Super Mario Galaxy (Wii, 2007)
Graphics-8.5 Sound-9 Control-8/7** Challenge-7/7.5*** Story-5
Level Design-8 Frustration-6.5/7* Fun-8 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
***Some purple coin and daredevil challenges
*Some sub levels/star paths
**Swimming and red star flight
+
Some innovative mechanics (heavily expanded gravity mechanic from Yoshi's Island (the black bird boss fight) - travel all the way around small planets and discs which play out like mini-levels within a larger level (can also walk up and down walls at times), shoot star bits (ammo/progression currency) with the wiimote to stun enemies+feed pink star NPCs (to progress)+make coins pop out of the ground, point at star bits with the wiimote to pick them up, can spin along plant stems to climb them - similar to DK Jungle Beat, finding the bunnies in the snow at one point by removing it with the pointer)
Various creative and/or interesting level gimmicks (grab onto and pull yourself towards blue stars with the wiimote - sometimes used for minor platforming puzzles, grab onto and sling yourself away from some objects - used to attack and break obstacles, 4-way gravity switching fields in 2D segments - MM5 and Ancipital (C64), some interactive "fly between planets" segments - similar to Nights, jump between small planets in some levels, bubble blowing ride - similar to Bubble Ghost, moving "photoshop mask"/solid part of levels - hidden star path in one of the ghost house levels, ice skating (can also skate backwards), flipping block traps that are hollow an open on one side, color coded gravity tiles and spotlight areas - kinda similar to Ratchet & Clank, disinflating planet, etc.)
Great variation overall
Double jump from the get go (via spinning) - also lets you do a somersault into a wall jump and then double jump to reach a lot higher
More straightforward levels divided into bite-sized challenges (compared to Mario 64) and sometimes 2D segments - better flow overall and stars are generally at the end of paths so you don't feel kicked out mid-level after finishing getting a star
Temporarily extendable lifebar (similar to Doom/Quake)
Some new power ups (bee suit - brief flight+can land on clouds and flowers+can climb honeycomb walls, boo mario - hover+move through bars and certain walls (vanish mario), flying mario (similar to wing cap but more flexible), ice mario - temporarily walk on water or lava, spring mario - bounce around and do automatic wall jumps off of any touched wall)
Nice art direction and animation
POW blocks return (sort of - the crystal spikes which stun nearby enemies on some planets)
Some mini-games (ray surfing - decent and similar to Wave Racer but the turning feels a bit wonky and the vibration can't be turned off, golf ball course w/ gyro physics - decent; comet challenges - adds an achievement to an existing course within a level (speed run which also changes certain enemies within the level, 1 HP only+no coins or life increasing mushrooms, race vs clone, faster enemies & obstacles, 100 purple coins - sometimes timed, trash bombing - decent puzzle but kind of hard for when you get to it, ghost vs ghost race - pretty good besides the game not making it clear that you have to touch the skulls at the end)
Can unlock playing as Luigi but it requires getting all 120 stars (runs faster and jumps higher than Mario, loses 1.5 of his air every time he spins underwater, has a rolling stop when attempting to stop moving)
Some good bosses and mini-bosses (first boss makes you climb a giant spider robot and lure enemies into its weak spot, the bowser encounters - each one gets a bit tougher with each hit, second baby bowser encounter - 2 phases, spider, mecha bowser, etc)
Mario retains nearly all the default moves from Mario 64 (besides the dive jump move and manual punches and kicks)
A few branching paths through levels and various places where you can skip parts of levels by combining different jumps
Includes a universe hub map where you can check which levels you've fully cleared (can also switch to a list format)
Some shops within levels (pay with star bits and choose between 2 items)
The toads encountered traveling along with you on some levels and the storybook bits add more of a sense of progression to the game and make the world seem more alive
Some good platforming and timing puzzles
Some hidden stars (18 in total, some aren't really hidden though)
Some large scale environmental effects
The hub area music becomes more fleshed out and bombastic as you unlock more of it
60 FPS with very little slowdown
Can sometimes choose which planet to go to (beginning of deep dark level)
Pretty nice ending cutscene
+/-
Save in-between levels
