Out of this world
Super Mario blasts off to space in stellar Wii debut
By Dave Arey
Posted: 12/6/07, 1:44 AM EST Section: Joystick
"Super Mario Galaxy"
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Nintendo
How Much: $49.99
Rating: 5 stars
This year, Nintendo fans get an early Christmas gift - the mustachioed Italian plumber is back.
And what a great gift "Super Mario Galaxy" is. It's not just any game with the Mario name slapped on the front. The Wii release is an instant masterpiece, and the best game of its type since Mario's original jump to the third dimension in "Super Mario 64."
"Super Mario Galaxy" begins with a familiar situation, and an unfamiliar wrinkle. Bowser once again steals Princess Peach, and Mario once again has to save her. However, once Bowser blasts off on his spaceship, you'll quickly realize this isn't your older brother's Mario game.
The biggest surprise is the subtle ways in which Nintendo has changed the Mario formula by putting it into outer space. By replacing sprawling levels with celestial spheres, the programmers have made getting from one end of a level to another fun again. The intuitive ways in which "Super Mario Galaxy" plays with gravity and physics also make familiarly mundane seem completely new. Sure, you've faced off against Bowser before, but have you ever done it upside-down?
The ways in which the formula has remained the same are just as important as the ways in which it's changed. Nintendo clearly learned its lesson from "Super Mario Sunshine," which turned off many gamers with its focus on technology. In "Super Mario Galaxy," the protagonist doesn't use any crazy contraptions. He runs, he jumps, he uses the occasional costume - but that's it.
"Super Mario Galaxy's" retro sensibilities don't end there. There's little story here, and gamers have the option of skipping most of it. The music is reminiscent of previous games, although the sound quality is clearly much better. As for the other audio aspects, Mario barely says a word, and neither do many other characters.
Even the much-ballyhooed motion controls of the Wii barely make a cameo appearance. While you can use the remote to collect items and flick it to make Mario perform a spin jump, these uses are rare. A savvy gamer could almost complete the entire game by running and jumping.
If this all sounds negative, it's not. Almost any videogame borrows from past titles. The key is to wrap it all in a presentation that makes it all seem new, and by putting Mario's adventures in space, "Super Mario Galaxy" does that. The levels mostly take place in locales, which will be very familiar to Mario veterans - there's a lava level, a water level, a desert level and so on. But every one includes wrinkles never seen before in a game.
"Super Mario Galaxy" is, above all, tons of fun. The last few years have been filled with games that looked and sounded beautiful, played crisply and offered intuitive game play. However, few have been filled with the kind of mind-blowing moments you can find in "Super Mario Galaxy." Games like this remind me of why I became a gamer, and it's been a while since I could say that about a Mario game.
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Nintendo
How Much: $49.99
Rating: 5 stars
This year, Nintendo fans get an early Christmas gift - the mustachioed Italian plumber is back.
And what a great gift "Super Mario Galaxy" is. It's not just any game with the Mario name slapped on the front. The Wii release is an instant masterpiece, and the best game of its type since Mario's original jump to the third dimension in "Super Mario 64."
"Super Mario Galaxy" begins with a familiar situation, and an unfamiliar wrinkle. Bowser once again steals Princess Peach, and Mario once again has to save her. However, once Bowser blasts off on his spaceship, you'll quickly realize this isn't your older brother's Mario game.
The biggest surprise is the subtle ways in which Nintendo has changed the Mario formula by putting it into outer space. By replacing sprawling levels with celestial spheres, the programmers have made getting from one end of a level to another fun again. The intuitive ways in which "Super Mario Galaxy" plays with gravity and physics also make familiarly mundane seem completely new. Sure, you've faced off against Bowser before, but have you ever done it upside-down?
The ways in which the formula has remained the same are just as important as the ways in which it's changed. Nintendo clearly learned its lesson from "Super Mario Sunshine," which turned off many gamers with its focus on technology. In "Super Mario Galaxy," the protagonist doesn't use any crazy contraptions. He runs, he jumps, he uses the occasional costume - but that's it.
"Super Mario Galaxy's" retro sensibilities don't end there. There's little story here, and gamers have the option of skipping most of it. The music is reminiscent of previous games, although the sound quality is clearly much better. As for the other audio aspects, Mario barely says a word, and neither do many other characters.
Even the much-ballyhooed motion controls of the Wii barely make a cameo appearance. While you can use the remote to collect items and flick it to make Mario perform a spin jump, these uses are rare. A savvy gamer could almost complete the entire game by running and jumping.
If this all sounds negative, it's not. Almost any videogame borrows from past titles. The key is to wrap it all in a presentation that makes it all seem new, and by putting Mario's adventures in space, "Super Mario Galaxy" does that. The levels mostly take place in locales, which will be very familiar to Mario veterans - there's a lava level, a water level, a desert level and so on. But every one includes wrinkles never seen before in a game.
"Super Mario Galaxy" is, above all, tons of fun. The last few years have been filled with games that looked and sounded beautiful, played crisply and offered intuitive game play. However, few have been filled with the kind of mind-blowing moments you can find in "Super Mario Galaxy." Games like this remind me of why I became a gamer, and it's been a while since I could say that about a Mario game.
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