Super Thin
Super Mario Galaxy
Not since the days of the Nintendo Entertainment System has Nintendo been so committed to the Super Mario franchise on its current generation console: 2007 was the year that Nintendo revamped the 3D Mario design with Super Mario Galaxy, and just six months ago the company rebooted the 2D design with New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Just a short wait later, Nintendo's returned to its first Wii Mario game to give it a second go: there is so much creativity, variety and challenge poured into this sequel. 2007 Super Mario Galaxy was brilliant, but 2010's Super Mario Galaxy 2 is absolutely amazing.
By now it's a given that any game in the "Super Mario" franchise is a project Nintendo takes seriously. Even last year's New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game that I felt played it a little too safe, was still an incredibly fun throwback to what made (and still makes) the classic 8 and 16-bit installments such timeless videogames. Super Mario Galaxy 2 has a stigma similar to last year's Mario game: the Galaxy design already wowed us three years ago, so Nintendo would really have to work hard to make jaded gamers stand up and take notice.
There's no denying that Super Mario Galaxy is the foundation for Super Mario Galaxy 2. The sequel uses the same engine, same controls, and same basic concept. So if anything, the reason why Super Mario Galaxy 2 is so damn fantastic is mostly due to the fact that the team learned from the first game: what worked, what needed fixing, and how to improve on such an already masterful Wii creation. The result of that effort is one of the most refined and most fulfilling videogame experiences of this generation.
The original Super Mario Galaxy Nintendo already oozed creativity as it evolved the once-innovative 3D platforming into something spectacular. In the game, players had the ability to roam areas that ranged from standard Mario-style levels to miniature planetoids with their own orbital gravity, while still utilizing the same familiar and refined gameplay mechanics. The sequel steps it up with more of what we got with the first game, while taking the gameplay in new directions with sharp and very welcome additions.
It's clear that Nintendo has put a ton of focus in structuring Super Mario Galaxy 2 in a way that's accessible to all, including that new "expanded audience" that's leapt into the world of Mario with New Super Mario Bros. Wii as its first real taste. This becomes immediately obvious from the beginning with the game's interactive introduction: players control Mario in a strict 2D perspective that harkens back to New Super Mario Bros. and beyond, putting "training wheels" on the character as the player learns a whole new control mechanism. Steadily, those wheels are removed as players are forced to learn the ways of foreground and background until, finally, Nintendo lets go and gives full control to the player. You tend to forget that not everyone grew up with an analog stick under their thumb, and Nintendo does a really smart job making sure this hand-holding is natural and never forced or patronizing.
This shift in presentation is also applied to the game's progression. Nintendo's Galaxy team simplified the way players move through the different worlds: it's now much more similar to the maps of the 2D Mario games, established first in Super Mario Bros. 3 and evolved in Super Mario World and New Super Mario Bros. While it drastically shifts the "explore until you find your next challenge" design introduced in Super Mario 64, I think it's a change for the better and streamlines the pick-up-and-play approach. If you, for example, stop playing for a extended period of time and return, you'll less likely to be disoriented like you would be in Super Mario Galaxy's visually impressive but ultimately overwhelming Observatory hubworld.
If it all gets too challenging, the game makes available not only Hint TV monitors to show players exactly how specific tasks should be played out, but also a "play for me" mode that's ripped straight out of New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Die too many times in a level and Rosalina – a character from the original Super Mario Galaxy – appears and asks if you need assistance. While the idea of a game playing for you might sound cheap, it's actually a very smart inclusion with an obvious downside: the star that's collected will be tarnished as a bronze and not a standard gold one, so everyone will see when you took the easy way out.
The game itself is just as intuitive and incredibly fun as it's ever been. The challenge remains the same – platform jump through the huge assortment of levels in a massive variety of different locations to get to the Star at the end. Realism is thrown completely out the window – it always has in a Super Mario game – in favor of truly fulfilling gameplay. Nintendo's refined Mario's control to the point where everything he can do can be pulled off with second-nature ease. And it's the little things and tweaks that you recognize and realize that Nintendo still "gets it." You can easily punch an enemy out of the way, but you're rewarded with a health-replenishing coin if you oust them the more traditional Mario way.
About the Author
I am Mohan read mathematics at Stanford and remained there for his MS. From 1998-1999 on researched in Evolution and in Animal Behavior in Camrbidge, UK. I was was then a professor in the departments of Anthropology and Biology, New Jersy College, USA. Now teaches at the department of Zoology. Carried out research in several areas of evolutionary biology, particularly in sexual selection and the comparative method.
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