Mario Brings in a Happy Birthday
November 14th, 2007What better way to start off my birthday than to spend some quality time with Super Mario Galaxy (don’t answer that Megan)? The game simply drips in sheer joy and may be one of the happiest, most fun games ever made (perhaps actually giving increased meaning to the “UR MR GAY” ridiculousness). There have certainly been several amazing games already this year, and even more to come, but there are so few that so confidently revel in the sheer joy of gaming like Mario Galaxy has (perhaps the last game that I can recall is the original Katamari Damacy, a fun and innovative, but still far inferior game).
With the industry trend towards more realism, seriousness, and storytelling that supposedly is bringing “maturity” to the medium, Mario Galaxy simply bucks the trend and reminds us all why we ever started playing games in the first place. Bioshock may have been an important step forward this year for games as a medium to explore serious themes, but Mario Galaxy, with it’s effortless controls, gorgeous visuals, fantastic music, and outstanding level design, is as much a work of art as Bioshock is. Bravo, Nintendo.
Posted in Impressions, Jeff, Nintendo, Wii |
November 14th, 2007 at 8:16 am
I’m glad to hear everyone saying how great this game looks. Its a welcome change from most of the Wii games out there. Hopefully it will get other developers to take the graphics of games on the system a bit more seriously. I don’t need amazing graphics on every game, but it gets old to have so many games that don’t at least take advantage of what power is there.
Also, your article got me to thinkging, this is exactly the type of game I look forward to for a christmas game (although I’m picking up my copy today). This is just the thing to pop into your system on a cheery christmas morning in an effort to reclaim some of the feelings of youth. Games like this and how they make you feel are a huge reason why I’m a gamer.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:21 am
This was developed by the team that did Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, yes? Guaranteed excellence, I say.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Ludwig-
I picked up Jungle Beat and played through a couple levels, but ultimately wasn’t really motivated to continue. Not sure why, but it didn’t really capture me in the same way that Galaxy has already.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Man I am so jealous. I went for the 360 over the Wii, and I can’t really justify going Wii60 right now.
Maybe I’ll get it for my mom. She beat SMB way back in the day.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
cisco -
That’s an interesting point… I think I’d say that I have fonder memories of Nintendo games than of any other publisher or system, even though I’ve tremendously *enjoyed* plenty of titles. Nintendo just does a better job of creating happy games than any other company out there.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
@allanon,
Don’t fret. You have a lot of rockin content on the 360 lately or in the pipeline as well.
November 14th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Allanon-
I will say that, in terms of overall value, I’d still recommend the 360 to people over the Wii if they were trying to decide which system to get (unless they had more specific requirements). Mario Galaxy is amazing, but the 360 has Bioshock, Halo 3, CoD4, Assassin’s Creed, Rock Band, and Mass Effect, all this year. For me, the Wii still seems like the system I break out every few months, whereas the 360 has been getting almost sustained play since late last year.
That said, if you like a good platformer, that’s one genre the 360 has not been representing very well. Kameo and Crash ain’t no Mario. Maybe Banjo-Threeie will fill the void.
November 14th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Yeah, pure platformers are pretty hard to come by on any of the current systems.
Aside from Super Mario Galaxy, we’ve got Sonic the Hedgehog (err), Ratchet & Clank (which is more of a shooter) and…Crackdown?
Seriously, would it kill Michel Ancell to make Rayman 4?
November 14th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
“Seriously, would it kill Michel Ancell to make Rayman 4?”
He’s too busy making mini-games, something the Wii is in dire need of…
November 14th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
http://www.megacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/supermariogalaxy
this is fucking unreal…
November 14th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
okay, the above post is mine…
November 14th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
okay, WHAT THE FUCK:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/canada/story.html?id=4526da0b-a8f2-4d87-856e-7aa5af62bb40&p=2
quebec nationalists, i expect an answer. what the frag is wrong with your poeple!?
November 14th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
Mario Galaxy is really fun, and it’s surprisingly enjoyable for a second player to assist too — 2P can actually be really productive, and help 1P out a lot. My roommate saved me from death at the hands of the first boss. Everyone with a Wii should own this game, it’s one of the system’s AAAs.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I think people stopped paying attention to Quebecois nationalists a while ago.