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 Super Mario 64 has been both a blessing and a curse to the world of platforming. In 1996 it wrote the book on how to make an amazing 3d platformer. That was the blessing. The curse is that for eleven years we had never really seen another platformer that surpassed the level of gameplay seen in Mario 64… until now. The curse has been lifted by Mario 64’s very own grandson Super Mario Galaxy. Featuring fantastic graphics, a superb soundtrack, outstanding level design, and transcendent gameplay, Galaxy truly deserves the title “Best 3D Platformer of All Time.”
I deem Galaxy this not just because of the qualities listed above but also because Galaxy learns from the mistakes of its predecessor, Super Mario Sunshine. After years of mediocre platformers aping Mario 64’s general formula, Shigeru Miyamoto’s Gamecube was largely expected to raise the bar of fun far beyond where it had sat since the N64’s launch. However, Nintendo approached the design of SMS as a sequel/extension of Mario 64. In other words, their design idea for Sunshine was “Mario 64 + X” where X ended up being the FLUDD water cannon. This was extremely disappointing because the Mario series is well known for gameplay innovation, and adding what basically amounted to a backpack-mounted gun/hover device does not qualify as innovation to most people. So what Nintendo did when it came time to begin development on Super Mario Galaxy was look at the basic elements of the Mario 64 formula to see if there was something that could be altered, removed, or completely messed with and still have a game you could call a platformer.
What was the answer? Find out after the break.
Their answer was gravity, the most fundamental aspect of all platformers. The simple idea that after a jump a character should fall back to solid ground is so ingrained into the minds of gamers everywhere, so generally accepted and overlooked, that for more than two decades nobody actually thought to mess with it. Miyamoto and the rest of the design team set out to develop a game with a different take on gravity, and it is that difference that more than anything else sets Galaxy ahead of the rest of the class. You’ll take flying leaps off of small planetoids and giggle as you orbit around it. You jump and be pulled away from the planet you were on, over to some other nearby rock. You’ll be running on walls and ceilings and nearly anywhere else you can think of. It’s so fun that it’s absurd that nobody else thought of it first.
As for the levels you’ll be jumping around on, they’re a delightful assortment of themes and ideas. The game uses its “space” theme as a way to avoid justifying the more outlandish levels. Unlike many other games, reality takes a back seat to fun. You’ll be running around an ice-cold mountain for one star, only to find yourself leaping over cakes and dissembling a giant mecha-Bowser the next. Add on to this the idea of comets, which every so often appear over a galaxy and provide another star with an altered level to beat. You might have to race another Mario, or beat a level or boss without getting hit once. These provide a nice alternative to the normal missions, and act as a sort of remix of the original levels. All of these galaxies are punctuated by a set of fantastic bosses. For example, the very first major boss you fight forces you to scale a gigantic robot in an homage to Shadow of the Colossus, while the next has you taking on Bowser to a soundtrack that sounds like it was stolen from a Final Fantasy game.
That track is one of the best songs in a soundtrack that in my opinion is far more amazing than the graphics (which I’ll get to in a bit). I used to love Koji Kondo, the composer of all the Mario games, but it seemed that as the generations wore on his skill at creating moving or pleasing tunes began to fade. However, it seems apparent that what was holding Kondo back was Nintendo’s accountants. For the first time, Kondo was given access to an expensive live orchestra which he could use in a Mario game rather than being limited to using MIDI, and boy does it show. Tracks like the aforementioned Bowser boss theme, the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme, and the Buoy Base Galaxy theme are fantastic orchestrations that you’ll have in your head for hours. It’s an easy nominee for Soundtrack of the Year, without a doubt.
The graphics are also very pleasing. The draw distance is unbelievable. You can look away from planets and see actual other planets off in the distance with great detail. Places shine with specular light, or a fantastic use of fur shading. It’s a fantastic use of the power of the Wii, and really puts to shame almost every other game out on the system (with the exception of Metroid Prime 3.) Galaxy is not going to blow anybody away with sheer graphical fidelity, but you will marvel at the level of detail found throughout the game.
A final thing of note is the two-player coop feature found in Mario Galaxy. A second player can get a second Wiimote and collect Star Bits(the game’s currency) and shoot them at things. He/she can also hold enemies in place and stun them, and find hidden Star Bits and coins. I guess it’s actually more like 1.5-player coop, but still a nice addition that they didn’t have to put in there, and it’s very useful for getting a non-gamer involved and interested in your game.
Is Super Mario Galaxy perfect? Of course not, not in the slightest. There are a few small camera issues, though they have been lessened greatly since 64 and Sunshine. Most of the minibosses are too easy. So much effort went into the actual levels that the overworld lacks the charm and hidden secrets of its predecessors. Finally, you get control of a really cool power right near the end of the game, but I never even saw it anywhere besides the overworld, which is a big waste. However, even with these flaws, the overall game is so good that it’s still leagues beyond any other platformer out there, which in my opinion says more to its greatness than anything else.
Super Mario Galaxy is without a doubt a justification for buying a Wii. It excels on every level imaginable, and hopefully will usher in a new age of platforming like its grandfather Mario 64 did. I actually considered making the entire review simply the words “concentrated joy,” but decided against it. Maybe I should have; it would have gotten the review out in a more timely manner at least.
Final Score: 10/10
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