Here I am. I feel like this game personally has changed a lot for me. It means a lot to me as, it's the first Mario game I ever played. And, well I absolutely adore Mario to this day. This is probably going to be a blend of both being personal while also trying to be objective, but I can assure that this is easily one of my favorite games of all time.
Let's get the one actual flaw I have with this game so I can start gushing over everything else. The story is basically a retelling of the first game (Which I also adore.). The one problem is that well, they dumbed down everything. Instead of meeting Rosalina, you meet Lubba who honestly is pretty underrated. Unfortunately the big ol purple guy ain't saving how lame this story is. While Galaxy 1's story was simple like every Mario game, it was still climatic, and had multiple cutscenes. In that game, I felt the need to save the day with Mario that time. Here, it's weird. I still want to save Peach but with how the story is presented, in such a lamer way. It just doesn't hit like the first game did. The first game also has a way better sense of atmosphere, really making you feel like you're in space, and feeling some of the loneliness that could bring with some levels like Space Junk Galaxy or other levels that gave the feeling that Bowser had taken over galaxies. To be honest, I could totally get why someone would prefer the first game over this one for those reasons.
OKAY. I can talk about how much I LOVE this game! Ok ok ok, first of all. Cloud Mario is the best powerup in this entire franchise and no one can convince me otherwise. The design is great, the ability is awesome and used so well throughout the game, AND you can cheese the game with it! How can you not love it. Rock Mario is great too, and I wish we could use it more, but I liked what was there for it. Also, can I just say that it never bothered me how the fire flower was on a time limit in the galaxy games? I don't know why it just never really felt weird to me. Anyways, something this game definitely has over the first is the level design. It is improved and takes full advantage of the fact that it is a linear 3D platformer. Most levels here have 2 stars instead of 3 which means that there can be more fleshed out levels. I love so many galaxies in this game. Puzzle Plank Galaxy, Space Storm Galaxy, Clockwork Ruins, Sandslip, Flip Out, Cloudy Court, Tall Trunk, Haunty Halls, Sky Station, and I could keep going on, but there really isn't a single galaxy from this game that I even find ok to be honest, and I mean that in a good way. The game just had a great collection of levels and does it so well. Yoshi shows up a good amount of times throughout the adventure and is great to play with in this game. Pointing the Wii remote to aim his tongue feels really good as well. The Bowser Castle's are great as well. Especially the last one. Too bad, Bowser himself is puny there. It sucks too they made a great final boss song and everything for him, but it's not only too easy, but way too quick.
That's not all though because green stars exist. I guess this could be a spoiler but it's not like there's a sign you'll get em unless you look it up. After you beat all of the levels with all stars, including world S, and beat Bowser's Galaxy Generator again, you get access to green stars. I personally think these are a cool addition to the game. Some will actually make you explore the level and look at it in a different sense, but some can just be super easy to get, either because their in plain sight or you can already see it in the intro sequence for the level. I think these are a fun addition to the game, way better than making you play the same game, but with Luigi, who's here too where you can play as him for a level sometimes. It's odd, but he becomes fully playable after beating the game.
It feels like there is so much I could say on this game and why I love it so much. Even if the first game did everything this game did first, with this just being 'Mario Galaxy 1.5', this did it first for me personally. Even if the first game definitely had better atmosphere than this one, this one still let me see Mario travel through space first. I love both games a lot, but since I played this one more, and also played it first. Everything I think about when it comes to these 2 games mainly comes from this one. I love it to death, and after replaying it, I can confirm that after all these years, it's still one of my favorite games of all time... deja vu.
Let's get the one actual flaw I have with this game so I can start gushing over everything else. The story is basically a retelling of the first game (Which I also adore.). The one problem is that well, they dumbed down everything. Instead of meeting Rosalina, you meet Lubba who honestly is pretty underrated. Unfortunately the big ol purple guy ain't saving how lame this story is. While Galaxy 1's story was simple like every Mario game, it was still climatic, and had multiple cutscenes. In that game, I felt the need to save the day with Mario that time. Here, it's weird. I still want to save Peach but with how the story is presented, in such a lamer way. It just doesn't hit like the first game did. The first game also has a way better sense of atmosphere, really making you feel like you're in space, and feeling some of the loneliness that could bring with some levels like Space Junk Galaxy or other levels that gave the feeling that Bowser had taken over galaxies. To be honest, I could totally get why someone would prefer the first game over this one for those reasons.
OKAY. I can talk about how much I LOVE this game! Ok ok ok, first of all. Cloud Mario is the best powerup in this entire franchise and no one can convince me otherwise. The design is great, the ability is awesome and used so well throughout the game, AND you can cheese the game with it! How can you not love it. Rock Mario is great too, and I wish we could use it more, but I liked what was there for it. Also, can I just say that it never bothered me how the fire flower was on a time limit in the galaxy games? I don't know why it just never really felt weird to me. Anyways, something this game definitely has over the first is the level design. It is improved and takes full advantage of the fact that it is a linear 3D platformer. Most levels here have 2 stars instead of 3 which means that there can be more fleshed out levels. I love so many galaxies in this game. Puzzle Plank Galaxy, Space Storm Galaxy, Clockwork Ruins, Sandslip, Flip Out, Cloudy Court, Tall Trunk, Haunty Halls, Sky Station, and I could keep going on, but there really isn't a single galaxy from this game that I even find ok to be honest, and I mean that in a good way. The game just had a great collection of levels and does it so well. Yoshi shows up a good amount of times throughout the adventure and is great to play with in this game. Pointing the Wii remote to aim his tongue feels really good as well. The Bowser Castle's are great as well. Especially the last one. Too bad, Bowser himself is puny there. It sucks too they made a great final boss song and everything for him, but it's not only too easy, but way too quick.
That's not all though because green stars exist. I guess this could be a spoiler but it's not like there's a sign you'll get em unless you look it up. After you beat all of the levels with all stars, including world S, and beat Bowser's Galaxy Generator again, you get access to green stars. I personally think these are a cool addition to the game. Some will actually make you explore the level and look at it in a different sense, but some can just be super easy to get, either because their in plain sight or you can already see it in the intro sequence for the level. I think these are a fun addition to the game, way better than making you play the same game, but with Luigi, who's here too where you can play as him for a level sometimes. It's odd, but he becomes fully playable after beating the game.
It feels like there is so much I could say on this game and why I love it so much. Even if the first game did everything this game did first, with this just being 'Mario Galaxy 1.5', this did it first for me personally. Even if the first game definitely had better atmosphere than this one, this one still let me see Mario travel through space first. I love both games a lot, but since I played this one more, and also played it first. Everything I think about when it comes to these 2 games mainly comes from this one. I love it to death, and after replaying it, I can confirm that after all these years, it's still one of my favorite games of all time... deja vu.