Anyone who really believes that Japanese game design has a declining role against the success of Western game development needs to dunk their head in a pool of water – specifically the floating pools of water suspended in the air, rotating between connections with other pools as Mario attempts to swim toward the next checkpoint. Somewhere along the way players will also be hitting switches that alter the directional force of gravity while trying to grab a star, and the significance of a rare second mainline Super Mario title during a single hardware cycle becomes as clear as those small floating cubes of water.

Within Mario’s Galaxy, anything can and will happen. And what’s truly surprising is the depth of logic at play while navigating the sea of sudden possibilities that shows the complete lack of inhibition proving one of Nintendo EAD’s greatest design strengths.

For some a building is a place where action takes place around or within. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, bricks break free of structures to create pathways toward star portals, launching players through the roof and into the sea of stars overhead.

Short on filler and stuffed plump with that type of energy, the results are often extraordinary.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is as light on narrative direction as ever – Bowser shows up long enough to steal stars and announce his new empire before grabbing Princess Peach and leaving Mario at square one. The cosmic dance between these two famous adversaries once again serves a simple role, laying out the grid and delivery system for level design that explodes with imagination – discoveries and treats that make me smile like a damn fool even after all these years.

Know Your Yoshi – Besides giving Mario a chance to ride in style, Yoshi’s as handy as ever for eating down the Goomba population.

This time around there’s a few more fruits growing in the universe that let Yoshi dash across water and up steep hills, float skyward to help Mario reach new peaks, and even light the way through the hidden pathways of Boo infested spaces.

Familiar and nostalgic tricks return as Mario rides moving platforms, stomps down the Goomba population, dodges flame chains and leaps across pits that furnish the entirety of the series.

These staples are sprinkled over fresher ideas that play with gravity and distance to challenge the often straightforward approach to videogame design, creating sequences that are briefly baffling before crystallizing out of some divine liquid brilliance.

The greater share of pleasant surprises is fueled by a consistently changing camera perspective that switches players between 3D and 2.5Dish environments. The crossing design streams allows the variety of galaxies on hand to explore the depth of both approaches, often finding the best at the edges of each, from underwater tours on a turtle shell to downhill slides, and from panel flipping walkways to gravity shifting interiors.

Just as grabbing Bullet Bills with Yoshi and firing them back at objects to clear the path ahead seems like the slickest sequence yet, the game suddenly has you grabbing on to stars and playing with the gravity pull while cannons fill the screen with peril.

It’s not without some snags, specifically as Nintendo brings some strangely obligatory WiiMote service into play – they just can’t resist some mandatory nod to their motion controls. Rolling and balancing on a ball through a course isn’t a deal breaker, but suffering through flight missions with Fluzzard severely tests my patience.

It’s a slight detour, slight enough to be overlooked, and also slight enough for us to question why it was worth breaking up the flow of design to stick such awkward sequences in as I try to steady my arm to guide Mario and his bird to the finish line.

Occasional underwater sequences suffer some camera retardation, specifically when diving into a small opening and trying to orient your direction – working to swim to the top of a building met with the limits of the camera as the view switched to an external shot of the structure and I was left guessing my way to the surface.

Maestro Mario – The orchestrated soundtrack running throughout Galaxy 2 reaches heights that match and at times best the action. Old favorites join new pieces to create a true space opera sensation for Mario’s adventure.

Touring through everything the universe has to offer, it’s easy to say this is the closest the 3D side of the series has come to realizing the depth and magic the 2D originals stirred within my young gamer soul.

The shear amount of secrets and side missions spread throughout the game, along with the “everything plus the kitchen sink” experience that hasn’t really been felt since Super Mario Bros. 3 aids in backing up that claim.

What really cements the deal however is the way in which even with the still nagging hiccups previously mentioned, this is the first 3D Mario title wherein the fight is less about repositioning the camera and more about the skill necessary in overcoming the challenges presented by the levels.

So many lost lives left me cursing my own slow fingers for missing jumps or being struck by fire, putting me closer than ever to the days when the stage design was the challenge, not the technical limitations inherent in the awkward evolution of the code.

This really comes together in the castle designs, which run the gambit on the ideas of every galaxy, and enthusiastically use the perspective switching camera to have players running upside walls while fire arches downward, and spinning columns change the direction of action with every leap.

