Super Mario Galaxy 2

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a Wii video game by Nintendo. It is a sequel to Super Mario Galaxy and contains new features such as Yoshi, new powerups and returning favorites. It was released in the US on May 23, 2010, and Japan on May 27, 2010, Europe on June 11, 2010, and Australia on July 1, 2010.

Plot
Princess Peach invites Mario for some cake, at a time when Star Bits was raining down from the skies over the Mushroom Kingdom. On his way, Mario finds a Luma, who immediately befriends him and grants him the ability to spin. Shortly thereafter, Mario's archnemesis Bowser, who has grown to an immense size, invades and attacks the Mushroom Kingdom. Kidnapping the princess, Bowser escapes into outer space to create his empire at the center of the universe again. After launching into outer space, Mario is given control of Starship Mario, a mobile planetoid in the shape of his head, made by a crafty Luma mechanic called Lubba, powered by Power Stars, and piloted by other Lumas; his mission is to fly across the universe in pursuit of Bowser and the Princess and to help Lubba find the lost Lumas that were part of Bowser's plot. Along the way Mario meets new Lumas, and joins up with his companion Yoshi and many other aliens too. Upon collecting enough Power Stars, Starship Mario reaches Bowser's main fortification, draining energy from what appears to be a comet. Mario infiltrates the castle and defeats Bowser, but is forced to retreat when Bowser reappears; Mario then ultimately defeats him and lands on a small flower-covered planetoid before Princess Peach, riding the Grand Star, comes down and thanks him. Together, they return to Starship Mario, where everyone is looking at the comet that Bowser was siphoning energy from.

Gameplay
The game's hub world is a planetoid in the shape of Mario's face (the characters jokingly call it a faceship) called Starship Mario. The starship is used to gain access to the different galaxies and worlds. There are seven worlds in all, each one containing a certain amount of galaxies. New galaxies are made available upon completing missions and collecting stars. There are blockades placed in the various worlds that prevent further progression until the player can accumulate a set amount of stars. A blockade is always placed directly before the final galaxy of a world.

In each galaxy there are stars that the player must collect. The stars can be found by defeating bosses, finding silver stars, going through a challenging obstacle course like stage, or completing some other type of objective. Early on, each galaxy contains very few stars in comparison to previous Mario games. After the first 120 stars are collected, the amount of stars that are available in each galaxy doubles. The latter 120 stars are green and can be found in tough to reach places. After collecting 240 stars, the final galaxy, titled the Grandmaster Galaxy, becomes available. It is an extremely challenging stage that contains two stars. The second star, and the final star in the entire game, can only be accessed after collecting the Comet Medal in the galaxy, and having 9,999 star bits in the bank.

Mario and Yoshi
Mario is controlled by using the joystick on the Nunchuk controller. He can jump by pressing the A button, long jump by pressing the Z button and subsequently the A button, and can triple jump by jumping three consecutive times. After finding a golden Luma in the beginning of the game, Mario can perform a spin attack. The spin attack is used to activate launch stars, defeat enemies, flip switches and more. By pressing the Z button, Mario will crouch. The controls are very similar to the original Galaxy.

As in the previous game there are many items that Mario can acquire. One of the new items is a top-like drill. The drill is used on planets that are composed of dirt. With a flick of the Wii Remote, players will send Mario drilling through the entire planet and popping up at the other side. This is used to access new areas and to defeat certain enemies that have the unfortunate luck of being placed at the opposite end of the planet, including bosses. In later stages the drill is used in very complicated ways involving swift gravity alterations. While not technically a suit, the drill grants Mario new powers like a suit would. When Mario uses a launch star with a drill in hand, he'll drop the drill before being shot to a new planet.

The rock suit grants Mario the ability to roll up in a ball and smash through enemies, rock spires, boulders, fences and creations made of snow. When activated in a snow like stage, Mario will gradually pick up enough snow to resemble a snow ball (though it serves no purpose). The suit is used in a variety of stages to knock down walls, defeat a large amount of enemies (including ones that resemble bowling pins), and go through an intense obstacle course. A second new suit is the Cloud Suit, which grants Mario the ability to generate clouds strong enough to support him by spinning the Wii Remote. Each time Mario touches a Cloud Flower (the item that gives him the power), Mario will be given three clouds. After those three clouds have been used, Mario will still have the suit on (allowing him to still walk on clouds), but will have to find another item in order to once again generate clouds.

Suits returning from the original game include the Bee Suit, the Fire Suit (officially called Fire Mario), the Spring Suit, the Boo Suit, and the Starman/ Invincibility Suit. The Bee Suit grants Mario the power of a bee, allowing him to fly in the air. The Fire Suit and Starman Suit each last for a short time and allow Mario to throw fireballs and become invincible, respectively. The Spring Suit will cause Mario to jump extremely high in the air when the A button is pressed at the right time. Finally, the Boo Suit turns Mario into a ghost and allows him to pass through objects and float in the air.

