, even pollute, the things that made us fall in love with the original. They never do justice where justice is deserved. But what does that make Super Mario Galaxy 2? Calling it a sequel, then, does it nothing but an injustice. It's a masterpiece, a work of art for which the gaming industry should be applauded, and one that should always be remembered as the legendary piece that it is.
Games are often only considered the greatest when they change something forever: Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time brought two gaming pinnacles into a new world of gaming, and Super Mario Galaxy proved to the doubters that Wii was not weak. Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't need to do any of that because it's already been done. This is Nintendo showing the world what they can do and that, time and again, they can do it to the very best of their ability. Quite simply, it is the prettiest, the most enthralling, the most powerful and, by far, the most charming game that has ever existed. After fifteen years of playing 25 years' worth of gaming history, this is yet another reviewer who can say, without any tinge of doubt whatsoever, that this is the greatest game there has ever been, and that it will undoubtedly remain so for many years to come.
