Topic: Super Mario Galaxy 2

[GoldenPhoenix]

Oh wow! Nintendo rocks

Throwback Galaxy was so cool! What a great surprise!

[Stratos]

So I talked to my sister a bit about it. It is primarily story that killed it from the sounds of it. She didn't like how it felt like a rerun of the first game's story. And in fact, she pretty much summed up the story complaints of most Nintendo sequels. Mario goes to the castle AGAIN, and Bowser shows up AGAIN, and Peach is kidnapped AGAIN. Collect stars AGAIN (I hear Yahtzee's words in my head "And it is always stars"). She hadn't gotten to Yoshi yet and she did say that getting to Yoshi and using him might have changed up her interest some. She didn't outright say it, but the way she referred to the fat Luma seemed like she wasn't too keen on him. Also the lack of a new storybook was a disappointment as I thought.

[that Baby guy]

She hadn't gotten to Yoshi yet?  I was stuck at two stars for like a half a week, and I'd even gotten Yoshi.

I'm up to nine now.  That's progress!

[Mop it up]

Yeah, I can see that. Bowser capturing the princess has been overdone. Plus it means we all know the final battle will be Bowser, and I have severe doubts it won't be rehash of a previous game's Bowser battle.

But hey, she shouldn't be playing this game for its story! How shallow is she?
If she wants a storybook story, introduce her to Little King's Story.

[Luigi Dude]

So I talked to my sister a bit about it. It is primarily story that killed it from the sounds of it. She didn't like how it felt like a rerun of the first game's story. And in fact, she pretty much summed up the story complaints of most Nintendo sequels. Mario goes to the castle AGAIN, and Bowser shows up AGAIN, and Peach is kidnapped AGAIN. Collect stars AGAIN (I hear Yahtzee's words in my head "And it is always stars"). She hadn't gotten to Yoshi yet and she did say that getting to Yoshi and using him might have changed up her interest some. She didn't outright say it, but the way she referred to the fat Luma seemed like she wasn't too keen on him. Also the lack of a new storybook was a disappointment as I thought.

You should have her play Sonic 2006 and then she'll be grateful Nintendo doesn't focus on storyline in Mario games.

[Ian Sane]

How does one not get to Yoshi yet?  He's in the SECOND LEVEL.

Finally got a chance to play more of this after being busy all week.  I've realized I swear pretty much the entire time playing.  Every time I die I'm all "AH FUCKING DAMMIT TO HELL!"  My brother could hear me from upstairs and was wondering if I was actually enjoying myself.  Thankfully I was.  I'm far enough that I'm going to die at least once on every new stage so the swearing will continue.

Though **** that stupid bird level with it's broken ass motion control bullshit!  Only level I've rage quitted.  I don't care for levels where the challenge comes from the game controlling like ass.  It's the stupid manta ray levels all over again.

I've also noticed something that constantly trips me up and I don't know if it's poor design or intentionally mean design.  With Mario if you're going to miss a jump you shake the remote and he does that spin thing which gives you that extra boost in the air.  With Yoshi however you do a flutter jump which you do by pressing the jump button again.  If you shake with Yoshi he just sort of bobs his head and sinks like a rock.  The problem is I get so used to Mario that when I play Yoshi I miss jumps all the time because I instinctively shake the remote.  ARRGH!!  Do they do that on purpose?  Every time I use Yoshi I give up a few lives just getting back into Yoshi Mode.

I don't personally really care but the story is embarassingly lazy.  I don't know why Nintendo thinks this is okay.  At best the player doesn't care but at worst the player is turned off.  I don't expect Final Fantasy level melodramatics here (in fact I prefer not to have that) but can't they come up with a different villian or a different evil plan or a different objective for the hero?  They're not trying and they're obvious about that.  Why give people an excuse to reject you?  I could come up with a better storyline during my lunch hour.  And they even went to the trouble to make a new character with that fat Luma so it's not like they reused it all to cheap out on new models.

