It’s almost hard to believe that it’s been a little more than five years since Super Mario Sunshine, and ten years since the Coming of Super Mario 64. It’s no secret that Mario 64 made the platforming genre and video games in general what they are today. By no means was it perfect, but it certainly set a standard, and it was certainly awesome.

When Nintendo followed up with a sequel in 2002 in the form of Super Mario Sunshine, many were disappointed (I not among them). While some criticism was certainly merited, such as non-diversity of locales, bad voice-acting and story, lame characters, etc., the game was still fantastic at its foundation and was just as tight as ever. Some also felt Mario Sunshine was too hard, I suggest you go invest money in NES games and then come crying to me. But I digress.

Despite all this, some felt worried about the future of 3D Mario games. Sunshine was not the successor to Mario 64 they felt it was supposed to be, and 3D Marios didn’t come that often. The name Mario 128, a “true” successor to Mario 64 was continually popping up over the last few years, and with broken promises and lots of hope, it never appeared at any show Nintendo was at. Eventually Miyamoto explained that Mario 128 was not a game in and of itself, but rather, an amalgamation of ideas for a new Mario. Fans did not need to worry though, for a new Mario was coming. At E3 2006, fans finally got their wish.

Nintendo blew E3 2006 out of the water with their Wii showing, and one of the headlining titles was Super Mario Galaxy. Mario was back and had no fancy backpack this time. Mario was shown flying through space and hopping from little planetoid to planetoid. Controls were tight, the graphics were fantastic, and the game received significant praise, including being Game of the Show for a number of people. Worry was still in people’s minds though, as they feared the game was nothing but these little planetoids and we would again suffer from a lack of diversity in the environments. A little more than a year after its E3 debut, Mario Galaxy has come to grace Wii consoles everywhere. Has it been worth?

That answer is a thunderous resounding yes, and any self-respecting Wii owner needs this game.

Super Mario Galaxy starts off with a happy-go-lucky Mario heading towards Peach’s castle. There is a star festival going on that is related to a comet in orbit that passes every 100 years. As Mario is making his way, an armada of airships begins to attack the area surrounding the castle. Bowser sets off motions that take the castle into the sky, a la Paper Mario. Mario jumps on just in time, but Kamek knocks him off in mid-flight. Mario awakens in a grassy area near some bunnies, and our story begins.

From this point on, Galaxy is a little light on story. Mario’s hub world will be a comet observatory in space, which, although mostly dark at first, will fling Mario to various different galaxies so he can collect Power Stars. Bosses will give way to Grand Stars, which will help to light up sections of the observatory. Most of the story scenes, if they can even be called that, are shown around the time of boss fights or with Princess Rosalina, the nice cosmic lady who runs the observatory. More background to her story can be told through some storybook scenes in her library later on, but these are optional and are done in a different contrast to the rest of the game. Despite being light on story, the ending is predictable, but at least pretty neat anyway.

Isle Delfino? Don’t worry, we jest.

Mario Galaxy’s presentation comes away as top notch. Menus and navigation are easy and look nice, and although the observatory can’t really compare to the awesomeness of the castle in Mario 64 (what can, really?), everything is set up great. Various rooms on the observatory lead to various galaxies, including a boss galaxy at the end. There are also some extra galaxies outside of these rooms waiting for you to open them up. The one downside to the layout of the game is everything feels so structured. There are some galaxies in a room, one will be a boss battle galaxy, two or three may be one-star galaxies, and then the rest are multi-star galaxies, one of which probably has a mini-boss star. Sometimes there is a feeling of just kind of doing “one task after another” as it were, but it’s also doing one ridiculously fun and awesome task after another.

It should be a breather to many that Mario works wonderfully with the Wii’s controls. Players navigate Mario with the controls stick and jump with the A button. The B Trigger shoots Star Bits, collected by pointing at them on the screen, at Hungry Luma creatures and at enemies (feeding the former, stunning the latter). Shaking the remote or nunchuck will cause Mario to do a spinning move not unlike his Mario Tornado in Smash Bros. The C button will center the camera on Mario (if able) and Z will let Mario crouch, allowing him to crawl, backflip, long-jump, etc.

The D-Pad will move the camera around if it’s in an applicable situation. Thankfully, the camera tends to be fantastic and rarely needs moving due to its fixed nature. Unfortunately, it is sometimes annoying when there is a spot you would like to move in, but it refuses to let you. These moments are few and far in between, and do not tend to be detrimental. Handling Mario is spot on in Galaxy, and the very beginning of the game, as well as the first galaxy, will help you get acclimated to the game’s nuances. In no time you’ll be defying gravity like you’ve been doing it for years.

