Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 + 40th Anniversary | REVIEW | NINTENDO SWITCH 2

''TWO FOR ONE SPECIAL''

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Developed: Nintendo

Published: Nintendo

Genre: 3D Platformer

Release Date: Oct 2nd, 2025

Platforms: NSW/NSW 2

*GAME PROVIDED TO ME BY NINTENDO OF AMERICA

Super Mario Galaxy plus Super Mario Galaxy 2 is the next bundle of games in the Mario franchise and it is developed and published by Nintendo. With the original bundle of games included in the Super Mario 3.D. All Stars being a complete success, even in its limited form, Nintendo now decides that 5 years later, its now time to give a similar treatment to the 40th anniversary of Mario himself by combining a two in one package of two of the best platforming games in the entire series. But was this the right call, especially considering Galaxy 1 was previously in 3.D. All Stars compilation? or should they have done something differently? Only one way to find out, so lets WAH-HOO!

''HE STOLE THE BROS HAT!''

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INTRO:

40 years, say that out loud with me, 40 freaking years. The Super Mario Bros series is now 40 years old and shows no signs of slowing down or stopping anytime soon, especially with the success of the Nintendo World theme park, on top of the billion dollar grossing Super Mario Bros movie, that was awesome as all heck, and its a movie that I may or may not have watched like 10 times in a week since its release on digital platforms and D.V.D. The older all these franchises turn, the older it just makes me feel as well, and while I may not have been around for the franchises beginning, I've been an intensely loyal fan of the Mario series as I grew up in the 1990's alongside my growing confusion as a kid wondering why the original Super Mario Bros was so much different than Super Mario Bros 2, it felt like a totally different game! My cog wheels in my brain were right of course, as the title was merely a re-skinned version of Doki Doki Panic, but I wouldn't know that till many years later, but.. the game was still a great time, even if that dang evil mask chasing me everywhere annoyed the heck out of me. LEAVE ME ALONE YOU STUPID MASK, GO FIND JIM CAREY AND MAKE A TERRIBLE SEQUEL OR SOMETHING. As the franchise grew older, so did I, from my time with Super Mario Bros 3 and my wee baron self getting annoyed that I couldn't do the match the pictures mini game correctly and holding hostilities towards Toad, even though it wasn't his fault, exploring the many secrets of Super Mario World by discovering Star Road for the first time, jamming to Bowsers theme music, and sacrificing my poor little Yoshi as a means to save my own life. Hey don't judge me, you all did it too, inside we all have a bit of a dark passenger within us, making us do these monstrous deeds. Tonight is the night...and its going to happen... again.... and again.... it has to happen. As I hit 7 years old, Super Mario 64 then graced my eye balls and floored me to the max with the freedom of exploration, I could go anywhere I want, move in ways I never thought possible, racing Koopa The Quick, throwing King Bob-omb off a cliff thinking I had won, then he jumps back up immediately to give me a jump scare, seeing a baby penguin and....and....tonight is the night.....it has to happen.

Nope nope, I won't give into temptation, little penguin lives this time, I can control my dark passenger. After the highs of Mario 64, I moved on to Super Mario Sunshine where I learned that it is easy to be framed for a crime and put into prison.. thanks Nintendo for introducing me corrupt judicial systems. While I dont think Sunshine was as good as Mario 64 and thought it was the black sheep brother of the two, it still was a fun time overall. Then getting the highly anticipated Switch title of Mario Odyssey that brought us back to that good ol sandbox feel with brand new creative ways to traverse, new challenges and many ways for speed runners like me to enjoy our times, which I got so fast at one point that I beat the entire game in just 1 hour and a 24 minutes.. so it goes without saying that I had an absolute blast with it. But wait, why did I skip Mario Galaxy 1 and 2? well simple, I covered both in mini reviews back when I did a review of Super Mario 3.D. All Stars alongside the franchises 35th anniversary, and plus I'll be covering them here shortly, so no need for overkill. The main point of this long winded intro is because my history with the Mario franchise and it's 40 years has been an expansive one filled with laughter, fun, shock and inspiration. Going from solo covering the 35th anniversary just 5 years ago getting my start in the gaming industry, to now 5 years later here in 2025, working with Nintendo themselves on franchises I grew up with for the last 2 years is something I never thought possible when making my 35th Mario anniversary video, and now here I am officially covering two of the greatest Mario titles of all time officially for Nintendo in a review capacity, is just special to me. Its something I never saw coming, but I'm grateful for at the end of the day due to the privilege and opportunities afforded to me. Speaking of afforded opportunities, why hasn't Wario gotten his own fart simulator game, Nintendo? come on, bro has earned it!.

