Super Mario Galaxy

Every hundred years a comet passes over the Mushroom Kingdom and rains down stars and stardust, and as Princess Peach and the citizens of the kingdom are celebrating the centennial event, Bowser and his legions attack by launching asteroids at the Mushroom Kingdom and crystalizing the Toads! Knowing that Bowser is after Princess Peach, Mario runs to save her. Things go awry as Bowser summons a massive spaceship, abducts Peach's entire castle and hits Mario with a massive magical attack. The next thing he knows, he finds himself on a mysterious moon high above the Mushroom Kingdom! Navigate Mario through a bevy of exciting new worlds and the depths of space, with all new enemies, power-ups and attack skills, as he collects the Stars needed to save Princess Peach! Two player functionality ESRB Rated RP for Rating Pending

The Best Platformer in Ages! (Aaron J. Thomas, USA, 2008-12-01)

This game has been acclaimed from north to south, east to west, but I'm going to go ahead and add my voice to the choir: Super Mario Galaxy is awesome.

It is every bit an equal to its predecessor, Super Mario 64, and perhaps a bit beyond it. The game is consistently astounding in its inventiveness, starting with circumnavigating globular worlds and progressing to flying as a bee, phasing through walls as a ghost, invading battleships, and navigating a windstream inside a giant bubble. The gameplay is never static, always changing and keeping the player engaged. It takes a great deal of will power to stop playing, as you always want to keep going around the next corner to try the next new challenge.

Visually, it's one of the most impressive games on the Wii. Viewed on an 32" LCD through component cables, it may lack the definition of a 360 or PS3 game but it will nonetheless leave you awestruck. Metal gleams, solar flares, gigantic boss fights, and enough color to make Crayola jealous. The sights pop, keeping the energy level high. The same goes for the orchestrated score, which manages to both create an epic feel (appropriate for the galactic gameplay) while at the same time referencing the music of games past, particularly Super Mario Bros. 3.

If you own a Wii, buy this game. If you don't own a Wii, buy one so that you won't feel foolish for buying this game.

I haven't been this entertained by a game since 1996. You won't regret the purchase.

Mario Rocks! (A. Mankute, CT USA, 2008-11-28)

My daughter has been playing this game for many hours, and can't stop! The graphics are awsome, she says, and the game is very interesting, complicated but just easy enough to pass it, and still to be fun. Oh, and my daughter is 12.

So much fun!! (Lindsey, San Jose, CA USA, 2008-11-26)

I've had this game since it was released. It is a REALLY fun game that reminds me of my middle school days of Super Mario Brothers. Once you get used to using the Wii controllers for this type of game, it's really easy for anyone to play. The graphics are incredible and the musical score is truly impressive. It still amazes me how much depth this game has. Even my husband and I will play this game together when we get to difficult rounds.

Beware that this is NOT a party game, just a really great Mario game.

i think I've played this before...but better (TheLonelyArtistClub, 2008-11-26)

Super Mario Galaxy is simply a re-imagining of Super Mario 64. The graphics are virtually the same (not that graphics are important on my list, but in a dozen years, I'd expect some improvement, especially with the media format shift), and Nintendo, whether because of format restrictions or cheapness, is still the only major video game company that can't provide a voice track. Before borrowing my roommates Wii to play this game I swear I hadn't heard chipper guttural noises in place of actual recorded voices in at least 5 years.

is the game fun? Well sort of. if you like Super Mario 64, then you might like this game. You can do basically all of the jumps from that game, but instead of the good ole punch you can now spin. The environment is even more 3D (Marion can walk upside down and on all walls!........) and yes, the option of changing camera angles is even more worthless than it was in the N64 game. In only about 8 hours of gameplay I've had to choose between ignoring a ledge I can barely see and leaping toward it and possibly dying because the camera pretty much refuses to actually ever move. Again, in a dozen years, you think that could be improved on.

The story is corny. Very corny. I would say at least it's a little more complex than previous Mario Games, but I'm not sure that the Mario creators should struggle with that. The 3-D environment just doesn't work for me. I can play a dozen different games on my XBOX 360 and experience none of the awkward perspective problems with Mario Galaxy. If I'm playing something like Halo 3, Gears of War or Oblivion on the 360, I never have to cross my fingers when I jump, because the system ACTUALLY HAS A PHYSICS ENGINE. It honestly seems like a crapshoot in Mario Galaxy when I make a jump.

And of course the game has to use the point ability of the wii-mote. The wii controller is pretty cool if you want to bowl or play tennis, but in M Galaxy it's just a hassle. So not only do I have to deal with horribly responsive controls, but I'm also supposed to be holding my right arm up the entire time I play and point and "star bits" nearly constantly?

Even the sound track of this game is unoriginal. In many ways, the producers have taken Mario 64 and combined it with elements from Super Mario 3. If you like Mario and already own a Wii, then I suppose you should get this game. But I don't understand how a glorified remake gets all of these game of the year honors.

Excellent buy for the Wii (Boston Book Addict, Boston, Mass., 2008-11-25)

This was one of the first additional games I purchased for my Wii and I couldn't be more pleased. I came at this game with a slightly different perspective than many other reviewers. I grew up with Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega, and Game Boy, but in recent years have not been so into video games. I've been known to play the occasional game of Rock Band at a party or to play The Sims 2 on my own, but overall have been out of the video gaming world for awhile. This was the perfect reinterduction. It's challenging enough that it holds my attention, but still intuitive and lighthearted enough that I find it fun and not stressful. This is a perfect game if you have avid gamers and newbies in the house because both will find something to enjoy. My boyfriend, who is a much more avid gamer than I am, appreciates the graphics and the challenges. While we do not find the co-op mode to be ideal, we have lots of fun switching off.
I also love how much variety there is among the planets. Each feels truly distinctive and challenging in its own way. I never get the sense that a planet feels like a repeat of a previous and am always amazed by the fun things the game allows you to do, such as flying around like a bee, surfing, etc. Additionally, I appreciate that often I am able to go back and forth between playing different planets rather than a more linear sequence of beating one level and then proceeding onto the next. This makes the game so much more fun for me because I know if I get stuck on a particular planet I do not have to beat it before I can try something new.
Overall I have been thrilled with this game and highly recommend it for someone who does not have a lot of video game experience, but wants a game that is both fun and challenging.