MARIO REVIEWED: Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

In this series of posts that I'm doing because I literally cannot contain my excitement for Super Mario Galaxy 2, I'll be looking back at the games in the Mario franchise. I'm primarily going to be concentrating on games in the main series, but there might be a couple of detours along the way, too.

In the same way as I think of games like Super Mario Bros. 3, Ocarina of Time or Chrono Trigger, I'm almost completely unable to objectively analyze this game (nor do I think that games should be subjected to any sort of "objective" analysis, as that's a pretty loaded concept). Super Mario Galaxy hit me in such a hard, hard way that I can't even separate the game from my emotions surrounding it. Every leap, every level, every boss, every character – from Mario all the way down to Rosalina – and more than any of those things, every single musical track from this game have made a profound impact on me.

Still, I wish that I had had the time to review this game before Sunday, as I received a new copy of Super Mario Galaxy 2, which in many ways is an even perfect-er game than this one, if that's even possible. For the sake of my sanity and yours, though, let's just pretend we're in an alternate universe where Super Mario Galaxy 2 didn't just get released two days ago.

What Super Mario Galaxy is, on a base level, is Nintendo taking every good design idea they've had over the last twenty-five years and chucking them into a blender, and allowing all of their ideas to come out as twisted and freeform as they wanted them to be. There's a SM64-style hub world that blends a little bit exploration with crazy, impressive architecture; there's levels that start out as 2D throwbacks and end up as world-hopping deconstructions of the entire 3D platforming genre; there's the basest elements of the Mario storyline (Princess Peach is kidnapped! Again!), this time fleshed out with Rosalina's really quite sad story.

You could take any slice of Super Mario Galaxy and release it as a full game, and it would probably seem pretty amazing. Yet, Nintendo felt content to basically throw everything into this game, and it shows with a level of craft and polish that few games by any developer have had or will have for the foreseeable future. Basically, when I talk about a game having every element contribute to the overall whole of the game itself, SMG is probably the game that I'm referencing in the back of my head.

Note to developers: if you are making any type of action-based game, the design of this game (and its sequel… I mean, shit! We're not talking about that today!) should be examined at length. Shigeru Miyamoto had a much heavier involvement in this game than any of the other 3D Marios, and you can sense it in his masterful guiding touch. Every bad tendency from modern gaming is either ignored or reworked in this game. There's no "objective indicators," no forced tutorials, no overbearing cutscenes delving into the strained mythos of the Mario world. Instead, Miyamoto and company craft the entire game world to teach you everything you need to know (if you're paying attention), making the levels themselves the way in which you discover how to interact with the game. So many times, I found myself saying "I wonder what will happen if I do this…" and when I would try it, something would happen. It could be big, it could be something relatively insignificant, but the game rewards you for branching out and teaching yourself how to do what you need to do to succeed.

Moreso than New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which, while a fantastic game in its own right, doesn't really push the franchise forward in too many meaningful ways, Super Mario Galaxy is a game that is perfectly designed with a broad audience in mind. That's not to say it's dumbed down or anything like that. If you're a hardcore Mario player like myself, then the game throws 120 star challenges at you, and the last 60 or so are intensely satisfying. If you're a crazy completionist, you can do those 120 stars again as Luigi, going to get that elusive 121st star. If you're a newcomer to the Wii, you can engage with any number of direct tutorials should you so choose, and the first few levels ease you into navigating the game's crazy shapeshifting worlds.

I'll say it again – even though this is a marriage of the tightest control the series has ever seen with fantastic art and music, it's the overall design that shines through the brightest. Even though SM64 has been considered one of the greatest 3D platformers of all time, even up until right now, Super Mario Galaxy puts it to shame in a number of key areas. I won't go into too much detail, but I love the way it marries the propulsiveness of the 2D games with the exploratory nature of SM64 in really smart ways. Instead of making the hunt to actually find where to get the 120 stars like in SM64, SMG makes it fairly clear where you can find the stars, and instead places the onus on the player to just simply figure out how to get them through (again) great level design. There are still hidden stars, but the level structure makes finding those stars a bit more manageable and, in my opinion, fun.

The last thing I'd like to mention is the incredible, life-altering soundtrack. In terms of all music, I would put the Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack in my personal top ten. Every single theme is amazing – the orchestral bombast of the Battlerock Galaxy, the subtle charms of the Star Bunnies theme, the whimsy of the Observatory theme. Hell, even the MIDI tracks are great, as they're used to really good effect, often to highlight especially "videogame-y" levels. Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo, you're gods among mere mortals. The game also has one of the most remarkable pieces of music of all time in the Gusty Garden theme, a piece of music so good that I've played that particular galaxy dozens and dozens of times just to hear it in all its glory. Married to the spectacular visuals (still one of the most timeless, beautiful games of all time on any system), and Super Mario Galaxy is a game that is completely joyous.

And it's that aspect that keeps me coming back to this game again and again. I play videogames for a lot of reasons, and I realize that every game can't be Mario, but Super Mario Galaxy hits such a high note of what I consider to be videogame perfection that to play it is to have an overwhelming feeling of childlike wonder. To be able to evoke that in a fully grown adult without resorting to cheap tactics and instead simply using the utmost of one's creative capabilities is something that I fear will never be replicated again. This is the high point of modern gaming, and by far my favourite game of this generation.

Well, except for Super Mario Galaxy 2. But more on that in a bit.