I love this game so much. I just had thanksgiving dinner at a friends house, and afterwards we did Co-Star mode for like four hours. About half an hour was spent on a single star; the Lava Spire Daredevil Run. This is probably one of the hardest stages (in terms of taking damage) in the game, and on the Daredevil Run you have to do it without ever getting hit. Because almost all the enemies in this stage are the little fire guys which can be extinguished with Star Bits, Co-Star mode becomes really fun and helpful. I had to memorize how to go through the stage without getting hit or falling in the lava, and my friend had to memorize how to douse the flames of the enemies who were coming at me. It took a lot of trying and re-trying to get it done. It wasn't a matter of "figuring out" some secret, it was just a matter of practice. Like the Olympics? Anyway, it felt awesome to finally beat it and get that damn star.

But. Man. I love this game. And. OH MAN. The Splatter Matter Galaxy. The entire stage only exists where these water droplets fall. Like there's these little drops of water bouncing around, and when they hit the floor they create a little circular puddle, that then quickly dries up, and only inside the puddle does the 3D structure of the stage materialize. So parts of the stage fade in and out of existence as you walk through it, and if you fall off you die. AND THEN, you go down a pipe, and it's 2D sidescrolling where the stage only exists within moving spotlights. AND THEN you go through a vertically scrolling 2D part where you're forced to use Spring Mario who can't stop jumping (because he's a spring) and the entire stage is inside and upward scrolling existence spotlight. AND THEN you have to walk through a dark 3D room while the existence spotlight slowly pans over these narrow walkways, as Magikoopas shoot fireballs at you. SO AWESOME.

I wish I could rate this game an 11. It's not just the best Mario game ever made (including ... all of them) it's probably the best game that I've ever played. There are so many different elements to the game that deserve distinctive praise, but each aspect of it is beautiful, and all these parts come together perfectly.

I've never been more impressed by the music in a game. I usually hate post-NES Mario music. This game consists of mostly of remixes of memorable tracks from Mario 3 (!!!) and totally original epic-sounding orchestrated music (!!!). The best thing about the music is that it'll fade in and out and ramp up dynamically depending on the scenario. This is especially noticeable in boss fights, where you'll open up a small window of opportunity to attack the boss, and the music will ramp up dramatically, then ramp back down when it goes back to the normal fight sequence. There's even some points where the music is directly correlated to Mario's movements, like when you have to gather music notes before the time runs out, and each note plays a part of a classic Mario song. Or when you roll on the Star Ball, and the tempo of the music is dependent on the speed that you're rolling. The music just adds SO MUCH to the game.

And the graphics are beautiful. The bump mapping and textures and lighting are used to create super realistic (to the point of surrealism) settings that remind me of early 90s 3D animations that tried really hard to 'show off' how 3D they were. The caked lava looks like shiny chocolate frosting on a donut. The wooden planets look and sound like hard wood floors. The lava looks like what you'd imagine lava looks like, but not what lava really looks like. The whole thing feels like a Lego diorama of things from the real world, that looks more like what it's supposed to be than it would had they gone for 'realistic' graphics. It's awesome. I wish every game looked like this.

And the way the enemies and items look... Ever since the Nintendo 64 was announced I've been waiting for someone to make a game that looks like this, and now that the novelty of 3D has worn off developers have done what they should've done in the first place; Make hyper realistic 3D replicas of familiar characters and objects from the 2D games. This game has all the things that Mario 64 basically lacked: 3D Bullet Bills, 3D Goombas, 3D Chain Chomps, 3D Koopas, 3D Magikoopas, 3D Flowers, mushrooms, stars, ? boxes, etc. It's not that I want every single game to feature the exact same enemies and gameplay mechanics, but I (and I think a lot of people) have always wanted at least one 3D iteration of a 2D franchise to feature 3D versions of all the familiar items and enemies. This game is that one game. For all I care they can go back to Piantas and Nokis now, I just wanted them to make at least one game a nostalgia-fest. And I can honestly say I was surprised to find this in the game. I was totally expecting the Mario motif to be replaced by a space motif. I kept waiting for a sub plot about aliens to be revealed. Nope. Aside from the fact that this game takes place on planets (which even feels very Mario for some reason) it's a Mario game through and through.

