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Super Mario Galaxy First Impressions
Wii First Impressions by Tom Bramwell
Were you to have dissected my brain on the flight to E3 this year, you would have found many things. I suspect you would have discovered first of all where the air marshal was sitting. Having patiently explained that you were the unwitting protagonist of a preview introduction being written several months later, you might then have peeled back my scalp, levered open my skull and fingered your way past the layers of neuroses, the section dedicated to obscure '90s pop trivia ("aha, so it was Deep Blue Something who wrote Breakfast At Tiffany's"), and then arrived in whichever lobe played host to my main fear about Super Mario Galaxy: that it would, like many of the DS launch titles, struggle to feel like much more than the novel first steps of a toddler in an earthquake.
What you would have discovered on the return flight, however, would have been quite different. Because at some point during E3, I had a real "thunk" moment, and realised that what we had weren't toddling dev-feet struggling for purchase, but firm-footed dev-feet, freeing up the hands. The DS, though less diverse in its control schemes than its new family member, has already taught people a few lessons about what works in games that mix pointer-control and classic game design. Most relevantly here, Metroid Prime: Hunters taught them that traditional movement and pointer control can be combined rather well, and showed them how. With that bedrock of knowledge, Super Mario Galaxy manages to be simultaneously extremely familiar and intuitive - fundamentally sure-footed if you like - leaving the Nintendo team Shigeru Miyamoto's waving around in Japan to concentrate on what happens when you start waving Mario around.
Shown off again shortly after Nintendo's press conference in London on Friday, it's still lovely, and since I didn't get to write about it last time and there's only so much I can write about the experience of touching Tim Henman's leg, it felt high time for a recap. The demo's the same, but, well, I didn't have to punch anybody's grandmother to get near it, unlike poor Mathew did in Los Angeles, so I was able to take my time and soak it up.
As the above hoped to illustrate, Mario Galaxy comes very naturally precisely because both you and Nintendo know what Mario's doing right from the off. Using the Nunchuk for analogue movement, the Wii remote for jumping, triple-jumping and butt-slamming, and Nintendo's AI programmers for preventing the automatic camera going doolally, the real fledgling steps here are taken with the arms, with pointer usage and wiggle motions for activating objects in the world the key new elements - and a real sense that the developers want you to use the controller for fiddling with their world rather than struggling for control.
Coins are back of course, and the health system's consistent with Marios 64 and Sunshine.
"Activating objects" is a remarkably sterile description of how this unexplored ceiling - hung with stars - is charted by remote motions, mind you. Having started prancing around in traditional style, the unorthodox comes slowly but whimsically. You point a reticule at the screen and use it to jingle some bells hanging above the starting point - an action that manifests some musical notes leading up an incline, collection of which plays a little tune and pops a 1up mushroom out of a nearby bush. Later Mario grabs hold of a sticky, springy sort of space-plant, which bucks like a playground bronco as you wiggle the Nunchuk analogue. But by hovering the reticule over it and tightening the trigger, you grab hold of Mario and are able to draw him back like a rubber band, before releasing him to spin off into the eternal night, on to whatever the next sequence Nintendo's dreamt up might be.
You can still leap between platforms, but gravity is localised to whichever space rock, asteroid, floating pirate ship or larger spherical world you're anchored to, so in the case of smaller objects you can often walk up a wall rather than jumping to reach a ledge. Land on a spiralling walkway and your platform gene prompts you to wait, the expectation being that it will start to gradually rotate and you'll have to time your movement to match the assumed gravity; instead, you can simply walk along it, the perspective angling round with you as it spirals. Where you're not reaching into the game with the Wii remote to straighten Mario's platforming bowtie, you're being shown something you expect and conquering it in ways as alien to the Mushroom Kingdoms of old as brain surgery is to transatlantic flights.
It's a heady mix of old and new and new-old, and it's consistent in this. Visually it has a sort of fuzzy felt sheen to it, which is to do with the particular way the game is lit - as though Mario's being struck by the light of stars on all sides. Again, it distinguishes Galaxy without sacrificing the trademarks.
Unfortunately, the game does not come with these people. I want his glasses.
The demo version, while short, certainly enthrals, and those uncluttered by grabbing hands waiting in the queue behind - those who get to explore it several times - can take different paths to several different bosses. There's a giant spider, whose web straddles a sort of galactic ring that Mario can run around the inside of, and whose behind needs to be sprung against using the Wii remote for more rubber band action. There's a giant robotic nasty whose comeuppance is a matter of wiggling the Wii remote on flying bullets and then leading them around to its weak spot. And there's a lava-bound sort of crustacean, spitting lava balls and the occasional fruity ovoid, which needs to be wiggled at to return it to sender. Vanquishing bosses presents Mario with stars. And like Mario 64 and even Mario Sunshine before it, there's still something unmistakably satisfying about their collection.
