4/5 ★ – WrathofBen's review of Super Mario Galaxy.

Ah, yes! The video game I saw posters for outside of GameStops for YEARS! I finished out the Mario 3D All-Stars collection with Super Mario Galaxy, and had a really great time! From visuals, music to level design, this game is extremely creative, even if it controls worse than Sunshine… The game starts with Bowser and Bowser Jr. bringing in a fleet of airships to a dust Princess Peach and her castle. Mario wakes up to discover Rosalina and her Stars on their space observatory. It’s running on low power, and it’s up to Mario, Luigi, and their Toads to collect Power Stars to power the observatory and find Peach and Bowser. This story, while simple, was engaging enough to keep me interested. Especially when learning Rosalina’s story as you progressed through the levels. There are 15 stages, each with 6 stars to collect. The game as a whole includes 120 stars, just like the last two games. Gameplay-wise, I had to remember that this was originally a Wii game, and is filled with motion controls. This annoyed me at first, but it was mostly handled well. This version did let me use the touch screen on the Switch in handheld mode, which also worked pretty well. With these controls, you collect Star Bits. These feed stars to create launch pads/hidden planets that usually contain a hidden star. These Star Bits can also be used to stun enemies by aiming with motion controls and shooting them. Other uses for motion controls include floating in a bubble, surfing on a sting ray, and running on a glass ball, with the latter being the more annoying control scheme. Everything else feels alright! Mario controls like normal, but thanks to the rounder level design based on spherical planets, the analog stick controls get a bit confused with where you’re wanting to go. The only other gripe I had with the controls were the new controls for the backflip jump. You can still do it like normal (though harder to do than before), or hold crouch and then jump. If you’re moving, you do the same controls to perform a long jump. The problem with making these controls so similar is that the game gets these two jumps confused, and I often performed the wrong jump at the wrong time. I hardly could long jump without accidentally backflipping. Aside from these slightly frustrating issues, the controls feel pretty solid. Level design is really good here, with each world feeling so fresh! Sometimes the levels change gravity, and you find yourself playing upside down or vertically. This really makes you think through situations on the run, and ends up being really satisfying to complete! While the missions are fairly linear, the game lets you use multiple methods to complete these levels. It felt like there was never just ONE way to get things done, which I appreciated. The visuals and music are all incredible here. This is 3D Mario at its finest, with the main Galaxy theme being downright beautiful! The levels look so pretty, and the character models look sharp! While I kind of miss the cell shading of Sunshine, I can’t deny that this game looks so good! I love this game. It’s a great evolution from Sunshine, and was pretty addicting to play! The one annoying thing here is that even getting 120 stars isn’t officially a completion. When getting all the stars and fighter Bowser again, you unlock Luigi and have to 100% the game again with him to OFFICIALLY 100% the game. While I may someday do this, I did not feel like doing this now. I JUST beat it, and was not looking to replay it right away again. Also, while Luigi jumps higher and runs faster, he slides around more and uses air when soon attacking under water. He just feels like a worse Mario. That being said, I’m glad there’s more game to play here! That itself isn’t a bad thing. It just feels weird that the game said “Congrats! Now do it again.” But, since the All-Star collection decided to omit Super Mario Galaxy 2, I guess Super Luigi Galaxy is the best I got for now. 8/10. I prefer Sunshine, but this game was also super fun. Easily recommend!