It had been far too long since I played Super Mario Galaxy, and I fear the in-between time hurt my original perception of this game.
Sometimes a game is so good, you play it once and never go back to it because there’s really no need. It’s the greatest game ever, everybody knows it, everybody says it. That’s how I remembered Galaxy, the untouchable holy grail of games. The best 3D Mario, a near-impossible task, and yet… my return proved me otherwise.
I will say that out of any and every Wii game, you’ve probably got the best looking and sounding one on your hands. An incredible visual appeal backed by booming strings, glaring synths, somber piano, it has it all. This colorful, expansive world Nintendo built in this game is beautiful. Damn near brings a tear to my eye thinking about how perfectly crafted it is.
However… I feel like anyone giving this game a mass amount of credit for its soundtrack and level design has not played Ape Escape 3, because I legitimately think there are ripped off ideas all over. The way the toy levels play out, the music in them, the doors and their opening animations, the style of beach levels, I can’t help but wonder if Nintendo also knows that Ape Escape 3 is arguably the best 3D platformer of all-time. They saw the space levels and said, “Yep, let’s make a whole game with that idea.” At least they used a phenomenal game to take inspiration from.
I also despise this fixed camera at times. Playing as a shadow for 1/4th of the entire game is not appealing to me, just let me move the camera on my own without any help. Sometimes I got knocked off of platforms because of weird enemy placement and poor camera work. Plus these enemies have some straight up bullshit animations that kick you all over the place on tight platforms and send you into a black hole. Not really sure what was going on with that throughout the game, because I don’t recall any other 3D Mario game being like that. Or the slow feeling movements of all of the water levels, and the confusing controls of pressing A or spinning to gain speed. Even Mario 64 felt smoother with its water controls.
What I do love is the fact you can leave a level or straight up just an entire galaxy to get a star elsewhere, because some of these levels are some real work to get through. During some of the second half of the game my enjoyment plummeted and I felt like I was just tasked with chore after chore of beating a bunch of levels I was no longer having fun in. Luckily it wasn’t the whole B side, but it was enough to make me sit back and evaluate if I’m just playing too much, or I actually don’t like what’s going on.
When I think of Mario Galaxy, I don’t think of largely problematic game design, but on my replay of it, certain areas of this game definitely could’ve been made better. Still, Mario Galaxy remains one of the best Wii platformers to this day. While I can’t say I love it as much as I used to, I’d go back to it without hesitation. It’s definitely flawed, and not the masterpiece everyone claims it to be, but even the worst 3D Mario game is in a league of its own. 8/10.
Sometimes a game is so good, you play it once and never go back to it because there’s really no need. It’s the greatest game ever, everybody knows it, everybody says it. That’s how I remembered Galaxy, the untouchable holy grail of games. The best 3D Mario, a near-impossible task, and yet… my return proved me otherwise.
I will say that out of any and every Wii game, you’ve probably got the best looking and sounding one on your hands. An incredible visual appeal backed by booming strings, glaring synths, somber piano, it has it all. This colorful, expansive world Nintendo built in this game is beautiful. Damn near brings a tear to my eye thinking about how perfectly crafted it is.
However… I feel like anyone giving this game a mass amount of credit for its soundtrack and level design has not played Ape Escape 3, because I legitimately think there are ripped off ideas all over. The way the toy levels play out, the music in them, the doors and their opening animations, the style of beach levels, I can’t help but wonder if Nintendo also knows that Ape Escape 3 is arguably the best 3D platformer of all-time. They saw the space levels and said, “Yep, let’s make a whole game with that idea.” At least they used a phenomenal game to take inspiration from.
I also despise this fixed camera at times. Playing as a shadow for 1/4th of the entire game is not appealing to me, just let me move the camera on my own without any help. Sometimes I got knocked off of platforms because of weird enemy placement and poor camera work. Plus these enemies have some straight up bullshit animations that kick you all over the place on tight platforms and send you into a black hole. Not really sure what was going on with that throughout the game, because I don’t recall any other 3D Mario game being like that. Or the slow feeling movements of all of the water levels, and the confusing controls of pressing A or spinning to gain speed. Even Mario 64 felt smoother with its water controls.
What I do love is the fact you can leave a level or straight up just an entire galaxy to get a star elsewhere, because some of these levels are some real work to get through. During some of the second half of the game my enjoyment plummeted and I felt like I was just tasked with chore after chore of beating a bunch of levels I was no longer having fun in. Luckily it wasn’t the whole B side, but it was enough to make me sit back and evaluate if I’m just playing too much, or I actually don’t like what’s going on.
When I think of Mario Galaxy, I don’t think of largely problematic game design, but on my replay of it, certain areas of this game definitely could’ve been made better. Still, Mario Galaxy remains one of the best Wii platformers to this day. While I can’t say I love it as much as I used to, I’d go back to it without hesitation. It’s definitely flawed, and not the masterpiece everyone claims it to be, but even the worst 3D Mario game is in a league of its own. 8/10.
BiggieZeke
18 days ago