Super Mario Galaxy Review
Super Mario Galaxy is easily one of the greatest Mario games of all time. At least in my opinion that is, considering that this is my game review. As the third variation of a game starring Mario in a 3-D platformer environment, this game takes the cake in terms of game mechanics, replayability, style, and much more. In my opinion, it has basically everything that one would want in a video game.
The game opens as most other Mario games do. Mario gets an invitation to the castle by Princess Peach, thus putting the protagonist at the scene of the introduction sequence. One thing that really stands out to me about this game is how stylistically different it is from other Mario games, yet fundamentally the same. Often in the course of the game’s story, there are storybook-like sequences, and suddenly the theme changes from it’s normal peppy Mario Brothers kinda vibe to a very slow and calm theme. It even pulls at the heartstrings at points.
Towards the end of the introduction sequence, Peach gets kidnapped by the main antagonist of the Mario Brothers series, Bowser, the two of them plus Mario get pulled into outer space by a mothership. It’s this sudden contrast from this to normal Mario game story lines that really pulls you in and gets you interested in where the game was currently going.
After this point, there is a short tutorial level where you are taught some of the basic game mechanics that you’ll need to be using throughout the entirety of the game, and then you are given your goal: Collect as many Power Stars and Grand Stars as you can to get further and further into the galaxies (and in this game, each new level area is referred to as a galaxy) until you get to Peach at the end. It’s a basic goal for a Mario game, but the adventure to get to that point is one of the most unique in a Mario game by far.
Like standard Super Mario levels, each level (or galaxy in this scenario) has its own theme. A level’s theme depends on either standard tropes like dessert levels and volcano levels to levels that are based around specific power-ups. For example, one of the first levels is a bumble bee themed level because of a power-up specific to the Galaxy series, the Bee Mushroom.
Speaking of level theme and design, Super Mario Galaxy has some of the best visuals and an even better soundtrack. I myself have been into space themed things since before I played video games, so the starry visuals and gravity mechanics in a Mario game was a perfect combination. The music is extremely good as well. I still listen to Mario Galaxy music in day-to-day life casually to this day.
Overall, Super Mario Galaxy has been my favorite game since when it came out back in the mid/late 2000s. What makes this game so amazing in my mind is the level of freedom it gives you. As stated before, there are levels you have to complete to move on, but you are given the freedom to pick and choose which levels you want to play to move on. If you wanted, you can do them all in one area so you’d be able to skip one in the next area with the extra stars you’ve collected. This is a mechanic that has actually returned from the previous 3-D Mario Platformers.
In the end, I give Super Mario Galaxy a 9.5/10 for almost being the perfect video game.
