User:Nintendo101

Casual Nintendo historian. Otherwise an artist and a professional zoologist. Bio degree. I've had an account here since 2012.

I wrote the character sections for Super Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Super Mario Odyssey. I contributed much of the article for Super Mario Sunshine and am currently working on Super Mario Galaxy.

I have been a fan of Nintendo since a very young age. My first Mario games (and three of the first video games I ever owned) were Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, Super Mario 64 DS, and Mario Kart DS. These games were good company for a young kid who moved around a lot and had difficulty keeping long-lasting friends.

During the, I sequentially played some of my favorite games in the Super Mario series to 100% completion. This includes, in order, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. I will complete this marathon with Super Mario Odyssey. It's been really fun so far! These are great games, and I always wanted to marathon a series like this before but never had the time. It has been interesting to see where the series began and where it has ended up. The design philosophies, the characters, the art directions, world building, level design, narrative, etc. All good stuff. It might be fun to write something about it some day.

My favorite video game character is Yoshi.

Setting
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is set in outer space. With the exception of the brief prologue staged in the Mushroom Kingdom, all levels – referred to as "galaxies" in this game – occur on distant, offworld lands. A galaxy is a cluster of planetary objects and other celestial bodies that can be traveled between. Most of these objects have their own gravitational pull. This prevents Mario from falling off their edge and mitigates the chances of the player getting lost. There are few walls or ceilings on the planets to obstruct Mario's path, and if he keeps moving forward in one direction, he will return to his starting position. Most planets are spherical or at least have rounded edges to compliment this concept. Not all planets are structured like this: some are structured like traditional Super Mario courses and have their center of gravity below their mass.

Many galaxies take place on two-dimensional planes and Mario's movement options are restricted accordingly (i.e. when Mario is on a 2D side-scrolling plane, the player cannot use towards the z-axis to make him fall off the side). There are galaxies entirely on 2D planes, but also ones that feature both 2D and traditional 3D segments. Which one is usually restricted to specific planets and conveyed through environmental context. Many galaxies feature switches mounted into the landscape that change the entire level when interacted with. Some shift which direction gravity is pulled from the floor to the ceiling. Others slow down time, or shift placement when Mario jumps.

The theme of space is more subtle in Super Mario Galaxy 2 than it is in its predecessor. While there are galaxies that feature skyboxes with nebulas and stars, the most recurring backdrop is a blue skybox with fluffy clouds. The game does convey the outer space setting in wholly new ways. As Starship Mario, the game's hub, travels through space, it passes asteroid belts, falling stars, and a supermassive black hole. Lumas, star children introduced in its predecessor, appear in nearly all galaxies and on the hub. The game's thematic core is surreal and whimsical. Rather than a resemble a spacecraft, the hub is a grassy planetoid shaped like Mario's head and has a wooden bow like a seafaring vessel. A pair of robots have tea together in a garden setting on Starship Mario. There are galaxies entirely composed of toy blocks, deserts, and vistas in pastel-colored skies.

There are overt homeages to previous games in the Super Mario series on a scale not explored in previous titles, in part to delight long-term fans. Supermassive Galaxy alludes to Giant Land from Super Mario Bros. 3 and Tiny-Huge Island from Super Mario 64. Whomp's Fortress, another course from Super Mario 64, is reimagined as Throwback Galaxy. It includes Bob-omb Buddies, characters which had not appeared since their appearince in Super Mario 64, and the return of the Whomp King. Starshine Beach Galaxy alludes to Isle Delfino from Super Mario Sunshine and includes Piantas, and Ricco Harbor's Secret Course appears under the name of Twisty Trials Galaxy (for additional references, see below).

According to producer Shigeru Miyamoto, the integration of 2D levels derived from a desire to make Super Mario Galaxy 2 more accessible and less daunting to players inexperienced with 3D platformers. Integration of elaborate switch elements bore from the desire to differentiate Super Mario Galaxy 2 from its predecessor similarly to how The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was differentiated from Ocarina of Time.

Galaxies
Departure from proceeding 3D games - the hub is not a sprawling area with individual level access points - it is more like a home. On the Grand World Map, its a stand-in for Mario himself, similar to sprite icons in past games, moving from galaxy to galaxy

Simplified "world" layout comparable to those of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Yoshi's Island (rather unilateral: not as complex as Super Mario World or Super Mario Land 2)

Organization of levels becomes a little more complex with each world, but it always begins with a normal galaxy and ends with a boss castle galaxy; no worlds can be skipped over to reach the credits

Bonus "World S", similar in concept to Star Road or World 9 from NSMBW

Normal galaxies have two normal missions, a prankster comet, and two "needle in hay stack" styled Green Stars unlocked once all normal Power Stars have been collected

Prankster Comets
No galaxy has more than one non-green Prankster Comet

Starship Mario
Hub terraformed to look like Mario's head by Lubba

Rouge group of Lumas live on it, inc. Lubba and Baby Luma

As Mario progresses, power-ups are added to the engine room. Cloud Flower and Yoshi Egg become usable. Visual mark of progress.

Stowaways
Another mark of progress - NPCs permently board the ship once specific criteria are met (what are they? Just finishing certain missions or are they tied to Power Stars?)

The NPCs share tricks on level progression and actions: some allude to late-game secrets, or are marks of progress for the player

As the Starship becomes more lively, the music becomes more flourished and complex

(include mini list for NPCs, unlock criteria, and their quotes - no pictures. The pictures for characters are in the following section)

No Piantas :<