Peter’s Place

I promised earlier to post reviews on the video games I got for Christmas.  Why has it taken me until February to review Super Mario Galaxy?  Because I’ve been so busy playing it, I didn’t feel like stopping to write about it!  The only bad thing about this game, is that I can’t even imagine how Nintendo could possibly top it.
All screenshots from IGN.com.  Click any image thumbnail for a larger version.

Honestly, I have no idea where to begin this review.  There are so many great elements to this game, it’s hard to pick out which one is the best.  I guest first and foremost, the fact that this a Wii game.  If you’ve played ANY Wii game, you already know how dramatically different the games are just because of the wireless, motion-sensing controllers.

The layout of the game is very similar to Super Mario 64.  You play most ”galaxies” several times — and each time, your goal is to obtain a different Power Star.  But you’re not always doing the same thing.  Depending on which Power Star you’re efforting, you may find yourself being sent to different planets within that galaxy.  Even if you wind up on planets you’ve seen before, new pathways might be open that you couldn’t access the first time.

Just as in Super Mario 64, your choices are pretty limited at first.  You need to obtain a certain amount of Stars before you can access the next galaxy, and the next galaxy, and so forth… but you don’t need every single Power Star to reach the final battle with Mario’s longtime archnemesis, Bowser, to beat the game.  Out of 120 possible Stars, you only need half (including all the Bowser and Bowser Jr. battle stages) to reach the final Bowser battle.

Gameplay
Superb.  The Wii controller makes this game a real pleasure to play.  You use the Nunchuk controller to control Mario’s direction.  Pressing slightly makes him walk, pressing it all the way in a certain direction makes him run.  In your other hand, the Wii remote’s A button makes Mario jump.  The Wii remote also controls a pointer which can pick up certain items, and shoot “star bits” at enemies, stunning them briefly.  Shaking the Wii remote makes Mario spin: on the ground, this can knock out enemies and bricks; while jumping, it gives Mario an extra boost to reach high ledges; and while swimming, it can make Mario swim very fast.

The 3-D environment is much, much better than Super Mario 64.  In most cases, the camera angle is much easier to control — though for some parts, the camera is purposely fixed a certain way.  While this is frustrating at first, you learn to deal with it.  It’s not like 64, where you’d sometimes be given a horrible camera angle for no reason at all.

If you’ve played Super Mario 64, you’ll also easily pick up all of Mario’s special moves quickly.  The long jump, backflip, wall jump and side jump all use the exact same button combos they did in 64.  Since the “Z” button is on the front of the Nunchuk, it’s almost just like when “Z” was in the trigger position underneath the 64 controller.  Even though I hadn’t played Super Mario 64 in years, it was just like riding a bicycle — you remember it almost immediately.

But that’s not all!  One of the biggest twists of the game is the ever-changing effects of gravity.  As you run around planets… basically, if there’s a curved edge, you can walk around the side and not fall off.  If there’s a sharp edge, one misstep and you’re flying into a black hole.  (Thankfully, there are lots of 1-UP opportunities… I’ve never had a “Game Over.”)  Some stages really mess with your head, as you’re jumping from planet to planet, or even between the ceiling and floor of a building — and halfway in the air, Mario flips over and lands in the other direction!  If you’ve played though some of the later stages of Super Paper Mario for Wii, you’re already kinda familiar with this, but it’s still something that’s tough to get used to.

Music
Nintendo really hit a home run with this one.  Even though it takes awhile before you hear any of the old familiar favorites, the original songs are amazing.  They’re actual songs, recorded by an orchestra (as seen here on YouTube) and the theme for the first galaxy makes you feel like you’re in the opening credits for a blockbuster movie.

Going further along, and you’ll see where Nintendo’s attention to detail doesn’t fail.  When you reach the first swimming galaxy, the “sound” of the music changes as soon as you make Mario dive, as if you’re in the water with him, hearing the music through underwater speakers.

Originality
You’ll encounter many of the same enemies you’ve been battling for years in other Mario games… Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Bullet Bill, and of course, Bowser.  There’s also a variety of new creatures… which I don’t know the names of, since the instruction booklets today don’t mention every single enemy by name like they used to.  Probably because there are too many to list!

