When both “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Super Mario Galaxy 2” released back on the Nintendo Wii in 2007 and 2010, both games were hailed by many outlets like IGN and Metacritic as one of the best video games ever made. To celebrate Mario’s 40th anniversary, Nintendo decided to release both games onto both the original Switch and Switch 2. I especially remember playing “Super Mario Galaxy” back when I was younger, so the announcement and replaying of these games did bring excitement and nostalgia.
The plots of “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Super Mario Galaxy 2” are pretty similar, in which Princess Peach invites Mario over for the Star Festival, but Bowser comes in and kidnaps Peach, taking her to the center of the universe to rule a Galactic Empire, as Mario has to go to space to save her. In the first game, Mario is helped by a mysterious woman named Rosalina, while in the second game, a Luma, a space species, named Lubba, is Mario’s partner in the game.
For the re-release of the Galaxy games, new plot points were added, but there isn’t much new going on. One of the major things added was a new chapter in Rosalina’s Storybook for the first Galaxy game and the addition of a storybook in the second, as confirmed by Nintendo during a Nintendo Direct Presentation video on YouTube. The additions give the Mario universe more of an interesting and great backstory of its world and characters to an otherwise simple plot in the games.
The gameplay is relatively the same as the original games, except for a few minor things made for the Switch. First off, the controls for Mario are the same, with his movements being smooth yet a little slippery. Whenever I need to use the spin attack or use the fire flower power, I can shake the controller I’m using like in the original Galaxy games. Or, I can push the Y or X buttons, which makes the game feel a little smoother to play. Overall, the controls stay consistent without making it too complicated.
However, there are some issues with the pointer. Whenever you need to recalibrate it, you just need to push the R button on the top right side of the joystick controller, and it does it automatically, making it easier, if needed, while moving during a play session. However, if you were playing these games on handheld mode with both joysticks still attached, then you would have to manually move the Switch itself to control Mario in certain levels where it is necessary to do so. I find this hard and annoying.
Another feature of these new games comes before you even load into the world. Whenever you are at the title screen of both games, you have the option to freely listen to the entire soundtrack of the game, even when you just open the game for the first time. This is a fun addition, as you can now listen to the soundtrack whenever you want and have it as background music.
Some of the small updates were the addition of assist mode for a more easy gamemode, and the enhancement of the graphics. These newer graphics help make the game look more advanced and cleaner on the Switch 2. It definitely levels up the playthrough experience.
Overall, both games, while having a few technical issues, provided a good time to play and revisit. While I do wish a little more was added, I do think what we received from Nintendo does help improve the overall experience.
4/5