While the 35th anniversary of Mario had some good products released for it such as a Super Mario Bros Game And Watch, which I bought obviously, Bowsers Fury sand box addition to 3.D. World, Mario Kart R.C. Racer, Super Mario All Stars E-Shop release, then finally Super Mario 3.D. All Stars. Dont get me wrong, that's cool and all, but I feel the haul for Mario's 40th anniversary is WAY better with things such as the Super Mario Galaxy movie announcement, Super Mario Galaxy amiibo which looks amazing and again I definitely ordered immediately, Mario Tennis Fever that honestly looks really fun, update for Super Mario Bros Wonder, Talking Flower figure who's so annoying that I MUST OWN it, a brand new Yoshi game called Yoshi And The Mysterious Book which looks cute as heck and a bit stop motion like, which is right up my alley, and finally the package were getting to here, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 for Switch and Switch 2. Right off the bat the 40th anniversary is way better with its offerings, I don't think that can be disputed, but I admit I was a bit miffed at no 3.D. Mario since we haven't had one in close to a decade now, but then I remember, we just got the amazing game of the year worthy title Donkey Kong Bananza, made by the same group of legends that made Super Mario Odyssey, so of course, all Is forgiven... for now. So all my memories of the past history, 40 years worth of memories for myself from main entries, spin off games like Super Mario R.P.G, both original and remake, 1990's live action movie that is so bad that it's great nowadays, to the new movie that does the series justice, all the way up till Odyssey and the beyond, the franchise holds a dear spot in my heart, one that offers a form of comfort and joy that few franchise bring me, and I, along millions of other people around the world are grateful for these 40 years of memories we've been given, and I for one, cant wait to see where the future leads us in 2026 and 40 more years beyond, hopefully I will be around for one last celebration when that time comes.

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''KICKING OFF WITH A BANG!''

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SUPER MARIO GALAXY:

