Two things may drive you crazy: one is when you get hit while riding Yoshi and he starts running away without you. You can chase him and hop back on, or you can wait until a new egg hatches, sometimes in a not-so-convenient location. The second problem is also partly fun. Yoshi can swallow spicy peppers; these Dash Peppers make him run around like crazy, and only you can control the direction. If he crashes against a wall or runs into an obstacle, he'll turn around and keep on running, which sometimes has lamentable results such as free-falling off the stage and losing a life. Complaints apart, this is actually a neat power-up that lets you dash uphill like a champ and even run on water.

If you find a Blimp Fruit, you have to eat it. Yoshi will inflate like a balloon and rise up for a short period of time! You can then float in the desired direction and even decide when to stop rising by hitting A. This comical moment is also quite useful, though perhaps not as much as when you eat a Bulb Berry and reveal hidden paths with a mysterious golden light.

Returning power-ups that don't involve Yoshi include the Bee Mario suit that gives you brief hovering abilities, Rainbow Mario, which makes you invincible for a bit, Boo Mario, which lets you float and turns you transparent so you can get through certain walls, and finally, Spring Mario, the one that lets you bounce around and go higher than ever!

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With so many abilities, one has to wonder how they crammed it all into the controls. Fortunately, they did a great job, having players move Mario (and others!) with the control stick, jumping with A, and swinging the Wii Remote to spin. Pressing Z after a jump will cause a ground-pound, and when you're on the ground it lets you crouch. C re-centers the camera, and B lets you grab objects and snag-attach grapple points when riding with Yoshi. Of course, there are many other moves assigned to different controls, but what's most important is there's no abuse of the motion-activated controls, which becomes very tiresome in other games.

As you can imagine, the orchestral soundtrack of Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a real masterpiece. It includes plenty of wonderful and varied background tunes for the different levels, and it makes you feel right at home. Other than hums and little yelps, there isn't a whole lot of voice acting, which is not a bad thing for a Mario game.

One of the best qualities of SMG2 is the speedy gameplay and the multitude of levels spread out into several different worlds within an ever-expansive universe. Even when you think you're done, you'll realize there are plenty of unlockable galaxies you'll get to explore with time. Finding the hidden coins and chatting with mysterious characters will be your tickets to exciting new worlds you won't want to miss. Also, if you want to share the game with a friend, things are a bit more attractive for the second player this time around, allowing him/her to stun and spin-attack enemies with their cursor, as well as pick up star bits and other collectables in the background.

If this doesn't sound like a fun and complete game to you, you are crazy. Of course, Super Mario is not for everyone, and perhaps 3D Mario platforming versus the four-player 2D, side-scrolling Super Mario that was released back in November isn't much. I know some may prefer that, but the truth is - here lies yet another wonderful game that any true Mario fan shouldn't miss. It's been made with love, and it shows!

By Maria Montoro
CCC Site Director