The sequel to the critically acclaimed platform game was finally given a release date last week ad I am going to give you all the info we know about the next installment in Mario’s 3D platform adventure.
I will start this article off with one word: Yoshi! Yes the famous pint-sized Dino is making his way to the Super Mario Galaxy universe, which I have to say is great, I mean who doesn’t like Yoshi? The cool thing here is he can use his tongue to swing across gaps, he also eats fruit which in turn gives him a variety of power ups, such as inflating like a balloon ‘Kirby style’ or a nice little speed boost to help you along your crazy 3D planet scaling.
Now we all know about the star pointer in the first game, well that’s also making a welcome return; but while riding your very hungry green Dino friend, the pointer turns into a red dot which in allows you to control Yoshi’s tongue, this can be used to grab levers, swallow enemies in classic Yoshi fashion and of course swing over gaps as previously mentioned.
Another new addition to game play is Mario’s ability to dig. This means he can start shoveling away at the planet’s surface and eventually find new places to explore. There are also switches scattered around the levels which slow down time momentarily. It’s a shame you can’t equip Mario’s Dr Mario costume and change the colour to black like you could in Smash Brothers Melee, because I thing that would add to the Matrix effect the switches are inevitably going to have!
There will be some interesting level design thrown into Super Mario Galaxy 2. As with Galaxy 1 there will be some levels which will be forced perspective side scrolling, much like the 2D Mario we grew up with. But this time there will be levels where the gravity shifts from up to down, or rolling log type levels with 2D platforms cut into a cylinder which you have to jump on. The creators here have definitely been experimenting and it will be great to see what things they have come up with.
On a side note, rumour has it that Mario’s gaming rival, the speedy hedgehog known as Sonic will be playable in the game. If it’s false then blame Ngamer magazine for spreading the rumour.
Along with the new gameplay elements there are a lot of the same classic Super Mario Galaxy game play we all fell in love with when we first played the original title on the Wii. Many gamers out there believe that the first game was the best game to ever hit the Wii console, so will the second installment of this new mini franchise have the same impact as the first game? We will know, June 11 2010.
Garv
