Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy is probably my favorite video game ever. Not that it's better than every game in every way, but taking everything into account — gameplay, graphics, musical score, depth and variety — it wins for sheer overall wonderfulness. It's what I want a game to be.
Nintendo
I don't think it's worth trying to get what Super Mario Galaxy is about from screenshots, and cramming it into words would actually detract from the beauty. The only common point of reference I can think of is that feeling you got as a kid on Saturday morning. You had no idea what was in store, but it just felt like it was going to be great. It's that feeling.
There's an underlying energy of mystery and awe that runs through the game, paired with stunning visuals and a film-quality soundtrack. Each game level is a collection of one or more planets, which means the flavor is constantly changing, even within the same level. The intense curiosity to see what's next keeps pulling you forward through ever stranger and more brilliant worlds.
There are so many moments where I stop and smile at the sheer cleverness and beauty of the design. Many of the puzzles involve considering the effects of gravity when you're upside-down, or which direction gravity will be pulling from after a leap.
Nintendo
Here's the main thing you should take away from this: this is not Mario 64 with better graphics and a wireless controller. The best bits of previous Mario games have been brought forward, but this is something brand new. This is the game other games dream of being.
Super Mario Galaxy
Posted Feb 15, 2008 — 10 comments below
Posted Feb 15, 2008 — 10 comments below
Fred — Feb 15, 08 5497
Zack and Wiki is also fantastic — a childlike culmination of Mario, Zelda, & the SCUMM games all wrapped up in one!
Scott Stevenson — Feb 15, 08 5498
I was looking at it, but Totally Rad Show said the puzzle got frustrating from the perspective of constant trail-and-error-memorize-retry ala Dragon's Lair. Did you not find that to be the case?
Tristan O'Tierney — Feb 15, 08 5499
Fred — Feb 16, 08 5501
I've only played the first few levels, they were nice and clever, but my coworker played further, and he just ranted about the aforementioned trail-and-error-memorize-retry loop — that the continues and hints get really expensive and the loop bites you in the ass. However, he kept having tons of trouble with the waggle parts of the puzzles that I found really easy.
Jim — Feb 16, 08 5502
Manton Reece — Feb 16, 08 5503
Nigel Kersten — Feb 16, 08 5504
I'd pretty much given up gaming years ago in order to go cold turkey on a terrible StarCraft addiction, and picked up a Wii in the last couple of months.
Super Mario Galaxy is full of joy. I'm at around 100 stars, and I'm still finding the levels mind blowing. They're just so inventive.
So from what I understand, once you get 120 stars, you get to run through the whole game again, but as Luigi....
Step — Feb 18, 08 5529
She's at 57 stars now, but is convinced she'll never be able to do some of the levels I'm hitting now. I wouldn't have thought so either, 50 stars ago...
I love the easy two-player "whenever you want" mode. Makes it easy to help my daughter or wife, or let them try and contribute. When we hit a difficult level and want to complete it, we just yell for help. Great family game, yet great scalability to different player abilities.
I am totally enamored of the design and pure brilliance that went into this game.
Lee — Apr 09, 08 5712
Now I'm onto Super Paper Mario. It's definitely pulled away from the RPG feel, but the flipping and abilities keep me wanting to play and find the next crystal heart before the worlds are destroyed! Lots of fun!
custom lanyards — Dec 04, 09 7004