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All the way back in 2010, me and my brother were gifted a Wii during our first week of school that Fall. I had just started the 5th grade and a week or two prior I had rented and played a chunk of Super Mario Galaxy 2 on my dad's friend's Wii during a beach trip. I absolutely loved what I played of it but after the trip was over, I had to return the game back to the rental store and of course the Wii was not mine, so I craved more. Like I said, my dad gifted us a Wii and with it was Super Mario Galaxy. My brother got the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs game so it's pretty clear only one of us got a quality title. I was infactuated with this game. I can still remember running home from school, going right to my Wii as I couldn't wait to play it any longer. I'd wake up super early on weekends too just to play more. This and Galaxy 2 were basically the first non-licensed game's I truly loved and I'm very thankful for that as it made me want to play more Nintendo titles afterwards. As you can see I adore this game, let's talk about why!

I think the defining factor as to why people love this game so much (besides the story) is it's atmosphere and portrayal of space. Sure, you have more goofy or lighthearted galaxies like Honeyhive or Beach Bowl that wouldn't feel out of place in another game. But a good chunk of the galaxies in this game, as well as the Comet Observatory, just have this really unique emptyness or marvel that really makes you feel like you're in space. Take Space Junk Galaxy for example. It's a very serene and solemn galaxy where most of the setting is literal space with some junk spread throughout just like the name implies and it's very relaxing to go through. A lot of the time I would just go into first person and marvel at the scope of all the planets or just look at the different skyboxes each galaxy has. Even on this playthrough, when I've played this game countless times, I still did this..it just never gets old to me.

As I said, the story is probably the other aspect people love about this game the most. It's still a Mario game so don't expect something mind-blowing but the cutscenes that are here are all great. Be it the beginning cutscene where Mario gets shot at by a magikoopa and gets flung to the starting planet while Peach screams his name, to the ending cutscene where all the Luma's save the entire universe by sacrificing themselves. It's just all so well done. Granted, these cutscenes only really happen at the beginning and end of the game, but it's what's contained in them that matters and it's the single best story in any mainline Mario game hands down. That's not even getting into the optional Rosalina's storybook which is in itself the single best part of the story. It just adds that extra depth to her character and let's you see who she is and how she got there. And even replaying it now, I still teared up...it's that good.

The OST I also think is the single best soundtrack in any Mario game. It has it all, it has catchy songs, it has majestic songs, it has atmospheric songs, it has emotional songs. I love Galaxy 2's OST too but it doesn't top 1 in my opinion and I think that's specifically because 2 doesn't have those emotional/sad songs which I value a bunch nowadays. Those would be A Wish, Sad Girl, and Family. Those last two especially, goddamn dude, I always can't help but get emotional when I hear them. Some other more lighthearted songs I love are Gusty Garden obviously, Melty Molten Galaxy, Buoy Base Galaxy and The Comet Observatory. All in all, an absolutely fantastic soundtrack.

As for the galaxies themselves...they're good! There may be some I'm not the biggest fan of, mostly the beach/bee galaxies and that's mostly because they reuse that theme twice which kinda stinks. But in general the galaxies are quite good even if they're aren't a ton of main one's. In that regard, 2 still does it better because there's way more fun and varied galaxies in that one, but 1 still has some really great levels to play around in. My favorites were Gusty Garden, Buoy Base, Freezeflame, Melty Molten and Space Junk. Special mention to Toy Time too for being so wacky and fun. Though, honestly another small critique I have with the game is the prankster comets. I'm fine with the purple coin ones but for the ones you playthrough your first time through before Bowser, there only being 4 types is kinda lame. 2 fixed this somewhat by adding more types and making it less obvious what it's gonna be but I felt it was worth pointing out. I will also say, people saying the movement in this game sucks I will never get. Is it better than Odyssey's? Definitely not but I still think it's a ton of fun to play around with the gravity. That's just me at least.

So yeah, I know I gave a criticism or two but I still absolutely adore this game and 2 fixes those issues I have and I sort of group them together as one game so it balances each others faults out. It and Galaxy 2 are basically my favorite games ever and I go back and forth on which one I prefer regularly for different reasons so I usually group them together even if both give pretty different gaming experiences. Either way, this game means everything to me and it's a must play for every gamer I think. I love it so much. Anyways, figured I'd go and replay 2 while I'm at it so look for that review soon!