Partially non-linear structure (starts off linear in that you have to completely finish the first level to unlock the second and you can't reach the second observatory in the hub right after unlocking it, have to do each star within a level in a set order, can unlock levels off the main path by completing a level or star (hungry luma/pinka stars sometimes appear in the observatory hub and feeding these x hundred of star bits unlocks new levels), linear progression within levels (like in Mario 64 you do one star at a time within the same level (3 per level) and the path changes a bit depending on which one you picked), after the second galaxy you have to beat the boss of a galaxy to unlock the next galaxy - unless you do almost every star path of every level in the early-mid game this means you have to play most regular levels in order over the course of the game, have to get 60 stars before purple coin challenges become available)
Collectathon (need 60 stars to get to the final galaxy - pretty easy to have around 40 for when the game lets you know this if you progress as quickly as possible which means there's about 20 more get at that point, need to collect star bits to feed NPCs at times and collect level stars to unlock new galaxies and levels within galaxies (400 star bits for the first hungry luma in the hub - easy), optional purple coin challenges, various parts where you need to collect 5 star chips to progress to the next part of a sub level/star path)
Gameplay is much less about finding and finding out how to get to the next star here unlike in Mario 64 (the game actually shows the destination planet when beginning a level path in a short cutscene and since it's a linear path there it's not even needed, only the first level has any exploration where you move back and forth between planets)
Lives system (very easy to rack up extra lives, every 50 star bits or coins=1 extra life) - seems kinda pointless with such frequent checkpoints+saving+how easy they are to rack up and occasionally makes doing some minor challenges feel not worth it
Star bits are much more common than coins - they're actually a bit too common making using them as rewards for mini-challenges sometimes not feel that rewarding
Some sub quests/missions given by NPCs (besides the "find Luigi" quests these are given and finished on the same planet)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection
Borrows the spin attack from Crash as well as how it can knock objects into enemies
Automatic melee attack here (have to stun enemies and then it triggers as you run into them)
Very little voice acting
No hub map enemies or other encounters (SMB3)
Basic restoration theme (observatory hub area)
Some death pits
Slopes still make you slip but you can sometimes use the spin to get past it
Jumping on enemies is still a bit trickier than in the 2D games - can use a homing ground pound after spinning in mid-air but this removes your forward momentum and generally doesn't yield coins (this move is also not explained in-game?)
No level timers unless playing a speedy comet challenge level or mini-game (some purple comet challenges are also timed)
Some levels are very short (the ? block levels (usually some sort of mini-game) and the hungry luma/pink star created levels),
Dropped star bits disappear after about 7-8 seconds
13-15 seconds of loading/cutscenes when starting a level - can skip these cutscenes when replaying a beaten level
Pressing the opposite direction mid-jump stops your forward momentum almost immediately (takes some getting used to but good for jumping on enemies in 3D)
Comet levels can sometimes take place in a level path that you haven't played yet
Levels tend to introduce new ideas or settings with each star path/sub level instead of further developing a previous idea in the same level
Timed fire flower power ups - would've been cool to have a non-timed version for levels where it's not required to progress
The long jump gets floaty while moving around the smaller (generally spherical) planets
Launching between star pads in some segments seems borrowed from Sonic Adventure
Can't break boxes with star bit shots - challenge reasons probably
Can't fly to the highest planet in the hub area - have to unlock its light path first
The hub area looks very disney land-like when completed
Little control over sideways movement after jumping unless you spin (which lowers forward momentum)
-
Continuous beeping sfx when at low health
Some control/interface issues (ledge grabbing isn't completely reliable at times, get kicked out of a level and back to the hub area after finishing a hidden star path (there could've also been a prompt after each finished sub level/star path asking if you wanted to keep playing that level), unskippable cutscenes and sometimes can't speed up dialogue (this includes non-interactive transitions between planets), usually can't rotate the camera and often can't place it behind Mario with C - some angles picked by the game are a bit awkward, can't rotate the camera with the d-pad while moving, sometimes can't go into FP view "look around" mode and while in it you can't completely turn around or look straight upwards, can't remap shaking to spin to a button (it's used a lot more than C or ducking for example and you have to shake pretty forcefully for it to register) - no classic controller support, lose some forward momentum from double jumping and from walking off ledges, gravity