Super Mario Galaxy is the best 3D Mario EVAHR!

I bought it yesterday and got a good 2 hours in, and already I'm enjoying it way WAY more than any of the previous 3D outings.
It's incredibly impressive for a Wii title, it looks great, it's completely fullscreen wide-screen (all other games I've played on Wii looked either stretched, or still had some margins at the left and right of the screen), vibrant with color and detail, and it runs smooth as a baby's butt.

Also, orchestral music! Yes! FINALLY!
There's still plenty of midi as well, but a good deal of it is orchestral so far, and not just cut-scenes or anything either, stage music is done in great happy-go-lucky orchestral tunes that made me go "why didn't they do this before!?"
The opening sequence contains an orchestral performance of SMB3's Airship theme, but all the rest of it has so far been original music.
Oh, and there's a midi arrangement of SMB3's Athletic theme (if that's the name), which was fun.

As for the game, it's just so much fun! The controls are spot on and haven't changed much since Mario 64.
But what makes this game so much more enjoyable than the other 3D games is that you no longer have to plow through the same stages over and over again to get all the stars. That is, each stage does have a central 'hub' of sorts, but for every star task you will be whisked off to different asteroids that you couldn't reach before, all of which are compact, have their own theme and are just plain fun to navigate through, thus staying much more in touch with Mario's short level-based 2D origins than the rather boring open-ended worlds in Mario 64 and Sunshine.

Plus, I got it new for 5000 yen, which is a complete steal.

Man, 2007 is turning into a SWEET year for gaming!

Welcome news indeed.

Hrm, I always *liked* the open-ended levels of Mario 64 and Sunshine, so that's unfortunate to hear.  I enjoy the freedom it allowed, with so many ways to go about meeting your goals.  Still, I won't let that squash the enormous amount of enthusiasm I have for this game.  It was torture to see the game in my local Tsutaya yesterday with the knowledge that I couldn't play it on the American Wii I have in my apartment.  Arrgh!

Great to hear; you've just made the wait a little more unbearable for the rest of us on the other side of the ocean. ;) 

Have you tried the new powerups yet, like Boo Mario, Bee Mario, or the Ice Flower?

My friend that works at EB got his hands on the "demo" Nintendo shipped out; ie: the full game. He said the same stuff as Amazingu about it such as, I quote, "I haven't been this excited about a game since the first time I played Mario 64". He's been staying late after work to play (he's an assistant manager and closes alone sometimes). Either way, it looks like we're all in for a good time once this hits....

I've only run across the Bee Mario powerup yet, which happens very early in the game. And...well...it's a bee, I guess
I've you've played Banjo Kazooie you'll know what a bee controls like, only you don't get unlimited airtime, and you can cling on to certain walls this time.
Actually, what I'm looking forward to most is getting the classic Fire Flower!

Did Mario 64 have power-ups like outfits and fire flowers?  I don't recall that.

It had Wing-cap Mario, Metal Mario, and the koopa shell that you could surf around on.

Anyways, I don't agree that Mario 64 had boring worlds (on the contrary, the variety and unorthodox level designs make it a fun experience even now), but it's good to hear that you're enjoying it so much.  It sounds like Mario is back after the slightly underwhelming SMS.

Don't forget hole-y Mario, or whatever it was called. You know, the power up where you could walk through fences and grates. It came from the blue box from the secret level under the castle's moat.

I didn't like Mario 64 DS and Sunshine, because you had to replay the same stages with different configurations or objectives (In Mario 64, you had to go into the paintings; in Sunshine you had to go through doors or pipes).  I'm hoping Galaxy works as a more cohesive set of worlds.

Dang, I totally forgot about Vanish-cap Mario.

