Super Mario Galaxy 2

[cheatmaster30]

Don't forget the really nice scenery at the end of the level.

www.mariowiki.com/images/7/7d/SSpG6.png

The above picture is probably one of the best scenes in the game.

[kirbychu]

That was gorgeous. I loved that level.

[Koopaul]

Yeah too bad that level like all the others are extremely short. That's always been my main irk with the Galaxy series, I rather have a few long last levels than many really short ones.

[cheatmaster30]

They definitely need a better balance for level length. Super Mario Galaxy 2's levels are too much on the short side (especially the Bowser Jr levels, although the Megaleg one in the original was even worse), while those in say, Sunshine were long, but had too few different levels. I'd say twice as long as your typical Galaxy 2 level would suffice (although not as damn long as the Grandmaster Galaxy).

If I was going to be honest though, my main criticism (and likely only true one) was that too many missions in this were really short and not well thought out. Look at all the Chimp's challenges, the 'kill everything with Rainbow Star' missions and the awful purple coin mission in the Puzzle Plank Galaxy. Poor Shiverburn Galaxy got literally ONE real mission.

On the positive though, a great level is the Space Storm Galaxy's second mission. It's even better when you play without slowing the level down or defeating the red Topmen, because it shows how many options the level gives you to beat it.

[Johans Nidorino]

I'm actually liking the "shorter, numerous" approach of this game precisely because we've seen the opposite approach before. If I demanded more content in Galaxy 2, I'd demand more levels than expanding the existing ones, but hey, it's just my opinion ^_^

I loved the ending in Slimy Spring Galaxy, too... It was as if they made it specifically to be beautiful and make you feel peace (except I was still afraid of falling off the cliff after trying to climb to the trees...).

[cheatmaster30]

It's also a possible homage to that level (Big Mouth Galaxy? Can't remember, looked like a fish) with the treasure chest and the Toad Leader.

As for more levels... Personally, anyone else hoping a future game literally has 240 unique missions? I never got why Nintendo never seems to give you over 120 of them in their 3D Mario games, it makes me think of Rare and the 200 odd they had in Donkey Kong 64. But hopefully it'll happen, since it's already gone from 121 stars twice to 242 uniquely placed stars on same playthrough.

That and I still wish for a 3D castle level.

[Deleted]

I would honestly have either 120 longer missions, or 240 shorter, unique missions, then 120 short missions and 120 Hide And Seek missions. I mean, SMG2 is a great game and it kept me busy for hours, but, just sayin'.

[cheatmaster30]

Well to be fair, it's better than just playing the first 120 missions again with Luigi with no changes. That seems a pretty poorly thought out way to increase game length, don't you think?

And I liked some green stars. Not many, because too many were in just ridiculous obvious places or in suicide spots, but some were well thought out I guess.

[nocturnal YL]

For the game length thing, I'd say the length seems alright in most cases, although some are too short.

Also, they shouldn't really be asking for playing certain missions again. Comets are one of my less favourite elements introduced in Galaxy (better than Blue Coins in Sunshine though, if you ask me).

I'd rather see 120+ unique missions over some 60 stages without requiring you to do thinge like "play the whole thing again within 4 minutes" since that makes the total number of "actual" things to do decrease.

As far as level design is concerned, the distribution of exploration and obstacle courses should be balanced out a bit. In this aspect, Galaxy 1 does well. Galaxy 2... anything other than Starshine Beach are linear obstacle courses, although you still get to see those cute little 1-UPs for looking into some hidden areas. (Why just 1-UPs when Galaxy series give tons of them anyway? Star bits look more practical to me...)

The green stars... some are well planned (like the one above the buoy in Starshine Beach) while some just make no sense (Green Star 1 in Sky Station, aka "just double jump and get me"; or all 3 in Battle Belt).

Good to see 242 unique stars this time, but the stars should be "more unique" than those slight differences shown.

[Fryguy64]

The problem with Comets is that I already know what the challenge will be before it happens. You can pretty much work out which stages will be purple coin or daredevil challenges.

And I dread those damnable speedruns with those damnable clocks that you have to collect. I'm OK being timed, but having to slow down to grab a clock? Pain in the arse.

[cheatmaster30]

The clocks remind me of the green apples in the level 'Funky' in Super Mario World. But yes, you can tell the comets in advance. Usually, they tend to be the missions you really, really hoped they wouldn't be.

Such as daredevil runs for bosses, speedruns for long levels and rainbow star missions for when Nintendo got lazy.

[cheatmaster30]

And now, I've done it. 242 stars, Master of Galaxies, 557 death total, shiny save file, Rosalina on the starship Mario and some letter apparently sent to the Wii notice board.

Perfect Run finally beaten!

[Fryguy64]

Jun 24, 2010 9:28:27 GMT -5 cheatmaster30 said:

Such as daredevil runs for bosses, speedruns for long levels and rainbow star missions for when Nintendo got lazy.

Some of those "beat all enemies within the time limit" are the most fun I've had with the game. Rolling around a tiny planet wiping out the Crabbies is awesome. Much more fun than the point-scoring Chimp games.

[Fryguy64]

So, it's been a while since we've had a good play of this game. Remembering the controversy over the original E3 2009 trailer using MIDI music, I thought I'd track down the original trailer and refresh my memory.



Forget the music... I know games continue to be refined after announcement, but I swear about 20% of the content in that video made it into the final game, and even most of that was heavily edited.

Trip down memory lane, huh?

[Koopaul]

Hm there seems to be a few things there that didn't make it.

From 0:16 to 0:20 you can see a wide open grassy level with trees that doesn't look familiar. One of the neat things is that the grass here looks more realistic than what was in the final cut, the level also looks very open to exploration.

From 0:21 to 0:24 you can see Yoshi's egg is in a place that is different from where you originally find it. This place has green hills around it and the egg is placed on the center of some steps.

After this you can see Mario running around that open grassy area with Yoshi.

From 0:29 to 0:32 you can see another unused area with Yoshi showing off his tongue tricks.

From 0:34 to 0:36 Yoshi balloons in an area that he normally doesn't.

At 0:50 Mario is seen sliding down a stony area, that I don't remember.

At 1:02 Mario explores a very wide open snow covered area that in not in the game.

At 1:18 Mario long jumping on grass covered mushroom tops that are never seen in the game.

1:45 shows a beta Supermassive Galaxy that is also... wide open instead of confining to a specific path.

A second later you can catch another level that does not exist.

1:53 shows Starship Mario looks exactly like Mario!