field transitions on box-shaped planets aren't always 100% smooth, acceleration after jumping without momentum is very low - makes climbing stairs kinda slow for example, a bit annoying how coconuts don't follow along the ground when spun into - when fighting bosses and knocking them back towards them they automatically hit the boss so having to be more careful with regular enemies is unnecessarily fiddly in comparison, no item magnet when moving near coins - breaks flow a bit, bee flight is kinda slow and you can't boost it with jump momentum, get kicked back to the hub area if you choose "back" while looking at a level on its galaxy hub map, a bit too easy to get semi-stuck on some obstacles, swimming feels overly sensitive (particularly while carrying a shell) compared to the camera which lags behind as you turn around, the camera sometimes ends up behind a wall - pretty rare, can't move while shooting with the fire flower and the rate of fire is slower than in the 2D games, get knocked down for a sec if you long jump into a wall - breaks flow a bit much, flight with the red star power up feels weird - automatically steers towards the ground if you let go of the stick and the camera lags behind too much when turning, in dusty dune 3 and one or two other 2D parts the controls still assume you're in a 3D space so you can end up steering into or away from the background)
Active power ups such as the bee form don't carry over between levels (no inventory of items to carry with with you to other levels (SMB3/SMW), would've broken some levels but would've been more fun if it was an option and they could've restricted the use of some forms for certain levels)
Gimped spin move while in bee form+can't double jump with it+can't backflip either+can't wall jump or long jump either
Would've been cool if for some levels you could choose where to go when traveling between planets in it for more star path flexibility
A bit too hand-holdy at times (generally optional though)
Can't reset a note trail room by re-entering it (have to re-enter the level)
A few invisible walls (intro level)
Cutscenes are often just text and artwork stills
Lacks various suits and power ups from previous games (no fludd pack or rocket or turbo nozzle (the rocket is replaced by similar gimmicks here and there though), no metal mario, no cape, no racoon/frog/hammersuit mario, no giant mario or small mario, no bunny mario however the flower seed ride in one level is kinda similar)
First level lacks power ups besides temporary invincibility
Some underdeveloped ideas (some forms like boo mario and flying mario (red star - only used in the hub area and intro level when returning to it) are underused, bouncing on several enemies in a row, some gimmicks like the vine you can spin while clinging to aren't revisited, shops, going back and forth to search for star bits for the hungry lumas, having power ups where they aren't required)
Can't play as toad or peach and can't ride yoshi (rosalina (the hub area host) can be unlocked in the 3D all-stars collection re-release only, only a few references to yoshi)
Minor trial & error (the cartwheel flip jump (jump in opposite direction of the one you're moving in for a higher jump which lets you wall jump anywhere), the long jump (crouch while moving then jump) and the backflip (crouch while still then jump) aren't explained from the get go, have to touch one of the skulls at the end of the ghost vs ghost race or reaching the goal doesn't register, one or two leaps of faith and parts where you don't see the black hole so you might think that there's no pit at the edge of a platform/piece of land, camera is pretty zoomed in for the bubble blowing segments meaning you have to take it slower, )
Can't turn off or lower the controller sfx nor reposition them to the TV instead
Can't spin in spring form+it has a lower as well as constant forward momentum
Some points of no return in levels (optional star paths - means you can't do the hidden star and the regular one without exiting the level)
Collected extra lives aren't saved
Some way to collect a bunch of star bits in one quick motion might've been better - for example drawing a circle to collect everything within it
Some parts where you can fall down and have to redo a longer segment if you miss a jump
Some later levels are pretty easy (gold leaf galaxy) and some levels are unusually tough (end part of sling pod galaxy, conquering the summit - ice level hidden star, ghost race - harder to judge your distance to a blue star when the camera is behind mario)
Kind of annoying flower timer music
Some earlier hidden stars are a bit too easy
Sometimes you're put in a different position after a cutscene during a boss fight
Weird how you still save Luigi while playing as him
Some of the purple coin challenges are too drawn out with many coins spread out and placed in boring locations
The final boss is a bit too similar to the previous bowser encounters
Bugs:
-The spin occasionally happens twice in a row (rare - happened in the desert level and the hub area once)
