Just over a month from today, Super Mario Galaxy 2 will somersault onto store shelves. We thought we'd seen just about everything the final game would have to offer but, as Nintendo showed me earlier this week at its Northern California offices, there are still plenty of surprises to be found in this sequel.

While my last hands-on had me controlling the portly platforming plumber exclusively, this one started me out with a Luma in the game's revamped, expanded co-op mode. When I did play as Mario, I got a chance to try out the latest addition to his growing wardrobe of specialized suits, transforming into the extra-floaty (and fluffy) Cloud Mario. Then came the unexpected: A galaxy based on Super Mario Sunshine (sorry, folks -- no FLUDD).