Super Mario Galaxy 2 won’t have a hub world like in the original Super Mario Galaxy, so says designer Shigeru Miyamoto.
In the original game, you had to walk, run, jump, etc. in a hub world area before you could enter one of the galaxies. And this often meant you had to run and find the correct dome to access a particular galaxy/level. As you progressed you’d open up new domes and more galaxies, but you always started in the hub world and had to make your way through that wide area before you could get to a particular galaxy/level.
Miyamoto thinks that the hub area took the focus off of the actual galaxies themselves, by making it a “chore”, in a sense, to reach the actual levels. And thus he proposes a world map as the fix for Super Mario Galaxy 2, in place of the hub world. This way the player would simply select what level they want to go to and BAM!; They’d be inside the level, Super Mario Bros. 3-style.
“We want players to focus on the joy of the action instead of getting to each game course.” Miyamoto says. “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.”
Get an in-depth look at Super Mario Galaxy 2 in this video interview.
Make your way through all six worlds with our guides for the Super Mario Galaxy 2 Walkthrough, Super Mario Galaxy 2 Star Locations, Super Mario Galaxy 2 Green Star Locations and Super Mario Galaxy 2 Cheats, Secrets and Tips.