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. Producer Shigeru Miyamoto explained that, while the game is nearly finished, they plan to release the game in no earlier than Spring/Q2 2010 in order not to release it during the same time frame as New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Gameplay
The game plays similarly to the original Super Mario Galaxy. Mario will travel from planet to planet using star launchers. The gravity system is once again fantastic, though there are an incredible amount of new features.

Yoshi
For one, Yoshi is in the game and will help Mario just like in Super Mario World and Super Mario Sunshine. Yoshi can be found in eggs that Mario can hatch by jumping on them or using his famed spin attack. Once Mario is riding on top of Yoshi, the dinosaur can gobble up many enemies and items. His tongue can be directed with the pointer. Yoshi can grapple onto objects using his tongue. Yoshi's color will change when he obtains a power up. When Yoshi turns orange he seems to be able to move faster, though when he turns light blue he'll inflate into a balloon and send Mario to greater heights. It appears that the fruit to make him run like a blue hedgehog looks like a pepper, while the other is a "blimp" fruit.

Regarding the inclusion of Yoshi, Shigeru Miyamoto said:

"In Super Mario Galaxy, one of the features of the game was the pointer functionality — you were able to point at things in the game, and grab onto them, and pull yourself through, and things like that. We felt that was somewhat similar to one of the things that Yoshi could do, and in bringing Yoshi in, it felt like a new approach to it and that there was a lot of fun that could be had.

I think it’s kind of difficult for us to have Mario running around and carrying things in the world, but by incorporating Yoshi there’s a variety of different ways that we can have Yoshi carrying things and using that as a new gameplay element as well."

Items and costumes
As in the previous game there are many items that Mario can acquire. One of the new items is a top-like drill. Considered a weapon rather than a costume, the top will let Mario dig into the ground and access new areas. In one portion of the game Mario will shoot underground and come out at the other side of the planet where he'll then be able to attack a menacing, hulking boss. The drill is inspired by the "China syndrome", the idea where when you drill in one point of the Earth, you'll pop out at the other end, which the developers wanted to explore in the original, but ultimately weren't able to.

The Bee suit from the original game makes its triumphant return after being the most popular costume from the game. In one portion of the game Mario is seen making a large snowball in a snow based stage. In a recent trailer on one of the planets Boos were shown which might hint that Mario may be able to play in his Boo form once again.

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.

Sonic the Hedgehog rumor
On February 5, 2010, the UK-based Nintendo magazing NGamer reported on their Twitter account that, according to a trusted source, Sonic the Hedgehog would be a playable character in Super Mario Galaxy 2:

"We've just had some shocking news from an inside source at Nintendo: Sonic will be a playable character in Mario Galaxy 2! Wha? - NGmer Twitter"

About two hours later, they posted another tweet explaining that he would be playable in a "Green Hill Galaxy".

"More teasing from our insider: Sonic levels will be in 'Green Hill Galaxy'. Matthew's nearly in tears (of despair) - NGamer Twitter"

As of now this has not been confirmed by Nintendo or Sega.