oddity: i am with you on liking the 2d games and rather disliking mario64... however, my sister got super mario galaxy for her wii, so i had my share of playing it, too.
there still is the not-as-accurate-as-2d control, but this time, you get something that justifies it: this simple addition of walking around planets, head over heels, whatever direction... its really fun. its a bit weird in the beginning (not in a bad way, weird in a "huh? how fun! *giggles madly"-way
my sister has all the stars to reach the final galaxy already, but seems to take her time getting every star in every subsequent galaxy. (a nice addendum from the days of, like, super mario world for the snes - more levels than you need to complete the game) overall, the game is full of nice little addendums... whatever mario title you dig, at one point or other, theres a slight nod towards it.