The story is great. It doesn't get in the way of the gameplay at all. It's like they thought of the gameplay concept (which is "Spherical platforms with their own gravity") and the rest of the game and the story sort of evolved from that. Since you're basically walking on little planets, you need to be in space. Since Mario doesn't typically travel through space, he needs help from someone who would. This character is Rosalina. She has a space ship and she wants to help you. If you don't care about her, you can completely ignore her for the rest of the game and just focus on getting stars. But after you get a certain number of stars, new chapters on the "storybook" will open, and each chapter reveals part of her backstory. Her backstory is centered around a belief that when people die, their spirits go to the stars, which several video games have lead me to believe is a Japanese myth that only children believe, kind of like Santa Claus. Even if you're not familiar with this myth, the storybook chapters will catch you up on it. The story basically shows how Rosalina became an interstellar traveler, but also shows her belief in this myth about the stars and her eventual realization that it isn't true. This story is completely optional (you can ignore the library if you want) but it's the set up for a pretty simple philosophical statement made at the game's conclusion. Don't worry, it's not some convoluted Squareenix religion mythology or something, it's just a pretty clearly stated stance on life and death that I'm sure anyone (even a jaded atheist like myself) can appreciate. It was unexpected, but pretty.

But there's really no "plot twists", or dramatic reveals. There's no unnecessarily depriving the player of the characters that everyone loves (Toad, Luigi, Bowser, Peach). Every 'core' Mario character (except Yoshi, who I don't really consider a 'core Mario character' but I think a lot of people who started with Super Mario World might) is in the game, and their roles as character archetypes are firing on all cylinders. In previous Mario games they'd often take away the characters you WANT to see, and hold them in front of you like a carrot in front of a mule, making their appearance the sole motivation of the game. They don't do that in this one. There's Rosalina, but she's hardly intrusive--she's no Midna, she's more like Roll. Everyone else is familiar, and almost everyone is involved. Luigi (once you find him) will go on his own independent journey to collect Power Stars, and when he finds one, he'll send you a letter (given to you by Mailtoad) with a photo of his location, asking you to come save him (and the star he found). Toad's role is sort of a new role, but it's one I really like. Toad's not really a character (even though some people really want "him" to be), he's sort of more like a type of character. In Mario Galaxy, there is a group of Toads called the Toad Brigade that also travels the galaxy in search of Power Stars and Peach. They never actually find either, but you'll constantly bump into them on your quest, and it keeps things familiar and upholds a friendly tone through out the game. You never get the (sometimes depressing) 'loner' feeling you get in a lot of Nintendo games. Peach's role is pretty much what it's supposed to be, as the damsel in distress, so she's only in the first and last part of the game. This is also the first time it really feels like Mario is saving someone he cares about, and not just saving "the princess" for the sake of "justice." And every time you turn the game on for the first time, you'll have a letter from Peach with five 1-up Mushrooms enclosed, which is nice, because it gives you the option to start the game with more lives if you want to, since your 1-up count resets each time you turn off the game.

The difficulty is actually the most balanced I've ever seen in a Nintendo game. I died a LOT, but I literally smiled almost every time I died. Even when I died on the same boss over and over. It's never really frustrating. You're given plenty of chances to grab 1-ups, and if you really want to you can usually grab an extra 8 or so 1-ups in the overworld before actually entering a stage. Game overs aren't really an issue, you'll pretty much never get a game over. But at the same time, 1-up mushrooms never feel 'cheap' (like Force Fairies sometimes felt in Four Swords Adventures). The difficulty mostly comes from the new HP system. You only have 3 HP, usually. Under certain conditions, you'll only have 1 HP, which makes boss rematches more interesting. And there's a new power up (that I love) called the Life Mushroom, that'll give you 6 HP. This is probably my favorite power up. The way it's placed throughout the game never makes it feel like you HAVE to get it (like how Super Mushrooms feel) it's always sort of off to the side, and you CAN get it if you think you need it, but you can also skip it if you like the challenge of only having 3 HP. And it makes a really cool sound when you pick it up.

