Remember back in the day, sitting in front of your Nintendo 64, trying to collect the eight red coins, or simply trying to beat a koopa in a foot race up a mountain? Well, these days are back, as Nintendo has released a true sequel to the hit game, Super Mario 64, with Super Mario Galaxy. The game takes the best of all worlds with its gravity shifting, free flying, star collecting, and Bowser defeating game play. Gamers everywhere can agree that this game is unlike any other in the Mario series.
Super Mario Galaxy pushes aside other games by offering options unlike any other. Adaptation of a two player story mode allows gamers to battle their way through obstacles, enemies, stars, coins, and bits with the comfort of knowing that your friend has your back. The revamped version of the eight red coins sends gamers hunting for 100 purple coins in the most awkward and difficult situations. With help of newly formed Mario transformations, the game offers a variety of new game play aspects to help make the battle to 120 stars a little more enjoyable. Even the pickiest gamers can especially enjoy the new motion effects and graphics that help to make the game more realistic. These are just some of the ways that Super Mario Galaxy has managed to win gamers over across the world.
Super Mario Galaxy has one simple objective, rescue Princess Peach. This may sound like a repeat of every other Mario game; however the missions involved in completing your objective have reached new heights and new levels. The games presentation involves a few key elements. These include strategy, adventure, and action. The game then uses these elements in every mission, battle and obstacle that you will encounter in the game. Whether you are battling it out against Bowser, finding a path across a lake of molten lava, or hiking up an icy mountain, the game manages to throw every one of these elements at you at the same time. The game combines all of these very well and uses them in all of the right places, which is important to offer a good game that is not overly difficult but at the same time is still a challenge.
As you can probably imagine, the environment is outer space. Mario travels from galaxy to galaxy and from planet to planet in search of the 120 Power Stars and the 6 Grand Stars. What exactly are these stars used for you might ask? The Grand Stars provide power to the galaxy you are currently in, home of the Lumas and their leader Mama. The galaxy uses the power from the Grand Stars to provide power to another section of the galaxy which then enables you to gain access to that newly lit up portion of the galaxy. Using the combination of the Power Stars and the Grand Stars, you will be able to fly the once dark galaxy through thousands of other galaxies to finally arrive at Bowser’s newly created galaxy where he is holding Princess Peach as ransom.
Mario battles Bowser in a fight to the death
After reading all this about the game play and such, you are probably left with one conclusion … If you are able to do all these new things like have a friend help you, wont that make the game a lot easier? However, this is both true and false at the same time. Assuming that you and your partner effectively work as a team and are capable of working together to the point where you are not stepping on each other’s toes then yes it could possibly make the game slightly easier. However, if you lack the capability to keep the two of you in sync, which is true for myself, then you will find out very fast that the game can be very difficult.
This is because there is only a select amount of functions that the second player is capable to perform. These include jump, shoot, block and collect. The second player is able to help you by giving you an extra jump; no you are no longer able to double jump yourself. This means that if the second player double jumps you when you do not need it, it could possibly send you over a cliff and into a lake of molten lava. The second player is able to collect star bits, which can be shot at enemies opening you up to kick the enemy off the playing field. The second player also holds the capability of using those star bits to shoot enemies which can be bad if your partner is trigger happy or just likes the sound of star bits being shot at nothing. Finally, the second player is able to block some enemies. This means that if a cannon is shooting a bullet bill at you, the second player is able to stop the bullet bill and hold it in place so you can avoid it. However, they are only able to block something if their cursor is above it, meaning that if they move to block something else, the first one is released and now is chasing you. This can become a bad thing if a lot of items are being shot at you.
Also, along with the added second player, the game introduces two new Mario transformations. These transformations, in addition to Fire Mario and Ice Mario, include Boo Mario and Bumble Bee Mario. Use of these added transformations allows you to reach new heights and get through those pesky prison bars to rescue stars, friends, and more.
Mario showing off his various new transformations, includingBoo Mario and Bumble Bee Mario
Mario flies through space as he journeys away from an erupting volcano.
Although the game play and story lines are always important, there are other portions of the game that are equally as important. Without these elements, a game would simply just be a game. You might as well just pick up your stuff and walk over to your local arcade. What might I be talking about? Sound and Graphics! The goal of any video game is to make the gamer feel like they are in the game. This is no exception with Super Mario Galaxy.
As with all Mario games, gamers can expect to hear all of the classic sound effects as before. The background music in most areas is nothing more than re-used soundtracks from previous Mario games. This does not necessarily make the sound experience bad though. Changing the sound effects on a classic Mario game could go over as somewhat of a shock to gamers. Thus keeping the old time melodies of the classic Mario games helps create the idea that this is a classic Mario game and not an attempt to create something different. For example, if you were to go to a carnival, you would expect to hear classic carnival music and not heavy metal or oldies.
The graphics, as mentioned before, are absolutely amazing. Even most of the pickiest of gamers can agree that the motion effects and graphic content available in this game is something to cheer for. The improved graphics, as opposed to previous Mario games, allow for items in the game to look like they are real. The lava actually looks like lava, the water actually looks like water, and the fire actually…. Well, you get the point. The motion effects in the game leave you with nothing more to say but “wow,” and if you are like me, have probably sent your jaw down to the floor.
Unfortunately, any good game must come to an end. However, this is not always true with certain games, adaptation of replay value and other elements like those are sometimes used to make the game just as exciting if it is played again. This is most commonly used in sports games or multiplayer games where the game is different every time you play it. Thus it is very rare to find a story or adventure game that has a replay value.
However, Super Mario Galaxy has a sort of awkward version of replay value. Upon completion of the game, after collecting all 120 stars, a new game play option is enabled; you are now able to play the game as Luigi. This is all they tell you, which sounds great until you load up the game and find out you have to play the entire game over again as Luigi. The game is exactly the same other than the fact that you are playing as Luigi.
Most gamers would look at this and say, forget it; I am not playing the game again just because I get to play as Luigi. However, there is a prize at the end that might make you want to complete the game as Luigi. Upon completion of “Super Luigi Galaxy” a new mission is unlocked. This new mission leads to a new 121st star, so those of us who want to say that we TRULY beat Super Mario Galaxy must complete the second half of the game with Luigi and obtain that final star.
Super Mario Galaxy is a great sequel to Super Mario 64. Those gamers who have previously played Super Mario 64 should have no problems agreeing with me when I say this. Between the adaptation of two player story mode, sweet graphics, challenging missions, and dificult bosses; this game tops the charts and has matched up to every bit of the hype surrounding it. Both myself and my partner, who has helped me in the gameplay of this game, agree that Super Mario Galaxy.
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