Just got 120 stars and rebeat Bowser, unlocking what getting 120 stars unlocks. Taking a break, as I'm a bit burned out after today's marathon.
Replaying Galaxy 1 a month ago really helped though. All that time spent with these distinctive physics meant that I was absolutely dominating most of this game with backflip-spin wall jumps and long jumps and such. It felt goooood.
The rolling ball purple coins thing was a lot fun I thought. One of the few fun ones.
The purple coins one in World 6 however, was quite frustrating. Did it in 4/5 minutes and within 3-4 lives but was super stressed.
I'm 99 Stars in. Getting real close to teh awesome (from what I hear, so keep usin' dem spoilers tags)
Checking in at 242 stars. I'm glad that I stayed away from media and didn't replay SMG beforehand, because playing SMG2 gives an impression of unadultered joyful gameplay that is indistinguishable from SMG. I don't have a preference between SMG's hub world and SMG2's flowcharts--whereas SMG2's approach improves playability, it also seems like a utilitarian solution in a series that is otherwise brimming with creativity.
As for more specific thoughts on my mind while getting the last few stars...
World S is definitely my least-favorite world. It demonstrates how NOT to revisit previous games in a series. While World 6 hosts a faithful recreation of Super Mario 64's Whomp's Fortress in Throwback Galaxy, World S blatantly rips content from other Mario games. Mario Squared and Boss Blitz Galaxies are copied and pasted from SMG, and Twisted Trials is untouched from Super Mario Sunshine. Twisted Trials was particularly joyless in that I realized that I could play Super Mario Sunshine on the same system with (effectively) the same hardware. Flip-Out and Grandmaster are really the only enjoyable Galaxies, and there seem like some missed opportunities, especially in the latter. The areas are just completely uneven with regards to challenge. The Yoshi swinging area can basically be cleared without touching the analog stick (and certainly without the flutter jump). The second area is incredibly tame. Cloud traversal could have required the player to reuse clouds that pass through the laser boundaries, but they bail the player out by giving them more than enough cloud suits. Grandmaster Galaxy could have been a building symphony of soulcrushing gameplay, but instead it comes off as a loose collection of difficult challenges.
Wow...just realized that each world map background is
supposed to represent getting further out in the universe. First just on / around whatever the home planet is, then to surrounding planets in the solar system, then to where you can see multiple star systems, etc.
Nice effect, cant wait to see how far out World 4 map looks.
Heh its like the Mushroom Kingdom version of that zoom out from Contact.
Checking in at 242 stars. I'm glad that I stayed away from media and didn't replay SMG beforehand, because playing SMG2 gives an impression of unadultered joyful gameplay that is indistinguishable from SMG. I don't have a preference between SMG's hub world and SMG2's flowcharts--whereas SMG2's approach improves playability, it also seems like a utilitarian solution in a series that is otherwise brimming with creativity.
As for more specific thoughts on my mind while getting the last few stars...
World S is definitely my least-favorite world. It demonstrates how NOT to revisit previous games in a series. While World 6 hosts a faithful recreation of Super Mario 64's Whomp's Fortress in Throwback Galaxy, World S blatantly rips content from other Mario games. Mario Squared and Boss Blitz Galaxies are copied and pasted from SMG, and Twisted Trials is untouched from Super Mario Sunshine. Twisted Trials was particularly joyless in that I realized that I could play Super Mario Sunshine on the same system with (effectively) the same hardware. Flip-Out and Grandmaster are really the only enjoyable Galaxies, and there seem like some missed opportunities, especially in the latter. The areas are just completely uneven with regards to challenge. The Yoshi swinging area can basically be cleared without touching the analog stick (and certainly without the flutter jump). The second area is incredibly tame. Cloud traversal could have required the player to reuse clouds that pass through the laser boundaries, but they bail the player out by giving them more than enough cloud suits. Grandmaster Galaxy could have been a building symphony of soulcrushing gameplay, but instead it comes off as a loose collection of difficult challenges.
I whole heartedly agree with your spoiler statements.
This game
really showed its flaws in World S. So many missed opportunites to flesh out a different side of the gameplay like making a Super Mario Bros. Lost Levels difficulty to the series. It seems like Nintendo ran out of time because of the due date and just slapped something together at the last minute to extend the game.
The only galaxy I enjoyed was the flip-out galaxy, and I've seen videos of the Grandmaster one. I wish there was more to flip-out as I don't know, it just seemed way too easy.
As much fun as Grandmaster looks INITIALLY, on further review, it looks very tame as you've said.
I'm still collecting the green stars as I'm over 200 now, and even those green stars feel really lame in terms of challenge. They're just fall down the hole or triple jump areas.
Even if the answer was that 120 is double 60, that's not really an answer. It just means 60 was the arbitrary number I should have a problem with. And why double, and not triple? Why not just 40 more?
It's a silly question is all. was wondering why they made that the standard.
EDIT: Holy crap! 120 reward is a lot more fun then I had thought.
at first I was like: eh, they aren't really new challenges, it'll be interesting. But its not even a scavenger hunt, most of them are fairly easy to find. Its getting to them that's insane, and insanely fun. My Mario skills are definitely being pushed on some of these.
Actually, yeah, now that you mention it, outside of the Fluzzard and Rolling Ball stages, less motion control over all I'd say. Hardly any sling stars too.
Actually, yeah, now that you mention it, outside of the Fluzzard and Rolling Ball stages, less motion control over all I'd say. Hardly any sling stars too.
Sling stars and bubble isn't motion control, though. It's IR pointer which I like better. It's sad there aren't as many sling stars in this one, as I really like how much SMG takes advantage of the IR pointer.
Sling stars and bubble isn't motion control, though. It's IR pointer which I like better. It's sad there aren't as many sling stars in this one, as I really like how much SMG takes advantage of the IR pointer.
That Honeyboom Galaxy 2D stage was really cool . The pacing and camera felt so fluid and natural. Saw my first Hammer Bros. and those weird looking black spiky ball enemies with smiley faces, I think they're from Super Mario World. It's gonna take more practice, but the flying bird mini game was entertaining.
Agreed. Those cylindrical 2-D levels seem like they would be tailor-made for a bubble-blowing challenge, but the closest I guess we have to settle for is a blimp fruit level.
I won't be able to play again until Sunday. Good thing I can just run some of the music through my head to keep me going for now.
I don't understand why so many people are harping on World S. It's just supposed to be a hodgepodge of quirky levels that separate themselves from the pacing and style of the other Galaxies.
Stone Cyclone Galaxy is a perfect representation of Galaxy gameplay in my eyes. Mario Squared marks a return of one of SMG1's most infamous challenges (even though it's a bit more tame this time around). The Rolling Coaster Galaxy captured the feeling of the "gimmick levels" that are unquestionably a part of the Galaxy experience. Throwback Galaxy and Twisted Trials are nods to longtime Mario fans, and Super Mario Sunshine's platforming levels inspired elements of SMG anyway. SMG2 did an incredible job of not reusing old boss ideas and concepts, so a sequestered galaxy for a few of the old guys was more than welcome. Finally, Flip Out Galaxy was just clever and fun. It could have easily been in another Galaxy ala Flip Switch.
you might want to spoiler tag your post for people who aren't that far.
anyway yeah I'm fine with the reuse of galaxy 1 sections in world s as well. They do change them up a bit and it's not like we didn't know they'd be in the game as I'm pretty sure miyamoto at one point said there would be levels from the original in this game.
