For a little Italian plumber, Mario hasn’t half-done well and that’s because Nintendo’s quality bar has been continually high for its most iconic of characters.

The Japanese developers work hard to ensure that Mario is popped into games of the utmost quality, whether they be platformers or kart racers.

So when Super Mario Galaxy 2 was announced there was a lot of excitement.

We’d already played the previous incarnation in 2007 and been utterly enthralled. We had an overwhelming feeling that the sequel would more than match its greatness.

That game has now been spun in the Wii and our verdict? It’s great.

OK, OK, that’s an understatement. It’s utterly, utterly, brilliant — one of the best games ever made.

Nintendo had a mountain to climb with this sequel. Expectations were that high.

SMG2 builds on everything that was good about SMG, fixing any foibles and improving on the niggles.

What you get is a game high on creativity and innovation.

It is packed with brand new galaxies and we also get a great introduction to Mario’s old dinosaur pal, Yoshi.

Collecting the game’s 240 stars is a joy. Each one is packed with challenges that would delight even the most jaded of gamers.

There are also many new items such as the drill, but more than that it’s about the experience and there is little on any console to match it.