Coming: 2010
From IGN's Interview: "Reggie Fils-Aime on the Record"
IGN: You have a bit more insight on the development of Galaxy 2. What's the direction for the game? Do they really want to blow it out or will it be more of the same?
Reggie: What Mr. Miyamoto has shared is that if the first Galaxy was maybe more inviting in terms of all the audiences, what Galaxy 2 is going to be is maybe a little more Nintendo fan / harder gamer focused. A little tougher. The use of Yoshi makes it a little more challenging. We showed some of the snippets of some of the activities -- it's a bit more challenging. It's going to be, if you will, for more of that passionate Mario fan who grew up getting challenged with Super Mario World. It's going to be much more in that area.
From "Shigeru Miyamoto Roundtable LiveBlog"
"With Super Mario Galaxy, it's the first time we really worked with spherical worlds and we had a lot of ideas about how to use gravity. However, when we finished the game, we realized there were a ton of ideas we just couldn't fit in," he says.
More than 90 percent of what you will see in Super Mario Galaxy 2 is all brand new. Maybe even 95 percent . . . Galaxy 2 contains roughly the same amount of content as the original.
Galaxy 2 is very, very far along, but since Nintendo has New Super Mario Bros. Wii, it's going to hold off and keep Galaxy 2 for next year. :(
^Only Vader
Yo, Vader
Is Galaxy 2 better than 1? Yes or no and why?
WHAT AM I, CHOPPED LIVER?
YES! Especially the part where you get all 120 stars and get the special Yoshi's Island challenges!
I only count you playing a game Leo when you make it at least to halfway. You have this tendency to give us impressions of a couple of hours and then not even playing the games to completion, apart from FF13.
I'm still waiting on more Shattered Memories impressions from you.
Great, now I have to track down your nephew for the rest of this sentence.
Yay! I am half-way to half-way.
Thirty Stars in, Thirty Stars 'til GG starts paying attention to me!
DAMN! These Purple Coin/Prankster Comet challenges are hard!
I FINALLY got by the Rainbow Spiny one then got stuck on the Flip Switch, Purple Coin one.
Well I gots my copy today so I'll now join in on the SMG2 shenanigans. It'll take me awhile to catch up though.
Complicated answer. Is it better from a technical point of view, absolutely. It has better level design, it never repeats itself, it has more variety, better music, more individual levels, and more content. So yeah its a better game.
Does it leave me with that same level of joy and wonder that the first Galaxy did, not quite. The first Galaxy will always be the reinvention of 3D Mario, this is just a follow up with great ideas but nothing so drastically different that it captures that feeling of something totally new. Plus there are a few things that bug me about the game which I detailed above but that has spoilers so you can read that later. Every thing that is a complaint is really a complement cause its me wanting more, I wouldn't want more if what I played wasn't good. I just wish they went the extra step, it still feels held back a bit.
Get ready to get used to this.