What slows my tongue for claiming that Galaxy 2 matches the place in my heart so lovingly occupied by Super Mario World is the same element that makes this newest entry so infinity accessible. While players cruise the universe on Starship Mario, the overworld map stretches out with a minimalist aesthetic that keeps stage access and item locations clearly marked.

The celestial design that makes anything possible also defies the ability to unify the overarching layout, which sacrifices the subtle narrative joys of a game like Super Mario World – watching as the island expands to reveal more secrets. Within Galaxy 2 the universe has a clearly marked highway connecting players through portals toward the goal of Bowser’s fortress at all times.

This filters down into the level design, where the power-ups required to overcome challenges only exist within the stages necessitating their use. This creates a game where the way ahead is consistently clear, removing a certain element of mystery that made the earlier entries in the series the type of titles the old school faithful continue to play and discuss today.

If you remember the way we could take Yoshi or a cape into any stage we wanted, the way we could use a Blue Yoshi to explore every bit of empty space to find secrets and bonuses – the way it felt like we could almost break the rules of every level via the ability to take those powers anywhere – then perhaps you’ll know what I mean. As polished and impressive as the series has become, we’re a long way from the company that stuck a Goomba in a giant windup boot simply because it could.

A Helping Hand – Anytime players are stuck; ie-when you start dying a lot, The Cosmic Guide will appear in the area to offer a hand – running players through the hurdles of a stage for as long as they want.

Small wonders of that nature have been left behind in the pursuit of a more accessible and logical experience, attempting to bring those type of discoveries to every stage, but losing a bit in the translation and the reality of that confinement, despite the inherent fun still brimming within.

The Cosmic Guide would seem to speak to that growing concern of accessibility, appearing to offer assistance as players suffer repeated failures – playing through however much of the stage as players wish. It’s a feature I instantly considered lost on me until finally finding a use I hadn’t expected near the end of the game.

The potentially embarrassing moment involved a downhill slide stage where watching the Cosmic Guide reminded me that I needed to spin to extend the distance of a jump – but if you tell anyone I used it even that once I’ll call you a liar.

The other issue of containment is entirely about the role of Yoshi – keep in mind that there is never a bad word to really be said about the appearance of Yoshi. With that said however, his return suffers the same limitations as the various power-ups scattered throughout the game. Players will only encounter Yoshi in areas where his presence is required.

Yoshi appears within ghost houses that require his light ability to show the invisible floors, or where madly angled panels require his new chilli pepper powered dash ability. Just as with Rock Mario and Cloud Mario, Yoshi’s company is never let as loose as it was in the days when our favorite dinosaur would travel everywhere to find new and unexpected purpose – short of castles and ghost houses of course. Oddly enough Yoshi has lost his fear of those environments with this trip into space.

Having already appeared in the earlier released New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the Koopa Kids sit out the action of Super Mario Galaxy 2 while Bowser Jr. once again tries to make his old man proud by crushing Mario’s rescue attempts. The freedom to experiment brings to life a variety of boss battles with new creatures, many of which still subscribe to the series staple of three hits leading to victory.

The planetary scenario greatly effects the way this familiar dance plays out however, leaving players to dodge a giant worm as it drills through the planet Mario is standing on to temporally expose weak points, drill through a planet to strike at the soft underbelly of machinery, and hop on Yoshi to dodge a barrage of Bullet Bills before firing one back to hit the critical points of a giant robot.

The target is always made easily visible by color, leaving the mix of environmental settings and enemy attack patterns to create earnestly fulfilling encounters.

Striking a gigantic Bowser by jumping on to comets and slamming them in his direction finds a clever mix of old and new that permeates nearly every grander battle.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 offers an immediately accessible experience that let’s players get to the business of collecting star bits and chasing down Bowser without any nagging explanatory narrative, relying on the simplistic charm of the industry’s longest running series to direct players of all backgrounds toward the goal.

The result is a game that brings together a series of brilliantly designed levels that set the bar in terms of imaginative possibilities and tactile realizations, leaving it difficult to complain about the new aesthetic that simplifies the larger view by stitching it altogether with minimalist detail. Super Mario Galaxy 2 manages to deliver so many cosmic pockets of wonder in the process, seemingly perfecting the experiment started on the N64. When the brain surrenders to the natural rhythm these levels often stir within the fingers, tripping the rift through this newest galaxy is too intoxicating to resist.

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Developer – Nintendo EAD
Publisher – Nintendo
System – Nintendo Wii
Release Date – May 23, 2010

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review