Arriving finally at our main event of Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, which is the main event of the 40th anniversary that packs two monstrous platforming games into one package, a Star Powered package if you will, no? ok fine. With Super Mario Galaxy 1 previously being released as part of the 3.D. All Stars collection, this bundles stand out is obviously Super Mario Galaxy 2, which is widely considered the superior of the two, but at the same time, not as innovative as the original was when both launched on Nintendo Wii. Moving from Wii to Switch and Switch 2, Super Mario Galaxy manages to keep the very essence of its original release and amplify it either further with updated graphics and multiple ways to play the game outside just the Wii Remote that we were once used to, and now implements multiple different playing abilities like in handheld, it allows you literally touch the star bits to select them, use Joy-Con's from Switch 2 to re-live the Wii glory days, use a regular pro controller and gyro aim, and even use Switch 2's feature of Mouse Mode to play, which is crazy to think about, but its great seeing all the different ways we able to play nonetheless. Uh, hang on a second guys, someone is at the door. Ok sorry about that guys, its those dang Wii salesmen again, I swear this is like the 4th time they've come to the house, anyways, where were we?. Our adventure of Mario Galaxy begins with big boy Bowser himself attacking the Mushroom Kingdom as they have their Star Festival celebration and we all know why, he was probably told he wasn't invited to the next Mario Party iteration, so he wasn't having anyone's crap anymore, so much in fact that Bowser did what the United States Government is afraid to do, confirm the existence of U.F.O's. Who needs 500 congressional hearings that go nowhere or people telling us everything is a weather balloon? Bowser said screw that, I'm just going to use U.F.O's to literally attack the festivals with the aliens from Mars Attacks and ACK ACKs and uproots Peach's castle straight out of the ground. That's actually pretty hardcore. With the castle being lifted into literal outer space, our pudgy suspender wearing plumber leaps into action to save the day, only to get shot back to reality by the annoying little jerk, Kamek, who sends Mario on a trip into an empty void, ensuring a timely demise for our hero. Luckily however, luck was on Mario's side as he wakes up to find that he's been saved by a little star called Luma, who offers him help and transports Mario to the cosmic hub in the sky called the Comet Observatory, where you finally meet the series newest waifu, Rosalina. Honestly, I'm quite thankful its Luma who found us and not Lumalee from the Super Mario Bros movie, otherwise, we would've probably got laughed at and taunted for all our troubles. Once you're up to speed, you learn that the Observatory cannot get to the center of the universe to help save Princess Peach and instead needs Power Stars in order to give it a enough juice to make the journey and thus the adventure of a life time begins.

Innovation and charm fuel the flames of Super Mario Galaxy and maintains reason as its one of the most highly regarded platformers of all time as you soar through the vast galaxy through six varied worlds, each unleashing new challenges, new bosses and secrets to uncover, gravity altering mechanics that changes the formula from the open sand box nature of previous Mario titles and instead makes it more linear, making each world and biome you explore unique in their own way due to the devs 100% concentrating on nothing but that specific section alone, making it, at the time and even really now, unparalleled in gaming industry for what is the ''standard'' for 3.D .platforming as a whole. Whether its your first time playing or your 100th time playing like myself, the feeling of imagination never leaves your body as you hear the robust music blare as you fly through each galaxy with both its creative and even whacky environments with some elements of these worlds having you race on water with a sting ray, creative puzzles using gravity that make you think when and when not to jump or get sent to your doom below, power ups like Spring Mario that lets you...spring into action to get to higher to reach areas, scale honey walls as you become a little tiny fat bee as you climb around looking for hidden areas, or if you are like me, grab onto the main Queen Bee and begin scratching her belly, hoping she's going to give you a Power Star you desperately need and not just let out a gigantic fart instead because we tickled her so much that she couldn't take it. EWWW OH MY GOD, THAT'S JUST GROSS, COME ON, DECENCY QUEEN, DECENCY. There's no end to the astonishment Mario Galaxy brings to you, especially with its creativity overall, its actually mind boggling to say the least, one minute it's standard platforming that has you walking and running on a normal planet, pretty straight forward, the next you're jumping over laser shooting enemies as you dodge and press question blocks to turn them from all blue to yellow, get the best of bratty Bowser Junior as you use gravity and bullet bills to destroy his octopus like robot, flinging yourself through obstacles by pulling back on an object and flinging yourself forward, travel to a beach like resort and swim deep to discover its mysteries, chase stupid dang bunnies through gusty garden galaxy that gives you P.T.S.D. of trying to catch the stupid rabbit from Mario 64 for hours, take the fight to underwater volcano caverns to attack bone serpents with red shells, there's no end to the amount of perfection this title offers you that goes well beyond the main game and exploring the Comet Observatory itself, that even includes a hard as nails post game Grand Finale that will test even the most seasoned veterans. With Switch and Switch 2, with motion built into everything, it all feels fluid and responsive as the Wii version did and an improvement over the 3.D. All Stars iteration and gives it a seamless transition feel. Likewise in the handheld department compared to the 3.D. All Stars version, its been improved dramatically with allowing you to touch things on screen or tilt your screen for heightened interactivity. Improvements compared to the 3.D. All Stars compilation version doesnt stop there either with a 1080p handheld output, 4k output when docked, smoother textures that arent muddied, which is improved over the 3.D. All Star version, with really only hiccups coming in the form of the render cutscenes still looking lower quality in some instances and original textures getting swapped out for newer ones that kind of.. don't really mesh well, like myself and cars in racing games. Lastly in this bundle for new additions is Assist Mode, this is for players that might die too much or even if you wish to let your kid get in a little game time. With this feature you're granted 6 heart pieces now to use, all of which regenerate when standing still and when falling off a ledge, puts you in a bubble so you return back to the platform you fell off of safe and sound... which thankfully Mario doesn't remember the last time he was in a bubble that he screamed his baby lungs out, I don't think I could've handled another game with it.

