Pretty and colorful game with entertaining storyline, levels and bosses, but which has very limited attack controls and has very repetitive enemies. A very average beat 'em up game at best, but which is worth for avid fans of the TV show.

Casually, the greatest 3D Mario game.

The "gravity/planets" gimmick is done exceptionally well and surprisingly has very little problems with camera glitches, and doesn't get old. Level design feels perpetually unique and grand. Controls are exceptionally responsive, especially when playing on Wiimote and Nunchuck. The motion-controlled spin attack is very responsive and complex. By holding A or not, and spinning with one or the other controller, different heights can be reached, with various different response times. The skill ceiling for this game is very high, making it one of the most interesting emerging speedrunning scenes.

Being the first linear game of the series, for the average player, the goals of each mission is clear and simple. This allows the game to focus on gorgeous cutscenes, cinematics, camera angles, and allows the player to explore individual planets rather than a large open space (with the exception of some levels, namely Beach Bowl and Honeyhive).

The 64/Sunshine-esque "open world" aspect is not totally lost, though. The Purple Comet missions allow for a revisit of each level which feels not too distant from 64's 100-coins missions and Sunshine's blue coins, while having less of a chance of getting lost or being unable to find coins.

Despite being a linear game, Galaxy promotes exploration by allowing players to go for highest coin counts for each mission, by hiding secret stars in levels, as well as having tons of hidden places to find starbits. Unlike other linear 3D Mario games, such as 3D World or 3D Land, Galaxy lets the player explore the level without getting lost, yielding a perpetual engaging experience unlike anything else in the series.

The atmosphere of Super Mario Galaxy has been talked about to death, with good reason. The Mario Galaxy Orchestra's performances of Yokota and Kondo's music never fail to make each level so much more engaging. The cutscenes and camera angles feel meticulously handpicked by cinematic experts.

Exceptionally for a Mario game, the surprisingly complex storyline and Rosalina's character answer metaphysical questions about the series, and ask questions about love, family and death.

Possibly Nintendo's greatest and most complete Mario accomplishment. No filler, just complete engagement from the player throughout the entirety of the one hundred and twenty missions. A staple for 3D platformers and one of the most important games of the last generation.

Imagine playing this when it just came out in 1996. At this point, the entirety of your 3D gaming culture is limited to shooters such as DOOM or Star Fox. If you were an avid gamer, maybe you played the primitive Jumping Flash, but for most, a platforming game that broke into the third dimension was barely imaginable.

First moving Mario in Peach's courtyard must have been a surreal and unbelievable experience for the gamers who had the chance to live this exceptional era. Learning to move Mario with your 360-degree joystick, moving the camera with the C and R buttons, learning to sideflip, backflip, triple jump, wall kick with the game's exceptionally responsive control scheme is a truly unique experience for new players even nowadays.

As a matter of fact, no other Mario game (except, maybe, SMW if you consider 2D games) has ever had controls this responsive and complex. I've been playing this game on and off since 2013, and speedrunning it since 2017, and I always find myself impressed by its advanced tech: speed kicks, slide controls, backwards long jumps, dustless movement and lag reduction add so much to the game which which has virtually no skill ceiling. How the hell did they do it so well for their first ever 3D game effort?

The camera is a common point of criticism by unexperienced players, which is understandable; the camera controls aren't communicated well with the player. However, when one learns to master all different camera modes, the camera feels excessively responsive and free, and you will face very few awkward situations, even less than in modern 3D Mario games with more fixed camera angles.

The core game's levels feel somewhat unfinished, which is the only thing keeping me from giving this a perfect score. Don't get me wrong: levels like Tick Tock Clock, Bob Omb Battlefield and Hazy Maze Cave are some of the most creative and beautiful level designs I've seen in 3D gaming and it still stands very well to this day. However, some of the levels feel limited and a large part of the castle is uncannily empty, with very few enterable paintings in contrast to empty ones. I've heard that the game was initially supposed to have twice the amount of stages, but they had to cut down due to time limitations (can't find a source that proves that but I believe it). As a result, the levels can feel as if corners were cut, and will maybe leave you desiring for more. The incredible and perpetually growing ROM Hacking scene of the game can leave you entertained and fill this longing for new and more complex levels. Kaze Emanuar's incredible console compatible ROM hacks push the limits of what is possible with the Nintendo 64 and with the game per se. This game unintendedly grew to have one of the most amazing modding scenes in all of gaming, with thousands of creators making new levels, retextures and gameplay updates for the game. Somehow, anything is possible in this game. Avid gamers even managed to reverse engineer the entire source code of the game, making this one of the most well-understood video games ever.

Still, the vanilla game holds no boring missions and will print itself in your memories with some of its unforgettable moments. There are so many ways to play this, even with an unmodified game cartridge.

