Super Mario Galaxy 2 - first-look

13) Prank bank
Reggie promises us challenge and they come none more challenging than the purple coin challenges. In Galaxy, these collect-’em-up missions only appeared when the purple Prankster Comet was orbiting a galaxy. These comets modify the behaviour of a galaxy to enable particularly tricky tasks. We welcome them back with trembling open arms and slightly gritted teeth.

14) The para of love
Nintendo are so fond of dipping into the enemy design back catalogue that Mario Galaxy 2 should be like Friends Reunited for henchmen. We’ve spotted water boatman-like Skeeters (returning having been dumped after Mario Sunshine), but more importantly, the winged Paragoombas are making their debut in a 3D Mario game. Good on ’em!

15) Best buds
Sitting prettily in a row these buds look harmless, but allow them to unfold and they begin to spin, turning their petals into whirring buzzsaws. In bud form they look very similar to the fruits Yoshi gobbles elsewhere in the trailer – could they be another type, enabling some flower-related ability? Horrendous hayfever, perhaps?

16) Cymbologist
You know exactly how it’ll work. You’ll buttstomp that cymbal and they’ll crash together for one majestic moment. Here’s an idea: the music in the first Galaxy would adapt itself and build up with your performance. What if these enormo-instruments added to the soundtrack?

17) Band plays on
The trailer music reeks of Mario class. Big brassy trumpets suggest galactic fun and the zigzagging violins capture the spiralling grace of Mario’s aerial gymnastics, all undercut with a chirpy whistle that’s pure Super Mario World. To top it all it seamlessly segues into a burst of Gusty Garden Galaxy. Utterly majestic. Can’t wait see what else composers Koji Kondo and Mahito Yokota dream up.

18) 2D continued
Galaxy’s 2D platforming made for several highlights in a game bereft of lows. Big huzzahs, then, for their return in Galaxy 2. Look underneath the glass and you can see electric barriers and moving platforms just waiting to put your old-school leaping abilities to the test. New Super Mario Bros Wii had better watch its back.

19) Field of dreams
EAD Tokyo spent all that time mastering spherical planets only to go and create a flattened plain? It doesn’t make sense. We know Mario rolls massive snowballs here – what if these boulders grow to such size as to become spherical planets? Nintendo have had their fun playing god – could it be our turn now?

20) He’s back
Yes, the mysterious Mr. Gay has returned. Keen-eyed jokers/conspiracy theorists realized that the glinting stars on the first game’s logo marked out the letters ‘U R MR GAY’. The internet made quite a big deal out of this and yet Nintendo haven’t altered the logo. It now reads ‘U R MR GAY 2’ which sounds like a childish retort to the first logo. FIGHT!

Jul 17, 2009