The gameplay is just perfectly executed. I was a bit worried about Mirkon's complaints about the controls, but I never found this to be an issue at all. Controlling Mario around the surface of small 3D planets definitely takes some getting used to, but it's very rare that the camera will somehow mess you up. For the most part it's just an issue of re-training your thumbs and your brain to use an analog stick differently. This is not a game where you just press the stick forward for 90% of the game. You actually have to move it in all directions. And it feels great.

Pretty much every single aspect of this game is perfect. I was initially hesitant to buying it, because it's another Mario game, but I'm really glad I did. This is an instant classic. I've never been more satisfied with a video game. It's just so pleasing on so many levels.

10:00:19 PM Brad: and and and
10:00:21 PM Brad: 2 player mode
10:00:23 PM Brad: is awesome
10:00:26 PM Brad: my friend just came over
10:00:27 PM Brad: so awesome
10:02:36 PM Brad: it was like, we were fighting Bowser Junior, and we were on the deck of one airship and Bowser Junior was on the other airship and he was firing bullet bills and fireballs at us, and Magikoopa kept appearing and shooting geometry at me, and I was dodging the attacks and picking up turtle shells and throwing them at Bowser Junior, but at the same time my friend was like shooting Bowser Junior with Star Bits to make him drop some loot, and holding one Bullet Bill so that the other crashes into it, and shooting the turtles before I got to them to make them stop in their shell, and stunning Magikoopa so that he couldn't attack me. It was awesome.
10:04:42 PM Brad: AND AND AND, there's these comets that will come to old stages and 'remix' them, like Speedy Comets turn it into a speed run and Risky Comets only give you 1 HP. And we did this boss fight on a 1 HP comet, and the boss was like a top, and he would send out all these littler tops, and the little tops can be killed with one hit from the star bits, but it was so distracting just dealing with the boss that my friend was like super helpful in picking off the little tops. And then halfway into the battle it sends out full-sized top enemies which you have to defeat by knocking them out of the ring, and while I fought the main boss my friend was actually able to kill them by firing Star Bits at them to push them off the edge.
10:04:45 PM Brad: SO AWESOME.

There's not much to say that hasn't already been said.

The overworld is basically structurally the same as Mario 64, but with a greater sense of organization. The inclusion of Star Bits is excellent, so much so that it kind of makes me sad that they wouldn't logically be able to include them in every Mario game from here on out. They strike the perfect balance of relevance and irrelevance to the main game to make an always-on metagame that makes the main game more interesting, because it's fun to multitask. As you're guiding Mario in one direction you seamlessly pick up delicious collectables in the corner of your eye. It works great. It feels so satisfying to pick them up.

In Mario 64, it felt like you were alone. In Mario Sunshine there were a few NPCs but they never really did anything. In this game the world feels populated with other individuals, which is ironic because they could really get away with doing the opposite, since it's set in space. But each planet has its local inhabitants (which, thankfully, are things like bees and penguins, not aliens and robots) and you'll often run into Lumas and a group of Toads who have a mushroom starship. The NPC interaction is really well thought out, better than Twilight Princess even. There's several different degrees of 'conversation', some NPCs will start talking (in an uncontrollable cutscene) the instant you approach them, some will show an icon and talk only when you press the talk button. But my favorite is NPCs that just start talking to you as you walk past them. I think the best use of this was in a racing minigame where you pass by some NPCs on the sideline and they cheer you on in little talk bubbles. The NPCs have great little sound clips, and are usually useful by either providing information or performing services. All Luma can apparently transform into all relevant star-shaped gameplay decides, and often saving a Luma means they'll transform into a launch pad star (or whatever it's called) for you. My favorite though are the hungry Luma that ask you to feed them Star Bits so they can transform into new planets, or sell you items.

