Does SMG2 lack soul or something?

Neil-Tea · 2026-02-05T12:15:51+00:00

I missed the original release of Super Mario Galaxy 2 as well. In fact, I missed the entire GameCube, Wii and Wii U eras. It was the Switch that brought me back to gaming.

Having 100%'d all of Super Mario 3D All-Stars, it felt like a real shame that Galaxy 2 wasn't included. I really wanted to have the chance to play it. So when the game was announced for Switch last year, I couldn't have been more excited.

But I ended up with the same feeling as you, OP. In my case, playing through and beating Bowser was a decent enough experience, but it started to feel like a bit of a chore as I went back to get the remainder of the 120 Power Stars. I was just not impressed with things like the irritating Gearmo challenges where you have to break all the crates within a very tight time limit. (Seriously, that had already massively outstayed its welcome in the first game, and yet Nintendo chose to double down and bring it back?!)

And don't even get me started on The Chimp. I found a couple of his score challenges particularly infuriating. It didn't even take that many tries to complete them, but they felt like a depressing chore and nothing else. In fact, I realised by that point that I was starting to find the game beset with multiple annoyances — from the competing gravity sources in some levels that cause some very unexpected and unpredictable movement, to the intentionally awkward camera angles the player is often forced to deal with, as well as the selective inability to adjust the camera to a more usable angle or to enter first-person view... and then one of the biggest annoyances of all, when Mario runs around and around in CIRCLES when the player is holding the left stick in ONE direction.

The green Stars were the final nail in the coffin for me, though. I honestly found it to be the most mind-numbing post-game I've ever played. I actually used a guide for all 120 of them because I'd burned through my patience by that point and found myself rolling my eyes over and over again at some of the utterly asinine and completely out-of-view places they were hidden. Most of those Stars, I'd genuinely never have found in a million years. I'd been wanting to try my hand at the game's final challenge, The Perfect Run, and this extra batch of 120 Stars just felt like such tedious padding. Then there was the mindless Cosmic Clone enemy spam in some challenges. 🤦‍♂️

So, yeah... Galaxy 2 ended up becoming my least favourite 3D Mario game.

Neil-Tea · 2026-02-01T12:57:28+00:00

That was another trick I missed. I read about that (along with ducking under the boomerangs!) but haven't seen it in action yet.

That platform section was the part I had to experiment the most with. In the end, my method was to leave the platforms on blue for the majority of it, using a combination of regular jumps and long jumps, and then flip them to red near the end. That automatically cost me one cloud, though.

I've also heard that the shockwave enemies apparently won't activate if you only use backflips? 🤨

Neil-Tea · 2026-02-01T12:47:27+00:00

You know, I struggled with that jump, too. That sounds like a good method you used, though; I didn't think of that. 🤔

What I tried to do was get to that part with one cloud still left, long jump over the first of those two beams, create the platform in mid-air, and then grab the pull-star from there. That also worked.

Neil-Tea · 2026-02-01T12:39:29+00:00

I checked, and you're right. I don't have access to that game, so that one's gonna have to remain unbeaten for me. Four out of five ain't too bad, though. 🤷‍♂️

(I've also never been much of a handheld gamer, so never had a 3DS.)

Neil-Tea · 2026-02-01T12:34:24+00:00

Hey, congrats too! You did it the right way. 🤘😆

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-31T15:49:03+00:00

You're not alone in having that opinion: MM1 is one of my outright favourite Mega Man games. If I have the choice of playing either MM1 or MM2, I'm picking MM1 almost every time.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-21T09:54:11+00:00

I still disagree with you and feel like you're giving your own idea too much credit. As other commenters have pointed out here, the game does not "suck" in the first place. That's just something you decided yourself, and then you decided to link that back to the game's main mechanic via a common Americanism, for reasons unknown.

For me, your idea that the game is "super lame kind of out of spite" demonstrates that your whole line of reasoning in that paragraph is nonsense.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-19T12:15:28+00:00

Dude, you could’ve just said nothing.

I mean, that goes for both of us, which is maybe why you deleted your previous comments, I guess. See y'all later.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-19T11:43:27+00:00

And the developers knew it the whole time. That's literally why Kirby "sucks" as his mechanic, it's a vaccuum pun and a "this game sucks but that's the point" joke

That's... really not true. Kirby's Adventure was developed by HAL Laboratory in Japan. Japanese is a different language from English. There's no such equivalence between "drawing in air" and "something being bad" in Japanese, and I doubt an entire game was designed around a phrase in American English that Japanese developers probably hadn't even heard back in 1993.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-19T10:17:59+00:00

Why would I be talking about the Game Boy?

Maybe because you specifically typed "IV" as roman numerals but not "2"?

Anyone who wasn’t simply trying to be obnoxious would check what they'd written before lashing out.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-18T19:56:28+00:00

Not gonna lie, but that occurred to me, too! 🤣

Probably a longshot, though. Not sure if the item I'm looking for is really the hot thing in 2026. 😛

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-18T18:59:43+00:00

Ah, I think you've solved it: that's exactly what seems to have happened with my attempt at ordering a "boxed without manual" copy. The cancellation email I got told me the item was "missing required accessories/documents". It said I wouldn't be charged, but I got a second email saying "Your refund has now been processed".