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTq8aRFTpKg
Level Design-8 Frustration-6.5/7* Fun-8 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-8
***Some purple coin and daredevil challenges
*Some sub levels/star paths
**Swimming and red star flight
+
Some innovative mechanics (heavily expanded gravity mechanic from Yoshi's Island (the black bird boss fight) - travel all the way around small planets and discs which play out like mini-levels within a larger level (can also walk up and down walls at times), shoot star bits (ammo/progression currency) with the wiimote to stun enemies+feed pink star NPCs (to progress)+make coins pop out of the ground, point at star bits with the wiimote to pick them up, can spin along plant stems to climb them - similar to DK Jungle Beat, finding the bunnies in the snow at one point by removing it with the pointer)
Various creative and/or interesting level gimmicks (grab onto and pull yourself towards blue stars with the wiimote - sometimes used for minor platforming puzzles, grab onto and sling yourself away from some objects - used to attack and break obstacles, 4-way gravity switching fields in 2D segments - MM5 and Ancipital (C64), some interactive "fly between planets" segments - similar to Nights, jump between small planets in some levels, bubble blowing ride - similar to Bubble Ghost, moving "photoshop mask"/solid part of levels - hidden star path in one of the ghost house levels, ice skating (can also skate backwards), flipping block traps that are hollow an open on one side, color coded gravity tiles and spotlight areas - kinda similar to Ratchet & Clank, disinflating planet, etc.)
Great variation overall
Double jump from the get go (via spinning) - also lets you do a somersault into a wall jump and then double jump to reach a lot higher
More straightforward levels divided into bite-sized challenges (compared to Mario 64) and sometimes 2D segments - better flow overall and stars are generally at the end of paths so you don't feel kicked out mid-level after finishing getting a star
Temporarily extendable lifebar (similar to Doom/Quake)
Some new power ups (bee suit - brief flight+can land on clouds and flowers+can climb honeycomb walls, boo mario - hover+move through bars and certain walls (vanish mario), flying mario (similar to wing cap but more flexible), ice mario - temporarily walk on water or lava, spring mario - bounce around and do automatic wall jumps off of any touched wall)
Nice art direction and animation
POW blocks return (sort of - the crystal spikes which stun nearby enemies on some planets)
Some mini-games (ray surfing - decent and similar to Wave Racer but the turning feels a bit wonky and the vibration can't be turned off, golf ball course w/ gyro physics - decent; comet challenges - adds an achievement to an existing course within a level (speed run which also changes certain enemies within the level, 1 HP only+no coins or life increasing mushrooms, race vs clone, faster enemies & obstacles, 100 purple coins - sometimes timed, trash bombing - decent puzzle but kind of hard for when you get to it, ghost vs ghost race - pretty good besides the game not making it clear that you have to touch the skulls at the end)
Can unlock playing as Luigi but it requires getting all 120 stars (runs faster and jumps higher than Mario, loses 1.5 of his air every time he spins underwater, has a rolling stop when attempting to stop moving)
Some good bosses and mini-bosses (first boss makes you climb a giant spider robot and lure enemies into its weak spot, the bowser encounters - each one gets a bit tougher with each hit, second baby bowser encounter - 2 phases, spider, mecha bowser, etc)
Mario retains nearly all the default moves from Mario 64 (besides the dive jump move and manual punches and kicks)
A few branching paths through levels and various places where you can skip parts of levels by combining different jumps
Includes a universe hub map where you can check which levels you've fully cleared (can also switch to a list format)
Some shops within levels (pay with star bits and choose between 2 items)
The toads encountered traveling along with you on some levels and the storybook bits add more of a sense of progression to the game and make the world seem more alive
Some good platforming and timing puzzles
Some hidden stars (18 in total, some aren't really hidden though)
Some large scale environmental effects
The hub area music becomes more fleshed out and bombastic as you unlock more of it
60 FPS with very little slowdown
Can sometimes choose which planet to go to (beginning of deep dark level)
Pretty nice ending cutscene
+/-
Save in-between levels
