Warning: There may be a few notes after the break for Super Mario Galaxy 2 that some may consider spoilers.
Wii Party
– Announced last week
– Part of the “Wii” series
– Craig doesn’t think it’s the next generation of Mario Party
– Peer says Mario Party skews a little younger
– Wii Party instead looks like an expanded audience game
– Nintendo of America not announcing anything
– Will almost certainly be at E3
– Nintendo probably won’t make their conference mainly about this game
– Don’t know when it’s coming out
Photo Dojo
– Released today in North America
– Nintendo giving it away for the first month
– Have to play on the same system for 1 on 1 fighting
– It’s a fun toy
– Worth it when it starts costing money as well
Super Mario Galaxy 2
– Craig is on the last battle, 105 stars
– Level called the Throwback Galaxy, it’s very cool
– Better than the first
– Game starts off hard
– Craig isn’t considering the original score for his review, he’s reviewing it on its own
– Galaxy 2 doesn’t acknowledge the original, alternate universe
– Going after market Nintendo attracted with New Super Mario Bros. Wii
– Nintendo wants to ween everyone in, you start off in 2D
– The next page allows you to move in and out of the background/foreground, but still side-scrolling
– On third page, full 3D world
– DVD in Japan/Europe
– Many people don’t understand the things we take for granted in gaming, in 20 years that’ll probably be gone
– There are moments in the game that are incredibly challenging
– Collect a Comet Coin in levels that attract a comet
– Craig’s review can’t go up for another week and a half
– Level designs are very creative
– All the “wowing” done in level design
– The Mario Sunshine-like level fell flat compared to everything else, but it still worked and was challenging
– When you’re in World 2, unlock ability to play as Luigi
– When you beat a level as Luigi, you unlock a ghost of the developer’s time trial (like a speed run), play along with the Luigi silhouette
– Each galaxy is completely different (2-4 for each)
– 6 worlds
– Each world has 8 or so galaxies
– Some really great, challenging gameplay
– One task is that you have to get combos by stomping Goombas, get 10,000 points
– Many boss battles
– Craig really likes what Nintendo did with Bowser, he’s super huge
– Adorable armadillo boss fight, you have to hit it as Rock Mario, kind of like a gladiator battle
– Amazing music
– Orchestra is back
– More orchestral music than MIDI pieces this time around
– Maybe 1 or 2 pieces Craig isn’t a fan of, but many great ones
– Throwback tunes
– Yoshi does a doggie paddle while swimming
– Craig hasn’t had the camera screw up once
– Every level has attention to camera
– Not as much freedom as you did in the first one, but it’s beneficial
– Play bowling with Rock Mario in a few levels
– Can’t jump on clouds as regular Mario
– There is an amazing boss battle that uses Cloud Mario
Xenoblade
– Peer impressed by the game so far
– Huge, open-world
– Peer thinks the graphics look better than Monster Hunter Tri
Pokemon Black/White
– Pokemon Sunday showed the silhouettes for the starter Pokemon
– Jack thinks they look terrible
Galaxy 2 reader questions
– Craig pretty sure Sonic isn’t in the game Doesn’t have SEGA copyright anywhere, wouldn’t feel right anyway
– Main levels aren’t punishing hard, but when you do challenges like the
– Craig feels it’s easier to want to keep going through the game compared to the original
– Music in the game has a lot of new music, but some is recycled
– Comet coins activate comet levels, some levels don’t have comet coins
Reader questions
– Craig thinks Nintendo will do pretty well with their E3 conference, they’re on a down right now, they’ll show Zelda
– People say MIDI when the system is generating the audio, orchestrated means they went to an actual orchestra, both usually sound very different