Yoshi, new to the Galaxy series, is found in a variety of stages including Starship Mario. After a stage is completed with Yoshi, he is left behind, meaning the player is not able to bring him in to other stages. This is the fourth Mario platformer (not including Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island) that includes Yoshi as a secondary playable character, the others being Super Mario World, Super Mario Sunshine, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. He was also a playable character in the Nintendo DS remake of Super Mario 64, Super Mario 64 DS. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Yoshi can easily run over rough terrain, can eat numerous enemies, can gobble up weapons and use them against foes, can flutter jump and can grapple onto flowers. Instead of a spin attack Yoshi will perform a head shake when the player flicks the Wii Remote. Yoshi can shoot his tongue out at some objects and pull back when the player pushes the joystick in the opposite direction. This is used to uproot fruit, Piranha Plants and certain blocks stuck in the wall.

Special types of fruit that litter some stages give Yoshi special powers. The Blimp Fruit turns Yoshi light blue and inflates him like a balloon, sending him and Mario upwards until he runs out of air. The spicy Dash Pepper turns Yoshi bright orange and sends him running at an extremely fast speed, allowing him to run on walls and over water. Finally, the Bulb Berry turns Yoshi yellow and makes the surrounding invisible objects visible. When the effect wears off, the invisible objects will disappear and, even if they're there or not, Yoshi and Mario will plummet to their death unless they find solid ground that doesn't require the light.

Bosses
Here are the minor bosses (excluding Bowser and Bowser Jr.) that are encountered and fought during the game: Peewee Piranha

Digga-Legs

Gobblegut

Rollodillo

Glamdozer

Bugaboom

Megahammer

Prince Pikante

Squizzard

Fiery Gobblegut

Boomsday Machine

Dino Piranha

King Kaliente

Major Burrows

Bouldergeist

Fiery Dino Piranha

Development
Super Mario Galaxy 2 was revealed during Nintendo's E3 2009 press conference. During the event, Cammie Dunaway of Nintendo of America had already revealed New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again!, but then revealed that Nintendo had yet another surprise to show its fans, and subsequently showed the trailer for Super Mario Galaxy 2. The game, produced by Yoshiaki Koizumi (director of the previous game) and Shigeru Miyamoto is being developed by the team in Tokyo.

Confusion
During a round table event at E3 2009, Miyamoto explained that the game contained at least 95% new content (some sources say 90%). Fans quickly came to assume that he was referring to the stages in the game, thinking he meant that up to 5% of the galaxies would be returning from the first Super Mario Galaxy game. This quickly led to many questions during interviews, in which he was able to clarify what he meant. Instead of there being old galaxies, he meant that some of the suits such as the Bee Suit would make a return, but would be exploited in different ways. When asked if there would be any returning galaxies from the first title in an issue of Official Nintendo Magazine, he explained that there wouldn't and even questioned why they thought it was a possibility. Another source of confusion was when fans descovered that the kingdom once again held the star festival, which was only supossed to happen every one hundred years. The only logical explanation is that since the universe was recreated at the end of the first game, this would technically be the planet's first star festival.

Reception
Edge, a British magazine widely known for being strict, was the first to publish a review of the game, rewarding it with their highest score, 10. In the history of the magazine, very few video games have been scored such. The Mario series has notably been rewarded more tens than any other video game series, with Super Mario 64 and the original Super Mario Galaxy also having this grade. The American publication Game Informer gave the game an impressive 9.25, though it should be noted that the original was given a higher 9.75. Some of the criticisms that the magazine had was that several of the stars were too challenging to obtain. One in particular allegedly took the reviewer four hours to get. GI also claimed that in some portions of the game, motion controls were poorly implemented, not working as effectively as they would have liked.

IGN and GameSpot, the two largest video game websites, both rewarded Super Mario Galaxy 2 with a ten, higher than what they rewarded the original. 1Up gave the game an A, saying that "Galaxy 2 strikes a rare balance: the additions (Yoshi, Cloud Mario, Rock Mario) expand the devious obstacles you must overcome to collect level-unlocking stars, but the underlying design is just as solid as anything from Super Mario World or Super Mario 64."

Prior to IGN's review of the game, Nintendo editor Craig Harris explained his progression on Twitter, saying such things as "I'm struggling to find something wrong with it. Super Mario Galaxy 2, why do you have to be so damn good?", and "Mario Galaxy 2 continues to wow me with some seriously creative level designs". One of his Twitter posts said "I can officially confirm that no characters unlock after 120 stars in SMG2. But it's after 120 stars the game unlocks...[TWITTER OVER LIMIT]".

Trivia

 * Shortly after the Nintendo Media Summit in February of 2010, Super Mario Galaxy 2 became one of the "Top Trends" on Yahoo.com
 * The Throwback Galaxy is based on Whomp's Fortress from Super Mario 64, while Twisty Trials Galaxy is based on an area in Super Mario Sunshine and various other levels are based on the original Super Mario Galaxy.