Partially non-linear structure (starts off linear in that you have to completely finish the first level to unlock the second and you can't reach the second observatory in the hub right after unlocking it, have to do each star within a level in a set order, can unlock levels off the main path by completing a level or star (hungry luma/pinka stars sometimes appear in the observatory hub and feeding these x hundred of star bits unlocks new levels), linear progression within levels (like in Mario 64 you do one star at a time within the same level (3 per level) and the path changes a bit depending on which one you picked), after the second galaxy you have to beat the boss of a galaxy to unlock the next galaxy - unless you do almost every star path of every level in the early-mid game this means you have to play most regular levels in order over the course of the game, have to get 60 stars before purple coin challenges become available)
Collectathon (need 60 stars to get to the final galaxy - pretty easy to have around 40 for when the game lets you know this if you progress as quickly as possible which means there's about 20 more get at that point, need to collect star bits to feed NPCs at times and collect level stars to unlock new galaxies and levels within galaxies (400 star bits for the first hungry luma in the hub - easy), optional purple coin challenges, various parts where you need to collect 5 star chips to progress to the next part of a sub level/star path)
Gameplay is much less about finding and finding out how to get to the next star here unlike in Mario 64 (the game actually shows the destination planet when beginning a level path in a short cutscene and since it's a linear path there it's not even needed, only the first level has any exploration where you move back and forth between planets)
Lives system (very easy to rack up extra lives, every 50 star bits or coins=1 extra life) - seems kinda pointless with such frequent checkpoints+saving+how easy they are to rack up and occasionally makes doing some minor challenges feel not worth it
Star bits are much more common than coins - they're actually a bit too common making using them as rewards for mini-challenges sometimes not feel that rewarding
Some sub quests/missions given by NPCs (besides the "find Luigi" quests these are given and finished on the same planet)
Somewhat forgiving hit detection
Borrows the spin attack from Crash as well as how it can knock objects into enemies
Automatic melee attack here (have to stun enemies and then it triggers as you run into them)
Very little voice acting
No hub map enemies or other encounters (SMB3)
Basic restoration theme (observatory hub area)
Some death pits
Slopes still make you slip but you can sometimes use the spin to get past it
Jumping on enemies is still a bit trickier than in the 2D games - can use a homing ground pound after spinning in mid-air but this removes your forward momentum and generally doesn't yield coins (this move is also not explained in-game?)
No level timers unless playing a speedy comet challenge level or mini-game (some purple comet challenges are also timed)
Some levels are very short (the ? block levels (usually some sort of mini-game) and the hungry luma/pink star created levels),
Dropped star bits disappear after about 7-8 seconds
13-15 seconds of loading/cutscenes when starting a level - can skip these cutscenes when replaying a beaten level
Pressing the opposite direction mid-jump stops your forward momentum almost immediately (takes some getting used to but good for jumping on enemies in 3D)
Comet levels can sometimes take place in a level path that you haven't played yet
Levels tend to introduce new ideas or settings with each star path/sub level instead of further developing a previous idea in the same level
Timed fire flower power ups - would've been cool to have a non-timed version for levels where it's not required to progress
The long jump gets floaty while moving around the smaller (generally spherical) planets
Launching between star pads in some segments seems borrowed from Sonic Adventure
Can't break boxes with star bit shots - challenge reasons probably
Can't fly to the highest planet in the hub area - have to unlock its light path first
The hub area looks very disney land-like when completed
Little control over sideways movement after jumping unless you spin (which lowers forward momentum)
-
Continuous beeping sfx when at low health
Some control/interface issues (ledge grabbing isn't completely reliable at times, get kicked out of a level and back to the hub area after finishing a hidden star path (there could've also been a prompt after each finished sub level/star path asking if you wanted to keep playing that level), unskippable cutscenes and sometimes can't speed up dialogue (this includes non-interactive transitions between planets), usually can't rotate the camera and often can't place it behind Mario with C - some angles picked by the game are a bit awkward, can't rotate the camera with the d-pad while moving, sometimes can't go into FP view "look around" mode and while in it you can't completely turn around or look straight upwards, can't remap shaking to spin to a button (it's used a lot more than C or ducking for example and you have to shake pretty forcefully for it to register) - no classic controller support, lose some forward momentum from double jumping and from walking off ledges, gravity field transitions on box-shaped planets aren't always 