🔗 Share this article

As a child, I never owned Nintendo's Wii system. Certainly, I experienced Wii Sports and other major releases during visits to family and friends during the 2000s decade, yet I lacked a Wii of my own, meaning I missed out on numerous outstanding titles from Nintendo's beloved series.

A prime example included Super Mario Galaxy, together with its follow-up, has been freshly updated and transferred to Switch consoles. The original game was also included within the 2020 special compilation Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I appreciated the possibility to play what many consider among the finest Mario adventures created. I became immediately engrossed, and I confidently state it lives up to nearly two decades of hype. That said, it helped me understand how happy I am motion-sensing features have largely remained from previous eras.

Starting the Space Journey

Following traditional Mario adventure, Super Mario Galaxy begins with Bowser nabbing Princess Peach including her home. His fleet of pirate-like space ships take her into outer space, flinging Mario through space in the process. Mario encounters adorable stellar beings named Lumas plus Rosalina atop her Comet Observatory. She tasks Mario with tracking down stars to power the Observatory to follow the villain, and then we’re set free to start discovering.

Super Mario Galaxy’s platforming offers pleasure, requiring only was playing through a few missions to realize why it’s held in such high regard. Players will notice similarities to anyone who’s played a 3D Mario, while the gameplay prove user-friendly and straightforward as Nintendo typically delivers.

Innovative Physics Mechanics

Being cosmic enthusiast, the backdrop perfectly matches my interests, and it allows for Super Mario Galaxy to play with planetary forces. Orbital stages let Mario to literally run circles around them recalling Dragon Ball pursuing Bubbles on King Kai’s planet. With nearby platforms, players can transfer getting captured via planetary attraction by neighboring objects. Different stages feature flat circular shapes, frequently containing goodies on the underside, easily overlooked spots.

Meeting Familiar Faces

The enjoyment from playing Super Mario Galaxy after nearly two decades is having already met some of its characters. I had no idea Rosalina first appeared through this adventure, nor that she served as the maternal figure to stellar beings. Before playing Super Mario Galaxy, she simply represented a standard member Mario Kart World driver rotation. Similarly with Penguins, next to whom I enjoyed swimming through introductory ocean area.

Gyroscopic Limitations

The only real drag in playing Super Mario Galaxy in 2025 concerns movement inputs, which are used for collecting, aiming, and shooting star bits, bright collectibles distributed throughout stages. Operating in mobile format required angling and turning the Switch around for targeting, proving slightly cumbersome. Motion controls appear frequently during some platforming sections, needing users to point the star-shaped cursor at surfaces to drag Mario toward them.

Missions entirely needing gyroscopic features work better when played using separate controllers improving control, such as the ray-riding stage during early game. I haven't typically been enthusiastic about movement inputs, while they didn't improve especially well in Super Mario Galaxy. Thankfully, when acquiring adequate stars through different stages, these movement-based stages may be completely avoided. I tested the mission where Mario has to navigate a large sphere around a course containing openings, then quickly abandoned after one attempt.

Enduring Gaming Quality

Aside from the cumbersome older input methods, there's virtually nothing to criticize within this adventure, and its space-set levels offer pleasure to discover. While impressive games such as Odyssey launched later, Super Mario Galaxy continues as top-tier and innovative Mario titles available.