The items are also awesome. So far. I haven't gotten the Fire Flower or Ice Flower or Ghost or Spring Mushroom yet but I've seen them and they look cool. So far I've gotten Bee Mario and Rainbow Mario and the Life Mushroom (or whatever it's called?). Bee Mario handles really well and feels really good to play as, despite it being a bee. Rainbow Mario is basically only used for killing chain chomps (which I still call "bow-wows" because of Link's Awakening) but it's still fun to use, because you get to go on a killing spree and pick up lots and lots of wonderful useless Star Bits. Who doesn't love Star Bits? The Life Mushroom is also awesome. I love the sound it makes (the first few notes of the Mario theme, but remixed to sound really intense), and the life boost it gives you is awesome. I like how you only have 3 hits, and how you can use the Life Mushroom to get 6 hits (basically like an automatic Phoenix Down) which is great for boss fights. There was one boss fight where right outside an NPC gave you the choice of buying either a 1-up Mushroom or a Life Mushroom, which was neat.

The 1ups are plentiful. And you die a lot. It works out well though. I don't think I'll ever get a game over or that anyone would. But game overs, like child abuse, are sort of this archaic form of punishment that no longer really needs to exist in practice because its existence in theory keeps tensions at an appropriate level. Even though you really cant get a game over, and the effect of one is probably no big deal, it's enough to make you not want to die and to make you want to go after 1ups. The 1ups are used as rewards for getting little out of place things.

I just got to the library and had it not been for Mirkon's warning I would be getting giddy with theories. I'm still confused though. Who is that little girl? Is it Rosaline or Peach or a descendant of Rosaline? I thought ROSILINE was 'momma'. Why did that girl have a mushroom-shaped space ship, was she from the mushroom kingdom? ARG. Also she looks like Namine.

At first, Galaxy seemed distinctly unlike previous Mario outings; even Sunshine had some areas that resembled sidescrolling with a third dimension, but Galaxy puts everything into a gravity twisting multidimensional planetoid. However, as I played on and got more used to Galaxy's mechanics, it started to feel much more familiar. The spirit of Mario, its breadth of available challenge, its demand of attentiveness and precise reaction, is all here. Though the gameplay is totally different, the feel of it is the same.

Here's how it works: the central hub world is Rosalina's Observatory (Peach's Castle). It contains several domes (floors), which must be unlocked by defeating Bowser and his bratty kid in a series of encounters. Each dome allows access to a number of galaxies (paintings), with a number of missions for stars, more galaxies becoming unlocked with more stars. At 60 stars you can face Bowser in a final battle, and there are 120 stars in the game. Click to read spoiler

And after finishing the game with all 120, you unlock Super Luigi Galaxy, where you can start all over again!

Getting 60 stars is simple enough, and while final Bowser is admirably challenging for a Mario end boss, most players should be able to accomplish it. But as with its predecessors, getting all 120 is rather trying, with a whole slew of them being quite difficult, and a handful of those, damn near impossible.

Gathering stars is rewarding not only for the sake of accomplishment, but for simply getting to experience the great depth of content Galaxy offers. There are 15 full-fledged galaxies with about six stars each, and another 25 bonus galaxies with one apiece; and though some borrow themes from others (for instance, two bee forests, and two penguin beaches), they are all designed to be incredibly unique. There is an astonishing amount of level design in Galaxy, and it's all top notch.

