Super Mario Galaxy 2

Nintendo’s beloved videogame characters Mario and Luigi are back again in “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” the sequel to its hit spherical-platform game for its Wii console. This time, they are joined by the character Yoshi.

Bill Trinen, a senior manager of product marketing at Nintendo of America, spoke to The Wall Street Journal about the new game, out this week.

Wall Street Journal: What’s new about “Super Mario Galaxy 2”?

Bill Trinen: The first game pioneered platform games in spherical worlds, and the idea of playing with gravity. The development team originally thought about just creating new objectives for the same game, but they had a lot more ideas that they decided they would do a completely new game.

Can you give some examples?

There’s a new item, a spin drill, which drills through planets, but instead of drilling through to the other side, it pops you inside to collect coins. The developers are having fun by introducing you to a new mechanic and then having fun by playing with your expectations.

They also created a planet that is cylinder, where gravity keeps Mario close to it. Mario also has new drill powers and new suits including the Cloud Suit. The Cloud Suit lets you get to places that are normally out of place to reach, so we’re able to hide more things.

In the Fluffy Bluff Glaxy level, players can create cloud platforms for Mario when they find a cloud mushroom by shaking the Wii remote. Mario gets three cloud platforms for every mushroom, but if he touches water he loses the Cloud Suit and the ability to stand on the cloud.

Are there any other notable features?

The game is still primarily single-player, but a second player can help Mario by controlling an orange Luma star character that can stop enemies and hold them in place, so Mario can attack the enemies. It’s a great way for people to share the experience.

Yoshi, who was not in the original Galaxy game, is also a big addition. Yoshi gives Mario new abilities like jumping and running. He can also shoot his tongue out and eat enemies, or eat Blimp Fruit to flat around in the sky in the Tall Trunk Galaxy, one of the levels in the game.

The developers are really letting the creativity go.

Do you offer a way to help novice players in the game?

Yes, we have a super guide feature. Hint TV is a little TV that pops up to give tutorials or text-based hints to pass a level or get past an obstacle. There’s also a Cosmic Guide. After players have lost a certain number of live or have spent too long in one area, players can activate a cosmic guide that will possess Mario and run through the level for you. You can take control at any point by pressing the plus button.

It’s based on the understanding that particularly with the Wii audience, there are a lot of people that haven’t played video games for a long time. The idea is that we should let them get to the end and they should be able to learn how to do things that more advanced gamers are able to do. It’s a good way to include content that is more challenging for advanced gamers but without turning off the modest gamers. If you’re an advanced gamer, you won’t notice it until you lose a lot of lives.

Do you get tired of playing the game?

I’ve played it for three straight days (for demos) and I still love it.

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Super Mario Galaxy 2

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mario returns to space, but this time, he brings along his bipedal, tiny-armed dinosaur. The inclusion of Yoshi, who sat out the 2007 original, is the sequel’s supposed raison d’etre. Make no mistake, Yoshi is helpful on occasion. During one memorable battle, he eats incoming bullets, then spits them back at a rampaging robot. Yet for the most part, Yoshi seems to slightly sully the purity of the game. He never feels like an organic part of its world.

Unsurprisingly, the novelty of the outer-space milieu is diminished the second time around. Seeing Mario soar like a superhero between planets just isn’t as thrilling as it once was. Yet once you arrive on said planets, the age-old Mario charm kicks in. Each galaxy, and each planet in it, feels crafted and considered. You’ll balance on a platform with the entirety of the universe beneath your feet, and spot a moon you can’t reach yet. In the distance, you’ll see a greater menace, like a Chain Chomp, which you’ll eventually need to deal with. It’s confounding how this simple world can evoke feelings of curiosity, wonder, and dread all at once.

One complaint: Those candy-like Star Bits from the original? They’re back. They’re also ubiquitous, and therefore borderline-useless. You’ll occasionally pop open a question-mark box, only to find—oh joy—a handful of those Star Bits inside. This is the Mario-world equivalent of receiving socks for Christmas.

The Mario series has always been refreshingly free of nuance and subtext. There’s no darkness, no gloom, no real drama. Political agendas and real-world issues are never addressed here. (The closest Nintendo has come to weighing in on anything: the go-green messaging of Super Mario Sunshine.) It’s pointless to attempt to deconstruct a Mario game. The Gulf floods with oil and Mario stays the same. The Twin Towers are destroyed and Mario stays the same. People live and die, and Mario endures for some inexplicable reason. The save-the-princess narrative? That isn’t the story of Super Mario Galaxy 2. The real story—a story that transcends cultures, time, and language—is between each and every one of those sweat-inducing leaps.

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