Home Games Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy

Platformer
Releases: 11.12.07
Nintendo
Nintendo
ESRB: Everyone

Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario defies gravity and lands firmly on the Wii.

by Sarah Schutz

Of course you’re going to buy it. You have to buy it. It’s the new Super Mario game. Finally, Mario has warped to the next generation and I’ve never been more proud of my little Italian plumber friend. The Wii has proved that it can be all that I hoped it would be and while I have still not forgiven game producers for this past year’s barren Wii landscape, I have a newfound hope and revived confidence in my Wii’s future. Prior to Super Mario Galaxy’s release, my favorite Wii release had been Super Paper Mario. Its charm and silliness along with novel gameplay won me over, but it still wasn’t the Mario game we had been waiting for and was definitely not demonstrable of the Wii’s highest graphical capabilities. Though the Wii’s hardware power still doesn’t match that of PS3 and Xbox 360, I think we’ve all realized by this point that that is not the console’s goal and Super Mario Galaxy demonstrates that though a game is only in 480p, the Wii can still pump out some tantalizing graphics. Super Mario Galaxy’s expansive color palatte matched with the games innovation and excitingly varied gameplay makes it the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen on the Wii.

Super Mario’s previous venture, Super Mario Sunshine, left many critics skeptical of his future. And I was one of them. I felt that the game was lacking the ungraspable “Mario-ness” that had made me such a fan in the past. The gameplay was so drastically different than those that came before it that it lost something on those of us who had grown up with the series. Super Mario Galaxy reestablishes my commitment to the series and to the console that so elegantly upholds the game. In Super Mario Galaxy you are (obviously) in space, located on an alien spacecraft on yet another epic journey to save Princess Peach from Bowser. (You would think they would know by now that the girl needs to have that girl paired with high level security.) Mario tasked with collecting stars to get the ship moving again so that you can get to the Princess . . . yada yada yada. You have to play through levels in order to get to bosses and beat them in order to get to Bowser. Same formula with altogether new and exciting gameplay. Mario must visit differently themed galaxies in order to find these stars. Each of the planets within the galaxies has its own personality and is frought with its own fiendish goombas and friends, making each new level that much more exciting because you never know what to expect. The planets each have their own centers of gravity, so Mario walks around the planet, but is continuously upright. While getting used to the new physics he faces take awhile, once you get the hang of it the controls make complete sense. In adidition to Mario’s traditional hop-on-enemy tactic for fighting, you can now shake the Wii remote to make Mario spin which will stun enemies so you can either hop on them or spin again to fling them off the planet. The various galaxy themes offer incredibly varied gameplay. Mario dons different suits (bee suit, boo suit, spring suit, etc.) and picks up special powers that allow him to navigate various obstacles. The game also offers comets that add special goals for certain levels to allow for endless replayability. While the game has “multiplayer” coop, it is essentially coop that gives your little sister something to do instead of bugging you for the control. Player 2 can own a star which can collect star bits (which player one can also do) and stun enemies (which player one can also do). But it remains entertaining and hell, just watching the game is mesmerizing enough and this gives a way for two players to more completely enjoy the scenery.

Super Mario Galaxy brings Mario into the next generation by reminding us of the Mario we loved, but in an entirely, innovative way. The solid soundtrack at times spins the old classics (my favorite being the underground them) and the visuals remind you of the older games, but imagined in an alternative universe. The future of Super Mario has been reaffirmed. I can only imagine where our little plumber friend will go next.

Next generation Super Mario game done brilliantly.

Coop somewhat lacking, but really, who cares?

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

Powered by Comment Script