Since we now have nothing better to do, me and some friends have started doing group streams with various games, mainly Gamecube ones. We've done DK Jungle Beat, Super Monkey Ball 2, Super Mario Sunshine, Wario World, and most recently... the Mario Galaxy games!
We started off with 100%-ing Super Mario Galaxy 2, including all the Green Stars and The Perfect Run. We all had decently good memories of it, despite it having been a few years since any of us have played it, but after it was all said and done... we were very underwhelmed. Its levels all feel really short and didn't have much interesting level design, there was way too many 2D sections, it barely made use of the space theme, and the Green Stars were a massive slog to get through. Its still a fun game, but far from the legacy that Super Mario Galaxy left...
...right?...
Needless to say, we weren't really sure how things would go going into SMG1 after its sequel. Perhaps the game wasn't as good as we remembered?
We've gotten about 80 stars now and... this game is still really amazing! Its levels have a lot more substance to them, mostly due to being somewhat more open than Galaxy 2's intense linearity. With some galaxies have 6 or 7 stars, a lot more is able to be done with then that the 2-3 that every Galaxy was in 2. No, Green Stars are not real stars. They feel really half-heartedly added, often require annoying leaps of faith (hello Flipsville Green Star 3), and sometimes take longer to navigate through the menus than it takes to get to the star! Quite simply, they suck!
In 2, there's a lot less use of the game actually taking place in space. Like, Galaxy 1 makes a lot of use of gravity, planetoids, and generally flying through a cluster of planets. Galaxy 2, on the other hand, usually takes place on very flat, linear planes with not much divergence. While the level design is generally a bit tighter than 1 (I think its level design lows aren't as low as 1, even if its highs don't really come close), its just unmemorable and lack the more natural feel of 1's levels. Like compare 1's Freezeflame Galaxy to 2's Shiverburn Galaxy. 1 does a lot more interesting concepts in its stage, like the use of the Ice Flower and the giant planet that's half rising cold water and half rising lava, as well as just feeling more intriguing than a flat plane of lava that becomes ice.
The biggest thing that 2 lacks, however, is 1's sense of scale. It has these giant planets that actually look like landmasses, and not just floating objects in the air, its opening mission has you get a whole Grand Star, and its final mission is called The Fate of the Universe, which is wayyy cooler than "Bowser's Galaxy Generator". Not to mention that incredible ending, which by far beats out every other Mario game (besides perhaps Odyssey). As a side note, I forgot how many explosions there are in Galaxy 1. Ground pounding straight through Mecha Bowser and watching it explode is pretty satisfying.
Its just incredible how hard they dropped the ball on Galaxy 2, lacking any sense of grandiose that made Galaxy 1 so special. It feels more like 3D Land that its predecessor, which is really disappointing! It feels like it all comes down to the fact it was originally going to be DLC for the original game, and if it were that, it'd be pretty alright. But as the sequel to one of the best games of all time, and the grandest adventure Mario has ever been on, its just so lame.
Just to make it clear, I still think Galaxy 2 is a really good game (8/10), but it just pales in comparison to the first game (a true 10/10).
We started off with 100%-ing Super Mario Galaxy 2, including all the Green Stars and The Perfect Run. We all had decently good memories of it, despite it having been a few years since any of us have played it, but after it was all said and done... we were very underwhelmed. Its levels all feel really short and didn't have much interesting level design, there was way too many 2D sections, it barely made use of the space theme, and the Green Stars were a massive slog to get through. Its still a fun game, but far from the legacy that Super Mario Galaxy left...
...right?...
Needless to say, we weren't really sure how things would go going into SMG1 after its sequel. Perhaps the game wasn't as good as we remembered?
We've gotten about 80 stars now and... this game is still really amazing! Its levels have a lot more substance to them, mostly due to being somewhat more open than Galaxy 2's intense linearity. With some galaxies have 6 or 7 stars, a lot more is able to be done with then that the 2-3 that every Galaxy was in 2. No, Green Stars are not real stars. They feel really half-heartedly added, often require annoying leaps of faith (hello Flipsville Green Star 3), and sometimes take longer to navigate through the menus than it takes to get to the star! Quite simply, they suck!
In 2, there's a lot less use of the game actually taking place in space. Like, Galaxy 1 makes a lot of use of gravity, planetoids, and generally flying through a cluster of planets. Galaxy 2, on the other hand, usually takes place on very flat, linear planes with not much divergence. While the level design is generally a bit tighter than 1 (I think its level design lows aren't as low as 1, even if its highs don't really come close), its just unmemorable and lack the more natural feel of 1's levels. Like compare 1's Freezeflame Galaxy to 2's Shiverburn Galaxy. 1 does a lot more interesting concepts in its stage, like the use of the Ice Flower and the giant planet that's half rising cold water and half rising lava, as well as just feeling more intriguing than a flat plane of lava that becomes ice.
The biggest thing that 2 lacks, however, is 1's sense of scale. It has these giant planets that actually look like landmasses, and not just floating objects in the air, its opening mission has you get a whole Grand Star, and its final mission is called The Fate of the Universe, which is wayyy cooler than "Bowser's Galaxy Generator". Not to mention that incredible ending, which by far beats out every other Mario game (besides perhaps Odyssey). As a side note, I forgot how many explosions there are in Galaxy 1. Ground pounding straight through Mecha Bowser and watching it explode is pretty satisfying.
Its just incredible how hard they dropped the ball on Galaxy 2, lacking any sense of grandiose that made Galaxy 1 so special. It feels more like 3D Land that its predecessor, which is really disappointing! It feels like it all comes down to the fact it was originally going to be DLC for the original game, and if it were that, it'd be pretty alright. But as the sequel to one of the best games of all time, and the grandest adventure Mario has ever been on, its just so lame.
Just to make it clear, I still think Galaxy 2 is a really good game (8/10), but it just pales in comparison to the first game (a true 10/10).
Last edited:
