Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) Review

 (Originally posted on October, 2017)

(2007, Nintendo Wii)

In anticipation of Super Mario Odyssey’s impending release, I recharged my Wii-mote and for the third or fourth occasion...journeyed the expanse that is Super Mario Galaxy. Even while remembering much of what to expect, any creep of monotony just couldn’t keep up with all the instant fun still to be had in Galaxy’s fast paced and ever-freshening challenges. The two prior 3D Marios, stunning and joyful as they were (64, at least), perhaps inclined a bit too much towards the lure of realism made possible by the third dimension. The slower, more exploratory pace and generally more relatable structure of the polygonal worlds strayed somewhat from the series’ famous recipe of random and whimsical ideas pouring like syrup over playground-like levels. Galaxy not only eschews the (relatively) realistic worlds found within Peach’s Castle or Delfino Island, but fully awakens to the fact that if you’re in a fantasy land filled with magical mushrooms, toad squads and reptilian armies, why bother being held down by such inconvenient concepts as singular gravity source? Galaxy goes so far as to stretch the players’ understanding of physics, and possibly reality itself, all while taking pure platforming to an astoundingly successful level of not just bold creativity, but patiently tried and tested polish. With Nintendo at the height of its genius, Galaxy’s rules and physics change not just level to level, but sometimes moment to moment, leaving you to adapt within a state of thrilled confusion…not unlike experiencing your very first video game.

No longer limited by the human(oid) populated environment expected within the beaches and towns of a resort island, or the relative straightforwardness easily permissible in the series’ first attempt at 3D, the decade in the making outer space theme fully delivers on gaming’s promise that anything is possible. You’re not out to conquer mountains and mansions, but whatever tangible footing Mario finds his feet upon. In Gusty Gardens’ Gravity Scramble, you’ll gradually ascend a huge set of inter-revolving, enemy laden towers, sometimes hurling yourself hundreds of feet across with the flip of a gravity switch, struggling to maintain your own equilibrium the whole time. The Sand Dunes Galaxy will have Mario high above the desert, surfing all around the surface of giant rings of sand flowing like the river, as he attempts to delicately nab the star pieces which will open up the next launch point. In one of Bowser’s stages, the view switches to strictly 2D scrolling as survival depends upon your placement on a moving tetris-like platform. Besides accounting for fireballs and koopa-troopas, you must anticipate how the platforms’ protrusions and gaps will protect you against whichever upcoming gravity shift threatens to pull you into a black hole. If he was still alive to play, doing a running jump to send Mario orbiting around a tiny space body, or back flipping from one planetoid to the next would make even Newton’s head explode.

The more orthodox level designs leave plenty of room for new ideas to be introduced. Fishbowl Island, an impossibly beautiful planet you’ll certainly hope to visit if there is indeed an infinite multiverse, allows Mario to mount an underwater, self-propelled Koopa shell in search of secrets. The Boo House and the Honey Hive Galaxy emphasizes exploration while allowing Mario limited flight as a rather plump ghost or bee. Offering some of the most dense and cleverly constructed platforming in the genre, the Buoy Base is a joy to ascend. The intentionally creepy levels are some of the most uniquely haunting and enjoyable. Tucked far away from your observatory base, a penguin family’s small oceanic planet is being terrorized by hungry eels. Initially unnerving, the isolated peace of this tropical planet illuminated by the starry sky soon reveals its heavenly beauty, as it looks so much like something out of Carl Sagan’s “Contact”. In an entirely different level, a slightly unhinged penguin hermit welcomes Mario at the entrance of a sea cave filled with underwater ghosts...and an important treasure. I could write thousands more words praising worlds made of candy, toys, dueling elements of fire and ice and much more, but they’re all better left as a most pleasant surprise.

Unusual for a Mario game, there’s a huge variety of boss challenges. The tiny limbed, but quick thinking Mario must outdo the tentacle equipped King Kalimari at his challenge of slapping around dangerous objects. As ghostly faces float high into the sky, melting into clusters of stars, keep your cool against the tough but perfectly fair self-regenerating rock-ghost known as Bouldergeist. In one of several battles with Baby Bowser’s air force, the game design of the original Mario Bros comes into play. Like the best Mario games of the past, Galaxy has its way of introducing and soon discarding an intriguing new concept with each level, making the game so compelling and hard to put down that the emptying of your Wii-mote's battery will likely be a more effective stop than your own will. 

Not even the game’s few low points are without much enjoyment. The spring power up never loses its awkwardness, but at the same time, the bit of mental arithmetic required to ascend to higher platforms and avoid obstacles is so satisfying to calculate. The ‘daredevil comet’ stages may be recycled challenges, but beating the bosses without taking a hit makes you feel like you’re playing just as much of a grownup game as whatever blood and guts are being computed on a friend's PS3 or X-Box 360. The Wii’s often bemoaned motion controls are implemented in the best possible way. Shaking the Wii-mote to perform Mario’s spin attack adds a satisfying proclamation of boldness at a moment when such delicate timing is required. You’ll soon believe that swinging the controller with all your gusto off of a sprouting vine will get you the more air. Whether you find them a genius use of the gyroscope or a distraction you never petitioned Nintendo for, the novel manta ray race and ball tilting games are mostly relegated to their own stages. Pointing to grab Star Bits (in-game currency of sorts) fills the down time when the game is at it perhaps its most grand: those brief moments of doing nothing but experiencing awe as Mario heroically flies between planets.

The orchestra style music isn’t as immediately catchy or fun as the older Marios, but stands the test of time as one of Nintendo’s most resonating styles. After having played the game, you won’t be able to look at a screenshot without remembering the Star Wars/Star Trek inspired score, which still always manages to revert back to the series’ cheerfully busy sound at the appropriate occasion. Cited as one of the Wii’s greatest looking games, Galaxies’ use of inter-galactic inspired imagery might just be playing a trick on the human brain. For millennia, we’ve spent each night staring up at the stars in wonder, a ritual only very recently interrupted by city lights and computer screens. All the brilliant space eruptions highlighting Mario’s human minisculality, combined with the cartoon worlds and EAD Tokyo’s pleasing character designs manage to perfectly make do with the Wii’s underpowered hardware. Not just arguably the finest of the series on it's own, Galaxy’s arrival was especially welcomed as it ended the long, doubtful mid-2000s period of the unpolished Sunshine and underwhelming New Super Mario Brothers, where even I wondered if Nintendo lost their magic touch over gaming’s most famous series. My biggest complaint is that in 10 years, the Galaxy games still haven’t been remastered, even at just a higher resolution. Still, this game is in a way perfectly at home on the old CRT, which may have been the very same magical box where one first experienced Super Mario Brothers, World or 64. I initially restarted Galaxy with an intent that almost undervalued it, as something little more than a rekindled experience to give me a sense of readiness for Mario’s latest adventure. Still powerfully struck by this game’s particular magic two console generations later, I’m now feeling even more joyfully trepid about the surprises sure to be awaiting Mario on his upcoming Odyssey.