But as I said to the lady commanding the demo pod, and as you would have discovered if you'd ripped open my head in May, the most satisfying thing about Mario Galaxy, in its present form, is that the Nintendo's progression from DS to Wii has already helped put developers in the right frame of mind to take advantage of its innovation - and on evidence like this it's helped Nintendo get off to a good star. It may not be a launch title, but Super Mario Galaxy ought to launch Mario back to the pantheon of greats, and I can't wait to see where else the journey takes him.
Super Mario Galaxy is due out exclusively on Nintendo Wii in 2007.
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High res movie here: http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthr...
I am NO Mario fan but I *am* impressed!!!! |
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Ooh, come on, stop teasing us poor souls with no access to these demo's...
Don't rub it in our face like that; it's bad enough that we'll have to wait until 2007 to we get our dirty little hands all over Mario's latest... BTW, Mario 64 DS could seem dire to you, Steroyd, but for those of us who didn't get the chance to play it on the N64, it was an opportunity to taste the one title that redefined platform games - and it tasted good :) |
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kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 13:39
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"the section dedicated to obscure '90s pop trivia ("aha, so it was Deep Blue Something who wrote Breakfast At Tiffany's")"
That sir, is a piece of trivia that can never be quite obscure enough in my book. I hope you washed your keyboard after writing that. |
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Bill_Gates_Bitch
20/09/06 @ 13:40
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"Look at the 1st screen shot, remove Mario and it looks like a scene from the Teletubbies."
I don't think you're going to see too many realistic, mature themed games on a Nintendo console.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/09/06 @ 14:41
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The video looks nice and slick. I still want to smash Mario in his cheery little face with a cricket bat whenever I see him or even hear his name, but it looks like there's fun to be had there.
Edit: Actually, if they had a mini-game where you could use the Wiimote to smash Mario in the face until his teeth fell out, that would be an instant pre-order for me. It's the REAL NEXT GEN!
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/09/06 @ 14:46
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Sometimes I feel like people like me don't exist anymore. I'm sure in the beginning people actually played games for fun. Mario isn't my gaming hero or anything but I not going to write off a game just cos he's in it.
My take on it is: Is the game fun? If yes I couldn't give a flying fuck if its aimed for kids, grownups or geriatic horse-rapers (slight niche market there). Maybe that's just me. |
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kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 13:54
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Now that, looks f*cking awsome!!
I too could be categorised as "not really a Mario fan", but that was stunning. Gameplay wise, there seemed to be lots of genuinely quality ways that the Wii controller was being applied. Visually, the sense of space when he was moving between planets was just brilliant. I would confidently (unless it all turns out to be smoke and mirrors, it is only a trailer after all, probably with one of the devs at the controls) suggest that game to be a "killer app". I.e. it will sell consoles off its back, the way Halo sold Xboxes. Very impressive. |
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Nah, Lambtron you're just a gamer like most of us here.
Couldn't really care less about the platform as long as it's a fun game, i'll probably end up having all 3 consoles again. 2nd hand and so on as i'm not made of platinum but if a console has good enough games that i want to play. I'll buy it. |
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"aha, so it was Deep Blue Something who wrote Breakfast At Tiffany's"
I wouldn't really call that obscure, to be honest. That song was played once an hour on MTV for better part of a year. However, I liked the article. I'm still a bit confused as to how the game will play... I hope the wiggling feels intuitive. We'll see, I guess :)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/09/06 @ 15:20
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chupachups
20/09/06 @ 14:25
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"Don't rub it in our face like that; it's bad enough that we'll have to wait until 2007 to we get our dirty little hands all over Mario's latest... "
You leave Princess Peach out of it! |
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I've just watched that five minute video... the game looks AWESOME! Very inventive and lots of fun; just what you'd expect from Nintendo. Even the visuals look gorgeous. The only thing you can't tell from watchig the video is how the controller is actually used.
Anyway... can't wait for this game. |
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Is your fullstop key bust Tom?
