Topic: Super Mario Galaxy 2

[Tanookisuit]

So, a few days ago I saw an unboxing of SMG2 and it had one of the "green" cases. Mine doesn't have one of those cases, does yours? Just curious!

Mine is one of those, with a recycle logo punched out of the front, and holes behind the disc.

On world 5 now, and the difficulty really ramps up!

[Caliban]

I think I'm one star from beating the main story, 60 stars?

D'oh! It's 70.

Anyway. I beat the game. Honestly I think that SMG 2 beats SMG in terms of level design, and artistic creativity. I just don't think that their camera system is better than it was.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I think I'm one star from beating the main story, 60 stars?

D'oh! It's 70.

Anyway. I beat the game. Honestly I think that SMG 2 beats SMG in terms of level design, and artistic creativity. I just don't think that their camera system is better than it was.

Without spoiling, was the final boss battle better or worse then SMG?

[Caliban]

I think I'm one star from beating the main story, 60 stars?

D'oh! It's 70.

Anyway. I beat the game. Honestly I think that SMG 2 beats SMG in terms of level design, and artistic creativity. I just don't think that their camera system is better than it was.

Without spoiling, was the final boss battle better or worse then SMG?

lol I had to watch on youtube how the final boss battle in SMG proceeded because I completely forgot about it... so to answer your question I will say this much:

I had more fun beating the majority of the other bosses than I did with the final boss of SMG2. It is a little better than the final boss for SMG, but not by much. I actually expected something else to happen (Mario going giant too for the final battle), but it never did happen.

[ThomasO]

I got 120 stars. Now to get the 120 Green Stars.

[Ian Sane]

Monday was a holiday here in Canada which was nice timing.   So I got to sink some good time in it, though I seem to play games pretty slow because I'm nowhere near as far along as some of you.

I'm really digging it.  Don't know if it's better than the first game or not.  It's hard to say as the first game came out during a very stressful and busy time of my life so it was hard to find time to play it.  This one has come out at a better time so I could relax and enjoy my first experience with it.  That makes for an unfair comparison.

One thing this game is clearly better at though is remote usage and it's entirely because of Yoshi.  Motion control in SMG felt tacked on.  Yeah you had a few mini-games here and there that needed it (including that HORRIBLE manta ray ****) but overall it was just waggle and totally useless starbits.  SMG2 is more of that but using the remote to point at what Yoshi should eat changes things a lot.  It not only is intuitive and natural but it feels like that's the only way Yoshi in 3D would ever work.  How else would you do it?  Z-targeting?  Using Yoshi feels as easy as it does in 2D Mario and the pointer controls are part of that.

And while I'm on the topic of Yoshi I honestly think he adds enough to this game to consider it a real sequel and not just an expansion pack.  It is a little derivative by Nintendo's standards but for any other company adding something as significant as Yoshi to this formula would be a decent sized leap.  The Yoshi levels are quite different than what we got in the first game.

[ThomasO]

One really good addition was coins actually being used for something other than replenishing health (and at times being required to get certain stars). Since you lose all your coins when you die, it makes some parts much harder. And, I like the addition of automatically keeping Time attack records for every star, and the fact the clock becomes disabled in Speed run challenges when the star appears, unlike Ghostly Galaxy's purple coin challenge that was annoying because the timer kept going after you got all the needed coins.

Only three times the Cosmic Guide appeared for me during the first 120 stars: the Slide in Tall Trunk Galaxy, the Rock Mario level in Melty Monster Galaxy, and the Cosmic Clone star in Flip-Out Galaxy.


But what is really good about this is that I felt encouraged to play every level, unlike the original that has its "oh not this again" moments. The Purple Coin challenges felt properly done this time, other than just throwaway stars to fill up the usual 120.

[NWR_insanolord]

Monday was a holiday here in Canada which was nice timing.   So I got to sink some good time in it, though I seem to play games pretty slow because I'm nowhere near as far along as some of you.

I'm really digging it.  Don't know if it's better than the first game or not.  It's hard to say as the first game came out during a very stressful and busy time of my life so it was hard to find time to play it.  This one has come out at a better time so I could relax and enjoy my first experience with it.  That makes for an unfair comparison.

One thing this game is clearly better at though is remote usage and it's entirely because of Yoshi.  Motion control in SMG felt tacked on.  Yeah you had a few mini-games here and there that needed it (including that HORRIBLE manta ray ****) but overall it was just waggle and totally useless starbits.  SMG2 is more of that but using the remote to point at what Yoshi should eat changes things a lot.  It not only is intuitive and natural but it feels like that's the only way Yoshi in 3D would ever work.  How else would you do it?  Z-targeting?  Using Yoshi feels as easy as it does in 2D Mario and the pointer controls are part of that.

And while I'm on the topic of Yoshi I honestly think he adds enough to this game to consider it a real sequel and not just an expansion pack.  It is a little derivative by Nintendo's standards but for any other company adding something as significant as Yoshi to this formula would be a decent sized leap.  The Yoshi levels are quite different than what we got in the first game.

So, to recap, Ian likes a Wii game, feels that the Wii-specific controls are good and really add something to the game, and isn't at all critical of Nintendo for releasing a safe sequel. Hell has officially frozen over.

