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Growing up, I missed out on owning the popular Wii. Certainly, I tried Wii Sports plus various flagship titles when visiting family and friends back in that era, however I missed owning the console myself, causing me to overlook some great entries from Nintendo's beloved series.

One of those games was Super Mario Galaxy, which, along with its sequel, has been freshly updated and transferred to Nintendo's hybrid system. The first one got incorporated in 2020’s limited-edition collection Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I embraced the opportunity to try viewed by fans as among the finest Mario titles in history. The game rapidly captivated me, while affirming that it lives up to almost twenty years of hype. However, I also recognized how pleased I feel movement-based inputs mostly stayed from previous eras.

The Cosmic Adventure Begins

Similar to most Mario quest, Super Mario Galaxy opens as Bowser kidnapping the princess and her castle. His collection of cosmic vessels transport her into outer space, launching Mario through space during the event. The hero discovers charming cosmic creatures called Luma and meets Rosalina atop her Comet Observatory. She tasks Mario with finding power stars to power the cosmic base enabling pursuit of Bowser, then players gain freedom to start discovering.

Galaxy's navigation system is a joy, requiring only experiencing a couple levels to understand why it receives such praise. Players will notice similarities to anyone who’s played Mario's 3D adventures, and the mechanics prove user-friendly and intuitive following Nintendo's style.

Gravity-Defying Gameplay

As astronomy fan, the setting perfectly matches my interests, and it allows for Super Mario Galaxy to play with physics. Orbital stages enable Mario to literally run circles about them like he’s Goku pursuing Bubbles on King Kai’s planet. With nearby platforms, he can jump between them being pulled through gravitational force from adjacent structures. Different stages appear as discs, and often feature goodies on the underside, where you may not think to look.

Revisiting Beloved Personalities

What’s fun about engaging with Galaxy following long gap includes knowing certain personalities. I was unaware Rosalina made her debut through this adventure, and that she became the caring guardian of the Lumas. Earlier in my gaming, I only knew her as a standard member Mario Kart World roster option. Similarly with Penguins, next to whom I liked swimming in initial coastal stage.

Movement-Based Hurdles

The primary drawback in playing Super Mario Galaxy currently involves motion features, employed for acquiring, directing, and launching stellar fragments, bright collectibles scattered around levels. Using portable mode required angling and turning the Switch around for targeting, which feels a bit clunky. Motion controls feature heavily within certain jumping segments, needing users to point the star-shaped cursor toward structures to pull Mario to them.

Levels that wholly require movement inputs perform optimally with independent remotes for better precision, like the manta ray surfing level at the start. I’ve never been a fan of motion controls, while they didn't improve especially well in Super Mario Galaxy. Fortunately, if you get enough stars from other levels, these gyroscopic sections can be wholly skipped. I tried the level featuring Mario maneuvering a giant ball through a track filled with gaps, then quickly abandoned following single try.

Timeless Mario Excellence

Aside from the clunky Wii-era motion controls, there's hardly anything to criticize throughout Galaxy, and galactic environments offer pleasure to navigate. Even as standouts including later releases have come after it, Super Mario Galaxy remains one of the best and creative Mario titles available.