It may be that I'm coming off from finishing both Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, but Mario Galaxy is a god-send compared to both. The controls are much more consistent, camera is much tighter, and there is just less unfair death, which was sadly too often an occurence in the previous two games.

The game is a delightful mix of both exploratory and course-based linear 3D platforming. This does mean that its relatively smaller size for each world makes the exploratory sections less fulfilling. However, this is offset by the masterful game design and pace, which urges the players to keep going, constantly surprised by a stream of new innovations and their genius applications, all of them designed for the sole purpose of offering a simple joy that is becoming more rare among games nowadays.

And it's also the saddest Mario story and made me a cry little.