As far as the narrative goes, don't let Rosalina's "past [...] shrouded in mystery" fool you. This is (thankfully) just as meaningless as the story of Sunshine or Mario 64. There is some unimportant backstory to go along with it, and about fifteen seconds of spotty voice acting, but the only thing really worth noting in Galaxy's "story" is that Bowser is fucking evil! The last few years of games have painted Bowser as sort of a bumbling oaf, but in Galaxy he really means business.

And the soundtrack? Just as awesome as I had hoped. Remixes of old themes, great new compositions, and a dash of orchestrated magic thrown in make Galaxy sound incredible.

I hate to complain, but I must call out Galaxy's disorienting controls. I'm not talking about the learning curve, which exists, but is fine alongside the development of the game. The problem is that in select scenarios, e.g. with small planetoids and in claustrophobic water chambers, orientation and camera movement are totally bogus. The vast majority of the game is fine, and in fact I am endlessly impressed by how well it is pulled off; the game's demands upon a control and camera system are immense. But there are points where even the best they could possibly do isn't good enough.

Anyway, that shouldn't stop you from playing this game. It's just ... wow. The gameplay is brilliant, and there is so much of it, executed so well. Absolutely fantastic.

I was sort-of right. There are camera controls, in the C button and the remote's D-pad, but they're almost never useful. It's much better now with a more responsive remote than at the demo - but in general, the game's spherical playfield and outright denial of sensible gravity will fuck with your head, and in fact, the heart of the game (at least so far) is in getting used to this.

Even stumbling around a bit, the early stars are a cinch, and I really feel like I'm becoming accustomed with the game's mechanics. The instruction manual reveals a ton of things to come - there's way more than just Bee Mario and Boo Mario - and given the 'epic' nature of the game's intro and the sheer complexity of its orbital castle hub world, I can't stop thinking about what star mission I'm going to go on next.

The optional two-player dynamic is a great idea for the Wii. The game is totally possible with one player, and in this way, it is precisely what Mario enthusiasts have been waiting for. With a second player able to point things out and stun enemies (and perform even more helpful actions), the game enters a theoretical EZ-mode where any two fools can jump around and have fun.

The game's presentation is fantastic, but, you already know this. What you don't yet know is the sheer joy of seeing Mario blast through space Superman-style. I'll admit... I teared up a little.

The demo had a ten-minute time limit, which included 7-ish minutes of opening cutscene material (which is awesome). My timer ran out just as the space-princess started explaining that I need to gather something and be a hero or whatever crap. But of the time I actually played, I can sum it up in one word: impossible.

Maybe I'm missing something, since there was no instruction manual and I was in a semi-panic to do as much as I could with the time limit. But controlling Mario as he ran across a small floating globe was one of the most difficult things I've ever tried to do. The controls are the most disorienting I've ever seen; if there's a manual camera control, that might have helped, because one minute it was overhead and the next it was following Mario as he juked and jived along the perimeter of this tiny little planetoid, changing direction relative to the planet's center and rotating and revolving and Jesus Christ! I've never been so confused.

Of course, I still cling to fanboy hope, and trust that the game's real and/or final control scheme will be more playable.

Interesting, in all the video I've seen of people playing this game, it wasn't until just now that I saw someone use one of the key moves that seems to be the very premise of the game. The pointer not only pulls in star shards and stuff, but it can actually be used to mess with enemy AI. If the pointer is on top of an enemy, and the trigger is pulled, the gravity of the star will hold the enemy in place, but after it's released the enemy will be alerted of Mario's presence.

An example of this was that puzzle where the Bullet Bills patrol the spherical planet with the black hole center, and you have to get the Bills to break the cages. The Bill was unaware of the Mario, then he used the pointer to stun him, and he became aware of Mario and started chasing after him. The player then stunned the Bullet Bill in place and ran around to the other side of the cage and released Bill, and he chased after Mario, straight through the cage, destroying both the cage and the Bill.

It'd be interesting to see how deeply this feature is used later on, I can't believe I hadn't heard of it until now.

I can't wait for this game! Videos of the complete demo can be seen here, here, here, and here.