Mario Galaxy was a surprise. It appeared in a short clip during Nintendo's E3 preshow, to very little fanfare. It uses largely traditional control, not the somewhat-expected "flick to jump" mechanic hinted at in promotional videos. Perhaps most surprisingly, it takes place in outer space -- hardly the most traditional of Mario locales. There's something about it, though. Something decidedly Mario. Even though there seems to be less actual platforming than usual, and even though the setting is so unorthodox, the charm and sheer playability of the series shines through.
"Outer space, you say? Preposterous!" It's true; it seems that a rascally extra-terrestrial has made off with Princess Peach into the deep recesses of the galaxy, and it's up to Mario to use his little-known resistance to explosive decompression to star-hop after her. The demo at E3 included a peppering of celestial bodies of various sizes and shapes. Some were standard orbs, others were shaped like known objects (like a peanut or Olimar's spaceship from Pikmin), and still others were basically convex discs, with different settings on each side. It was your job to skip, hop, and jump your way from planet to planet, culminating in one of three possible boss battles.
The crux of this system is per-planet gravity. Every significant object in space will pull you towards its center at all times. This means you can run around a tiny spherical planet as if it were a flat plane, and even run up and on certain walls that inexplicably have their own gravitational pull. If you find yourself flying freely through space, you'll be snagged by a passing planetoid and be pulled to its surface. You'll have to be careful, though, as there are things you don't want to be caught by. Black holes are the main offender, offering a quick demise by anyone unlucky enough to travel too close to one.
Planets vary drastically in appearance and population as you travel from one to the next. Some resemble Earth's moon, barren and cratered, while others are teeming with greenery, water, and generalized life. In an interesting stylistic choice, these planetoids are typically populated by the staples of the Mario universe, not just random sci-fi or spacily thematic items. It's almost as if someone took the Mushroom Kingdom, broke it up into a million pieces, and scattered the fragments into the sky.
As I mentioned before, Mario controls very traditionally. In fact, barring any actual attacking moves, the moveset is largely identical to Super Mario 64. The analog stick on the Nunchuk controller attachment is used to run around, and you can single, double, and triple jump with consecutively timed taps of the A button. You can also ground-pound, long jump, and backflip by mixing A with Z in the appropriate situation. Wall jumping works like in Super Mario Sunshine, where you'll slide down a wall after jumping towards it, but this time around you'll actually "stick" to the wall for a moment, instead of sliding down immediately. Lastly, in a clear nod to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (which was the last game developed by the Mario Galaxy team), Mario will slide up and over any ledge that he jumps towards but doesn't quite get high enough to clear outright.
While the camera does a pretty good job of pointing in an advantageous direction by itself, you also have the (often undiscovered) option of manually controlling it with the d-pad. It functions similarly to the C buttons in Mario 64, with taps left and right rotating the camera, and taps up and down zooming it in and out. You can also center the camera directly behind Mario at any time by tapping the C button on the Nunchuk attachment.
There are two major additions to the formula, each using the positional sensitivity of the Wii controller. The first replaces Mario's entire array of punches and kicks as his primary method of attack. By quickly jerking either the Remote or the Nunchuk attachment in any direction, Mario will spin in place, with his arms outstretched. This serves as a kind of "general interaction" move, and is instrumental in many attacks and environmental effects.
The second addition makes use of the pointer functionality of the Remote. There's a tiny yellow star icon on the screen at all times. As you tilt the Remote in various directions, the star will move around on the screen appropriately. It kind of functions as a "helper" for Mario, and can interact with the environment by being aimed at various items and triggered with the B button. I'll touch on some of its specific uses on the next page of this article. It creates an interesting feel, though -- almost as if you're playing both characters in a cooperative game. As you run Mario around with the Nunchuk, you assist him on the fly with the Remote. I wouldn't be surprised if the game's rumored two-player mode is in fact a cooperative version of this particular mechanic.
Welcome to Star World
"Outer space, you say? Preposterous!" It's true; it seems that a rascally extra-terrestrial has made off with Princess Peach into the deep recesses of the galaxy, and it's up to Mario to use his little-known resistance to explosive decompression to star-hop after her. The demo at E3 included a peppering of celestial bodies of various sizes and shapes. Some were standard orbs, others were shaped like known objects (like a peanut or Olimar's spaceship from Pikmin), and still others were basically convex discs, with different settings on each side. It was your job to skip, hop, and jump your way from planet to planet, culminating in one of three possible boss battles.
The crux of this system is per-planet gravity. Every significant object in space will pull you towards its center at all times. This means you can run around a tiny spherical planet as if it were a flat plane, and even run up and on certain walls that inexplicably have their own gravitational pull. If you find yourself flying freely through space, you'll be snagged by a passing planetoid and be pulled to its surface. You'll have to be careful, though, as there are things you don't want to be caught by. Black holes are the main offender, offering a quick demise by anyone unlucky enough to travel too close to one.
Planets vary drastically in appearance and population as you travel from one to the next. Some resemble Earth's moon, barren and cratered, while others are teeming with greenery, water, and generalized life. In an interesting stylistic choice, these planetoids are typically populated by the staples of the Mario universe, not just random sci-fi or spacily thematic items. It's almost as if someone took the Mushroom Kingdom, broke it up into a million pieces, and scattered the fragments into the sky.
Manipulating Mario
As I mentioned before, Mario controls very traditionally. In fact, barring any actual attacking moves, the moveset is largely identical to Super Mario 64. The analog stick on the Nunchuk controller attachment is used to run around, and you can single, double, and triple jump with consecutively timed taps of the A button. You can also ground-pound, long jump, and backflip by mixing A with Z in the appropriate situation. Wall jumping works like in Super Mario Sunshine, where you'll slide down a wall after jumping towards it, but this time around you'll actually "stick" to the wall for a moment, instead of sliding down immediately. Lastly, in a clear nod to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat (which was the last game developed by the Mario Galaxy team), Mario will slide up and over any ledge that he jumps towards but doesn't quite get high enough to clear outright.
While the camera does a pretty good job of pointing in an advantageous direction by itself, you also have the (often undiscovered) option of manually controlling it with the d-pad. It functions similarly to the C buttons in Mario 64, with taps left and right rotating the camera, and taps up and down zooming it in and out. You can also center the camera directly behind Mario at any time by tapping the C button on the Nunchuk attachment.
There are two major additions to the formula, each using the positional sensitivity of the Wii controller. The first replaces Mario's entire array of punches and kicks as his primary method of attack. By quickly jerking either the Remote or the Nunchuk attachment in any direction, Mario will spin in place, with his arms outstretched. This serves as a kind of "general interaction" move, and is instrumental in many attacks and environmental effects.
The second addition makes use of the pointer functionality of the Remote. There's a tiny yellow star icon on the screen at all times. As you tilt the Remote in various directions, the star will move around on the screen appropriately. It kind of functions as a "helper" for Mario, and can interact with the environment by being aimed at various items and triggered with the B button. I'll touch on some of its specific uses on the next page of this article. It creates an interesting feel, though -- almost as if you're playing both characters in a cooperative game. As you run Mario around with the Nunchuk, you assist him on the fly with the Remote. I wouldn't be surprised if the game's rumored two-player mode is in fact a cooperative version of this particular mechanic.