Super Mario Galaxy is the first core Mario platformer to appear on the Nintendo Wii. Released on November 1st, 2007 in Japan, the 3D platformer has been subsequently released in North America, Europe and Australia to almost complete critical acclaim. The game's fluid physics, tight controls and imaginative game universe has seen Nintendo EAD Tokyo's project being hailed as the premier game on the Wii and the greatest platformer of all time. Being the video game icon that he is, a new Mario game equals an event.
Essentially a sequel-at-heart to 1996's Super Mario 64, Galaxy sees a return to form after Super Mario Sunshine's proven, but ultimately lesser, attempt. Here, Nintendo top designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, returns to the focuses that made the series great in the first place: innovation and playability. For these reasons Galaxy is reminiscent of the untouchable Super Mario 3 on the NES.
Building on the three-dimensional foundations of 64, Galaxy sees the player utilizing a planet's gravity in puzzles and giving Mario a range of never-before-seen suits (Bee Mario, Spring Mario,Boo Mario) in the way that map screens and the raccoon tail had refined the game previously.
In his newest adventure, Mario, once again, has to save
Princess Peach — this time sending him into space where he meets a new race of characters called the Luma. They, and their mysterious leader Rosalina, help Mario by sending him to different galaxies to receive power stars. Plot has never been an important part of a Mario game and that doesn't change greatly here — however it is infinitely better than "Hey Mario, I baked you a cake. Come to the castle. -Princess"
In essence, the Luma's observatory is the map screen, the universes are the "worlds" of past games in the series, and the galaxies are the "levels", just to put the game into perspective. The galaxies are similar to the paintings in Mario 64 in that the layout of a level can be used to gain multiple stars. As more stars are collected, more galaxies are unlocked (a la 64) and as the universe's boss is beaten and the Grand Star is collected, the next universe is unlocked (a la classic Mario).
Thus, Super Mario Galaxy is a wonderful mix of
new and old. The fresh and innovative combined with the
proven and familiar. The graphics are incredible and the
amount of planets in a galaxy always ensure the player is
constantly surprised or intrigued, not to mention the part
gravity plays in the game. Meanwhile there are constantly
references to the past, such as music (the tune from 1-4 in
Mario3 always gets my heart a-racing), enemies (seriously, when was the last time you saw Rocky Wrench?), and locations (the airships are back). Prankster comets help assure the replayability of a level by assigning a certain challenge (speed run, mirror Mario race, fast/slow enemies etc) which gives an extra kick to redoing a previous level.
The Wii-mote is also used to great effect, which is important. The pointer is used throughout the game to collect Star Bits which are scattered all over the galaxies, to feed said Star Bits to certain hungry Luma, or
to select a Pull Star whose gravity Mario will attach to. A
point-&-shoot element is present too, in that the player
(or second player, which is where the multiplayer aspect
takes place) can aim and shoot the collected Star Bits at
certain enemies to stun them. As a side note, it is
very satisfying to kick a stunned enemy off the
planet.
What it comes down to most is that Super Mario Galaxy is simply a joy to play. Nostalgic, not direct like the old-school New Super Mario Bros on the DS so much, but more like an inside joke that you know you're in on, the feel of the game is instantly familiar to old gamers. Like the Game Over music that dates right back to Super Mario Bros and the completely black screen with "Mario x ??" lives screen that follows. But it also makes me think, I seriously hope that eight year olds still get into games like this like I used to when I was eight. When discovering new worlds and finding secrets felt exactly like discovering new worlds and finding secrets - not a "get a walkthrough; beat it quickly" experience replaced by Grand Theft Auto 3, or whatever trying-to-be-an-adult game kids talk about at lunch time these days. Maybe that's one of the things I like best about this game - that it makes me feel like a kid again.