Review - Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Complete!

We completed it!

At the end of May, we purchased Super Mario Galaxy 2, a game exclusive to the Nintendo Wii.

Like its predecessor, the game is full of clever levels that take great advantage of the motion sensitive Wii controllers. Like the original, there is a mixture of fully three-dimensional play and two-dimensional arcade-esque levels which still have the 3D look.

The similarities do not end there, but there are a couple of attributes which, while shared, are actually significantly improved upon in the sequel.

The first of these is the ability of Player 2 to participate in the game, helping Player 1, who is controlling Mario. In the original, P2 could grab star bits (which was helpful for gaining lives), could hold some platforms in place and could help P1 jump. Well, in SMG2, P2 does much, much more. P2 loses the ability to help jumps, but we didn't miss that. P2 gained the ability to hold almost all enemies in place, and to kill many of them all alone. P2 can also hold various missiles (as in the original) but destroy some -- which is very important. In fact, there are some levels which are almost possible for P2 to take care of all by herself, and there are quite a few levels that I cannot imagine having completed without Sherry's help.

For a couple, like us, this makes SMG2 a fantastic game. Sherry likes watching some video games (the Zelda games & Pikmin, for example) but she rarely gets to participate in a game. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, she was heavily involved, and absolutely essential for some of it. We really feel like we played the game.

The second is the extent of the game. The original was very extensive, and well worth the money for all of the time we spent playing it, even if we only played it once. And we played it three times. [Replay value - one of my criteria for a Great Game.]

At this point, I must give a spoiler warning. And I mean it. There are some aspects to the extent of this game which were fun to find out on our own, so if you intend to play the game, or you are playing it now, you might want to stop reading this.

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Spoiler Space
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The first game had 120 goals -- 120 stars to capture -- and once we had completed those as Mario, we could complete the same goals again as Luigi. Since Luigi plays slightly differently, that was some fun, but didn't provide enough variety to motivate an immediate replay. So, after 120, we set it aside.

The sequel did something different. First, while getting the initial stars, there are "Comet Medals" to acquire. If they are not obtained, players cannot find the complete first set of stars, and this is a much cleaner way to open up new goals than the relatively random method in SMG.

Then, after the first 120 stars there is a new set of Green Stars to find, and for some of them, it really is a search. Some are easy to find, and easy to get. Some are well hidden, some are challenging to get to, even if you can see them. This provides a level of variety that made it impossible to stop playing after "just" the first 120.

And then! After 120 of these green stars, there are two bonus stars in a very difficult level, the final star being a "perfect run" which must be done without any mistakes or any damage. The sense of accomplishment we got from getting this final star and completing the game was tremendous.

This is how a game should finish!