The game also includes many new power-ups, along with some interesting twists on some old ones.  For example, Fire Flowers still let Mario throw fireballs, but they only last a limited amount of time.  The new Ice Flower allows Mario to walk on water or lava, and even ice jump on waterfalls — but it also expires after a short time, usually forcing you to rush through some sort of obstacles and either get another one or get back to solid ground before its power disappears.   You can also turn into a bee, allowing Mario to fly for short distances, or even stick to nectar-padded walls… but as we all learned in Bee Movie, you can’t fly in water!  Some stages have plenty of puddles or even rain storms, which immediately strip you of your bee abilities.  In earlier stages, it’s just a matter of getting another “Bee Mushroom” but in later stages, losing Bee power could make Mario fall to his death. 

Perhaps the rarest new powerup is the “Boo Mushroom” which allows Mario to turn into a ghost.  He floats in the air, and can turn invisible, to float through certain walls.  Sadly, there’s only 2 or 3 places where you can do this, and you only need to be a ghost for a short time.  It would have been nice to have a few more chances to play as Boo Mario.

The Prankster Comets
Adding an entirely new dimension to the game, are a series of “Prankster Comets.”  After you’ve met certain objectives, various Prankster Comets will randomly appear over certain galaxies.  When they appear, it’s a chance to earn an extra Power Star, beyond the standard 3 “no frills” stars available in most galaxies. 

There are a few different kinds of Prankster Comets.  One requires you to clear a previous mission, from start to finish (including battling boss enemies) within a certain amount of time.  If you run out of time, you lose a life.  Some prankster comets require you to race a shadow version of Mario himself.  If your opponent beats you to the star, you guessed it… lose a life and try again.

The ”Daredevil Comet” challenges you to complete an objective with just one “wedge” of health — usually beating a previous boss enemy or clearing a particularly difficult stage.  You’d be surprised how a “simple” boss becomes amazingly difficult when you’re forced to win without getting hit at all.

Next, the “Fast Foe” comet requires you to replay a previous stage, with all the enemies moving twice their normal speed.  It sounds hard at first, but both of the Fast Foe stages involved moving Thwomps — where it’s just a matter of standing in the right place at the right time, and not getting caught loitering in the wrong places.  It’s not like you have bullets chasing you or the Hammer Bros. furiously throwing tools at you.  Either of those could have made the Fast Foe stages much harder.

Lastly, the “Purple Coin” comets appear after only after you’ve beaten the final Bowser.  (So yes, you need to beat Bowser well before you can possibly get all 120 Power Stars.)  These will bring you back to every single “main” galaxy, with the goal of finding 100 purple coins in order to earn a Power Star.  In some stages, you have all the time in the world to explore every possible nook and cranny.  In others, the stage auto-scrolls… you’ll be on some kind of moving platform that takes you past all 100 coins, but you need to move fast to get them.  There’s no way to go back and collect any coins you missed, so even if you have 99 at the end of the ride, you’ll lose a life and get sent back to do it all over again.  Other stages impose a time limit, and there’s not very much leeway for mistakes.  I can remember two time-limit stages in particular where I reached the star with less than 10 seconds to spare — after MANY failed attempts.

A Myth Comes True
Those familiar with Super Mario 64 may remember hearing complex (but funny) rumors that if you get all 120 stars, you get to play as Luigi.  One guy even posted a YouTube video of Luigi — but later added an admission that he hacked the game in an emulator.  But in Mario Galaxy, there actually IS an incentive to get all 120 stars… you DO get to play as Luigi.  I haven’t reached it yet myself, but the Prima strategy guide (authorized by Nintendo) explains Luigi will become playable after you get all the stars and defeat the final Bowser a second time.  Luigi apparently jumps and walks differently (like he has ever since Super Mario Bros. 2) so it’s an entirely new challenge.

Considering it’s been hard enough to get past 100 stars so far, I don’t know if I could go through all 120 again as Luigi… but it’ll be fun to at least try it out.

Overall Rating:
11 points on a scale of 10… or more appropriately, 6 stars out of a possible 5.