Also forgot to say, I played as Luigi this time around. He's fun to play as even if he is slippery cuz his jumps are much larger. The reward you get for 100%ing both Mario and Luigi is lame as hell though and definitely was improved in 2.

You guys spent $70 on Bad Piggies

Can’t wait until Palworld kills this mid franchise

It is both refreshing and damning that the game had to relinquish most of its control in favour of the player in order for a pokemon game to have good pacing

On replay a few months down the line from release, with an all bug team for added challenge, I am kind of astonished just how much this game works for me in ways that the other entries in the series (which I have been playing since I was 10 years old) kinda dont. Part of it is the novelty certainly, I have replayed Fire Red, Platinum and Emerald far too much to enjoy them without some insane challenge run condition.

I am almost hesitant to admit how much I credit the enjoyment of this game to its transition to an open world format when this very trend has become fairly tiresome in contemporary videogames, ruining the appeal of previously strictly linear and tightly designed games in favour of a miopic "bigger = better" attitude.

But it really is the case here! And on replay I think I have realised why in ways that are quite damning to the franchise. First and foremost : praise be to whomever decided to make trainer battles optional. I hadnt realized just how much of my playthroughs of these games are slowly sapped of energy by the insistence of forcing you to fight boring, slow, uninteresting battles in sequence. There is nothing to them! Admittedly I think most fan games go too far in the opposite direction, making even early game teams be squads of 6 perfect IV mons with all sitrus berries to make everything even more drawn out. They do however at least recognize that there is a problem in need of fixing! And yes, I do know that pokemon is a childrens franchise but this isnt even a matter of difficulty really.

Another thing that the open world rid of random encounters in favour of overworld ones is just how much it enhances the core appeal of inhabiting a sort of monster safari, the interactions between pokemon and humans are admittedly underexplored but they make up for it in a sort of documentary naturalism that was lost in the originals for me. Its hard to explain why. But the inherent abstraction and separation of battle and gameworld in the previous games (I havent played gen 6 or much of 7) made it harder for that to really sink in, especially cause the way the games were built made me view the pokemon in wild areas as mostly purely mechanical i.e exp, items etc. This carries over a bit especially with the autobattle mechanics and associated grinding of pokemon loot drops for TMs (lets not even get in to the implications).

I'll give an example : in gen 5 there is a sewer the game forces you to go into for story progression, in it there are random encounters with zubats, grimers etc. What did I think about this when I played this section? Nothing, I was there for a checklist, grind exp, defeat a rocket grunt, maybe catch a good pokemon if it randomly appeared (this was not likely as stronger and rarer pokemon had low odds of appearing) and thats it, leave and never come back. Hell, I might buy some repels to minimize how many encounters I got.

Compare this to an experience I had in pokemon Violet when I was exploring at night after a team star raid and spotted bright spotlights in the distance, reminiscent of the lucky 38 in New Vegas. I traveled near it, catching pokemon along the way and battling 0 trainers. As I got near to the bright and bustling metropolis I spotted some items near the coastal outskirts of the city, which is seemingly partly built on a platform above the water level. There were a whole bunch of grimer everywhere! "Hmm, wow I guess the sheer amount of energy this city needs creates a bunch of pollution huh?" I thought. Thats the experience that pokemon SHOULD be all about, but imo has never been able to fully deliver.

The soundtrack is excellent and now seemingly the most glaring technical flaws have been ironed out (the game didnt crash, huzzah). On a second playthrough the story is a bit less interesting and still only good by pokemon's abysmal standards but other than the clunky team star storyline the rest of the game is convincing in this aspect. A note on rivals in pokemon : theyre all bad except for Nemona, I will not be accepting questions at this stage. Well, the first rival is okay in what he was meant to do, and N was a... good effort attempt? At what that story was trying to do but honestly I think Hugh is more compelling.

Anyways, see yall when the DLC drops, maybe.

This is the best Pokemon game that has been made in over a decade, many will see it as a technical failure but the "bugs" are either minor inconveniences or hilarious moments.

Baxcalibur carries

probably best pokemon game I've finished, played on poopoo (Yuzu) emulator so probably hampered my experience...

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