An awesome game like Mario Galaxy wouldn’t be complete without a soundtrack to go with it, and Nintendo once again delivers. Galaxy has some of, if not the best original music in any game this year. The orchestrated music of Mario Galaxy will please your ears all the way to the end. Music always seems appropriate for the environment. Galaxy does away with the extensive (but not that great) voice-acting present in Mario Sunshine. Rarely is the voice-acting really needed since it isn’t heavy on story, but, but what is there is good. Mario has his usual wahoos and yippees and a few other noises. Several of the supporting characters also have various noises they make as well. For this game, that is all that is needed.

Possibly even better than the music, Mario Galaxy looks stunning. Long-hailed as beautiful since its debut, it has not disappointed upon its release. Galaxy looks truly spectacular, with lots of beautiful particle effects, detailed areas, and more. Characters also look good, with Bowser perhaps being the most stunning of all—actually looking and acting on a level of evil he hasn’t really shown Mario fans in a long time. This is the villainous King of the Koopas fans used to know, not the bumbling and stumbling villain of recent years (even if that kind of Bowser does have its place). Cut scenes are also extremely well-rendered, often making you wish that there was more story just so see more. Topping off these fantastic graphics is a silky smooth 60 FPS framerate. You just won’t want to take your eyes off the game.

Bowser looks pretty badass for a change, so you better watch yourself.

Locales are varied and beautifully detailed. Some areas are set strictly in space, but even these look awe-inspiring. Many larger areas are more diverse. There are staple fire/lava worlds and ice worlds, of course, but they are accompanied by many others as well. A beehive world, a battle dreadnought, a galaxy full of space junk, an area in a fall-like time of year, beaches, fortresses, deserts, you name it. All sorts of world are here and they all look great. Galaxy definitely does not suffer from Sunshine’s diversity problem.

Mario Galaxy has plenty to do, and just like its predecessors, gives you 120 Stars (Shines in Sunshine’s case) to hunt down. Only 60 stars are required to beat the game, but many seasoned Mario veterans will get all 120, with the difficulty ramping up for a good challenge after 60. Mario will also have various suits and abilities to use along the way. Bee Mario and Boo Mario have been some of the most prominent, but the Fire Flower also makes its return. Spring Mario (Mario wrapped in a coil so he can bounce really high) and Ice Mario (brought on by an Ice Flower) are also debuted in the game and make for a lot of fun. There are also a couple more that I won’t mention here, but are also neat. The suits are fun for sure, but a couple of them are little a disappointing—namely Fire and Ice Mario. These two work well and all, they are just time limited unlike the others, and it would be kind of fun to stay as these. That is a nitpick, however, and it hardly detracts from the overall game.

If you have a friend, there is also limited two player support. A second player can use a second remote and collect Star Bits, freeze enemies, and help you jump higher. It’s not much, but it is something, and with the right person, it can be a lot of fun. With the wrong person though, it can be a nuisance. There is also limited Nintendo WiFi support for the game, as players can send their accomplishments to a friend’s message board.

Once Galaxy is completed with all 120 stars and the game is beaten a second time, a reward is unlocked and the player can go through the game again using this reward, and if the 120 stars are collected a second time, another reward is unlocked. The rewards are neat, but many players may not find they’re worth the trouble to get (at least not the second one). I did both, and did so right after my first run through the game. Some may want to wait a while before the second run, and some may not bother, but I had a ton of fun going through the game a second time and I still feel it was worth doing again. Mario Galaxy is just that good.

A game that truly feels like the successor to Mario 64 has finally arrived in the form of Super Mario Galaxy. Every Wii fan needs this game for their console—no ifs, ands, or buts. There has been a long wait, but now it’s over, and Nintendo has delivered. Even more impressive is this is only Nintendo EAD Tokyo’s second project, the first of which was DK Jungle Beat, which is also really awesome (the bongos and game can be had for under $10, go buy them now). Nintendo obviously has a very talented group of people in its Tokyo studio, and every fan of the Big N should be anxiously awaiting their next project. In Mario 64, old school players of the game know all too well how they can go a long time without playing the game, then suddenly pick up the controller and play it like they never had stopped. Mario Galaxy, too, feels like it will be one of those games years from now.

Joe McCollum