100% smooth, acceleration after jumping without momentum is very low - makes climbing stairs kinda slow for example, a bit annoying how coconuts don't follow along the ground when spun into - when fighting bosses and knocking them back towards them they automatically hit the boss so having to be more careful with regular enemies is unnecessarily fiddly in comparison, no item magnet when moving near coins - breaks flow a bit, bee flight is kinda slow and you can't boost it with jump momentum, get kicked back to the hub area if you choose "back" while looking at a level on its galaxy hub map, a bit too easy to get semi-stuck on some obstacles, swimming feels overly sensitive (particularly while carrying a shell) compared to the camera which lags behind as you turn around, the camera sometimes ends up behind a wall - pretty rare, can't move while shooting with the fire flower and the rate of fire is slower than in the 2D games, get knocked down for a sec if you long jump into a wall - breaks flow a bit much, flight with the red star power up feels weird - automatically steers towards the ground if you let go of the stick and the camera lags behind too much when turning, in dusty dune 3 and one or two other 2D parts the controls still assume you're in a 3D space so you can end up steering into or away from the background)
Active power ups such as the bee form don't carry over between levels (no inventory of items to carry with with you to other levels (SMB3/SMW), would've broken some levels but would've been more fun if it was an option and they could've restricted the use of some forms for certain levels)
Gimped spin move while in bee form+can't double jump with it+can't backflip either+can't wall jump or long jump either
Would've been cool if for some levels you could choose where to go when traveling between planets in it for more star path flexibility
A bit too hand-holdy at times (generally optional though)
Can't reset a note trail room by re-entering it (have to re-enter the level)
A few invisible walls (intro level)
Cutscenes are often just text and artwork stills
Lacks various suits and power ups from previous games (no fludd pack or rocket or turbo nozzle (the rocket is replaced by similar gimmicks here and there though), no metal mario, no cape, no racoon/frog/hammersuit mario, no giant mario or small mario, no bunny mario however the flower seed ride in one level is kinda similar)
First level lacks power ups besides temporary invincibility
Some underdeveloped ideas (some forms like boo mario and flying mario (red star - only used in the hub area and intro level when returning to it) are underused, bouncing on several enemies in a row, some gimmicks like the vine you can spin while clinging to aren't revisited, shops, going back and forth to search for star bits for the hungry lumas, having power ups where they aren't required)
Can't play as toad or peach and can't ride yoshi (rosalina (the hub area host) can be unlocked in the 3D all-stars collection re-release only, only a few references to yoshi)
Minor trial & error (the cartwheel flip jump (jump in opposite direction of the one you're moving in for a higher jump which lets you wall jump anywhere), the long jump (crouch while moving then jump) and the backflip (crouch while still then jump) aren't explained from the get go, have to touch one of the skulls at the end of the ghost vs ghost race or reaching the goal doesn't register, one or two leaps of faith and parts where you don't see the black hole so you might think that there's no pit at the edge of a platform/piece of land, camera is pretty zoomed in for the bubble blowing segments meaning you have to take it slower, )
Can't turn off or lower the controller sfx nor reposition them to the TV instead
Can't spin in spring form+it has a lower as well as constant forward momentum
Some points of no return in levels (optional star paths - means you can't do the hidden star and the regular one without exiting the level)
Collected extra lives aren't saved
Some way to collect a bunch of star bits in one quick motion might've been better - for example drawing a circle to collect everything within it
Some parts where you can fall down and have to redo a longer segment if you miss a jump
Some later levels are pretty easy (gold leaf galaxy) and some levels are unusually tough (end part of sling pod galaxy, conquering the summit - ice level hidden star, ghost race - harder to judge your distance to a blue star when the camera is behind mario)
Kind of annoying flower timer music
Some earlier hidden stars are a bit too easy
Sometimes you're put in a different position after a cutscene during a boss fight
Weird how you still save Luigi while playing as him
Some of the purple coin challenges are too drawn out with many coins spread out and placed in boring locations
The final boss is a bit too similar to the previous bowser encounters
Bugs:
-The spin occasionally happens twice in a row (rare - happened in the desert level and the hub area once)
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTq8aRFTpKg