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Super Mario Galaxy Appreciation Thread

Vinci

Danish
Burai said:
Simply, truly wonderful on every level. The best game I've ever played by a mile. It's the sort of game that makes you look at Nintendo's Q4 2008 schedule and weep at how badly their talent is being wasted on shit like Wii Music.

I didn't realize EAD Tokyo was making Wii Music. Good god, what is Nintendo thinking?!

EAD Tokyo isn't making Wii Music.
 

ghibli99

Member
My favorite game this generation, and easily in my top 10 all-time. Great work on the OP... it makes me want to play this game again.
 

witness

Member
Probably the best game I ever played, loved every second of it. It was impossible for me to sit there and play it and not smile.
 
TheGreatDave said:
If anybody doesn't think it's the best game on Wii they're probably mentally ill.
*facepalm*

Had more fun with Prime 3. SMG was good, but I got pretty bored with it after a few hours. Defeated Bowser, don't think I'll ever play it again.
 

Milabrega

Member
witness said:
Probably the best game I ever played, loved every second of it. It was impossible for me to sit there and play it and not smile.

Sums up my experience with the game as well.

Bold Statement: Super Mario Galaxy is the best game ever made.
 
evilromero said:
As short as the levels are they should have streamlined the menus more. It's not longer finding the painting and selecting the star. Now it's finding the galaxy star, clicking it, clicking on the right planet, clicking on the mission, then confirming, THEN skipping the intro of Mario flying through the air. It doesn't sound like a big deal but honestly, this is a Mario game and it should be no more than two steps to get into a level that takes less than five minutes to beat.

Yeah. The "mission" structure to it never felt right. Classic NES Mario was all about you being able to immediately hop into a level and tear through it. Loved SMB3 for that. You had the map screen and that was it. Pacing felt strange in Galaxy.

The launch stars always rubbed me the wrong way, too. They really threw off the sense of platforming. When there were no launch stars, I really enjoyed Galaxy. I loved progressing through the levels...felt like I was doing something. With launch stars, on the other hand...I dunno. Just removed me from the game. Turned me into an audience member rather than an active player. It disjointed the experience I guess.

I loved parts of the game...the music...first time I heard classic SMB3 music I seriously shed a happy tear. Certain levels were great. Certain stars were satisfying as hell. Loved loved LOVED the 2D gravity sections. Ice Mario was bad-ass...ice-skating hell yes. Oh and ice-wall-jumping on waterfalls! So freaking great.

But the movement was so strange sometimes. The controls on the underside of a planetoid when the camera didn't follow...ugh. I would have liked fewer launch stars. Clump the planetoids closer together if need be.

Jumping from planetoid to planetoid would have been great. Have us long-jump the gap. Or long-jump+pull stars. That kinda stuff would be much closer to classic NES Mario...and it'd feel wonderful. It'd bring me back to 8-1 in SMB1 where you had to run-jump to clear the large gap, land on a tiny block, then jump immediately so your momentum would carry you across the second gap.
 

Kifimbo

Member
Bought the game on day 1. Played it about one hour each day until I reached 60 stars and killed Bowser. Loved every second of it. Then I was sick for three of four days, then the next thing you know I bought Rock Band and started playing a lot of Xbox 360 games.

Fast forward two weeks ago. My Xbox 360 died. I decided to finally finish Super Mario Galaxy. At first, I couldn't believe how or why I stopped playing. I realy forgot how great the game is. Got the 120th star earlier thiw week.

I think the game could have been a little harder, but it was still well balanced. I didn't have much problem with the purple coins levels, even Luigi's level where I probably died 3-5 times. The hardest star for me was probably the Ghost Ship Daredevil Run. There was never enough room to move between the fireballs on the ground. Everytime I killed the two Magikoopa, Kamella would ressurect them quickly. And I just sucked at throwing these green shells.

Anyway, I will probably play with Luigi sooner than later. Is it really different than playing with Mario ?
 

Shiggy

Member
Kifimbo said:
Anyway, I will probably play with Luigi sooner than later. Is it really different than playing with Mario ?