I strongly recommend playing this on original Nintendo 64 hardware. Playing this the authentic way with either an OEM controller or a Hori Mini Pad on a CRT television is one of the finest gaming experiences one can live. Still, Emulator (Mupen and Project 64 especially) and Wii VC stand up very well. Just have some respect for yourself and don't play on Wii U or Switch.

It is inexplicable how influent this game is in the world of gaming. All 3D platformers and a vast majority of third person 3D games owe their success to the developments of SM64 in movement schemes and camera controls.

The absolute finest and wildest multiplayer game I've ever played. Comes with 16 new unforgettable tracks, 16 beautiful remasters of old Mario Kart tracks, accompanied by one of the greatest Nintendo soundtracks. The mechanics of this game are the most complex of any Mario Kart game, giving this game virtually no skill ceiling. Online multiplayer, despite the official one being shut down, is getting more and more fun and active through Wiimmfi. The modding scene and custom tracks for this game are unlike anything I've ever seen. One of the most difficult but rewarding games to master. Playing this game online brings me some of the most addicting, frustrating and satisfying feelings ever. A true test of your quick decision making. A true adrenaline pump. Masterpiece.

Great and addicting online game that unfortunately offers very little content if you don't fall for Nintendo's online paywall. Story mode is lame and uncreative. It is truly a sublime experience online, but if Nintendo ever shuts down Switch online, or you can't afford to pay it anymore, then it loses all of its value.
Offline: 2.0
Online: 4.0

Unfortunately, without the Wii U's online service, this game holds very little value and ages very badly next to its sequel. Was a great novelty upon release, but ends up being not much more than a collector's item nowadays.

Unresponsive and awkward controls, poor performance, bizarre tracks that aren't fit for the vehicles and control scheme, and online play just never seems to work. Can't even get ironic enjoyment out of this.

A decent improvement over its prequel; this one actually functions properly as a video game. Online play is tolerable. It however suffers of a lot of the same problems as the first game, it's just an awful off-brand Mario Kart clone with unresponsive controls and forgettable tracks.

Holds an outrageous amount of filler content (ground pound moons, buyable moons, chest moons...). Lots of boredom and aimless hidden moon searching to reach 100%, a very small percentage of the moons actually come with a worthwhile mission worth playing. This being said, the controls are exceptional, level design is great and storyline is modern and fresh. The missions that are worth playing are also some of the best in the series. It's, however, likely my least favorite 3D Mario game for a home console; I would have expected more substantial content for the game and less repetitive idling and searching.

A surprisingly complex little game with a high skill ceiling. If you're into speedrunning, this can be a very relaxing and refreshing experience. Underrated.

For a game that is so notoriously difficult, it's disappointing to see how much of its difficulty stems in pseudo-difficulty: pick-a-path, find this hidden block, guess what the right decision is before the screen scrolls too far... once you know the layout of these levels, it's really not too hard, and is just an awkward experimental version of SMB1.
I really liked World 9, so I'd love to play the four bonus worlds, but I seriously can't be bothered beating this thing eight times in a row. So it'll likely stay as is.

I'm glad we got Doki Doki Panic instead of this in the West.

Easily the finest Mario opus on the NES. A great development on what the first two games had brought, with complex level design, vibrant graphics, an unforgettable soundtrack, and most importantly, diverse power-ups. Some of the latter levels are lackluster, but a great portion of this game is sublime. Much of what we consider 'Mario' nowadays stems back to here. Essential.

Likely the peak of 2D Mario excellence. Excellent and engaging level design, gorgeous and colorful sprites, lots of great content, especially in the post game, and an unforgettable soundtrack. Finding all 96 exits is an exciting and challenging endeavour. The switch to the new system adds saving and much more powerful cartridges, letting Nintendo masterfully execute all the ideas they had in mind while letting the player beat the game at their own pace. This game shows the potential of the SNES had as a gaming system, the amount of creativity the esceptional team had. Funny, gorgeous, grand and immensely fun. One of the great masterpieces of gaming and the ultimate bridge between the 80's and the 90's.

I agree with the general consensus that this is among the most complete and diverse city building simulators you can find on the market. The game is immensely complex and has a steep but rewarding learning curve, definitely leaving you with many freedoms in terms of design. Other than the fact that a lot of its marketing stems on DLC bait, and the fact that the core game forces you to build a city based on car travel (walk-only and transit oriented development is difficult to accomplish), and that zoning options are very limited, Cities: Skylines is a great simulator with lots to do, and even without mods, it rewards experimentation and gives lots of freedom to the player.

It is a truly exceptional and influential ROM hack, and it ages exceptionally well. It set the standard of quality for new, complete Mario games on the SM64 engine, and despite some annoying stars, it feels easily as accomplished as the vanilla game in terms of level design. There now exists many versions of this game, even one that is compatible with the N64 console of you own an Everdrive, and it feels as much like a fantastic add-on to SM64 as SMG2 feels like a fantastic add-on to SMG1. An excellent place to start if you have an interest for SM64 ROM hacking and don't know what to play first.