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 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 tilt 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 spins.

The theme of space is more subdued 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 sky with fluffy clouds. However, the game does convey the outer space setting in ways distinctive from the first Super Mario Galaxy. As Starship Mario, the game's hub, travels through space, it passes asteroid belts, falling stars, and black holes. 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 resemble a spacecraft, the hub is a grassy planetoid shaped like Mario's head and has a wooden bow like a seafaring vessel. Gulls fly alongside the ship, as if it on the open ocean. The whole game is framed from the perspective of an unseen narrator reading a storybook to the player, and many locations have elements. A pair of robots have tea together in a garden on Starship Mario. Several galaxies resemble topiaries and dollhouses. There are planets that look like wooden blocks, candies, clouds, and musical intrsuments.

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 (2000) was differentiated from Ocarina of Time (1998). Many elements not present in the first Super Mario Galaxy  informed the setting of the courses that feature them. For example, the first galaxy to feature the Spin Drill item, Spin-Dig Galaxy, visually alludes to construction sites and has enemies that tunnel through soil.

Galaxies
In Super Mario Galaxy 2, levels are accessed linearly within worlds. This is a departure from the proceeding 3D Super Mario games and is comparable to the 2D ones. The player accesses worlds from the Starship Mario, a small planetoid that serves as the game's hub. When Mario steps on a panel on the starship's bow, the perspective rapidly pans out to a view of the current world. Starship Mario – itself shaped like the protagonist's head – is a stand-in for Mario himself that can be moved between galaxies like a cursor. Galaxies are unlocked unilaterally – collecting a Power Star within one opens up paths to the nearest galaxies. With the exception of World S, the final galaxy of each world is a boss galaxy that features a fight against Bowser Jr. or Bowser. Defeating them unlocks the following world. The earliest worlds have the simplest, most straightforward paths between galaxies, but the paths become more divergent with each world, enabling the player to visit galaxies in whatever order they want (see right).

Unlike proceeding games that feature worlds – like Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) and New Super Mario Bros. (2006) – the galaxies within the worlds of Super Mario Galaxy 2 are not thematically unified. For example, World 3 contains galaxies themed around forests, snow, and haunted houses. While not all galaxies need to be completed, no numbered worlds can be skipped over to reach the end credits.

Each galaxy contains objectives called missions. Completing a mission has Mario obtaining one the galaxy's Power Stars. One mission correlates with one Power Star. The structure of missions is closely derived from the first Super Mario Galaxy (2007). However, there are fewer dedicated missions in individual galaxies, with none having more than three. By contrast, the most robust galaxies in Super Mario Galaxy had as many as six missions. Some missions have one or more hidden Green Stars that begin to appear once the player has collected 120 normal Power Stars. Like regular Power Stars, collecting one is considered as the end of the mission. Grandmaster Galaxy is the only course in the game to lack any Green Stars. Combined, there are 240 collectible Stars in the game, the same number in its predecessor.

There are galaxies that can only be unlocked by feeding Hungry Lumas a requested number of Star Bits. The appear on the world map and will transport to the Starship Mario when touched. There is one in every world. Hungry Lumas appear within galaxies too, but these individuals eat coins instead of Star Bits. Feeding one the requested amount causes it to transform into a planet that contains a Secret Star. Secret Star missions are otherwise unlocked by completing certain criteria. Doing so causes non-playable characters to write letters to Mario requesting his help or to challenge him in specific galaxies he has already visited at least once. The most recurring writer is The Chimp, a monkey from Fluffy Bluff Galaxy who considers Mario to be his rival.

After Mario has collected 30 Power Stars and completed "Bowser's Big Lava Power Party", his brother Luigi will begin to appear in some galaxies and offer to collect the Power Star for him. Selecting "yes" allows the player to control Luigi for the mission until it is completed or exited. Completing the mission as Luigi unlocks a staff ghost for the galaxy. When followed, it will lead the player towards hidden items or Secret Stars. Once "Bowser's Fortified Fortress" is completed, Luigi becomes permanently accessible via a room on Starship Mario's stern and can be played as in any level.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the first 3D Super Mario game to include a dedicated secret world accessible only after completing the main story, similar to the Special Zone of Super Mario World (1990) or World 9 of New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009). Called World S, this world contains several galaxies based around planets from the first Super Mario Galaxy that have been modified in ways that make them more challenging.

There are 49 galaxies in the game. There are 50 if Starship Mario is included. The chart below lists the galaxies in the order that they appear on the Star List. The galaxies are seperated and color-coded according to the world they occur in. Each galaxy is given a brief description, an in-game screenshot, and a list of their missions. The descriptions come from the official Prima Guide for Super Mario Galaxy 2. There is a legend at the bottom of the chart that details what the symbols used in it represent.

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 :< mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox mario border-collapse:collapse