The Missed Potential of Super Mario Galaxy 2

Discussing the missed potential of Super Mario Galaxy 2: a game I like, but not nearly as much as the first one.

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0:00 - Introduction
3:17 - Mario's Inventive Innovation
8:32 - Mario's Iterative Insanity
22:57 - A Struggle for Identity
31:36 - A Burgeoning Hybrid

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#KingK #SMG2
Super Mario Galaxy 2 Retrospective Review Critique KingK

[KingKlonoa]

I'd just like everyone to keep in mind that I still think Galaxy 2 is a fun game. I just don't really like it AS MUCH as the other Mario games. There's not really a Mario game I look at and say "wow, what a load of garbage."

I'd play any of them and have a good time. I just like some more than others.

[briansilva]

Adding to that Miyamoto rambling, the other side of the coin would be Yoshiaki Koizumi, the one responsible for the Rosalina story and Majora's Mask, the one always putting deeper stories in Nintendo games was him, and Galaxy was when he argued with Miyamoto, making that basically his last game and appearance until the Switch era. To this day he wants to write those stories again, but Aonuma and Miyamoto keep him away for baffling reasons, how they never understand how he made such memorable games with his darker stories, is something I will always hate about Nintendo.

[DesignDoc]

The way I kind of see it right now, Galaxy 2 kinda marked a turning point in how Nintendo viewed their biggest IPs. During the 2nd half of the Wii era up to the release of the Switch you could feel Nintendo being very conservative with their IPs in terms of how they presented themselves. Specific mechanics and gimmicks might be new but the actual content, settings, story set-ups, etc were more often than not very derivative of previous games to a fault. You see it mostly with Mario, but I'd say it's also there in Yoshi, Star Fox Zero and to a lesser extent, Pikmin, and some Zelda titles. The Mario spin-offs, in particular, got a lot more "on brand" during this era too with a lot of the flavoring in the party, sports and especially in the RPGS. The games didn't necessarily get any worse but, it can feel like they didn't do as much to stand out to players compared to previous entries.

[azrieldreamer]

I just wish this game was included in 3D All Stars

[geoffreywilson]

Miyamoto has a very interesting approach that would be hilarious in nearly any other field. I can see him staring in confusion at an apple pie, then tearing out a handful of filling, declaring it the part that matters, and shunning the crust for getting in the way. He would make the world's best batch of chocolate chips, and look in horror as you make them into the world's best chocolate chip cookies.

[Jokerpie]

Finally someone gets it. I will never understand why Miyamoto fought so hard to include fewer story elements in Galaxy 2. Galaxy's story made it feel so much more magical. Galaxy 2 is fun but I don't feel nearly as motivated to play it as I do the original.

[BlackMamBa-yqon]

Lubba originally had a purpose. Galaxy 2 was gonna tell us more about Rosalina's past and how she met Lubba, until Miyamoto shot the idea down.
I really want to know how Galaxy 2 would have been if the development was as free as it was during Galaxy 1

[samus]

Super Mario Galaxy 2 has the better levels. Lacks in presentation. So I always play both games back to back, like a really long game that you need to catch almost 500 stars.

[Jamandabop]

I think Shiggy's problem is that he's like me. I'm not very good at appreciating or enjoying anything other than gameplay in most games. Unlike me however, he's unwilling to accept that the fact that just because you don't appreciate something doesn't mean it's nonessential. Different people have different talents and interests. Let other people do what they're good at, and don't stop them because it's not your thing.

[sgmaing]

So many people saying “Nobody plays Mario for the story.” This is a very ignorant argument. You may be correct in the sense that nobody plays Mario EXCLUSIVELY for the story but It adds to the experience for some people.

[harrisonfackrell]

Galaxy 1 is a beautiful journey that really makes me _feel_ the beautiful expanse of space. It's a game that makes me think about my place in an infinite universe and the emotional weight of navigating that.

Galaxy 2 is an expansion pack. Which is fine--I love the feeling of mastery I get every time I play the challenging endgame galaxies--but I can't help missing the quiet stillness the first game allowed you to sit with. I can't help missing how earnest and engaged it was.

[astrthefgsfds]

"Each game was unique"
New super mario bros series: *sweats profusely*

[tsb]

Galaxy 1: has better theming
Galaxy 2: has better levels

[andrewrabon]

Since you were 10 at the time, you probably weren't aware that there was something of a sigh of relief when Galaxy was announced. Coming off Sunshine and its extremely rigid adherence to its tropical island theme, the variety on display in Galaxy's first trailer alone put a lot of fears to rest.

That's how I remembered it as a 15 year old at least. :P

[michaelaeschbacher]

Played both as a kid, and revisited them recently. The best way I can put it: with Galaxy 2, I was always aware that I was only playing a video game.

It was only ever "that level was fun." But nothing could match Spacejunk Galaxy. That starry purple background with the musical ambiance gave me the chills.

[matthewmuir]

18:07 Yes, it is almost impossible to talk about Galaxy 2 without bringing up Miyamoto. I will just say, that philosophy is one he *used to* have; his current philosophy now is essentially, "I'm going to take a step back and encourage the next generation of developers, who have different philosophies from the ones I had, so that the franchises I created can survive long after I'm gone."

[meaninglez]

I just always considered Galaxy 2 more of the same with bonus gimmicks, and that's all I really wanted from it. Aside from outliers like the NSMB series, Nintendo's prone to moving their series onto something else, and that usually leaves me unsatisfied when I only get a taste of something that really wowed me. It's fantastic how they try to innovate so often, but I still think there's value in exploring the depths of what you already made. Though I'll fully admit they could have done more with the story and theming

[PleasantLeech]

I feel like this is almost an arguement of what makes something a better "game". Is it the raw gameplay and technical polish or is the emotional gratification you get from the whole thing in retrospection?

[SillySelah]

as weird as this sounds, i agree with pretty much every point you make in this video but i still like 2 more. i think what really does it for me is the replayability. galaxy 1 is an absolutely incredible experience the first time you play it but i find myself revisitng 2 more and more cause the sharper level designs make it so much more replayable imo. the difficulty is much better handled in 2 which makes playing these games as an adult much more enjoyable. when i play 2 i find myself still slightly struggling with certain sections and it's fun to play around that and the game's unique mechanics. but when i replayed 1 recently i pretty much breeze through everything. it's still an amazing game and if we're comparing first experiences 1 absolutely left the bigger impression on me, but i can't deny how much more fun i have playing 2 nowadays.

[AdmiralJonB]

Those ending scenes of Galaxy 1 still gets me to this day...