I didn't know that so many people took issue with Mario 64's approach.   For me, it'll always be the game that wowed me in 1996.  Maybe my love for the Metroid series causes me to not mind the backtracking elements involved in seeking out another star.  Anyways, I loved the approach to Mario 64 and its fantastical worlds within the paintings.  SMS rehashed it later, but it was original then.  Even though you had to access the same stages in order to get different stars, it was always exciting to experience a new aspect of a particular stage.   It was always exciting to take up a new challenge in that regard.  I didn't mind revisiting them at all.  I don't think that the exploration element became a negative until Donkey Kong 64 all but eliminated the platforming and had us collecting bananas five times over in each world. >_<

I didn't mind the stage reconfigurations and reuses in SM64 and SMS too much.  Are they ideal?  Not really, but they work.  What I really hated were the stars that you could only get by collecting 100 coins in each level.  I got to 116 stars in SM64 and then I finally had enough with trying to run around those freaking eye balls without falling off the tiny pillars.  In SMS, I didn't even bother trying to get all the stars, especially when those timed hidden rooms started getting insanely difficult.  Still, both games were great.

Sunshine had several things that really annoyed me.  First, being locked into only one shine every time you went into a level seemed very restrictive after you could reach almost any of them in any configuration of the levels in Mario 64 (if you were creative enough, sometimes).  Second, BLUE COINS.  Argh, that was a great cheap way to extend the length of the game without actually giving us more levels.  And it was really hard to figure out where you needed to go to get them, because there was no way of knowing which of the level configurations for each stage you needed in order to get the ones you were missing.  Bad form, guys.  The last is WHY DOES GETTING 100 COINS END THE STAGE?  In Mario 64, you could collect all 100 coins while, say, doing the red coin star.  Two birds with one stone.  In Sunshine?  Nope, sorry, once you get the 100 coins, you're pulled out of the level.  If you got all the red coins in the meantime, too bad!  Gotta get them all again.  Ugh, so irritating.

In general, though, there's just something about the design or art direction, combined with the music, that makes Mario Sunshine feel actually oppressive to me to play.  I stick it in every once in a while thinking that I'd like to play a bit, and I end up taking the game out before I really even get anywhere.  Mario 64 I can load up anytime and still play through any of the stages and have a blast.  I'm looking forward to Galaxy because it looks to have both a free and varied world and the tighter controls that Sunshine introduced.  Can't wait for the game to come out!

Great to hear Amazingu!  So it comes out here on the 12th, does that mean the actual 12th or wait like 2 days until Best Buy (or similar stores) put it out on their shelves?

The 12th is the ship date.  That means the earliest it'll be in stores is the 13th unless Nintendo pulls some trickery at the last minute.

Unless of course you're in NYC, where the Nintendo World Store is holding a launch event on Sunday the 11th, and selling the game starting 8pm:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=205674

Now I'm contemplating if I should just cancel my paid-in-full Gamestop pre-order and head up there to take advantage of that...

I assume they will start selling the game at 12:00am, there is supposed to be some sort of Mario Party at 8:00pm that will last 'till 12:00pm to keep you occupied.

Damn! If that party was on a Saturday night I would have gone to NYC for the night. That would have been awesome.

did anyone else find this as funny as I did?

Got mine reserved at Target because they're doing some promo bonus...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10073060@N00/1893638704/

I believe Target is doing the same coin preorder bonus that everybody else is.  Also, every other store seems to be guaranteeing the game in stock by sometime on the 13th, so Target = failure (sad, too, since I would've preferred to preorder there over EB)!

GAHHH!! (ephidel is vomiting blood out of pure RAGE). One more WHOLE looonnng week and I don't even have someone on WiiConnect24 to unlock all of the bonuses in MP3 : Corruption. But it was one hell of a last boss on hyper mode. Made me proud.

9.7... not quite sure how they came up with that, but they say that it's amazing, and that the ORCHESTRATED (about time) soundtrack rocks! Nintendo had best release a soundtrack to this game...

cheers,

-avatar!

http://wii.ign.com/articles/833/833298p1.html

It scores an average 97.3% at Gamerankings at this moment.

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/915692.asp

That, and my word that it is indeed awesome should be more than enough to convince you

I don't trust scores below 10 for Mario Galaxy, this is a 10/10.
anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
period.

Sorry to rain on your parade but if it deserves 10/10 the developers now have nothing left to aspire to as they have already achieved gaming perfection. In that case Fire Emblem : Radiant Dawn should get 12/10 for being more than perfect;)

no, as of now this is as perfect game as perfect game gets.
10/10.
developers will always come up with ideas in future to improve the genre.

