In which I wrote this yesterday.
Today makes the first day I've ever played a game on its release date. I'm rather proud that this honor belongs to Super Mario Galaxy 2.
First Impressions: The music is *astounding*. It beats the rather high mark set by its predecessor, which was one of the very few video game soundtracks I actively sought out.
The control scheme is the same as Super Mario Galaxy, with the exception of the new suits and Yoshi, but that's not a problem, as the controls in the first were near-perfect.
Yoshi controls very easily, and can do some of the newer Mario moves, like the side-somersault. The tongue attacks and flutter-kick jumping classically associated with him are amazingly integrated (there's even an early boss fight that utilizes Yoshi). He also seems to have lost some of his earlier-seen suicidal tendencies, as he doesn't dive off of the nearest cliff without a thought anymore. Should you lose Yoshi for whatever reason, there are spawn locations all over Yoshi-based levels for his egg, which stops you from having to go all the way back to the beginning of a level (or worse, restart). Also, the Daisies from the Yoshi's Island series return, as a sort of grapple-point for Yoshi's tongue.
The only part about Yoshi I had to play around to figure out was dismounting (crouch, then jump, like a backflip, if you're interested, and you CAN dismount in the air like in Super Mario World), but really, there's no reason to want to.
Also returning is the classic drum-beat when you are riding a Yoshi. Another nod to the sound team on that one.
The new characters are cute and feel right within the Galaxy universe. Lubba is pretty awesome, despite his ability to make some of the worst puns ever.
Although it's the Wii, and the system will never set a bar for graphics, the game is very pretty to look at, and the camera has, as of writing this, yet to really give me any trouble, which was an uncommon (yet horrifying, when it occurred) problem in the first.
The universe is now a sort of world map, which is an obvious homage to the world map screens first seen in my all-time favorite, Super Mario 3 (which was also used very well in the recent Super Mario Bros. Wii).
To traverse the Universe, you utilize the Mario Spaceship, which gets more and more tricked out the more stuff you do. Like, initially it looks like Mario, then, when you meet Yoshi, you get a Yoshi egg on the ship. When you meet the Toad Brigade again, you get a warp pad to access their ship, etc. etc. It's pretty cool.
One minor change is the loss of the 1-up at collecting 50 Star Bits (it's only on the 100's now), but Star Bits seem to be much more plentiful to reflect this change.
Another change is that coins seem much more important in this than in previous games. While they are mainly used as a health-recovery mechanic, as we are all used to by now, they are tracked and collected on the Spaceship screen.
Update: When you collect 100 coins in the spaceship, you get a 1-up.
A new addition, which is obviously taken directly from Super Mario Bros. Wii, is the checkpoint flag. I love this. In the first Galaxy, you really had no idea where you were going to re-start should you die. In this, you know exactly where it'll be.
Another simple addition, but something I really like, is now you can see exactly WHERE the launch star you're about to take you will go. The little blue streaks that show up when you've already gone through a launch star are ever-present.
Hungry Lumas, instead of simply creating new one-star galaxies, now also generate new pathways along the world-select map. (it's difficult to put into words, but you'll know exactly what I mean when you see it.)
The Prankster Comets, once random, now apparently have something to do with collectible (and often out-of-the-way or difficult to collect) Comet Medals. Initial guess is the more you collect, the more Comets show up.
Also, just saying, at 10 stars in, Cloud Mario is my new favorite Mario.
First Impressions: The music is *astounding*. It beats the rather high mark set by its predecessor, which was one of the very few video game soundtracks I actively sought out.
The control scheme is the same as Super Mario Galaxy, with the exception of the new suits and Yoshi, but that's not a problem, as the controls in the first were near-perfect.
Yoshi controls very easily, and can do some of the newer Mario moves, like the side-somersault. The tongue attacks and flutter-kick jumping classically associated with him are amazingly integrated (there's even an early boss fight that utilizes Yoshi). He also seems to have lost some of his earlier-seen suicidal tendencies, as he doesn't dive off of the nearest cliff without a thought anymore. Should you lose Yoshi for whatever reason, there are spawn locations all over Yoshi-based levels for his egg, which stops you from having to go all the way back to the beginning of a level (or worse, restart). Also, the Daisies from the Yoshi's Island series return, as a sort of grapple-point for Yoshi's tongue.
The only part about Yoshi I had to play around to figure out was dismounting (crouch, then jump, like a backflip, if you're interested, and you CAN dismount in the air like in Super Mario World), but really, there's no reason to want to.
Also returning is the classic drum-beat when you are riding a Yoshi. Another nod to the sound team on that one.
The new characters are cute and feel right within the Galaxy universe. Lubba is pretty awesome, despite his ability to make some of the worst puns ever.
Although it's the Wii, and the system will never set a bar for graphics, the game is very pretty to look at, and the camera has, as of writing this, yet to really give me any trouble, which was an uncommon (yet horrifying, when it occurred) problem in the first.
The universe is now a sort of world map, which is an obvious homage to the world map screens first seen in my all-time favorite, Super Mario 3 (which was also used very well in the recent Super Mario Bros. Wii).
To traverse the Universe, you utilize the Mario Spaceship, which gets more and more tricked out the more stuff you do. Like, initially it looks like Mario, then, when you meet Yoshi, you get a Yoshi egg on the ship. When you meet the Toad Brigade again, you get a warp pad to access their ship, etc. etc. It's pretty cool.
One minor change is the loss of the 1-up at collecting 50 Star Bits (it's only on the 100's now), but Star Bits seem to be much more plentiful to reflect this change.
Another change is that coins seem much more important in this than in previous games. While they are mainly used as a health-recovery mechanic, as we are all used to by now, they are tracked and collected on the Spaceship screen.
Update: When you collect 100 coins in the spaceship, you get a 1-up.
A new addition, which is obviously taken directly from Super Mario Bros. Wii, is the checkpoint flag. I love this. In the first Galaxy, you really had no idea where you were going to re-start should you die. In this, you know exactly where it'll be.
Another simple addition, but something I really like, is now you can see exactly WHERE the launch star you're about to take you will go. The little blue streaks that show up when you've already gone through a launch star are ever-present.
Hungry Lumas, instead of simply creating new one-star galaxies, now also generate new pathways along the world-select map. (it's difficult to put into words, but you'll know exactly what I mean when you see it.)
The Prankster Comets, once random, now apparently have something to do with collectible (and often out-of-the-way or difficult to collect) Comet Medals. Initial guess is the more you collect, the more Comets show up.
Also, just saying, at 10 stars in, Cloud Mario is my new favorite Mario.