- SUPER MARIO GALAXY NEVER HAPPENED. Technically. Instead, the game takes place in an alternate reality where Mario and the Lumas etc. have never met before.
- The sidescrolling intro? It's part of a story book, and as you play, the pages turn and the story appears below.
- Bowser kidnaps Peach. He's also giant for some reason.
- The fat Luma is the owner of the Mario space ship (although he transforms it from a simple planet), and he's called Lubba. He needs the power stars to fuel the ship, which Bowser stole along with the princess.
- When Lubba transforms it into the Mario ship he says "Nice spaceship, huh? More like a FACEship!".
- The Starship Mario is the hub, but it's pretty small. You just use it to talk to people and have random fun. The new map system is less complicated than the Comet Observatory.
- It's a brighter game, with more colour.
- 40 Plus Galaxies, each with a new and interesting gameplay mechanic.
- One of the stars in the TreeTrunk Galaxy is obtainable in a similar way to the Princess' Secret Slide level. Complete with the same music.
- The Fluffy Bluff Galaxy apparently has music rivalling Gusty Garden.
- Yoshi gets more action than he did in NSMBWii.
- Spring Mario only comes along once or twice.
- Luigi comes along to be playable at only 20 stars, and they hint at another available character when you get the 120...
- A monkey character known as "The Chimp" who let's you play minigames.
- More 2D bits.
- If you use the Cosmic Guide (the helping feature), the star you obtain is bronze instead of Gold to ETERNALLY SHAME YOU until you get it yourself. Mario also pulls a funny face when he's possessed.
- Throwbacks to older games, especially in the later stages. It warns you not to go on the internet to look for them- The fun is in the surprise.
- The Bowser stages are reminscent of Super Mario 64's.
- Nothing too revolutionary, and it won't be as amazingly wonderful as SMG first seemed, duh, but it's technically a better game.