For example we don't get any speeding up or slowing down in 'Ball Roll' or 'Slide', and we don't get the percussion line that plays when you're riding Yoshi in any of the tunes either. As a result of this, we don't get some of the effect that we would get within the context of the game with some of the tracks. The main problem with presenting the music of this game as a soundtrack CD is that a lot of the Super Mario Galaxy 2 music is interactive. Koji Kondo, Mahita Yokota and Ryo Nagamatsu have done a great job in taking what was established from the original game and advancing it. There's less of the story and the cut scenes in this game, which I thought would harm the game and the soundtrack, but I was wrong.

The only difference being that the order of the tracks rather than having the live tracks on one disc and the electronic ones on the other, the soundtrack is roughly in the order at which you encounter the pieces in the game. There's slightly less music than in the platinum edition of the first game, though it's not too big of a difference. This soundtrack is more akin to the platinum edition of the first game, featuring two discs of all of the music from the game. With the first game, we got a normal version and a platinum edition of the soundtrack. We also get some jazz thrown in for good measure, recorded by live instruments as per the orchestral music.

More of the memorable orchestral music, synth music, quirky boss themes, and remixed music from Mario's past. Where the music is concerned, on a basic level we've got more of the same as the original game. The original was an absolute masterpiece too, but Nintendo somehow managed to improve on that with the second game it was more challenging yet more accessible (there's even a beginner DVD included with the game) and it had more variety too.

Nintendo said they simply had too many ideas that didn't make it into the first game, which they felt a bit guilty about, so we got a second game as a result, and it ends up being officially one of the highest rated games of all time from game journalists. Over two and a half years on from the original Super Mario Galaxy, we get a second offering.

Super mario galaxy ost almum cover