A short time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …

I was sitting on a couch at Nintendo HQ, facing a large television. On it, a planetoid shaped like Mario’s head stared back at me. It was Starship Mario, the interstellar plumber’s preferred means of travel between the many galaxies that make up Super Mario Galaxy 2. This small world serves as transportation and a mini-sandbox within which Mario can practice moves. It also evolves as the game progresses, gaining new features, such as a “blemish” on its nose — actually a Yoshi egg that appears after players have met the dutiful dinosaur.

As we’ve already talked about, the game’s designers have tossed out the full-on hub level of Super Mario Galaxy in favor of a more classic, straightforward branching level menu. (Think: the overworld screen from New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and you get the idea.) Moving from galaxy to galaxy is a snap, as is seeing how many worlds you’ve discovered in each galaxy, as well as the number yet to be found. My first stop was the Puzzle Plank Galaxy, which turned out to be just as clever as it sounds.

Meetings of the two may not be quite this awful in real life, but in my mind, this is exactly how such a reunion would go down.

Reasoning that “knitting stitches are basically pixels, right?” The Happy Seamstress converted World 1-1 into a “ginormous knitting chart made up of over 10 sheets of tabloid paper taped together.” From that she made the sweater, which has to be the Conversation Piece of the Apocalypse.

She even specially dyed yarn to make the pipe and bush the appropriate color. The pattern is not yet posted; she promises that’s on the way soon. Meantime, she’s published her list of supplies. I foresee a run on “KnitPicks Palette in Pool” at your local Michael’s.

The Nerdiest Sweater Vest in the World [Happy Seamstress via CrunchGear, thanks Chris]

To refresh, these games are displaying in what is essentially high definition, as they’re being run through a Wii emulator on a PC. So if the Wii could manage high definition (which it can’t), this is probably what Mario would look like. Nice, no?

[Wii emulator can do 720p @ NeoGAF, via VG247]

So, Mario and Luigi are Italian, but are they Italian stereotypes? Be warned, bad words and bad fake facial hair ahead!

Thanks, B W!

Nintendo on Tuesday announced a new, multiplayer Super Mario Bros. game for its Wii console at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

Dubbed New Super Mario Bros. Wii, the co-op game is a side-scrolling adventure starring Mario, Luigi, Blue Toad and Yellow Toad. Up to four players can play together; the game also features a single-player mode. At the end of each game, players’ coins and points will be tallied to determine their performance ranking.

Shigeru Miyamoto, who created the Mario series, has been thinking about this game for 15 years, according to Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo’s executive vice president of sales.

The new Mario game will hit stores in the holiday season, according to Dunaway.