No, not really. But it's funny to see when Luigi rescues Luigi ;)
 

Regulus Tera

Romanes Eunt Domus
Super Mario Galaxy is probably my favourite game since Ocarina of Time.

That's all there is to say, really. I hope the attack force isn't strong in here.
 
Criticism welcome huh? Okay then.

I hated it. It's by far my least favorite Mario game and it kind of killed the series for me, in that I will no longer be able to blindly purchase the next Mario game and be assured of quality, nor will I be able to trust reviews and forum impressions. I got 10-15 stars and then I sold it because I couldn't stand to play it for more than a couple of minutes.

By far my single biggest complaint is the reduction in health points from eight to three. It was balanced by the addition of checkpoints, but all that ensures is that you spend less time trekking back to whatever killed you. In Sunshine and 64, if you were good you didn't have to worry about death much. Sure you had to start the stage over, but death was uncommon and was almost always your fault. The health points were a buffer that allowed you to recover from mistakes. Galaxy made death common, essentially forcing you to replay sections despite your skill level. Two mistakes and you've got a klaxon blaring in your ear declaring your imminent death. Terrible, terrible change.

There are other reasons too, like the completely linear levels, near-linear progression, introduction of annoying minigames many of which featured godawful tacked-on motion controls, uninteresting overworld, and the introduction of massive amounts of text and unskippable cutscenes.

But come on. Three health points.
 

Gagaman

Member
I think my only problem with it was the same I had with Mario 64. Once I had beaten it for some reason I had no motivation to ever go back to it, even just for replays. A bit odd as i often go back to levels I enjoy in games and replay them. That's just me though, it is still undoubtedly one of the most polished games i have ever played.
 

AniHawk

Member
BobJustBob said:
There are other reasons too, like the completely linear levels, near-linear progression, introduction of annoying minigames many of which featured godawful tacked-on motion controls, uninteresting overworld, and the introduction of massive amounts of text and unskippable cutscenes.

The huge text and unskippable cutscenes was so fucking distracting. The set-up to access levels was horrible too. Go inside a building! Click on the star! Click OK! Click a galaxy! Click OK! vs. Jump in a painting and go. The worst part of the game for me.

But uh... everything else was really good. The linear progression was a nice change for the 3D series and I liked it because it somewhat felt like SMB 3 in 3D. The level design was ace, but unfortunately there was a bit of an extended introduction. IT REALLY GETS BETTER AFTER THE FIRST SIXTY HOURS PROMISE. Honestly, though the later levels blew the earlier ones away.

And I liked the minigames, but I don't see how they could bother anyone since I thought they were completely optional.

It wasn't my favorite game last year, but it was close. And it's the best Mario I've played since the NES. /counter-rant.


...Can't believe someone would complain about this being too hard though.
 

Teknoman

Member
Best music in a platforming game EVER. The N64 Bowser remix was great, the last battle was excellent, and everything else in between was out of this world.
 

Tab0203

Member
Vinci said:
Further proof this is the greatest game ever made: Tab's 'Best of Jump' Compilation.

Hope you don't mind, Tab.
Of course not. Scroll down the OP. ;)


edit

Remember to use Z (dive, hover) and C (reset).

2d8rplx.jpg


4lkivt.jpg


fk7ame.jpg
 

Christine

Member
BobJustBob said:
By far my single biggest complaint is the reduction in health points from eight to three. It was balanced by the addition of checkpoints, but all that ensures is that you spend less time trekking back to whatever killed you. In Sunshine and 64, if you were good you didn't have to worry about death much. Sure you had to start the stage over, but death was uncommon and was almost always your fault. The health points were a buffer that allowed you to recover from mistakes. Galaxy made death common, essentially forcing you to replay sections despite your skill level. Two mistakes and you've got a klaxon blaring in your ear declaring your imminent death. Terrible, terrible change.

All it really does is equalize environmental damage and enemy damage. As easy as it is to avoid or defeat enemies in Galaxy, you should be penalized more harshly than you were in Mario 64. And as far as environmental damage is concerned, in Galaxy not only can you recover faster - in 64 you must collect six coins to correct two mistakes involving lava or similar, whereas in Galaxy you only need to collect two - but you can gain more total life than in 64, because 6-hp mushrooms are very common.

