My favorite wii game period, and easily one of my favorite games this gen. Ill say it again that i enjoyed this far more than its sequel, i know im alone in thinking that but it was just a much better presentation as far as im concerned.
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11Nov 12
2nd - Super Mario Galaxy
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Release Date: November 12th, 2007
It is hard to know exactly how he does it, but Mario is a guy who finds mind-boggling ways to top his previous achievements. Not only does he outdoes himself, but he does so in a remarkable and convincing way, always raising the bar to a new level no gamers could have possibly imagined even existed. It happened more than once: Super Mario Bros. 3 polished the original to frightening heights; Super Mario World expanded it to unimaginable lengths; Super Mario 64 pushed gaming into a new dimension and then, after climbing to the top of the highest earthly mountain, Mario reached into the endless sky for his new challenge and, in Super Mario Galaxy, created a new standard to which, not only platformers, but all games out there would be compared to.
Gaming has been so extensively dressed up in fancy, often exaggerated, non-gaming decorations that it became a completely new monster, but one thing is for sure: if there is a definition for what exactly is a game at its most pure and organic form, Super Mario Galaxy comes pretty close to it. Everything Nintendo squeezed into the package is there for the sake of gameplay. Even the game's outer space setting was chosen for the opportunities it brought and experimentation doors it opened; the fact that it gave the title the feel and grandeur of an epic intergalactic opera was a mere consequence. The important thing was that by being outer space Nintendo could blow up the boring real world physics that constrained platformers for decades and venture into gaming's wonderland: a place with no thematic leashes, where everything could make sense and even the wackiest things could be executed.
Super Mario Galaxy was simple, fun, a delight to the eyes and a feast to the ears. It was not Mario's expansion into something bigger and better, it was simply the materialization and full realization of everything Mario has stood for ever since his inception, as if every game that preceded it were just targeted experimentations whose results culminated in one huge big bang of platforming goodness. The game found a balance between old and new, and in the middle of those polarizing time concepts it stretched out its arms to join both concepts in the creation of levels that were a modern homage to the greatness of yesteryears and clever new stages with fresh concepts made even more powerful by the stripped down nature of old-school gaming. Super Mario Galaxy was the past, the present and the future all combined into a game, at the most basic definition of the word.
33 comments
I was absolutely blown away by this game back in 07 and even more floored by its sequel. Two ten out of ten games if there ever were any.
1 Like @The_Deepblue I do not think there ever was a sequence of games of the same franchise with the same degree of quality. The only one that comes to my mind is the first two Banjo games, and even though I love them both, I would not dare putting them in front of the Galaxy games. They do come right after them in my list of favorite platformers, though.
@Pierst179 @The_Deepblue I would add Super
Mario World and Yoshi's Island (Mario World 2) to that equation, but maybe that's just me.
1 Like @SloganYams @The_Deepblue Oh yeah, you are right about it. I had forgotten about the whole two-some thing. :P
@Pierst179 @The_Deepblue Of course I would also include DKC2, it's one of my all-time favorite games! So yes, I would throw the DKC series in there, though for obvious reasons (DKC3) I didn't think it fit into the "twosome" mold we were talking about. :P
@SloganYams @The_Deepblue No love for DKC2? I think that is the best 2-D platformer ever made. :D
Super Mario World and Super Mario World 2 would be there for sure, with the original ranking higher and very close to those games mentioned.
I agree, one of the best games on the Wii or ever for that matter, I would say I know whats coming next but I think there's 2 big games I haven't seen on your list
It doesn't really matter which of the two Galaxy games are number 1, they are both by far the best games on Wii and my top 2 of the generation.
1 Like I think I know what's coming next, and I've gotta say, I liked SMG1 better than its sequel. I think a lot of people who think extremely highly of its sequel forget just how important originality and ingenuity is to determining a game's quality. The first Super Mario Galaxy is a masterwork of design and presentation, and is simply one of the best platformers ever. Though the second only improves on it, I'm still hesitant to call it a better game; it came out about three years after the first and only made incremental advances. As great as perfecting a formula can be, I give much more weight to creating an entirely new one.
Not that either SMG game is any less than stellar.
There's only one thing I can think of that's wrong with SMG, and it's pretty minor too. Almost perfect is pretty much the best thing you could say about something anyway. SMG2 is number 1 then, I'm guessing. :P
@SloganYams @Foolz3h What exactly do you think is wrong with SMG? Is it the camera?!
I did not have trouble with it, but I know that is the complaint that gets thrown around the most.
@Foolz3h @SloganYams Yeah, the controls issue did happen to me in a couple of occasions, but it did not feel that wrong to me. It is hard to explain, after all it is a matter of feeling, but it just did not. But yeah, the camera behaves strangely in some rare occasions.
@Pierst179 @SloganYams Yes the camera, but only in one context: inconsistent re-orientation when Mario's perspective is inverted. The same goes for the controls in the same context; there was no consistent re-orientation. Sometimes the controls and camera were inverted, sometimes they weren't. I've only spoken to one other who had the same issues, though. More broadly (and this is more of a personal complaint) I also thought it was far too easy on the whole. Even the toughest purple coin challenges could be knocked over with ease. Maybe Luigi changes things in that regard, though.
I think I know number 1 but I don't really care which game you would have out of the top 2 because they are both some of the finest games ever made.
I still have a hard time figuring out which Galaxy game is better. Galaxy 2 had way more variety but the original felt more cohesive and flowing.
@Stonetowerghost I actually have little trouble determining which one is better and that is because of one thing that Super Mario Galaxy 2 fully explores, that Super Mario Galaxy only partially does so. But more on that later. :P
Eh idk, I wasn't really into this one. I got it back when it came out and played on it for a few hours, but I guess it just wasn't my type of game. I liked 64 and Sunshine, but there was just something about flying in space and running around on small planets that didn't feel like Mario to me. A lot of people really liked the Galaxy games, but I guess I just prefer Mario within the atmosphere.
Such an amazing game! With all due respect to Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, I don't think any game has been so flawless since the SNES/Genesis days. And then its sequel ended up equalling if not bettering it. Mario in space is so good it's almost scary!
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