Super Mario Galaxy 2 Iwata Asks details (Document for Yoshi in the original, new sounds for Yoshi, much more)
– Koichi Hayashida acted as the director, was his first large-scale project
– Yoshiaki Koizumi (directed the original) served as the producer
– Takeshi Hayakawa was the lead programmer again, Kenta Motokura was the the lead designer
– Right after the development of Galaxy 1, Miyamoto told the team they should make another game because the basic systems were already created; Iwata said this was similar to Majora’s Mask following Ocarina of Time
– The team wasn’t entirely eager to start the project; A “reflection meeting” was held about the original, Koizumi wanted people to focus on positive things at the meeting
– After the meeting, Koizumi suggested Mario Galaxy 1.5 to Miyamoto (using same sphere forms and adding new things here and there)
– Among the staff, Galaxy 2 was also called “Motto Super Mario Galaxy,” or “More Super Mario Galaxy” in addition to Galaxy 1.5
– At first, Hayashida and Motokura felt they wouldn’t have any ideas for the sequel because all of their ideas were used in the original
– Yoshi’s inclusion was decided early on; He was going to be in the original (see image above), but the developers believed there were many elements in the game already; Additionally, he would have only been in one level
– Hayashida felt more positive after Yoshi was decided on
– Yoshi’s ability to eat objects by pointing the Wiimote was also an early decision, though his pulling ability came later; Miyamoto believed it’d add charm to the game; It was originally going to be used in one area in Galaxy 2, but it was later decided that it would become a natural ability in all stages and Yoshi was then able to defeat enemies
– Many people’s ideas were combined to make Yoshi better; Some even believed Mario shouldn’t ride Yoshi
– Yoshi’s sounds were re-recorded by Kazumi Totaka, first time in ten years
– Starship Mario put in the game midway through development; Came from a design document made by Koizumi five years prior; He wanted a Mario face planet in the original
– “Switching” idea was more ambitious originally: Push a switch, world will change drastically; Was very difficult to implement as it would need to match up with everything else in the game; Developers knew it’d be difficult based on Majora’s Mask Three Day System
– Elements from “switching” are in the game with the red/blue panels, switches to slow the world, and blocks switching periodically
– Miyamoto was interested in having Mario go through holes and emerge on the other side of a world in Galaxy 1; Drill power-up came from the idea that it is necessary to fully take advantage of spheres; Two months of testing used to find out ways to make the drill interesting for gameplay
– Many developers, including visual/sound designers, had level ideas
– Tools were created so that staff could make their own levels without programmers; Could make their own stage, put enemies where they want, etc.
– Designer created the Rolling Pillar Stage in one week, which is used in the game (with some changes)
– Hayashida received daily level requests for 2.5 years; Iwata thinks this contributed to the amount of gameplay elements in Galaxy 2
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