As far the penalty from death is concerned, I almost never died through loss of life outside of daredevil runs - 99% of my deaths were from falling into pits.

You do have a point in that hearing the low life siren is more frequent, and it is annoying, but in every other regard I have to disagree - the revised life/damage system was a great idea and a change for the better.
 
Easily, easily, EASILY the best Wii-game ever. And most likely will be the best game until the generation ends, unless Miyamoto somehow manages to do an another Wii-Mario. Best (and one of the few) reason to own a Wii at the moment in my opinion.
 

Woffls

Member
By far my favourite game since Ocarina. Everything about this game was amazing, the sound took me by surprise (Gusty Garden Galaxy them was epic), the visuals were more embracing than most of what I had on 360, the gameplay was predictably flawless (other than camera issues). I got all the stars in this game, and I was still disappointed when I got the last one, because I still wanted more.

Even screenshots of this game make me happy. Must be the colours.
 
BobJustBob said:
By far my single biggest complaint is the reduction in health points from eight to three. It was balanced by the addition of checkpoints, but all that ensures is that you spend less time trekking back to whatever killed you. In Sunshine and 64, if you were good you didn't have to worry about death much. Sure you had to start the stage over, but death was uncommon and was almost always your fault. The health points were a buffer that allowed you to recover from mistakes. Galaxy made death common, essentially forcing you to replay sections despite your skill level. Two mistakes and you've got a klaxon blaring in your ear declaring your imminent death. Terrible, terrible change.
Wait, so you don't think not getting hit is part of skill? How is it not your fault when you get hit?

Every single boss in the game (barring comet missions, which were totally optional) gave you a mushroom to increase your health. Those are the only places you are likely to be hit multiple times unless simply not paying attention and they rectify your complaint.
 
AniHawk said:
IT REALLY GETS BETTER AFTER THE FIRST SIXTY HOURS PROMISE.

That's a long time to spend on a game where the first sixty hours are substandard to almost boring. This is where Galaxy missed the mark for a SMB3 feel. You didn't need to spend hours in SMB3 to get to the good stuff.
 

MGrant

Member
Yeah, I don't get the difficulty complaints. The game was pretty balanced; I can't remember any unfair damage being given. The low life siren was annoying, but Zelda and the like have desensitized me to it. I finished my first run through the game with at least 10 extra lives (would have been more if the game didn't take them away from you when you load a game) and my second with at least 40.
 

Pseudo_Sam

Survives without air, food, or water
The Blue Jihad said:
That's a long time to spend on a game where the first sixty hours are substandard to almost boring. This is where Galaxy missed the mark for a SMB3 feel. You didn't need to spend hours in SMB3 to get to the good stuff.



Que? Good Egg Galaxy was one of my favorites, and it's the very first one. Considering how quickly Battlerock is reached too, I'd say the game has a very even distribution of awesome.
 

Bamihap

Good at being the bigger man
The Blue Jihad said:
That's a long time to spend on a game where the first sixty hours are substandard to almost boring. This is where Galaxy missed the mark for a SMB3 feel. You didn't need to spend hours in SMB3 to get to the good stuff.
You are ignoring that getting the first 30-40 stars in SMG is a pure treat! All those gameplay innovations and jaw-dropping scenes the game shoots at you cannot be considered substandard. That is just a laughable remark.
 
120 star'd this back when it came out. I haven't touched it since. Popped it in the other day and I feel so good playing it again. Nothing really compares to it. It all just works so wonderfully. :D
 

Burai

shitonmychest57
Vinci said:
I didn't realize EAD Tokyo was making Wii Music. Good god, what is Nintendo thinking?!

EAD Tokyo isn't making Wii Music.

Way to totally miss the point.
 

Threi

notag
one of
the best games on the Wii. Tied with No More Heroes for me. Around 8-8.5/10.

The best game on the Wii IMO is Metroid Prime 3.
 

Shiggy

Member
I would have loved to see more "friendly" galaxies like Honeyhive Galaxy, Beach Bowl Galaxy or Sea Slide Galaxy.

