Super Mario Galaxy 2 has already wowed the critics, with many impressed by the game. Edge Magazine – who at the time had only given a perfect 10 out 10 rating to eleven games from 1996 to 2010, a ratio of less than 1:1 - gave the game a perfect score. So clearly it’s got the critical acclaim and with the success of the previous instalment, which sold around 8 million making it currently the 8th biggest selling Wii game, it’s bound to be a success.
This is the most likely reason why Nintendo are so confident in the UK launch that they are predicting it will be the biggest Mario games of the series. So far the game with the highest revenue to feature Mario is Mario Kart Wii, which has sold 22.55 million copies to date and is currently the third best-selling Wii game.
New Super Mario Bros Wii – another big seller for Nintendo having sold 17.7 million copies worldwide is the game that Robert Lowe, Nintendo's marketing manager, hopes will urge the new fans who drawn to the series to pick up SMG 2.
So what’s my take on the situation? While I don’t think it will become the best selling Nintendo Wii game, I do think it will become one of the top five and it has a strong chance of becoming the best selling Mario game. Mario has that strong appeal to not just children but adults, many who grew up playing Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64.
I wonder if any Train2Game students will be buying Super Mario Galaxy 2. For a game so heavily hyped and praised, I would think they would be interested in looking at what grabbed the critic’s attention and how different – and similar – it is to the first Super Mario Galaxy.
For Games Designers, they could look each world, enemies, power-ups and other gameplay mechanics visioning the descriptions being written and told. Then they may reflect on what they would have added, taken away or changed in the game. Other thoughts could be about how the game grabs consumers and how they could possibly take elements from the game as inspiration from designing their own game (regardless of genre).
Games Artists would look at the graphics, checking out the details, seeing what – in their mind – works and doesn’t work, what looks correct and what looks off. Just like the Games Designers, they may draw inspiration from how the enemies and worlds look to how the colours are used.
For Games Developers the gameplay is most likely what will interest them and they will check to see what feels good and tight and what could do with improvements. Again they will make notes and perhaps apply some of them to their game. An example could be that the jumping feels spot on and so if they develop a game that involves a lot of jumping, they will use what they noted in SMG 2 for their own game.
Come June 11th Many Nintendo Wii owners will be excited about completing another Mario game and savouring the memorable moments. For Train2Game students, it could be an interesting lesson how to put together a best selling as well as an exceptional video game.
What do you think about this? Send me your comments below.
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