10 games similar to Super Mario Galaxy 2, a Platform, Adventure game, drawn from IGDB's similarity data. Each pick below notes the genres it shares with Super Mario Galaxy 2.
01Shares AdventurePlatformBoth games center on Mario rescuing Princess Peach across platforming challenges filled with hostile enemies and boss fights. Super Mario Bros. establishes the foundational structure that Galaxy 2 expands: navigating levels, collecting items, managing countdown timers, and facing death as a core mechanic. Where Galaxy 2 adds gravity manipulation and three-dimensional space, the original provides the essential platforming DNA that defines the series.
Games like Super Mario Bros. →
02Shares AdventureBoth games send Mario on adventure-driven quests through colorful worlds filled with anthropomorphic characters and familiar enemies like Boomerang Bros. While Galaxy 2 emphasizes platforming acrobatics and gravity-defying exploration, Paper Mario trades real-time action for turn-based combat and puzzle-solving, yet maintains the same sense of playful discovery through backtracking, boss fights, and collectibles that reward thorough exploration.
Games like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door →
03Shares PlatformBoth games deliver fast-paced 3D platforming with boss fights, collectibles, and countdown timers that drive level progression. Super Mario 3D World shares Galaxy 2's emphasis on acrobatic movement, adding the Cat power-up for climbing and wall-scaling alongside traditional platforming challenges. Where Galaxy 2 uses gravity and Yoshi, 3D World introduces character variety, letting up to four players cooperate through linear stages toward a goal.
Games like Super Mario 3D World →
04Shares AdventurePlatformBoth games are colorful 3D platformers built around collecting items and conquering boss fights across distinct themed levels. Rayman 2 shares Galaxy 2's structure of gathering power-ups to progress through varied environments, from ice stages to underwater areas. Each game emphasizes acrobatic movement and climbing puzzles, with checkpoints guiding you through single-player campaigns that reward exploration and backtracking.
05Shares AdventurePlatformBoth games are 3D platformers that emphasize acrobatic movement and climbing across varied environments filled with collectibles and boss fights. Super Mario Sunshine shares Galaxy 2's focus on action-adventure gameplay with a damsel-in-distress storyline, though it grounds the experience on a single island rather than across space. Each game introduces helper mechanics (Yoshi in Galaxy 2, F.L.U.D.D. in Sunshine) that expand platforming possibilities.
Games like Super Mario Sunshine →
06Shares PlatformBoth games build platforming challenges around diverse movement options and power-ups that temporarily alter Mario's abilities. Boss fights against Bowser's forces anchor the action in each, while collectibles reward exploration across their level structures. Super Mario Bros. 3 strips away Galaxy 2's gravity mechanics to deliver side-scrolling platforming with similar variety in level design and combat encounters.
Games like Super Mario Bros. 3 →
07Shares AdventurePlatformBoth games are 3D platformers centered on Mario's globe-trotting adventure to rescue Princess Peach, with checkpoints and power-ups guiding progression. Odyssey shares Galaxy 2's airship setting and introduces capture mechanics that echo the predecessor's power-up variety. Each game emphasizes acrobatic movement across distinct themed worlds, building on the series' spatial platforming foundation.
Games like Super Mario Odyssey →
08Shares AdventureBoth games center on acrobatic platforming across varied environments, with climbing and traversal as core mechanics. Each features substantial backtracking through interconnected worlds and boss fights that test your mastery of movement. Twilight Princess shares Galaxy 2's emphasis on exploration and collectibles, though it frames the action within a darker fantasy setting rather than space. The sense of discovery and environmental challenge remains central to both.
Games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess →
09Shares AdventureBoth games center on action-adventure exploration with a male protagonist rescuing a princess, grounded in real-time combat and boss fights. Ocarina of Time shares Galaxy 2's emphasis on acrobatics and traversal across varied environments, requiring backtracking through interconnected areas. Each game uses collectibles and power-ups to unlock progression, and both feature the "been here before" structure of revisiting locations with new abilities to access previously blocked paths.
Games like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time →
10Shares AdventurePlatformBoth games anchor 3D platforming around Mario's acrobatic moveset, with climbing, jumping, and swimming forming the core of exploration and combat. Super Mario 64 established the formula that Galaxy 2 refined, emphasizing collectibles hidden across distinct environments and boss encounters. Each game structures progression around gathering items (Power Stars versus Power Stars and Lumas) across varied, self-contained worlds.
Games like Super Mario 64 →
Frequently asked
10 games similar to Super Mario Galaxy 2: Super Mario Bros., Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Super Mario 3D World, Rayman 2: The Great Escape, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
Most of these games share Action, Adventure and Platform with Super Mario Galaxy 2, based on IGDB's similarity data. Each pick has a short note explaining what it has in common with Super Mario Galaxy 2.