Still I wonder why Peach sends me 20 mushrooms instead of 5 when playing with Luigi.
 
I played SMG in a game convention few months before Wii came out and I was stunned, floored. All I wanted to do is get back to the console to play it again, even if I had to wait 30mins again. Even the demo had multiple routes and bosses. Other games shown were Metroid Prime 3, Legend Of Zelda:TP, Wario Ware, Excite Truck and Wii Sports (maybe Strikers too, or it was an demoreel). First I got to play Mario and it was all that I had hoped. Then Zelda:TP and wow, stunned again. Lines were so long, but I watched people playing through the MP3, Mario, Zelda demos multiple times. The controller was smaller than I expected too.

360 had come out already so the other big spectacle was PS3, but sadly, I didn't get to play it because lines were so damn long and only 4 or so consoles showed up or so. But whatever, I was really hyped about Wii since then, it had an amazing launch lineup and the support looked great...

Until the console actually launched: I got TP on launch for Gamecube and suddently Mario and Metroid were both year away. And I still don't own a Wii.
 

diunxx

Member
I'm going to finish this game for the first time today and I honestly not see where all the gotf talk came, still a great game and definitively my favorite 3d mario:D
 

marwan

Banned
my only grip with SMG is that i wish it was harder, as in Mario Sunshine hard, LPC(luigi's purple coin) was the only level in SMG that made me break a sweat, the rest was dead easy.
 

lopaz

Banned
Mmm my one problem is that by the time the difficulty reaches a good level, you've seen everything, it's just the comet levels left. The standard levels and particularly the boss fights ended up being boring just cause there were coins everywhere so you never died.
But yeah, it's great.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Best game since Majora's Mask. Had such a blast with it, and I'm slowly trying to get all 120 with Luigi.
 

Johnas

Member
I too think it's a little early, but it's a great op, good job ziran.

I have gotten 120 stars six times so far, five with Mario and once with Luigi. I don't plan on playing through with him again, Mario's control feels perfect.

It's a fantastic game, but for some intangible overall reason I prefer Mario 64. Mario 64 was not my first 3D game, or even my first 3D Mario (played Sunshine first) so it's not a nostalgia thing, I'm not really quite sure what it is.

If I could change anything, I'd reduce quite a bit of the sugary sweetness in parts (particularly all the squeals and sounds the stars make when they transform), and Anihawk has a great point on the repeated hoops you're required to jump through when going back to certain galaxies. I also felt a little disappointed that they had to have one galaxy that felt like recycling (Gold Leaf) although I'm sure that's been mentioned already, as well as a little bit of boss recycling.

If Nintendo is indeed making a semi-direct sequel to this game, I'd love to see Mario have a rocket pack of some kind on some levels, like Fludd in Sunshine. I just think it'd fit the whole space theme perfectly. Maybe fly around with it like the red star let you do in Galaxy. Whatever they do, they've got a really tough game to try to top.
 

marwan

Banned
lopaz said:
Mmm my one problem is that by the time the difficulty reaches a good level, you've seen everything, it's just the comet levels left. The standard levels and particularly the boss fights ended up being boring just cause there were coins everywhere so you never died.
But yeah, it's great.


true, the last few levels were mildly challenging, the res is a piece of cake. and yah the boss fight, although great bosses, are way too easy thanks to the coins around.
 
I stopped playing Galaxy after I collected about 50 stars and played a level last week when a friend came over. It was the level where you get the spring for the first time, I suck at springing Mario :X

I did decide that I will continue (and finish) the game once Lost Odyssey is done though. LOVE the atmosphere of the game!
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
marwan said:
my only grip with SMG is that i wish it was harder, as in Mario Sunshine hard, LPC(luigi's purple coin) was the only level in SMG that made me break a sweat, the rest was dead easy.
Wait, what? The game wasn't that hard but Sunshine was MUCH easier.
 

Ysiadmihi

Banned
jj984jj said:
Wait, what? The game wasn't that hard but Sunshine was MUCH easier.

I think the Fludd-less levels make Sunshine more difficult than Galaxy, even if there were only a handful of them.
 
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