One of the first things I ever read about Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto was an interview in the Super Mario World player's guide that Nintendo Power put out in the early 1990s. In it he left us with one of his most famous quotes, paraphrased from my own memory as "wouldn't it be fun to have a world of playgrounds at your fingertips?" This question is definitively answered with Super Mario Galaxy, a game that takes hundreds of Mario worlds and exists quite literally as a cascade of Miyamoto's playgrounds exploded into space—all in a format that suits them perfectly.
What sets Super Mario Galaxy apart from literally all other Mario outings is how this format can be utilized to create a variety of gameplay challenges and experiences not solely dependent on a static environment. Now we can have a level consisting of a multitude of small planets, each presenting a new concept.
The demo that was presented this July offered a gilmpse into how these concepts will work together cohesively in a way we didn't see last May during the first public exhibition of the game. One series of planets in particular sees you hurling Mario from star to star with the remote's pointer like a slingshot slug. Once you arrive on the next spherical mass, you're treated to magnetic platforms that spiral into place as you approach the paths they service, only for them to flip back away once you're no longer near them.
Another series of obstacles sees Mario don one of his first original "suits" since the NES era in the form of the Bee Suit, which allows Mario not only to scale honeycomb-shaped walls in a particular environment, but to hover away from the individual gravity of specific planets, a feeling that resonates as strongly as it did the first time you flew up against it with the Raccoon tail. Only this time it's not just up, but out, and it feels like three-dimensional gaming has been trying to feel since its inception.
An enjoyable addition to the game is the option to bring another person along to the playground, with a second remote pointer serving as a sort of non-intrusive but functional means of interaction. The second player can toss tiny stars that Mario has acquired merely by pointing and clicking, stunning some enemies in a form of veritable shooting gallery that is sure to be loads of fun for inexperienced players or other gamers who just want in on the action. The second player can also freeze objects by moving the pointer over them, preventing obstacles and projectiles from colliding with our mustachioed hero. It is an addition that sounds peculiar in theory but seems effortless in execution, a profound look into the ideas of gaming accessible to everyone from novices to long-time players.
Rounding off the experience is the scope finally afforded with the power of the Wii system—all of the planets in a particular cluster remain in view and depth-of-field blurred behind you while the fully spherical starfields and skies color the background. Lighting from the stars you seek enhances the look and feel of the game even more, with sparkles, shimmers, and flashes going off exactly when they need to.
It is possible that a game like Super Mario Galaxy is what Shigeru Miyamoto has always had in mind when he speaks of playgrounds at our fingertips, every distraction offering another new way to be entertained. If the demo version is any indication, long-time gamers and new players alike will all have much more entertainment at their fingertips when Galaxy releases in mid-November.
What sets Super Mario Galaxy apart from literally all other Mario outings is how this format can be utilized to create a variety of gameplay challenges and experiences not solely dependent on a static environment. Now we can have a level consisting of a multitude of small planets, each presenting a new concept.
The demo that was presented this July offered a gilmpse into how these concepts will work together cohesively in a way we didn't see last May during the first public exhibition of the game. One series of planets in particular sees you hurling Mario from star to star with the remote's pointer like a slingshot slug. Once you arrive on the next spherical mass, you're treated to magnetic platforms that spiral into place as you approach the paths they service, only for them to flip back away once you're no longer near them.
Another series of obstacles sees Mario don one of his first original "suits" since the NES era in the form of the Bee Suit, which allows Mario not only to scale honeycomb-shaped walls in a particular environment, but to hover away from the individual gravity of specific planets, a feeling that resonates as strongly as it did the first time you flew up against it with the Raccoon tail. Only this time it's not just up, but out, and it feels like three-dimensional gaming has been trying to feel since its inception.
An enjoyable addition to the game is the option to bring another person along to the playground, with a second remote pointer serving as a sort of non-intrusive but functional means of interaction. The second player can toss tiny stars that Mario has acquired merely by pointing and clicking, stunning some enemies in a form of veritable shooting gallery that is sure to be loads of fun for inexperienced players or other gamers who just want in on the action. The second player can also freeze objects by moving the pointer over them, preventing obstacles and projectiles from colliding with our mustachioed hero. It is an addition that sounds peculiar in theory but seems effortless in execution, a profound look into the ideas of gaming accessible to everyone from novices to long-time players.
Rounding off the experience is the scope finally afforded with the power of the Wii system—all of the planets in a particular cluster remain in view and depth-of-field blurred behind you while the fully spherical starfields and skies color the background. Lighting from the stars you seek enhances the look and feel of the game even more, with sparkles, shimmers, and flashes going off exactly when they need to.
It is possible that a game like Super Mario Galaxy is what Shigeru Miyamoto has always had in mind when he speaks of playgrounds at our fingertips, every distraction offering another new way to be entertained. If the demo version is any indication, long-time gamers and new players alike will all have much more entertainment at their fingertips when Galaxy releases in mid-November.