Super Mario Galaxy

Sep 19, 2006

In the midst of the bombardment of Wii titles shown at Nintendo's New York event, it was hard not to notice the single kiosk showing off Super Mario Galaxy, probably due to the line surrounding it. Granted, it was pretty much the same demo that the Big N showed off at E3, but it was nice to get some time with the game without some chucklehead wearing a Nintendo polo kicking everyone off the game after two minutes. Besides, why should anyone kick a reporter off the machine when the build does that job just fine with its eight-minute time limit? With that said, we jumped into Mario's upcoming adventure, and found a lot to be satisfied with.

It seems that our favorite chubby plumber will be doing some planet-hopping in this new adventure. Our princess is not in another castle, but has been kidnapped and dragged out into space. Then again, at this point, does it surprise anyone? There's also no confirmation as to whether or not Peach will get emo and escape the clutches of her abductors a la Super Princess Peach, but we wouldn't bet our company stock on it. So, once again, Mario is thrust into the challenge of jumping from planet to planet in the hopes of bringing her safely back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

Our fearless console leader likes to tell me that I'm fired every time that I confess that I hated Super Mario 64, but it's a good starting point for talking about SMG. Why? Because I'm part of a minority of gamers who weren't nuts about Mario's leap from 2D to 3D (also part of why I was head over heels for New Super Mario Bros.), and I didn't like Mario Sunshine much. However, even with my disdain for 3D Mario bubbling deep down somewhere in my subconscious, Super Mario Galaxy is gosh darn fun.

In all honesty, it's the controls of the Wii that make SMG work so well. Yes, the now-classic jump-to-butt drop is intact, with a press of the A, then Z. But it's cool stuff like flicking the remote left to right to unleash Mario's spin attack that feels like a new way to play. The C-stick, of course, moves Mario around the terrain of each planet, which seem to range from tiny to sprawling. As our hero finishes hitting up each area for coinage and stars, he runs over to a star-shaped launch pad and propels himself into space with a click of the B trigger on the remote. Players can then use the onscreen indicator (it resembles a laser pointer onscreen) to "zap" stars that float around the cosmos and collect them for Mario's coffers.

On certain planets, there are items, such as green coconuts, that Mario can use as projectiles. In past games, players would have likely jumped on the coconut to pick it up, or rushed over to it to grab it. The functions mapped to the Wii controller have made things a bit different now. Instead of the traditional "grab and throw" maneuver, players will steer Mario into position, flick their wrist to start up a spin attack, and progress through the rest of the action. It's also the method required to beat the big lava boss at the end of the demo, although unfortunately, while exploring the terrain and interplanetary travel, we didn't make it to the boss before the eight minutes ran out.

It's also not just about the fact that SMG is a lot of fun to play, it's also quite visually impressive. Granted, we'll all get to see how Super Mario 64 has aged on launch day when it's available for ten bucks at the Wii Shop Channel, or we'll be able to pop in Super Mario Sunshine to compare the difference for ourselves at some point, but SMG looks clear and detailed. Again, given the Wii's visual power, it's not ramped up like an Xbox 360 game might look, but still, between the graphics of the Wii and the whimsical art design, it's definitely in the class of titles such as Metroid Prime 3 as one of the best-looking games we're seeing out of the first year of Wii titles. It's also new stuff, like the idea of running upside down along the southern hemisphere of a planet, that's not just quirky, but feels kind of peculiar, especially when trying to stomp on a Goomba. It's the grafting of something new onto the familiar.

The big issue with certain Wii titles at this point regards whether or not they're better ways to play games. At this point, SMG feels like a fresh take on the 3D Mario platformer, which is now a decade old. Besides Metroid, it's absolutely one of the games we're most eager to play more of as the development process on it continues. We're a little disappointed that it won't make launch, but still, it's showing much more promise than Mario Sunshine had four years ago. Getting the chance to play it again a few months after E3 has refreshed the quality of the build in our minds. It sounds terrible to say, but the best way to convey the quality of Super Mario Galaxy will simply be for gamers to experience it for themselves, which they undoubtedly will at some point in 2007. Fingers and toes crossed that it's sooner, not later.