Super Mario Galaxy™ 2: This upcoming adventure for the Wii console marks the first time a second 3-D Mario game has arrived in the same console generation. In the game, Mario rides his trusty dinosaur companion, Yoshi™, to new stars and the fantastic worlds found there. This 3-D platforming adventure provides longtime video game fans with a fresh round of out-of-this-world challenges in the style introduced in the critically acclaimed original. The game is planned for 2010.

We also found this quote from Miyamoto reported on Kotaku:

…Miyamoto said that the original plan was to “essentially create new variations of the worlds in Super Mario Galaxy.” But, over time, the developers have had so many ideas that Miyamoto estimates that 90% of the game’s levels are all new. The rest, he said, are levels from the original Mario Galaxy with different objectives.

The controls haven’t changed, but Mario’s been given new abilities via the addition of Yoshi and a drill item. Miyamoto also told Kotaku that “there’s something that might be kind of a little bit ghost like but still a little different.” …

Our Take on Super Mario Galaxy 2
Let’s start off by saying that while we were big fans of the first Super Mario Galaxy, we got all the way to the end, lost interest in it and to this day never finished it. Of course, if there were achievements involved, it’d probably be a different story but there weren’t (’cause it’s on Wii) so that’s where we are. That being said, um…

It sounds like by all accounts this game is going to be more of the same of the first one. Sure, great playing and great looking game, but after the millionth planet and millionth star, what ends up driving you to play it? The answer to that is STORY but as we all know, most of the Mario games seem to follow the same path which is probably the big elephant in the room as to why we stopped playing the first one. So why knows. And if we stop and think of it, we don’t think the inclusion of Yoshi is going to be enough for us. But maybe that means we’ve grown out of the target demo. We’ll have to wait and see!

Super Mario Bros Wii - Wii
It looks like Super Mario Bros has been reimagined for the Wii! That means all of the side scrolling action that you’ve come to know from the two plumbers is now coming back for the holiday season. But different than what you’re used to seeing, this time you can play with up to three of your friends at the same time (yes that means 4 people at once as Mario, Luigi, Toad and another Toad) as you get all the familiar power ups (and new ones) and traverse the game in another Super Mario Bros adventure!

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Wii
Heralded as the Nintendo’s first true sequel to one of their 3D games on the same console, introducing Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii. From trailers, it looks like you’re going to be seeing more of the Galaxy action that made the first one an instant classic including the great Wiimote gestures, powerups, and worlds. In this outing, Nintendo is finally giving us Yoshi again! (When was the last time we saw HIM on a next gen system?!)

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story - NDS
Ok get this - Apparently Bowser has eaten some kind of magic mushroom and begins to inhale everything around him including Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach! While at first it may sound like yet another Mario and Luigi game, this one has two plots going on at the same time… The action inside Bowser, and the action outside which has Bowser trying to stop a coup of his castle. And with both storylines affecting each other, the game looks like it might have some promise for the small system.

Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again! - DSi Ware
And finally there’s this game for the DSi. Truthfully, I’m not sure what’s going on here but it looks like DK is wearing a tie again and there’s a whole bunch of miniature people walking around uh… doing stuff. I know that you can build levels and upload them, but just stay tuned for more details.

Graphics and Level Design
If you go back to the games of yesteryear, the graphics of Super Mario Bros were top notch. No really! They were bright, colorful and they always seemed to match the mood of the level you were in. And to that end, let’s remember that Super Mario Bros basically INVENTED the now de facto lava levels and water levels. Of course now they’ve been played to death but back then it was very original and all the rage. And while the elements in the actual levels were pretty similiar (coin boxes, goombas, koopas etc) they way they were presented kept things moving nicely by use of palette swaps, positioning and the like.

Super Mario Bros Music
In videogamedom, is there any piece of music more iconic and well known than the Super Mario Bros theme song? DOUBTFUL. Created by the legendary Kōji Kondō, it is still going strong some 25 years later and has been featured and remixed in countless other video games and media adaptations including the ever popular Super Mario Brothers Super Show! But even outside of the theme song - The overworld music, the underworld music, the castle music, the starman music… It’s just all sensational stuff. I mean, I challenge you to find music this beloved anywhere else.

I Like the Way You Move
Super Mario Bros is a a pretty tight game when you really think about it. When you expect to run or walk and jump, you do it. Sure, you’re saying “Well, what else would you do?” But if you’ve played games long enough, you know that sometimes the developers don’t get that right. What’s more, in Super Mario Bros you really have nice control when you’re in the air - How far you jumkp as well as which way you’re jumping. That’s what I call, good stuff. And you know, when you’re talking about the gameplay, you’re not only talking about the way Mario and Luigi control but also the cool stuff you can do throughout the levels including picking up mushrooms, fire flowers and the starman which are varied enough to add that extra dimension the gameplay needed.

Conclusion
If we’re still talking about the original Super Mario Bros in 2009, maybe the only conclusion we can make is that the game is classic. Everything about the game is timeless… The characters, music and games will likely last until the end of human civilization and I think for most of us, that would be quite alright. Well so much for keeping this post objective. ha ha

Super Mario Bros is Where it All Began
For so many of us gamers, Super Mario Bros is where our gaming lives started. ::Hmph. I don’t know that I ever thought of that until now.:: For me personally, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was the first console I had and thus Super Mario Bros was the first game I spent any intimate time with. Though I have to imagine that if I had owned an Atari or something, I would still be singing the same tune.

I mean, was there a game before this that had the players actually thinking or caring about the characters in it? Can’t say that anyone cared about the characters in Pac-Man or Centipede like they did with Super Mario Bros. Certainly by today’s standards, the characters were primitive at best but they did have discernible names, looks and they had motivations for doing what they were doing. And at THAT time (some 24 years ago in 1985), that was a big thing not really seen before.

Boy Meets Girl. Girl Gets Kidnapped.
When you get down to it, the story is as old as time. There’s a princess and she’s being held in a faraway castle by a menacing dragon and it’s up to the hero to save her. It’s so funny looking back at the games of this time because they were SO much fun to play and they were so unbelievably simple! I guess when all you have is 8bit graphics and sound to work with, you better damn well have a great playing game if you’re hoping to move units!

Well next post we’ll continue this conversation as we try to figure out what made Super Mario Bros SO special. (I wanted to cover all of this in the same post but obviously it’s a subject TOO BIG to contain in just one place!!!)

What you may see includes tips about old and new games, news for upcoming releases, artwork as we stumble upon it and anything and everything in between. As you’re probably well aware, the great thing about the Mario Brother games is that unlike so many other game characters, it seems their lore and stories never end. And with any luck, this site will follow in that trend!

Oh and before I forget - I must make apologies for how the site is looking. We just registered the domain and got it in working order and figured that content and posts were more important than looks at the moment. That said, just give us a little bit of time and we’ll get something better up here soon trust me. It’s just a matter of finding the time and coming up with something that look halfway decent. (#):)

So going forward in the next couple of days, what can you expect to see here? Well if we have our druthers, hopefully it’ll be a chronicle of the Super Mario Legacy up to this point which will not only include all the Mario games we can think of but also details and related content about the games. Truthfully, I’m not sure how in depth with each game we’ll go but you can rest assured that for every one we’ll at least be taking you on our OWN personal trips down memory lane as we talk about them. Lastly, even though we’re all about Mario, don’t think that what you’ll see here is going to all be praiseworthy stuff. We’re entitled to our opinions too, and you better believe we’re gonna share. After all…

We’re fans too. (#):)