Looks great, but can't see it being a killer app as such. Yes it will sell lots, but killer apps sell consoles to people who weren't going to buy one anyway. I suppose you could say a lot of people are buying a Wii in the knowledge that Mario will be on it. I can't see this doing much but converting those already there. |
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BTW, Mario 64 DS could seem dire to you, Steroyd, but for those of us who didn't get the chance to play it on the N64, it was an opportunity to taste the one title that redefined platform games - and it tasted good :)
Don't get me wrong Mario 64 DS was an impprovement from Mario 64 which i think is the BEST 3D PLATFORMER EVAH!!! But the touchscren was so tacked on it wasn't even funny, Nintendo were the victims of their own success on that Mario 64 was solely designed for the analogue stick and the analogue stick only. If you bother to download the Wii back catalogue you'll understand how much the game is way better with an Analogue stick than the touchscreen. I'm glad Nintendo didn't decide to tack on the wiimote onto this title just to show their innovation. But i doubt it'll reach the level that was Mario 64.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 20/09/06 @ 16:06
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kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 15:12
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@DrDamn
"but killer apps sell consoles to people who weren't going to buy one anyway" Well, we have a slightly differerent definition of a term that probably has no formal definition. My def is a game that someone will buy a console to play. Whether they had plans to perhaps buy the console anyway at some point is a bit too transcient to state as a fact. No-one has plans to buy a console until they have a good reason to do so. Many people might say "it needs to have 3 or 4 good games before I will buy it". So they are still thinking about a purchase, but they have a set of rules that dictate when that purchase will happen. I think some people will buy a Wii to play Mario, regardless of what other games become available. That, in my def of the term, makes it a killer app. I take your point too, like I said we shouldn't really disagree over a term that has not formal definition. |
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@Kangarootoo
I think we have the same definition actually. More what I'm trying to say is, why ask the question "The Wii's killer app?". Any big proper Mario title was always going to make some people buy the Wii. Therefore the question is pointless. In the raw defintion of Killer App that we agree on, yes it will make people buy the Wii. However in my opinion this was a given. Similar to Halo 3 being a killer app for the 360 and Gran Turismo for the PS3. |
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ProfessorLesser
20/09/06 @ 15:26
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I've played the bloody thing, and I can make absolutely no sense of this article. Is it just me? Is it actually badly written? It all seems very convoluted and vague.
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I'm curious to see how this game works out, but to be honest, I never found 3D marios to be good at all... ever. No, not even Mario 64. My platforming preferences has gone over to Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. On PS1 I preferred Crash Bandicoot and/or Spyro the Dragon. They might all be inspired by Mario 64, but I still thought they were better.
So no, Mario isn't a system seller for me. However, Legend of Zelda is, as long as they keep up the high standard. Twilight Princess looks excellent, but we'll wait and see. I also love Wind Waker, and I think OOT is slightly overrated. Specifically how almost all of the dungeons were badly designed, compared to WW. But still great game. Strangely enough, my most wanted game for the Wii is the Wii Sports that comes with the console, I'm looking forward to trying that tennis game. |
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@ProfessorLesser
Hence my comment about fullstops higher up. The first paragraph has this little beauty all as one sentence ... "Having patiently explained that you were the unwitting protagonist of a preview introduction being written several months later, you might then have peeled back my scalp, levered open my skull and fingered your way past the layers of neuroses, the section dedicated to obscure '90s pop trivia ("aha, so it was Deep Blue Something who wrote Breakfast At Tiffany's"), and then arrived in whichever lobe played host to my main fear about Super Mario Galaxy: that it would, like many of the DS launch titles, struggle to feel like much more than the novel first steps of a toddler in an earthquake." I completely lost track a couple of times in the article. |
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kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 15:44
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@DrDamn
"Any big proper Mario title was always going to make some people buy the Wii." Well, this is true. Maybe I was being too idealistic. I suppose my first reactions are to view a game looks to be of high quality and say "that is a killer app", when of course as you say a killer app can be born out of a strong franchise and good marketing. Most of the Mario games are also of good quality, so I'm probably splitting hairs. I suppose what I am saying is that if that hadn't been a Mario game I might have still thrown the term "killer app" in its direction, based purely on what I saw without really thinking about the realities of product exposure and so on. I feel pedant bound to mention that I didn't actually raise any questions. I simply used the term to address what I thought looked like an excellent game (I don't use the term killer app very freely) :) @OnlyMe There is no accounting for taste. There are plenty of people who don't give a flying flip (doing my little Flander impression there) about Halo or GTA (both system sellers in their own right). Zelda is also a strong enough franchise which will sell Wiis all by itself. Variety is good, so we are all happy. @ProfessorLesser "Is it just me? Is it actually badly written? It all seems very convoluted and vague." Well the article made perfect sense to me, so I guess the ball is back in your court. |
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kangarootoo
20/09/06 @ 15:48
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@DrDamn
That is a legit sentence as far as I can tell, with perhaps the mistaken use of : instead of ;. But I'm no expert. Tom is a skilled wordsmith. So lets be careful about criticising sentence structure in case we just end up looking silly. Criticising a paragraph simply because you found it hard to read can backfire on you very quickly :) |
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JetSetWilly
20/09/06 @ 15:52
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@kanagarootoo
I agree. But it seems that Tom's skills deserted him for the final paragraph :) |
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ProfessorLesser
20/09/06 @ 15:52
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kanga, it may very well have been correct, but the article read absurdly. You're right though, Tom's stuff is usually of the highest quality, but I had a very hard time following this.
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