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''ITS A BIRD! ITS A PLANE!''

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SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2:

Coming off the extreme high of Mario Galaxy, Nintendo is like we still got WAY more ideas for the concept of space and gravity that we just HAVE to make a sequel for it, and a sequel is exactly what we got, but it was of the quality we were not expecting, like at all. If Mario Galaxy itself was considered a masterpiece, and then Mario Galaxy 2 comes along and blows it out of the water, outdoing said masterpiece, then what do we even call that? a double masterpiece? masterpiece theatre?. Honestly I have no clue so I'll just call it Terminator 2 and be done with it since that's the best way to describe a masterpiece sequel coming off a masterpiece original film or game, which is a rarity in todays market. As Mario Galaxy 2 starts up, star bits flow from the sky over the Mushroom Kingdom, as Mario once again heads on over to the Star Festival, but like clockwork Bowsers like ''nah bro, I talked to Rick Moranis and got a contract from Disney and now I AM Honey I Shrunk The Kids'', only more towards the sequel with a giant baby, as Bowser himself has now grown Kaiju size. Ah geez, where's Godzilla when you need him?. With Peach kidnapped and once again taken to the center of the universe, Mario now teams up with Lubba and other fellow Luma's to sail the galaxy in a brand new way, using a spaceship adequately named, the Starship Mario. Not sure why, but I see the ship and just get Star Trek stuck in my head ''Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Mario''. However once again you will need the energy of the Power Stars to move across the universe, but this time in a way that's more akin to a traditional Mario title like Super Mario World where you select your stage on an overview map in a linear fashion, rather than the more exploratory nature that was introduced at the Comet Observatory in the original Mario Galaxy. While initially for me upon first playing it back on the Wii days that was pretty disappointing to me, it actually works in the games favor due to the pace at which every level moves at as new gameplay opportunities get introduced, such as being able to now use your good ol buddy Yoshi, who magically survived the torture of Super Mario World we put him through and he's now able to eat and digest super hot and spicy peppers that gives him a run speed boosts that is ALMOST as fast as me running to the restroom after eating Taco Bell. Also making a name for themselves are further power ups like a drill that lets you zoom through the earth to attack enemies on the other side or get to puzzles in the ground beneath you, being able to jump and spin to summon puffy clouds to momentarily use as platforms to stand on, turning into a Rock to steam roll through enemies, obstacles or make hard to reach jumps by rolling and jumping as far as you can, etc, you can just tell the devs were throwing everything they had in their minds on this game with concepts that aim to keep players at the edge of our seats and attempt to astonish us with wonder at every opportunity they can get.

