Super Mario Galaxy

10

Super Mario Galaxy takes the little plumber to whole new heights! And GP Stratego was loving it!
Reviewed By: gp_stratego

Every Nintendo console system has had a signature Super Mario title to show off. The original NES had Super Mario Bros. which is now a Hall of Fame classic. The Super Nintendo had Super Mario World that evolved the game to new levels with the overworld map.

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The N64 gave us Mario in 3D with Super Mario 64, giving us the freedom to run around and explore like never before. The Gamecube offered Super Mario Sunshine and it wasn’t groundbreaking, but was still fun. The next evolution of Mario is here on the Wii, Super Mario Galaxy, and it is wonderful!

The story is the same familiar plot, the princess has been captured and it’s up to Mario to rescue her. This time Bowser has stolen the power of the Stars to feed his conquering appetite. That means Mario will head out into space to find the princess.

The game feels like a standard platform game, but the levels are all built as free floating asteroids in space! Things start out normal with a spherical moon that you can run completely around. Up is down, down is up. Regular platform jumping game rules do not apply here. Right from the beginning the game messes with your sense of direction and gravity.

Most of the time running over the edge just flips the world upside down and you just run along the bottom. The freedom to run up a wall or over the edge to the other side opens up so many fun opportunities. My desire to explore these new game boundaries had me playing level after level just to see what they would throw at me next.

Parts of the asteroids are normal, but there’s always something upside down or sideways. Just as you get used to running *around* the asteroid, you are running around *inside* it. And running inside the smaller planetoids feels absurd, but is super fun. A lot of the time you are free to just jump out into space and you’ll be pulled safely back down to the nearest asteroid. Black holes are added to make jumping off the edge dangerous at times, but that just adds to the fun.

If you are thinking you have already played Super Mario to death and can’t stand to see another mushroom, Super Mario Galaxy will make you love it again. You can grab a Bee mushroom to change into Bee Mario and temporarily fly around the levels. Bees! Who doesn’t love bees! Ice Mario lets you walk across water by turning the water beneath you into a sturdy ice platform as you go. Boo Mario has Mario transformed into a ghost to travel through walls and float. Spring Mario adds some jumping power to your step.

You can surf on Manta Rays through intergalactic water raceways. Some levels have a monkey ball element where Mario balances on a sphere to roll through the level crushing enemies the whole way. There are so many fun things to do, how could you not love it?

This is truly a new generation of Mario. Super Mario Galaxy lives up to the tradition of strong Mario titles (with the exception of Sunshine) from Nintendo and is destined to become a classic.

Super Mario Galaxy comes out on November 12th, 2007.

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