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Udvarnoky

Super Mario Galaxy 2

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i haven't played my wii since the first Mario Galaxy. Going to dust it off and buy new batteries just for this.

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Just going to throw out a quote from my Twitter feed since it's a bit early for any "real" impressions...

"Super Mario Galaxy 2 is like pouring liquid happiness all over my inner child."

Going in initially, I was filled with all this adult skepticism...

"Oh, this is just like Galaxy"

"Bowser has kidnapped Peach AGAIN and has taken her out into space"

"A star has taken residence in Mario's cap and is allowing him to spin, been here, done this"

...every ounce of which evaporated as Mario streaked through the stratosphere, doing a rotating quintuple front flip onto a planetoid only to land in a perfect gymnast pose, feet together and arms out at his sides.

As he hits, the portly acrobat belts out a triumphant "YESS!", reveling in his complete and utter domination of gravity and velocity.

I wish I were kidding when I say that I teared up a little bit. No matter what predictable, pandering stuff they seem to do, Nintendo can still open a little door in my heart that leads to a place where I'm eight years old, wrapped in blankets 5 feet from the TV set, guiding a little plumber toward his destiny.

God damn it I'm getting misty again!

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Yeah, it is awesome. It doesn't feel insultingly easy like the first one and fixes the problem of only collecting half the stars before getting to the final boss, something that has plagued the series since Sunshine. Plus the levels are just more inventive, interesting, and fun than the last time around.

Definitely worth dusting off your Wii to play it. Or raiding a buddy's closet if you don't own one yourself.

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This game is starting to piss me off.

Like all Mario games since 64, you get star blocked at certain times. Forcing you to pick up a X number of stars before you can progress. In Mario 64 and Galaxy 1 that meant picking most of the mission stars, and maybe a few optional ones. In Galaxy 2, the numbers become so high that you're forced to become a completionist, and do all the normal stars plus all the hidden stars, and usually a few comet and starbit hungry luma maps.

In Galaxy 1, I remember there being something like 120 stars, and to complete the game you only had to collect 60. I'm not sure what this will be like when it's finished, but I'm at about 50 and I'm having to scavenge every hidden star possible to get past the 55 star block.

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I haven't been able to get it yet, because Nintendo still hasn't mastered the art of synchronized worldwide releases. I'm really looking forward to playing it. I still need to get my Wii back, which I borrowed out to family. Sometimes I forget I even own one...

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According to a Wired article (which praises Nintendo for forcing people to collect all the random shit), it takes 70 stars to beat the game. Then there are 50 more you can collect, many from new levels. And then after you collect 120 gold stars, you unlock 120 hidden green stars to collect within the existing maps.

I don't begrudge Nintendo for including all those extras, or even spending so much time on them (the game clearly has enough content either way). I just think it's a pain in the ass to make it all so mandatory.

I don't understand why they create this overworld map with branching paths implying freedom, and then force you not only to visit every world to advance, but to also get all their hidden stars.

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I'm at about 60 stars. The game is still great, but the initial 2/3 worlds easily have the better design. So far anyway!

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Around 15 stars so far, and on the second set of galaxies. Phenomenal stuff, and it does seem a bit more challenging than Galaxy 1.

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According to a Wired article (which praises Nintendo for forcing people to collect all the random shit), it takes 70 stars to beat the game. Then there are 50 more you can collect, many from new levels. And then after you collect 120 gold stars, you unlock 120 hidden green stars to collect within the existing maps.

I don't begrudge Nintendo for including all those extras, or even spending so much time on them (the game clearly has enough content either way). I just think it's a pain in the ass to make it all so mandatory.

I don't understand why they create this overworld map with branching paths implying freedom, and then force you not only to visit every world to advance, but to also get all their hidden stars.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "hidden" stars. There's so many different ways to get stars in this game:

1) get the first star you're directed to in a level

2) get the second star you're directed to in some levels

3) feed lumas on the map screen that lead to new levels

4) feed lumas in a level that lead to new planets

5) get a letter from the mailtoad

6) stumble upon it while heading for the directed star

7) prankster comets

I can understand if you don't want to do the prankster comet stuff since it's usually just redoing a level with a time limit or 1 HP or cosmic clones or whatever, but keep in mind that all the other stars you collect offer quite different challenges from one another.

P.S.: I'm at 113 stars and

Purple Coin Luigi is back for revenge! :eek:

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I have no problem with 1 or 2, and the odd star from any of the others. But they become mandatory to progress.

3) the planets gained from this tend to be fairly challenging later in the game

4/6) kind of annoying because you can never be sure if the ? means it'll be coins, starites or just some hidden challenge. Usually it's not the hardest thing in the world, but it's annoying to back track, especially if you miss it.

5) these are usually worse than comets. The first one requires precision jumping with a variable camera.

7) rage inducing.

It feels to me that the original design for the game might have been the same as the first. Get 60 stars before the boss. But then they were convinced to weight it 70/50 so that players would see more content. It just doesn't flow as well.

Anyways, that's enough negativity. The first 1-3 worlds are brilliant.

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