Super Mario Galaxy

Oct 15, 2007

Super Mario Galaxy is undoubtedly one of the year's most eagerly awaited Wii titles. With its new approach to now-conventional 3D platforming, the title hopes to take the iconic Italian plumber to new heights. We put in our fair share of time on an effectively complete build of the game during Nintendo's fall media event, and we think that based on the levels we test drove during our combined two hours, not only will ardent Nintendo fanboys love what's on the menu, there's something here for most of the Wii install base, not just hardcore gamers.

SMG's main appeal is its ease of play. On the nunchuk, you'll use the C-stick to maneuver Mario around the terrain, while C allows you to make camera adjustments to keep things centered properly. Z will act as the modifier for his familiar duck, backflip, and mid-air butt stomp moves. You'll use A to jump. With a little bit of waggle, Mario unleashes a spin attack.

There's also a star reticule that you'll have onscreen at all times; it allows you to use the remote to aim and collect stars that will pop up in the environment. They're as ubiquitous in this new game as coins have been in previous Mario games. Nintendo also announced that there will be a co-op mode, so that your friends, significant others and family members can take a more active role in the adventure, rather than just watching you play. With a second remote, they'll be able to waggle and finagle more stars for you, so that you can focus on butt stomps and boss battles.

While our build seemed to contain the full game, a software-based one-hour time limit was enacted as soon as we created a save. You'll have the choice of icon-based saves, which should help distinguish game progress in multi-user households. You can use Mario, Yoshi, Toad, Peach, or a Mii to ensure that another person doesn't overwrite your game. As the action starts, you'll be smack-dab in the middle of the Mushroom Kingdom's Star Festival. Of course, trouble soon erupts. It seems that Bowser has created his own galaxy, and would like to once again kidnap Princess Peach to show off his wares. With the help of some new interstellar friends, Mario develops the skills to jump from planet to planet to return balance to the Kingdom.

In order to do that, you'll have to collect Grand Stars, which illuminate the path to multiple galaxies. It's a similar system to what you've likely seen in Super Mario Sunshine, as you go from multi-staged worlds to one-offs to boss worlds in your quest. There's the Good Egg Galaxy, which has been shown off extensively in previously shown game footage. Filled with Goombas and Piranha Plants, Good Egg is a good indoctrination into the gameplay and new control scheme. Sometimes it's a little confusing, as Mario runs around spherical worlds upside-down. It'll take some getting used to, but Nintendo has done a good job with the adjustable camera.

The showcase of the event -- at least, the portion that Nintendo wanted to encourage most, before we went above and beyond the recommended amount of exploration -- was the Honeyhive Galaxy. Nintendo had previously released images of Mario in a Bee Suit, but the event gave media the first hands-on with this new costume. In the first stage, "Bee Mario Takes Flight," you'll learn how to use the Bee Suit to fly, crawl on honeycombs, and eventually help the beautifully rendered Queen Bee by scratching off the objects on her body that cause her to itch uncontrollably.

Fortunately for you, they're fragments of a launch pad, which you'll use to propel yourself into other areas. At the end of it all, you'll have all of the necessary skills, from flying to propelling yourself from giant vines and flowers, to take on the level boss, the Mandi-Bug, who, in traditional Mario fashion, gets faster and more ornery with the increasing damage he takes. Speaking of suits, if you check the game's photo gallery, you'll see screens of the new Boo suit. We didn't quite get far enough to try it out, but it's one more thing to excite us about the game's release in a month.

In another section, the Loopdeloop Galaxy, we tried out the new Manta Ray surfing race, in which Mario will have to beat a clock to win a star. It's not as easy as it looks, however; at the beginning stretch of the race, there's a 1-Up mushroom on one of the first turns, and you'll need it; we went over the edge on more than one occasion. You'll tilt left and right with the remote to steer, while speeding up with A. However, you'll be riding a thin aquatic line, and the waves are tough to navigate. It took us quite a few tries to complete the race, although thankfully, we beat the CPU's best time.

We played much of the Good Egg Galaxy during our first hour with the game. Due to a glitch on the Wii unit that we were using, however, the build of SMG autosaved after each level. When we returned to the unit the next day to play more, every writer's progress had been documented, so unlocking new worlds was a cakewalk, albeit a dubiously sanctioned one.

We tried out the Flipswitch Galaxy, in which you'll have a tricky puzzle to solve as you step on color-changing tiles to achieve uniformity and liberate a captive star. We jumped into Bowser Jr.'s Robot Reactor, a section we're pretty sure Nintendo wanted us not to hit. In this boss battle of monolithic proportions, you'll have to liberate a Great Star from the confines of a long-legged robot, while staving off the advances of some angry Bullet Bills, which now home in on our hero like heat-seeking missiles. We'll refrain from spoiling the details of fighting it, but we're confident that you'll be entertained.

After beating the boss, we noticed that the entire game takes place across a sprawling universe. Each section of the universe is something of a galactic cluster within this universe. As you collect stars, you'll unlock more galaxies, although Great Stars bring you closer to conquering the cluster and exploring more of the universe. As our time limit ran out, and probably to the polite consternation of Nintendo reps, we jumped into the Sweet Sweet Galaxy. Old-school Mario fans will go nuts for this new section, which feels like a familiar Mario 3D platforming section with some throwback ambience from classic side-scrolling titles. We won't, however divulge any more of the magic that will put a smile on your face as you play through it.

Although Super Smash Bros. Brawl seemed to be the highlight of Nintendo's press event last week, Super Mario Galaxy left an equally strong impression on us. While there might be some initial confusion for gamers regarding the feel of upside-down platforming, the gameplay feels very easy to pick up, perhaps even more so than the likes of its predecessor, Super Mario Sunshine. If there's one thing that we were a little skittish about, it was occasional bouts of choppiness during select cut scenes.

Whether it was a hot Wii cooking in a plexiglass case, or simply a build that was almost complete but not optimized, we're not sure. Hopefully, it's something that will be nonexistent in the final build of the game. We're really looking forward to playing Super Mario Galaxy when it releases next month, and we think that E for All attendees this week in LA will have just as much fun as we've had.