Your central hub is now a Spaceship (or a Faceship, as the chief engineer, Lubba, calls it) called “the Starship Mario,” which also has tons of little Lumas flying all over it.

Super Mario Galaxy 2’s hub world is similar in function, but simplified in design. The music changes and more Lumas are drawn to it depending on how complete the ship is, which is a nice touch. The Cosmic Observatory is massive, and as you progress you gain access to more parts of the ship. Various buildings, a.k.a “Domes”, in the Observatory are actually mini-hubs from which you can blast off to different galaxies. In Galaxy 1 the hub area is a place called “the Comet Observatory,” which is a huge space station full of cute little star people called “Lumas” and the owner of the station, the enigmatic Rosalina. I’ll go over what makes the games similar and what differentiates them, and discuss why those differences lead me to enjoy the first game more than the second.īoth games have a hub world, a central area in which the player relaxes/explores between their missions. While both games sold well and have remained deep in the hearts of those who played them, today I want to briefly compare and contrast two games that I love. Starring the titular plumber as he adventures throughout the cosmos running, jumping, beating baddies, and collecting Power Stars in various themed galaxies (levels) to advance further, both games are strikingly similar at a first glance, though I prefer Galaxy 1 to Galaxy 2 on almost every count. In both games, Princess Peach must be saved, and Mario (and occasionally his younger brother, Luigi) are just the guys for the job.

One fondly remembered game from this golden era of casual gaming is Super Mario Galaxy (Galaxy 1, 2007) and its sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Galaxy 2, 2010). To a lot of more casual gamers, the Nintendo Wii was the perfect gaming console, especially since it drew in a more general audience to play games like Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers, Wii Sports, Wii Fit, and much more.

Super mario galaxy 2 grandmaster galaxy