Super Mario Galaxy 2: Same plumber, new worlds

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Nintendo may be reaching the limit of what it can do with its mustachioed mascot.

After nearly 29 years since debuting as Jumpman, encased in a Donkey Kong arcade unit somewhere in the depths of early-’80s culture, Mario is running out of costumes.

Throughout his adventures in Mario Land, Mario Bros., New Super Mario and the handful of other variations (not to mention the cartoons and abysmal live-action film), the fictional Italian plumber has donned just about every outfit you could imagine. Frogs, raccoons, statues, capes, silly hats, no hat, metal. He’s carried hammers, fireballs, ice balls, coins, stars.

With a new game for the Wii console called Super Mario Galaxy 2 hitting stores May 23, what could Nintendo possibly do to keep the series fresh? Just look around. The Japanese game maker has turned much of its attention to the world -- er, worlds -- around the character.

The Galaxy predecessor cast Mario onto a series of tiny globes, placing a heavy focus on dimensional navigation. Breaking out of the game’s linear, platform-adventure roots -- where players are rewarded for jumping on a ton of enemies and collecting items in a short period of time -- Galaxy added puzzles to the journey.

I spent some time playing the upcoming release Thursday morning, with the moral support of Nintendo reps who tried not to shame me too extensively when I fell off the level. (When you die, sending Mario through a black hole, the screen flashes ‘Too bad’ -- a passive-aggressive phrase I saw several times in my 10- to 20-minute session.)

Nintendo’s developers have placed a major emphasis on crafting compelling, dynamic environments. They were given ‘carte blanche,’ said Mabel Chung, a Nintendo game expert. The designers were told to spend as much time as they’d like on building the wildest ideas they didn’t get to in the first Galaxy game, Chung said. ‘This is really much more than a sequel,’ she said.

The series’ familiar cartoonish and colorful landscapes are there, as are the warm, fluffy clouds. It’s Mario with every last ‘i’ dotted. (Well, I guess there’s only one ‘i’ in ‘Mario.’)

But the game makers have played quite a bit with virtual physics, forcing players to account for gravity practically every step of the way.

That’s not to say our hero isn’t getting a new set of getups to wear. The ones we saw were subtle variations on things Nintendo has experimented with in past games. And they’re all about exploring the intricacies of the land.

A drill tool lets you dig through a planet and emerge on the other side of the mini globe. Can’t get past that fence? Dig in the right spot, and you’ll encounter one of the level’s stars. A new cloud power-up lets your silly-looking Mario reach new heights of the roundabout environments.

Mario’s pet dinosaur Yoshi, a newcomer to the Galaxy franchise, also gets some enhancements. Items like the ‘blimp’ and ‘dash pepper’ help him navigate the environment.

After prying the controller from my hands (or after I burned through all of my character’s lives; I can’t recall which) Nintendo showed Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. It’s a quirky, hyper shooter for the Wii, with lines of melodramatic dialog (fortunately, few and far between) including, ‘Run like your life depends on it. Because it does.’

But Super Mario Galaxy 2 is certainly one of Nintendo’s most important console games this year.

-- Mark Milian
twitter.com/markmilian