‘Super Mario Galaxy’ Was a Shining Philosophical Endeavor for Nintendo
Nearly two full decades after the Nintendo Wii’s release, one game still lingers in hearts like few others
It’s hard to deny that video games shaped my childhood. But most of my life until middle school was spent playing second-hand games on intensively used consoles. With the zeitgeist surrounding the Wii prior to its release slowly mounting, I begged and pleaded with my father for months to get my hands on one come the fateful day of the product launch.
At first, he remained firm. But as the excitement continued to build and the lofty rumors of Nintendo’s futuristic new console conjured grander and grander images in the eyes of children, teens, and adults alike, my pleas turned into begs and eventually full-throated tirades. If my memory serves correctly, I may have even delivered him a PowerPoint presentation as I grew increasingly desperate.
“Exhibit A of why I deserve a Wii in advance of my eleventh birthday,” I explained with a pilfered teacher’s pointer and projector. Colorful images of video game characters appeared on a whiteboard I’d shoddily installed in our living room as a prop of persuasion.
Initially dubbed the “Nintendo Revolution” before its release, I thought the ground would suddenly shift beneath my feet once the dream machines hit store shelves. I envisioned a colorful metallic sphere delivering me a full-fledged motion control Mario Kart-on-the-moon experience.
I anticipated gaming to be forever changed — that Nintendo would single-handedly usher in a new paradigm in world history. And what they would ultimately name that new era was “The Nintendo Wii.”
For the first time, I was old enough to be ready at GameStop doors waiting for a new game system upon its launch. But I was still young enough to require a father with a license, a car, and a credit card to graciously drive me to the store on the momentous dawn of that new eon: November 19th, 2006.
Walking through a suburban parking garage before the rising sun, a blustery autumnal air colored our portentous trek. We braved multiple blocks of First World tundra to be among the first queued in line for the long-awaited Nintendo consoles. The warm air of the shopping mall enlivened our spirits as the metal gate to the store creaked open and those who’d spent the night camped out front of the commercial monolith were funneled into the store one by one.
I stood there shaking in my shoes with rapt anticipation as the long line gradually dwindled. Leaving the store with the console of my dreams in my hands, and the moon still high in the morning sky, the virtual world was my oyster.
But little did I understand the rude awakening before me — for I was only hours away from the hard-wrought realization that the only real game at my disposal for those next few months would be Wii Sports.
Nevertheless, my friends and I battled it out in Wii Boxing, feverishly trading blows with our rudimentary avatars on-screen. We’d pathetically flail our controllers around hoping that our random bouts of movements would culminate in defeated opponents. Oftentimes, our attempts proved fruitful.
Wii Baseball and Wii Bowling filled a certain void as well, but by the time a year with the console rounded the bend, I’d begun to understand the drawbacks of being an early adopter for the very first time. During that initial year with the Wii, I sometimes felt stranded, adrift in the open ocean, miles and miles away from the salvation of a new Super Smash Brothers game.
Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam was a lovable time-kill. It wouldn’t be until I was an adult, though, that I’d bitterly learn it was one of the most critically reviled games in the entire skater franchise. To say that the early days of motion controls presented their share of hurdles would be putting it lightly.
Mario Kart Wii was fun, but the white Wii Wheels fell a light year short of creating the real-life racing experience I eagerly craved.
Super Mario Galaxy, though, arrived into my life as a revelation. Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, the game’s two predecessors, both held dear places in my heart. They were among the first 3D games I’d ever played, and I still make a near-annual point to revisit each. But from its opening sequence, it was clear that Super Mario Galaxy was an adventure that took place on a scale all its own.
As the iconic castle we’ve known from many Mario games before goes hurdling into the atmosphere and Mario is lost alone on a desolate new planet, it’s a game that cultivates a core of loneliness and isolation before players have reached the ten-minute mark.
The feeling of solitude it creates is not just unique among Mario games, but seemed to stand separate from the joyful, jovial world of Nintendo games that predated it completely.
Of course, that’s not to say that Super Mario Galaxy was devoid of the Goombas, Bowsers, Bullet Bills, Koopas, and Toads present in almost every game throughout Mario’s relatively formulaic past. But the celestial setting is what most distinguishes it from its red M-capped peers. And the starry-eyed peaks of grandeur that it crafted are something that Super Mario Galaxy 2 never managed to recapture for many. In my eyes, all three of the follow-ups in the 3D Mario series fall flat when compared against 2007’s cosmic, orchestral magnum opus.
At its heart, the gameplay isn’t entirely different from the games that come before or after it. There are power-ups and vibrantly varied stages. And many of the faces that populate each will be familiar to players from Mario’s more earth(ish)-based titles. Where it differentiates itself is in the sprawling universe that Mario traverses. It’s in the open sky between planets that launch stars catapult him through.
Despite an incredibly innovative planet-based gravity mechanic, the general theme and platforming aren’t wholly different from other Mario titles that came before it. The objectives are comparable. Even if the spectacle is dialed up 1000% in its most climactic moments, the general point A-to-B formula many levels present is one that dates back to the 8-bit days of the mid-80s.
Yet there’s an undercurrent of melancholy that colors this specific journey. In-between the staple and exaggerated colors that define most Mario games, there’s something in Super Mario Galaxy that each of its sequels failed to recreate.
As with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its far more expansive sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn’t quite muster the magic of the first. Both sequels represent more than mere rehashes. They make laudable improvements over the originals, but in all of their leaps forward, still fail to reinvision the emotional force that made the prior games much of what they were.
In the first Super Mario Galaxy, Mario fashions a home among the stars that gradually comes to life as we progress through the game. As players gain more power, more of the rooms of our floating observatory come to life. And with their gradual illumination comes a poignancy.
One of the rooms we unlock is called the Library, and in it, we get to watch, chapter by chapter, as a heartbreaking story of loneliness is told, page by page. The gentle tings of a music box layered on top color the simple words and illustrations.
Latticed throughout the game are opportunities to take a breath between missions and get lost in the stars. Even in action-filled stages populated by colorful characters, a simple camera turn reveals suns and supernovas and endless skies. Our launching pads between the different planets and solar systems are separate observatories built on our floating satellite. Among the most enchanting, though, is the garden.
In a game whose sound signature is defined by grand orchestral movements and sweeping string sequences, this observatory provides what may stand as the game’s only music-free location. As the final observatory that becomes available to players, there’s a majestic grace to the rare pause. The gentle sounds of birds chirping amidst the un-containable adventure Mario’s just undergone may be one of the most magical moments of all.
Super Mario Galaxy found new life in 2021 with the release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Apart from slight hiccups around the new control scheme, the remaster makes notable improvements. But no matter what, there will never be any reprising the value that eleven-year-old me found in Mario’s first venture through the stars.
This article was originally published on Medium.
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