AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Gobblegut reminds me of Fracktail, who on his turn reminds me of Hooktail. Perhaps they're family of each other?

Highly doubt it.

Their only similarities are that they're all dragons. What the heck are you on about?


Plus, Fracktail was a robot!

What about the dragons from Yoshi's Story

the ones you rided on in the sky and somehow you had to walk on them because they were slippery or something? mario dragons are all the same

also all the dragons look similar and are redand that's close e-friggin-nough for me to call them the same

So SMG2 came out in Europe yesterday!

I'm now up to 40 stars. I assume there's 120, right?


As for the game itself, it's... well, so far, it feels about on par with the first game. It feels a lot like an expansion, really!
As for when compared to the original, it has its ups and downs. The level design and creativity is about the same, but whereas the First followed the SM64/SMS concept of having a set of levels mostly start in the same place and branch off shortly afterwards, the Second has a lot more of a focus on having each level be more unique and have less taken from other levels. Which is good, in that it means more creativity and new parts of levels... but it also takes away a lot of the charm in the levels too. Even levels in the same galaxy don't feel like they're related.

Also, I preferred the First's approach to out-of-level parts. I preferred the First's system of having galaxies unlock when you get enough stars over the Second's system of having galaxies unlock like New Super Mario Bros stages: get a star in a galaxy to move on. It still has a star requirement, at specific blocks in the path, but when you're not at those blocks you don't get a full sense of that you're advancing in the game when you go back and do old galaxies.
Additionally, the hub in the First was far better than the hub in the Second. In the Second, there's no sense of wonder about it and you generally only go around it when you have a specific point of doing it (also, no Fly Mario to play with). Also, the Big Luma is really... generic, and I miss having a proper character in the game like Rosalina; one with personality, a proper presence, actual backstory, and a proper motive. It seems small, but it has a big effect on the whole charm of the game.


So yeah, that's my overly-long-and-cluttered opinion:

TL,DR: SMG2 has better gameplay than SMG1, but a lot less charm too. But it's also a sequel that doesn't make the original feel outdated and backwards, so you should really just get both!


Also, is EVERY Prankster Comet level time-based?





Edit: Oh hey, apparently I'm the first one here to actually give a proper opinion of the game! That's... surprising, really.

I heard the total amount of stars was 242, or something.

I'm not sure myself tho, as I'm up to 66 stars right now. :V

Yeah, I just got 120 stars and completed the game this morning. I am now working on

[spoiler]Getting all 120 Green Stars[/spoiler]

My opinions on the game? Well, I definitely prefer the first one, but that's not to say that one is better than the other. I loved the hub on galaxy 1, and Rosalina was a pretty interesting new character; she was a new female companion, and yet not a damsel in distress. It was also really cool how the Power and Grand Stars functioned in the Observatory and how you were steadily able to explore farther parts of the galaxy. The levels were fresh and were things we had absolutely never seen in a Mario game before, and the music was stunning.

Galaxy 2? No hub. It makes it easier to navigate I guess, but sometimes I find myself unable to remember which galaxies are in which world--that never happened in Galaxy 1. The levels are just as fun if not more fun, but the thing is that since they're all really good, nothing really stands out. You can't really remember levels and missions as well. There also aren't many stars per level...I think they should have given you 150 stars to get in the main quest, just so some of the bigger levels can have more time devoted to them. Cloud Flower and Rock Mushroom are totally awesome, but I don't think enough attention was payed to the returning Boo Mushroom and Spring Mushroom. They basically feel entirely unnecessary. Hmmm, what else? Music. Galaxy 1 had much better music in my opinion. Nothing gets stuck in my head in Galaxy 2, whereas the predecessor had some of the best tracks I had ever heard in a video game. Prankster Comets are also not as exciting; none of them are even comparable to the difficulty of Luigi's Purple Coins, Boo's Mansion Purple Coins, or Dreadnought Purple Coins. The Chimp is also the worst idea to acquire stars. They should have just made his style of minigames another kind of comet, or eliminated the idea all together.

Galaxy 1 had a better narrative too. Bowser's attack on Toad Town was brutal and epic, and the way he totally outmaneuvered Mario was breathtaking. 2 is almost sort of satirical about the whole ordeal. I can appreciate the tongue-in-cheek attempt, but it just doesn't make for as adventurous of an experience. Plus, Rosalina's backstory was very emotional.

Also Yoshi was okay.

I'm just saying that they remind me of each other. They're all three dragons, and they're all three in a Mario game, albeit three different games.

Honestly, Super Mario Galaxy 2 really looks like a blast. I recently replayed the original on a new save file (and I'm closing in on 120 stars on my old save), and I forgot how much fun it was, and just how hard Mario games can get at the end (if I see that freaking balance orb one more time!). I'm seriously considering to buy SMG2.

Does it have balance orbs?

Please tell me it doesn't.

But even if it does, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna buy it. I will just have to train myself in not throwing my WiiRemote out of the window in frustration WHEN MARIO AND THAT FREAKING ORB ROLL OVER THE EDGE FOR THE GAZILLIONTH TIME AAAUGH!

[spoiler]There are two Rolling Ball galaxies, but both are piss easy compared to ROlling Gizmo Galaxy. You have to collect purple coins on one though, which can be tricky.[/spoiler]

I just saw this review for Super Mario Galaxy 2:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... o-Galaxy-2

And to be honest, he kind of has a point, in that not much is different from the first game, which is fine since the first game was good, but... Doesn't it seem like Nintendo's getting lazy with this? The same plot, the same gameplay, several additional power-ups and techniques that look like they could have just been added to the first game, the fact that you have to go through the same galaxy twice to get two different stars (first time normal, second time the exact same thing only with a time limit).

I mean, yeah, it's a fun game, but is this really it? Is this really all we want? Just the same exact game as before only with slight improvements to the first game?

Wait a minute... Did I just describe Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2? Or did I just describe the Madden series as a whole?

Don't get me wrong, I love Super Mario Galaxy 2, but he really DOES have a point.

[spoiler]The Rainbow Road one was awful. Took me ten tries. Good thing I'm a bit obsessed with extra lives.[/spoiler]

He's not a reviewer, and people have been saying this for many a year.

Of course he's a reviewer! Well, actually, he's more of a critic, pointing out all the negatives about a game, but either way, that's not the point, the point is his statement does hold some truth to it.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 wasn't meant to be an entirely new game. Since so many people enjoyed it, they made a full-size sequel that's basically the same thing with new elements to add to the enjoyment.

I find it ironic that Yahtzee complains about SMG2 being same ol', while his reviews are basically the same thing.