One thing I really like is that almost every level has a unique boss.  Yet at the end of every castle is Bowser Jr. or Bowser.  This game just reeks of creativity in the level designs but in the presentation there is some severe laziness.  I don't get the contrast.  Obviously there are people involved in the game that have a real passion for creativity.  So why is the storyline complete balls?  If I'm making a game like Super Mario Galaxy 2 I'm going to try to make the best game I can and that means I don't cut corners ANYWHERE.  Level design, controls, music, graphics, story, presentation, balance - all as good as they can be.

[Peachylala]

I don't personally really care but the story is embarassingly lazy.  I don't know why Nintendo thinks this is okay.  At best the player doesn't care but at worst the player is turned off.  I don't expect Final Fantasy level melodramatics here (in fact I prefer not to have that) but can't they come up with a different villian or a different evil plan or a different objective for the hero?

It's called the Mario RPG series. If you don't like how the main line Mario platformers treat the storyline, then play those games.
 
I, frankly, don't care about the storylines. Tiny interactions between the characters is a-ok as long as it doesn't break up the flow. SMG2 does this wonderfully.
 

You should have her play Sonic 2006 and then she'll be grateful Nintendo doesn't focus on storyline in Mario games.

With that game, Sonic Team proved that's possible to make a Mary-Sue fan fiction into a video game.
 
And it's disgraceful.

[Caterkiller]

I enjoyed the flying game quite a bit, but at the same time if it was motion pluss flying I don't think anyone would be complaining. Ian there is a walking on the ball stage way later down the road. Just mentaly prepare yourself.

[Ian Sane]

enjoyed the flying game quite a bit, but at the same time if it was motion pluss flying I don't think anyone would be complaining. Ian there is a walking on the ball stage way later down the road. Just mentaly prepare yourself.

Yeah I've already gotten to that one.  It's not as bad.  I'm not thrilled about it, but it's not as bad.  If the game used a normal controller I think the ball stage would still take a few tries to beat because the whole concept makes for tricky levels to begin with.  Super Monkey Ball is still pretty damn hard even using an analog stick.
 
But the flying game I think is something that if it controlled normally I would actually be good at.  I would probably actually like that level.  That makes it more frustrating.
 
The idea of these levels seems to be to show off motion control but I find if anything they just make motion control look bad.  I don't think it's in Nintendo's best interests for people to associate motion control with broken levels in an overwise amazing game.  Motion+ would have helped but I don't think Super Mario Galaxy 2 uses motion control enough to support it.  As bad as those levels were if I had to have Motion+ to play the game and it was just for this small handful of levels I would feel rather ripped off, unless I got Motion+ for free.

[Caterkiller]

Motion pluss would be a waist just for those stages, but just saying if it felt like wii sports flying we would all love it. Also there is a second walking on the ball stage it is very colorful, if you havn't gotten to that one and didn't do its comet challenge then brace your self.
 
Can't wait until you all get at least 120 stars so we can really start talking about it.

[GoldenPhoenix]

Nintendo tried integrating a different kind of story in its game and people hated the game. That game being Super Mario Sunshine. Personally I don't care either way I am more concerned by the level design, Mario games aren't story driven games, never have and never will be. Their game designs have always been about the game itself. My biggest complaint isn't about the story but how the Bowser battles tend to be really similar in the Galaxy games. I love Bowser as a villain still, but they need to mix up his battles, kind of like what they do with Bowser Jr, once again Sunshine tried this.

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo tried integrating a different kind of story in its game and people hated the game. That game being Super Mario Sunshine.

Ah yes the Nintendo method - do something poorly and you don't get asked to do it ever again.  That is sort of a joke but it does work in the real world.  My brother used to get out of helping our mom with gardening because he was so (likely intentionally) incompetent that the survival of the plants hinged on him being completely uninvolved.
 
Super Mario Sunshine had a lot of problems and I don't really think the story was a big factor.  The story was super lame and done poorly but that suggests to me that Nintendo needs to improve on their stories and not just give up outright.  FLUDD was Sunshine's problem - a creative idea that unfortunately no one really liked.  Galaxy has a creative idea with the planets and gravity and such but people liked the idea.  Just as a poorly received creative idea should not convince one to abandon creativity a poorly received story should not dissuade one from trying to come up with a better story.
 
