Super Mario Galaxy is a two player platforming game created by Nintendo in 2007 for the Nintendo Wii. As Nintendo’s third 3D game in the Super Mario series, it is one of the best remembered games of all time. The game is filled with unique and colourful level designs as well as an array of different bosses, enemies and story content.
The game starts with a letter from Princess Peach, which asks Mario to spend a festival with her. On the way to the castle through the mushroom kingdom, King Bowser suddenly descends and attacks. Using a strange UFO, he kidnaps the Princess along with her castle, and sends Mario out into space, where he awakens on a strange planet. He will aid Rosalina to power the Comet Observatory (by collecting Power Stars) to travel to Bowser and save the Princess. The play of the game is heavily influenced by this, because collecting more stars means you can explore more levels.
The actual gameplay is very smooth, and simple. A lot of it comes down to basic controls and button-mashing. There are a lot of different power-ups that Mario can pick up, which have different affects. For example, picking up a ‘Bee-Mushroom’ will allow Mario to fly for a limited time unless he falls in water, or an ‘Ice Flower’, which makes it so Mario can walk on water/lava, and have immunity to fire until the time runs out. Other items in the game are coins (which recover one point of life) and star-bits (which you can use to unlock new levels). There are also a certain amount of levels in each stage, which are referred to as Domes. Each dome is in a different part of the Comet Observatory, with different levels that can be unlocked. To move onto the next Dome, you must defeat Bowser. Fighting enemies is different than other games. Much like in the original 2D Mario games, you must jump on an enemy to kill it. However, some enemies drop different items when killed. For example, if you kill a Goomba by squashing it, it will give you a coin, however if you spin into it (an attack Mario has in the game, done by shaking the Wii remote) it will give you star bits instead.
The style is very cartoony, however still has some realistic sense to it. The flowers and plants had leaves and shading so that they aren’t block colours. The level backgrounds (the sky) are even painted beautifully. It makes the game so worthwhile to see all the fun and interesting galaxy designs. It gives nostalgia to other Mario games, and also gives everything a light-heart, free feeling. The level design is also inventive. Some parts are 2D segments, but using 3D graphics. This means that they could include enemies coming towards Mario in the back, while also making sure the player can differentiate between foreground and background.
The music of Super Mario Galaxy is very cheery and empowering, even energising the player to play more, or making a tense situation in game seem even more competitive. The music is orchestral and ‘space-like’, which is why it’s one of the most memorable parts of the game. However, the music doesn’t distract from the levels, in fact it brings more emotion into some of them. For example, in Battlerock Galaxy, the soundtrack is very militant, and rough, which compliments the warlike setting of the level. Another example would be the boss fights. All of the music is very fast paced, and the Bowser fight music includes an array of violins, which give the fight the tension it needs.
In conclusion, Super Mario Galaxy is a gem of a game, which is still popular to this day. It is one the most well received games ever, and still brings a smile to my face whenever I play it.
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