With Super Mario Galaxy being hailed by some as one of the greatest games of all time, how will the sequel be able to compare? Developer, futurist, father of Nintendo, Mario, and Zelda, and all-around genius Shigeru Miyamoto was recently interviewed about developing the sequel. We already knew about Yoshi, but the ability to play as a goomba? Awesome! (April fools.) Here are some of the best  excerpts. You can read the entire interview here.

Miyamoto on the reasoning behind a sequel:

"The main reason is that as soon as we completed Super Mario Galaxy we thought we weren’t able to include a lot of the new ideas that we really wanted to. As soon as the project was over we started making something that we might call version 1.5. We did things like moving or adding stars to levels that were already available. As we made progress with this 1.5, we realized that there were too many things to fit into a version 1.5. That made us realize we should start from scratch and make Super Mario Galaxy 2...  It’s actually quite unusual for us to make two different games in the same series on one platform. Usually we wait until the advent of new hardware, but for this time around because there were so many ideas we were not able to include in the first volume, we thought we should make a sequel to that."

Miyamoto on using the pointer in new ways:

"Aiming the pointer at specific enemies makes Yoshi swallow that enemy. We used to have the gem-capture functionality, and that helped decide where Mario was going to move ahead. With Super Mario Galaxy 2, you can actually identify and point at things that Yoshi can grab with his tongue and then grab that point in order to reach additional points... Point out some specific area and Yoshi is going to swallow the object that has been pinpointed. Then, by pointing out an enemy character, Yoshi can spit out the object and hit that character."

Miyamoto on the new overworld layout:

"You can think of it in terms of something similar to Super Mario World or New Super Mario Bros. Wii, where you will have a rather convenient map to navigate... We want players to focus on the joy of the action instead of getting to each game course. We wanted to make it as accessible as possible and as easy as possible for the players. Also because we’re going to incorporate a number of different stars and conquering all the stars is going to be one of the most challenging missions for the player, we want them to understand as easy as possible where they should go next and which places they should go back to in order to get access to the remaining stars."

Miyamoto on whether you should have already played SMG1:

"It [to] have already conquered Super Mario Galaxy 1 before playing Super Mario Galaxy 2. However, I just cannot ask everybody to do so... We are pouring a lot of energy into the controls so that we are hopeful that it will be easy to control for even beginners from the outset. So I am having a struggle within myself when it comes to that kind of question, whether I should encourage everybody to first finish with Mario Galaxy 1 or should I have them also start from Super Mario galaxy 2."

Miyamoto on the bonus levels:

"If you’re really trying to get all the stars, you’re supposed to go to someplace extra. Those extra places are very challenging. When I say challenging, I mean as long as you can conquer them it’s going to give you a great sense of satisfaction and entertainment. In the end, we are going to have more than 240 stars for you to obtain, and we think it’s going to be challenging for any and all gamers."

In the end, it's hard not to agree that the Mario franchise is the Beatles of the gaming world. So many of the games are excellent, and each is as accessible as it is challenging. For Super Mario Galaxy 2 to be a worthy successor to the first Super Mario Galaxy, Miyamoto needs to continue to do what he does best: give the player fun puzzles, where learning is rewarded and failure is punished fairly, all with an excellent intuitive control scheme and beautifully constructed levels. There is no doubt that he will deliver on the promise of good gameplay. Even on weaker Mario games, like the retroactively lambasted Super Mario Sunshine, Miyamoto's brilliant mind was still able to create a robust, enjoyable game that offered as much challenge to casual gamers as hardcore gamers. This interview only furthers our hopes that Super Mario Galaxy 2 won't be just an afterthought, but a true companion to its predecessor. Enough trailers, just get it on the shelves already!

What do you think about this interview? Does it confirm or deny any of your hopes for Super Mario Galaxy 2? Let us know!

Source: Game Informer