Seriously just change Super Mario Galaxy 2 so that Rosalina is kidnapped by, I don't know, Wario I guess, and the suddenly the story doesn't seem as much like a lame rehash.  There, I just pulled somethg really basic and not very original at all out of my butt and it's better than what Nintendo came up with.

[Adrock]

Yeah, I agree. Just because Nintendo sucks at storytelling, doesn't mean their games can't/won't benefit from it.

[TJ Spyke]

Some games, maybe. I have really enjoyed the stories of many Nintendo games.

[NWR_insanolord]

I am in favor of having as little story as possible in the mainline Mario platformers.

[Ian Sane]

I am in favor of having as little story as possible in the mainline Mario platformers.

Oh, I like the fact that in Mario games I'm not hit over the head every five minutes with an embarassingly poor cutscene.  I think a lot of videogames would benefit from the "the _____ has been kidnapped by ______!  Are you a bad enough dude to rescue _____?" model of storytelling.  But those blanks have to be different.  Peach kidnapped by Bowser has been done to death.  Change the villain or change the victim or make it so Bowser stole something or whatever.
 
In Super Mario Galaxy 2 I honestly don't even KNOW what Bowser's plan is.  He kidnapped Peach and whenever I fight him he's really huge for some reason and then when I beat him he goes back to normal size only to be huge again the next time I fight him with no explanation in between.  How did Bowser become so huge, why did he kidnap Peach, and what is his plan that I, Mario, am apparently fucking with?  And why do these star guys give a **** and are helping me?  I love this game but I have no clue what is going on.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I thought Bowser was gonna redo his plan of making his own personal galaxy in the center of the universe and he kidnapped the princess so that she can make him a cake for once.

Isn't that how the game started?

[Peachylala]

New rule for Mario platformers:
 
Turn off brain before going into the game. And yes Black, that's true.

[stevey]

I am in favor of having as little story as possible in the mainline Mario platformers.

Oh, I like the fact that in Mario games I'm not hit over the head every five minutes with an embarassingly poor cutscene.  I think a lot of videogames would benefit from the "the _____ has been kidnapped by ______!  Are you a bad enough dude to rescue _____?" model of storytelling.  But those blanks have to be different.  Peach kidnapped by Bowser has been done to death.  Change the villain or change the victim or make it so Bowser stole something or whatever.

Seriously just change Super Mario Galaxy 2 so that Rosalina is kidnapped by, I don't know, Wario I guess, and the suddenly the story doesn't seem as much like a lame rehash.  There, I just pulled somethg really basic and not very original at all out of my butt and it's better than what Nintendo came up with.

Piff, Rosalina could kick Bowser/Wario's ass



Why would Bowser kidnap someone other than Peach? I don't think that's the reason the story sucks in SMG2. The open is just lame compared to SMG where there where airships attacking from above. SMG2 was just "muhahaha I'm evil, big, and going to do the same thing all over again for no reason!" Nintendo spent 0 time in making it. It should have being a more entertaining kidnapping at lease.

[Luigi Dude]

Holy sh!t the final star in this game The Perfect Run is the hardest level ever in a Mario game.  Took me over an hour and 30 lives to finally complete it.  Even the hardest levels from Lost Levels never gave me this much trouble.  This game truly is the ultimate Mario experience.

So yeah, bravo Tokyo EAD for creating another incredible game.

[Caterkiller]

As in the 240th Star?

[Caliban]

242nd.

[ThomasO]

I have completed the game, with all 242 stars. In final two stars, the first took 10:42.25 and 5 lives, and the second took 11:36.90 and 7 lives. For these two, I did not get any Game Overs, nor did I go back to Starship Mario to replenish lives.


I did not think the game was as challenging as everyone says, to be honest. Yes, it is more difficult than SMG, but I found only a handful of stars to be particularly frustrating.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If you beat the 1st SMG then you are very experienced in this type of gameplay.
if the second one was hard enough to present a serious challenge to you then it would beyond the barrier of entry to anyone new to the series.

[DAaaMan64]

Wow there is an enemy in Right Side up galaxy that looks like it was taken straight outa Mega Man. Anyone see it? I'd look for it on Super Mario Wiki but that place is spoiler city.