[Peachylala]

I-I liked the manta ray **** in SMG1... Hell it was Wave Race on a Manta Ray
 
The music is absolutely devine in this game, including the arrangements of some of the previous music in Galaxy 1. Listen to the music in Bowser's Lava Lair, did I just hear vocals?!
 
Mahito Yokata, I bow before you.

[Caliban]

Mahito Kouda, I bow before you.

I hope this dude orchestrates for the new Zelda game too.

[Caterkiller]

Lol @ Insanolord. You beat me to it.

As Peachylala says it, the music is devine! I feel everyone should be happy with this Sound Track. Lots of orchestra for the people who think all games need nothing but that, and plenty of simpler (midi?) tunes for those who want that. Hearing the remake of Super Mario Worlds song (Butter bridge comes to mind) is so satisfying. But come on guys best song goes to that puzzle stage where the violin is rockin out.

[Luigi Dude]

Mahito Kouda, I bow before you.

Wait, so your telling me Mahito Yokata recently married Masato Kouda?  I didn't know they were gay.

Of course joking aside, there's nothing wrong with confusing the two.  Masato Kouda composed music for the Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry games, as well as some Capcom arcade games like the first Marvel vs Capcom.  I'd say Kouda has a pretty good resume of his own.

I hope this dude orchestrates for the new Zelda game too.

The funny thing is, he actually composed an orchestrated track for Twilight Princess but it was never used in the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiq06cQPH44

He also composed the orchestrated music for the games trailer as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JQllobJgj8&feature=related

And what do you know, both songs are the best songs from Twilight Princess even though neither appear in the actual game itself.  So the answer is a big, F*CK YES, Mahito Yokota needs to do the music for the upcoming Zelda Wii.  Hell, even if he's unable to do the entire thing they should at least get him to do more then 2 tracks this time and make sure these tracks actually appear during the actual game this time.

[Peachylala]

I have noticed another arrangement. Boo Path has arranged music from Super Mario World's ghost house stages.
 
YOKATA FOR NEXT SMASH BROS GAME PLZ THK U NINTENDO.

[NWR_Lindy]

I just bought this off of Amazon.  I had forgotten that I had a $10 credit from 3D Dot Game Heroes, so that brought SMG2 down to $39.99 flat (since I have Amazon Prime).  On top of that, Amazon was offering a $20 credit off your next game purchase with a purchase of SMG2, so I could not resist.

Most importantly, it's my birthday today, so happy birthday to ME.

So everybody just get off my back, I bought your precious little Mario 3D platformer.  ;-)

[Caterkiller]

You better.

[noname2200]

I just bought this off of Amazon.  I had forgotten that I had a $10 credit from 3D Dot Game Heroes, so that brought SMG2 down to $39.99 flat (since I have Amazon Prime).  On top of that, Amazon was offering a $20 credit off your next game purchase with a purchase of SMG2, so I could not resist.

Most importantly, it's my birthday today, so happy birthday to ME.

So everybody just get off my back, I bought your precious little Mario 3D platformer.  ;-)

I look forward to next year's PAX podcast.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I just bought this off of Amazon.  I had forgotten that I had a $10 credit from 3D Dot Game Heroes, so that brought SMG2 down to $39.99 flat (since I have Amazon Prime).  On top of that, Amazon was offering a $20 credit off your next game purchase with a purchase of SMG2, so I could not resist.

Most importantly, it's my birthday today, so happy birthday to ME.

So everybody just get off my back, I bought your precious little Mario 3D platformer.  ;-)

Poor game, won't ever see the inside of a Wii system. It will forever be an orphan!

[Caliban]

I hope this dude orchestrates for the new Zelda game too.

The funny thing is, he actually composed an orchestrated track for Twilight Princess but it was never used in the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tiq06cQPH44

He also composed the orchestrated music for the games trailer as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JQllobJgj8&feature=related

The second one I've heard, obviously. The first composition however is new to me, and it is absolutely awesome.

So everybody just get off my back, I bought your precious little Mario 3D platformer.  ;-)

You need to start bitch slapping all the forum users that nag you about your preferences.

[NWR_Lindy]

Ha.  Nah, even I can't pass up Mario Galaxy 2 when I get $10 off and then $20 off on my next game.  Oh, there WILL be a next game, believe me.

[Kytim89]

I have this game sitting on top of my wii still in its factory wrapping. I am still playing Monster Hunter 3 to play galaxy 2, but I will most likely start on it in a few days.

[BlkPaladin]

I'm buying both (Galaxy 2 and Monster Hunter) either today to tomorrow. The releases were at a bad time for my bills. The second half of the month goes to my loans. So I'm going to float a check that hopefully will not make it into my account for the second time until I get paid.

[Stratos]

Are you online at all Kytim? I've never seen you around when we get together to play.

[GoldenPhoenix]

So I thought I had a spare nunchuck but i don't, so I can't play SMG2 until I get one, Ugh.

[Stratos]

What happened to the one that cam with your system?

Plus it serves you right for ditching me on Tri. I know what you went off to do

[Tanookisuit]

Beat the final boss this morning.  Pretty good. 

I love this game.  Reminds me of Lost Levels.