While I feel the uproar for Super Mario Galaxy had a bigger impact in hype due to the ''Wii Would Like To Play'' campaign alongside Mario Galaxy revolutionizing 3.D. platforming for the entire industry, mechanics, ideas, execution and design is WAY better here in Super Mario Galaxy 2 with the use of all of the ideas thought up by the team to introduce us to many new diverse and expanded mechanics that puts this title, in a gameplay sense, far ahead of its original counterpart. Zooming across the universe alongside Yoshi as he eats peppers and gets the zoomies, using his tongue to pull objects that you can jump on, fight a giant robot with the power of your drill power to slice through terrain and break the glass on his booty to obtain a power star, use a cloud power up to create fluffy clouds to reach high to reach places or use them as a level skip by long jumping over a large gap, spinning and then making a cloud, which is perfect for speed runners, sections of a level that changes the perspective to a more 2.D. side scroller view where you must follow colored arrows on the wall that determine whether gravity pulls you up to the ceiling or pushes you down towards the floor as you try to figure out the proper route to go while dodging obstacles, ride on a turtle shell ala Mario 64 as you explore strange and mysterious underwater worlds, take flight through a lively jungle using a bird friend named Fluzzard to glide through a time trial obstacle as you move through check points, make the prophecy of ''EL IS REAL'' from Super Mario 64 come true and now freely swap to playing as the scaredy cat himself, Luigi, battle against a spiked snowball villain and punch him in his stupid red nose like he's bozo the clown as he tries to roll at you and squash you, participate in extra content aside from main Power Star missions by partaking in Prankster Comets side quests where you must complete objectives on special stages to get an extra power star, etc, you get it, Mario Galaxy 2 is packed through the roof with content to discover and play, and if I named it all, then you'd just have to rename me Nintendo Power Magazine due to the length this would be. Super Mario Galaxy 2 at its core just takes everything that was amazing about the first game, amplifies it, expands it, builds on it and exceeds it in every possible way when it comes to its gameplay, its not even close, and if you're confused which title to start first, this or the first game, I'd have to recommend this one due to its easy of playability with its traditional Mario map layout that offers a simple way to pick up and play without worrying about anything in between. If Super Mario Galaxy is considered the Chuck Norris of platformers, then Super Mario Galaxy 2 is easily the Bruce Lee of them.

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''MORE ROMANTIC THAN TITANIC''

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OVERALL:

At the end of the day, Super Mario Galaxy plus Super Mario Galaxy 2 for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 end up an amazing time, but also with a few downsides that consumers should know about. For one thing some of the textures that are replaced from the original games look kind of weird and some of the changes made looks a bit wonky, and same can be said about the rendered cutscenes not being upgraded as well as they should, making it a stark contrast with the rest of the game that actually has been upped in quality and fidelity. But the overall major issue I see people having a problem with is the pricing. $70 for two games that are decades old might be a hard sell for people, especially considering Super Mario Galaxy was previously bundled into a pack with 3.D. All Stars no more than just 5 years ago. Buy both at the same time at $70, then you're paying the same price as you would for something brand new game like Donkey Kong Bananza, but purchase each separately? that's $40 each being charged for the remasters individually, which then comes out to $80 instead of the $10 saving path of buying the bundle. So what do you do? well that's entirely up to you. If you already own Super Mario Galaxy from 3.D. All Stars edition then your best bet is to probably buy Super Mario Galaxy 2 solo, however if you've NEVER played either of these games, then first off, what kind of rock were you living under? and second of all, if that is the case for you with having never touched either of these games, then you'll be purchasing two masterpieces in one package, and for the experience alone for two of the best 3.D. platformers of all time, I'd say that's definitely worth it. So with that, thank you for joining me on a little lookback at my history with the Mario franchise over the last 40 years, as well as getting a glimpse as to what's to come going forward with all the new game releases and events pertaining to the anniversary as well. Its been a wild ride for myself as not only a long time Nintendo fan, but as a Mario fan in general, and to be able to be apart of something as special as the 40th anniversary of a franchise that means so much to me, and has gotten me through some very tough times in my life, to now working with Nintendo in an official capacity to share my thoughts on the games and events, makes everything I've done up until now worth it. So thank you again for joining me in this lookback and review of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2 and while were all prepped and ready for the events of the 40th anniversary to unfold, deep down I know that even after were all long gone off this earth, that this little pudgy plumber will continue on bringing smiles and joy to the rest of the world for 40 years more.

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