Mario games are weird and fascinating and incredible for many different reasons, and each one of them is particularly brilliant in one creative field or another. For example: the recent Super Mario Odyssey is a perfect exploration of all the things Mario can be and all the ways he can move. Through this frame of reference, one can say — and in fact, I am saying it — that Super Mario Galaxy is the absolute best Mario game at exploring all the places Mario can navigate.

From short and linear two-dimensional stages to free-flowing flying courses, from chill flat gardens to cylindrical puzzle boxes, from an interconnected semi-realistic architectural space to an ethereal cube with some coins in it, from water that behaves normally from water that just floats in the middle of somewhere, everything is fair game in Super Mario Galaxy. Everything. You want to put lava in direct contact with ice? Sure. You want to invert gravity for absolutely no particular reason in just this specific spot? Just do it.

Mario Galaxy is Nintendo at the absolute top of its level design game. Because not only are these sets and settings inventive, but they all work in favor of bringing about great gameplay. In Mario Odyssey, Nintendo made a ton of great moves for Mario and then made a few stages in which he could do its thing; in Galaxy, Nintendo gave Mario a fairly basic set of moves but made a million of completely different and absolutely incredible spaces in which he could shine.

And, level design being one of my favorite disciplines in game design, of course I'm all over this. It's my favorite Mario ever.