Ground Control to Major Mario
Thirty years ago, a launch title for the Nintendo Entertainment System named Super Mario Bros. forever changed the video game industry; almost single-handedly resurrecting the market from the crash of '83. The game ignited the platforming genre to parts never seen previously, creating a multitude gaming tropes common today. Fast-forward to 1996, and Nintendo released Super Mario 64, reinventing the wheel yet again, forever altering video games in a 3D environment. Fast-forward yet again to 2007, and the genre is tested once more, with the arrival of Super Mario Galaxy. While no changes to the bare basic formula established in 64 is changed, Galaxy presents a multitude of innovative gameplay features, ultimately crafting a modern achievement that is still worth visiting today.
Mario titles all follow the same general plot outlines. The princess is gone, Bowser’s at it again, and now we must trek through a series of seemingly unrelated challenges. Essentially, all Mario games have a brief beginning and end in order to connect this concept, with each new entry providing a slightly different twist. This time, the game takes place at the centennial Star Festival, when Bowser attacks, bringing destruction down upon the kingdom and physically lifting Peach's castle into the stars. Along the way to saving the princess, Mario meets Rosalina, deemed the “watcher of the stars”, who will help Mario reach his destination after restoring her observation. Surprisingly, more effort and time was put into the narrative attributes found Mario Galaxy in comparison to previous installments. While the awkward voice acting from Sunshine has been removed, the notable element added is Rosalina’s storybook. Some players are very fond of its inclusion, as you cannot deny that the level of depth and passion placed into this portion is commendable. Few players are going to walk out of Mario Galaxy’s story feeling engrossed, but it remains serviceable.
Galaxy’s true innovation lies in its level design. Gravity becomes the name of the game, as each world’s mechanics revolve around the planetoid’s pull. Grounded areas are generally spherical, allowing for free-flow movement around its entire circumference and surface area. Jump outcomes are determined by nearby objects. For instance, lone planetoids will not affect your basic jumps, but if another planet or a black hole is close enough, you will be taken by that object’s gravitational pull. Interestingly, the game ignores center of mass, allowing a consistent system from galaxy to galaxy. Perhaps the most engaging aspect of Super Mario Galaxy is making your way through these gravity-based platforming sections. Some select galaxies are among the most uniquely designed to ever appear in a platformer, with ranging level design having immense variety. While the game retains the “get the star to complete the level model” established in 64, the levels are unfortunately almost completely linear. The interesting level designs more than make up for it, but I would definitely have liked to see an abundance of galaxies that allowed complete freedom.
Controls in Super Mario Galaxy adhere to the Wii remote. In general, the Wii remote has less buttons available than Sunshine’s Gamecube controller did, which used all of its functions to execute smoother and faster movement. As a result, Galaxy’s Mario is slower, but this was made ideal with the incorporation of a few minor, yet ultimately significant, implementations. For instance, Super Mario Galaxy introduces Star Bits to the formula, an alternative collectible that’s strangely more abundant than coins. In many ways, these act as your currency, and are easily picked up through contact from the Wii remote’s pointer. This in turn means that players are often found multitasking between standard platforming, and picking up Star Bits. You’ll probably never have an issue with not having enough Star Bits, but I’m sure you’ll gradually find yourself drawn to simply collecting as much as possible. New attacks introduced include actually shooting these star bits to performing Mario’s spin attack. On top of all this, the game also incorporates some well-designed suit upgrades never seen in the series previously, such as the Bee Mario outfit. Overall, these are fine additions, but the difficulty becomes simply too easy as a result. Aside from falling into your occasional black hole, players will probably find themselves rarely dying. Not to mention that the bosses are generally disappointing, and often repeated. While the actual boss designs adhere to the creative attributes all other portions of the game follow, many of the fights disappointingly follow the “video game rule of 3”. That’s not to say the bosses are atrocious, just lackluster.
The graphical aesthetic Super Mario Galaxy exhibits is rather impressive. Obviously, the Wii’s hardware capabilities were lacking in comparison to the other two consoles from the last generations, but Galaxy finds ways around this. Similarly to Sunshine, it presents an art-style that molds around its graphical limits, adhering to a variety of bright color contrasts. Some areas, such as those with water, would still look great on a modern console. The only real drawback is fact that the Wii cannot be displayed in any High-Definition format. Granted, this will never be a problem for any Mario game again as the Wii U is optimized for 1080p, but it’s still prevalent in this title and its sequel. It should also be noted that Galaxy possesses what I think is easily Mario’s greatest orchestral score. Some select tracks I have personally listened outside the game on many occasions.
Not too many games released within the past ten years would I deem the word: “timeless”; Super Mario Galaxy is one of those few titles. Its gravity-based platforming is still as innovative as it was in 2007, its orchestral score is still sweeping, and its aesthetic is still visually appealing. Few players will find notable issues with this game; the levels are almost completely linear, the bosses can be a tad boring, and moments lack a sense of challenge, but the sum of its parts is nothing short of one of the best platformers of all-time. Personally, I practically ashamed of myself that, despite getting the game at launch, it’s taken me until 2015 to actually finish it. Call it preemptive, but this is a game I feel will be revered for decades to come.
