Prerelease:Super Mario Galaxy 2

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Super Mario Galaxy 2.

To do:

interview (mirror)
Iwata Asks
Media Summit b-roll
Early Clockwork Ruins Galaxy green star location shown in the prima guide

After the critically-acclaimed success of Super Mario Galaxy, a second entry was developed, signalling the first time a Nintendo console had two 3D Mario games. The developers tried out some new ideas, a handful of which, shown in prerelease media did not make to the final cut. In fact, it was called Super Mario Galaxy 1.5 early in development. It received even more critical acclaim than the predecessor upon release.

Development Timeline

To do:
Finish this.

2009
- June 2, 2009 - Super Mario Galaxy 2 is revealed at E3 2009 in the E3 2009 trailer.
2010
- Feb 24, 2010 - - The Nintendo Media Summit trailer is shown and a demo is playable for the first time. Additionally, the game's release dates are announced.
- March 31, 2010 - The Rock Mushroom trailer is shown.
- May 23, 2010 - Super Mario Galaxy 2 is released in North America.
- May 27, 2010 - The game is released in Japan.
- June 11, 2010 - The game is released in Europe.
- July 1, 2010 - The game is released in Australia.

Concept

Development

As previously stated, Super Mario Galaxy 2 was originally called Super Mario Galaxy 1.5. Super Mario Galaxy 1.5 began as soon as the first Super Mario Galaxy was released because Nintendo wanted to include their leftover ideas in a game. It was to have all the original galaxies from the first game but with variations to the levels. The development team came up with far too many ideas for a mere "1.5", which prompted them to make a sequel with brand new galaxies instead.

(Source: Miyamoto on Super Mario Galaxy 1.5)

Nintendo originally wanted to include Yoshi in the first game but as development had already progressed far enough, the idea was scrapped. Development director Yoshiaki Koizumi told GameSpot in an interview "[t]here were a couple of Mario abilities or transformations that didn't make it into the final game" and "because there's a really high chance that we'll end up using these eventually in another game, I don't want to say exactly what they are right now." There were going to be Donkey Kong and Pikmin cameos but development producer Shigeru Miyamoto disapproved of the idea.

(Source: Koizumi interview on GameSpot, Planned Donkey and Pikmin cameos)

Concept Art

To do:
Get better scans and/or get a native speaker to make out the rest of this developer chicken scratch. Also, organize/format the translations better.

くもマリオ - Cloud Mario
デザインは子雲 - Design Includes Cloudlings
雲ブロックと１セットで - Single Set With Cloud Blocks
テーマカラーは青？！ - Use blue for the colour scheme?!
上方向へ力が働くような感じ。 - Feels like it's moving up.
空気が入ってる。 - Contains air.
ダイナミクスで動く。 - Moves with dynamics.

くもマリオ - Cloud Mario
雲マリオ改め - Formerly Cloud Mario
オニマリオ - Demon Mario

ころがし -> 温泉 - Rolling -> Hot Spring
まつり通常シナリオクリア・・イベント時？
スレスレで。レッドブルーメガネ

ゴロ岩マリオ - Rolling Stone Mario
エリア1と同じ大木 - Same Big Tree as Area 1
硬質な石 - Hard Rocks
ダメージ後 - After Damage
ユアの変化
ダメージ前 - Before Damage
ヒビが入り、硬化する。 - Cracks appear and harden.
壊せそうに見えないようにする。 - Make sure it doesn't look breakable.
その絵よりも小さくする。 - Make it even smaller than the picture.
歯 - Teeth
丸みを帯びたシンプルな・とがらせないよ

E3 2009

To do:

The soundtrack includes a later version of the trailer theme. It should possibly be compared to the one in the E3 2009 trailer and either way, it could possibly be used to help isolate sound effects for comparison.
Needs more screenshots and comparisons with the final.
Add on-page labels to differentiate the screenshots and the trailer frames

This was the first trailer of the game shown and contained the most differences. There was no HUD apart from the air meter for when Mario is underwater and for Blimp Yoshi. This version seems to be closer to the original Super Mario Galaxy than to the final version of Super Mario Galaxy 2.

Starship Mario

Starship Mario had a different design.

Namely it was a scale model and exact replica of Mario's head, akin to the Yoshi head planet in Space Junk Galaxy in the first Super Mario Galaxy.
There was a 1-Up Mushroom instead of a Yoshi Egg and nest on the ship's nose.
There are Star Bits around the ship's eyes and hat rim.
It was also revealed at ONM that Starship Mario would've been mushroom-shaped.
The background is the same as that of Gusty Garden, from the first game.

Sky Station Galaxy

Sky Station Galaxy changed tremendously.

There was a completely removed large planet that had triple-jumping sections with Twirlips and a Winged ? Block.
There was also a planet similar to the Second Sky Fleet Ship at the end of Sky Station's second mission in the final version. The only differences being that there was a Red Koopa which was completely removed from the final game, there were Pull Stars (see screenshot at the right) and there was only one Banzai Bill Cannon instead of being a few.
The First Sky Fleet Ship was mostly the same as it was in the final game except for having a different color palette and it had electric fences instead of Amps.
The background was also different.

Yoshi Star Galaxy

Yet another galaxy that underwent a massive design change.