I stopped by Gamestop to pick up the commemorative coin today, and couldn't help but buy the official Prima Collector's Edition Guide too.  I only leafed through the book briefly, but boy, it's a nice one.  I stumbled across the unlockable you get once you collect all 120 stars; it's an obvious but significant one.

I finally got to try out the game, too.  I only got to drop about fifteen minutes on it, but it was enough to completely hook me.  That stunning 60fps, insanely colorful graphics, and perfect 3D Mario controls; it's not a stretch when I say that this is THE true reason to own a Wii.   

That first time you run around a full 360 on a planet?  It's a wild trip.

Come on I live in the UK and have to wait 'till friday for it's release. Stop punishing me with the obvious brilliance of this game. Damn I feel gutted. (ephidel goes off to watch brandonk's YouTube link again).

I think Kotaku dealt with this point in a recent article.  The whole "You can't give a game a 10 rating because no game's perfect" argument is silly.  Reviewers give albums and films 4 or 5 stars (whichever is highest depending on the scale) at times not because they're perfect (perfect being rather subjective in any case) but because they're at the very top of their class.

There is never going to be a "perfect" game but if a game is head and shoulders above everything else in its time then absolutely it should get a 10.  If you say no game deserves a 10 then you could go even further and say no game deserves a 9, because no game is that close to perfection.  It's all relative but if no game ever achieves the highest rank then what's the point in having that rank in the first place.

I've been through this argument too many times in my life. Granted SMG is awesome but why is it that most VG reviewers give games say 9.7 out of 10 and when an obviously superior, yet not innovative enough, sequel is released they grade it as inferior to the original. Lots of reviewers do not alter their previous reviews and subsequent ratings at regular intervals. Most people want to know whether a game is worth buying or not ; not that it's unimaginative from an industry standpoint. 10/10's and 100%'s are only acceptable if the general public understand the ratings in relation to current games culture and standards.

Donkey Kong Arcade or DK64? I'll go with DK64 as it's a more enjoyable, diverse and satisfying game, though I can't help but respect and appreciate that without Donkey Kong Arcade we wouldn't be where we are now.

I AM THE GAME, YOU DON'T WANNA PLAY ME,

Actually, DK64 CONTAINS Donkey Kong Arcade, so by definition it is better

Or were Rare just paying homage to classic gaming. Remember how many Mario games in recent years also have Mario Bros. Arcade bundled onto them, or maybe the amount of times the NES Metroid has shown up on other Metroid games. Do I really have to go on? They were undoubtedly great games in their time and like I said they deserve respect for their importance in the progression of gaming to where it is today, BUT that doesn't mean that Mario Bros. Arcade is as enjoyable a game as SMG nowadays, or that the NES Metroid is as satisfying as MP3 : Corruption. Games move with the times, so should their ratings.

I AM CONTROL, NO WAY YOU CAN CHANGE ME,

I have two arguments against the 10/10 thing (in general, not for Mario):

1. It's only given to high-profile games, ones that are expected to be mind-blowing. Rarely will you see a game come out of nowhere and receive a perfect score. If people had known GTA would turn into such a sales monster, I'm sure the 8's and 9's it received would have been 10's (as its' sequels turned into). Which tells me the expectations from the reviewers (or possibly advertising revenue or fanboy backlash)  plays a huge role, since no one cares if a lower profile game gets an average or poor score.

2. They're much more commonly thrown around nowadays than they were in the past. EGM gave the first Metal Gear Solid 4 10/10 scores and that seemed to open the floodgates, as they had given very few 10's prior to that. I think in the internet age, a magazine giving perfect scores is a way to get attention, as it's a very strong statement to make them stand out.

These are huge reasons I don't even bother with reviews or gaming media that much anymore and put more stock in message board impressions and video clips before buying.

Case in point: Every Gran Turismo is highly rated by the press, but nearly everyone on STC (myself included) thinks the games are garbage. At least, IIRC. Or Wind Waker, which also got perfect scores aplenty and isn't regarded highly at all here. Which, again, I agree with.

Mario Galaxy is a game I'm on the fence about right now still, so I put more stock in this thread for impressions than I do the gaming media. And uh, it don't sound bad at all.