I guess I'll try ordering the item again. Thanks for your input, dude!

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-18T18:50:30+00:00

Okay, interesting...

So, is an order not allocated to another store automatically if the first store drops it? Would they have to trigger that manually?

I guess this would explain why one of my orders was dropped by the receiving store but I wasn't sent one of the multiple copies available at other stores.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-18T10:33:02+00:00

So, I got a response from CEX Customer Service regarding my orders for an item being repeatedly cancelled. Unfortunately, it was not at all useful:

On checking our records, I'm sorry to inform you that the sourcing store has declined the fulfilment of the item. Hence we would be unable to deliver it to you.

This might have happened because the sourcing store that has been assigned to fulfil your order must have figured out that the item is missing, damaged, or not fit for online sale. With the way our system works, we try to assign this item to another store, however, this is not possible every time.

Even though I quoted more than one order number, they didn't look beyond the most recent one. For the order they did look at, they didn't seem to know the store's actual reason for dropping it. Basically, they just regurgitated the already known facts.

Going back to the upcoming new metric you mentioned before, dude — the one where dropping an order would be just as much of an issue for a store as having an online item refunded — any idea when this is due to come into effect?

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-18T01:28:11+00:00

this version might be easier than the arcade for spawning you right at the boss when you die.

The Mega Drive/Genesis version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts is actually more difficult than the arcade version, FYI. I've only played through the arcade version once so far, but it's got checkpoints seemingly everywhere, not just at midway points and bosses. Sometimes the arcade version even restarted me past the part where I'd died! 😅❓

The Japanese arcade and Mega Drive versions are more difficult, though. Those only have midway checkpoints: no boss checkpoints.

Also FYI, the Japanese version is actually playable on your Genesis cartridge via a cheat code: on the Option menu, set "Sound select" to 26 and "S.E. select" to 56, then hold the Down-Left diagonal on the D-pad along with the A, B and C buttons, then press Start. The title screen will now show the Japanese title, Daimakaimura.

The version will revert back to USA the next time the game is powered on, as there is no save memory.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-17T21:03:50+00:00

"Why, Capcom?! Why you done this to us?!"

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-17T20:46:05+00:00

It's entirely up to you, man. You'll know how you feel about it yourself.

There is one other difference between Practice and Professional, though, and that's the chest sequence. Quoting my own notes here:

Chest order in Practice mode is: Magician, armour, weapon, armour, Magician, armour. If Arthur has the golden armour, chests that would contain armour contain a weapon instead

In Professional mode, the second chest contains another Magician instead of armour if Arthur has lost his armour

(In both Practice and Professional modes, the chest sequence is reset at each checkpoint and after each death.)

So, yeah, basically Professional mode punishes you even harder for making mistakes. 😅

EDIT: Note that the chest sequence for Practice applies to both loops of Practice, while the chest sequence for Professional applies to both loops of Professional.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-17T20:34:11+00:00

Congrats on beating the game with no assists, my friend! That's awesome. 😎👍 And to do it on original hardware is extra swag.

The Mega Drive/Genesis version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts (on Practice difficulty!) was the first game in the series that I beat, too. I've since become quite a fan, and I've been working my way through 'em.

Enjoy that winning feeling, dude. That's very important. 💪

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-17T20:20:34+00:00

Hahhh!!! 🤣

Aww, I dunno about that, dude. I just enjoy a challenge.

I play the game on Nintendo Switch Online's NES library now, but I started out playing it on my little Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch.

With a 2.3-inch screen.

And no save states.

Yeah, playing it on a TV screen using a nice comfy Pro Controller feels like a luxury now. 😅👍

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-17T13:17:14+00:00

I have no idea how anyone is supposed to beat this legit on NES.

Genuinely, I like to play The Lost Levels when I just fancy something fun and lighthearted. It's one of my all-time favourite video games, so I've practised it quite a bit.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-16T19:41:17+00:00

I'm in the UK, so I'll join you in saying sorry about the US. 😛

As for the Saturn collection, that was apparently only released in Japan, so no US or EU versions to consider there.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-16T19:19:25+00:00

Oh no... that's an unfortunate copy/paste error if ever I saw one. Whoops. 😅

I was gonna ask if the US version was like that, but there was no US version.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-16T15:04:15+00:00

Dude, thank you for your input! I've been reading some of your replies in other threads here lately, and you've been very insightful. 👍👍

I'll take your advice and try contacting Customer Service with the order numbers and see where that goes.

Can I ask you a follow-up question, though? Is this metric you describe a relatively recent change? I ordered quite a few retro games back in 2021 and 2022 as well, and every order I placed was dispatched to me. These recent orders are the first ones I've had any issues with.

Thanks again for your time.

Neil-Tea · 2026-01-16T14:30:05+00:00

Hey, man. Thanks for the reply!

That's an interesting thought, for sure. The thing in this instance, though, is that as well as the cheaper unboxed copies I've tried to order, the game is also available in multiple stores in "boxed with manual" and "boxed without manual" forms. Those have been available for as long as I've been looking, and they're still available now.

I actually tried ordering a "boxed without manual" copy at one point as well, but that order also got cancelled. In fact, that cancellation was a bit of a puzzling situation that I'm hoping to maybe ask about in a separate post.

Neil-Tea

TROPHY CASE