The galaxy was completely different, having a design more similar to Honeyhive Galaxy from the first game. It features pine trees, oak trees, colorful mushrooms and realistic-looking grass, all of which went unused in the final.
The Tower Planet (which is from Good Egg Galaxy in the first game) had the Launch Star in a different location. Additionally, the Berries and Blimp Fruit looked more like peaches plus Yoshi could eat a Thorny Flower without having to pull it back with his tongue (like how he can eat a Berry or Goomba immediately without having to pull back with his tongue).
The sound effect for pointing the cursor at things Yoshi can eat or lick was different, being more of a zip than a squeak.
Yoshi is seen using the Blimp Fruit, which does not appear in the galaxy at all in the final game.

Spin-Dig Galaxy

The Diggas' eyes were more separated plus making them resemble more of Bullet Bills.
The planet with the 2D section from Spin-Dig Galaxy's second mission had Star Chips instead of Silver Stars.
During the Digga-Leg battle, the background obtained a purple hue, the planet also had red light markers in place of yellow construction barriers.
The second Spin Drill on the planet did not vanish when Mario is in possession of the other Spin Drill. When Digga-Leg was hit, its Power Star cage did not crack.

Flip-Swap Galaxy

There were Giant Used Blocks instead of the different blocks with violet diamond designs and the lone Giant Used Block that the Cosmic Spirit stands on in the final version. The sound effect for the red and blue platforms flipping was not present.

Puzzle Plank Galaxy

The H block had a red Ground Pound symbol instead of a grey one.
The Wiggler Planet below had tree stumps instead of Ground Pound Switches with one place being taken by a Whittle (Whittles do not appear in this planet in the final game).
The Ground Pound Crates Planet's ground pound crates looked different and too had red Ground Pound symbols instead of grey ones.
In the Cheese Bridge Area, there was a 1-Up Mushroom in place of the Comet Medal. The Purple Coin Vault had a different color palette, being dark green instead of warm brown.

Hightail Falls Galaxy

The Starting Platforms had a different appearance while also seeming to lack the wooden bridge (possibly because it hadn't been implemented yet) and the slope had different textures that were orange and blue instead of being wooden.
The Dash Pepper looks more like an orange Berry and Dash Yoshi does not leave behind a red-orange trail.

Cosmic Cove Galaxy

The Ground Pound Switch for freezing the lake was on a wooden buoy close to the waterfalls than on the spiral stone structure in the final game. No Penguin dialogue was triggered when Mario freezes the lake.

Honeybloom Galaxy

Honeybloom Galaxy had slightly different textures. The Bee Mushroom was in an octahedral crystal like in the first game but these crystals go completely unused in the final game.

Cloudy Court Galaxy

Yoshi was present in Cloudy Court Galaxy and the Cloud Flower was nowhere to be seen.
Cloudy Court Galaxy had a different color palette such as the cymbals having a checkered pattern and the drums being red. Also, the Cymbals had no Launch Star on them.
There were green grassy mushroom platforms which go unused in the final game.
The 2D section with the Cloud Flower which is at the end of Cloudy Court Galaxy in the final game appeared to be a 3D section and had Flower Grapples for Yoshi to use. This concept was used as the final planet of Yoshi Star Galaxy's first mission in the final game.

Freezy Flake Galaxy

The Snow Field Planet had a different level design and there were more mountains. Sorbetti's planet had crystals instead of snow mounds.

Bowser Jr.'s Fearsome Fleet

The two Airships coming out of wormholes seem to occur in a cutscene rather than during gameplay in the final version. The wormholes also have different textures. The Galaxy also had a different background.

Supermassive Galaxy

Supermassive Galaxy's level design was different.

There were Giant Warp Pipes smaller than the ones in the final version, Giant 1-Ups that were scrapped completely, Giant Coins that seem to be collectibles instead of platforms and were much smaller than the Giant Coin platform in the final game, and a moving Giant Used Block.
The Blooming Garden Planet was made of dirt instead of being green and had Goombas.

Space Storm Galaxy

Topman's Tower, which is based on Buoy Base Galaxy from the first game, had a different color scheme.
There seems to be shallow water instead of lava at the bottom of the tower (look at the bottom right of the screenshot).
A unique clock-like switch, which was activated by spinning it, was used for slowing down time rather than the timed blue Ground Pound switches in the final game.
Space Storm Galaxy's background was Good Egg Galaxy's background, which goes unused in the final game.

Boo Moon Galaxy

The Starting Planet had a different color scheme. The planet looked closer to the Maze Planet from Space Junk Galaxy albeit with Boos and dark lighting.

Battle Belt Galaxy

There was a single big Silver Chomp that was possibly a boss and it was on a smaller planet with a different design. The big Silver Chomp's file is still present in the final game but it has no models and sound data. The Galaxy also had a different background.

Unknown

This planet appears to be an early version of either the Cosmic Clone planet in Fluffy Bluff Galaxy or the starting planet in Starshine Beach Galaxy.

Another unknown galaxy had a slide which is similar to Tall Trunk Galaxy's tree slide in the final game, the only difference being that the slide is made of stone instead of wood. As with Space Storm Galaxy, this galaxy used Good Egg Galaxy's background.

The beginning of the trailer had Mario flying past some asteroids and a green planet. It is unknown if this was Bowser Jr.'s Fearsome Fleet (which is documented above) or a different galaxy.