Super Mario Galaxy Discussion

[mopinks]

masamune said:

I wouldn't say the ones in 64 and SMS were quite as bad. At least, in those cases, there was more than 100 coins. So if you missed one in some nook or cranny, there was still another ones somewhere.

Not so here.

unless you count the levels in Mario 64 (like Big Boo's Haunt, if I remember correctly) where there's only a total of 101-110 coins to find, and they're spread out completely randomly across the entire stage. not to mention that you get some of the coins by killing enemies, and there's always a chance the coin could fall off the edge of the stage or disappear before you can collect it.

and then there's Sunshine, where you can actually pick the wrong shine and end up with a level that doesn't even HAVE 100 coins in it. that's not right at all!

[Sqrt2]

mopinks said:

unless you count the levels in Mario 64 (like Big Boo's Haunt, if I remember correctly) where there's only a total of 101-110 coins to find, and they're spread out completely randomly across the entire stage.

I can 151 on that level (pick the merry-go-round star). As for the coins going off the edge, I only seem to have this trouble when trying to get the coins that Bob-ombs hold.

[mopinks]

I was actually thinking of Jolly Roger Bay, which only has a scant 104 coins. Big Boo's Haunt is one of the easier stages to get 100 coins on.

[Spud]

mopinks said:

I was actually thinking of Jolly Roger Bay, which only has a scant 104 coins.

Yeah but you don't really have the problem with losing the enemy's coins unless you're slow. And that level has awesome music which makes up for it.

[TV Eye]

Alright. I (finally) got Mario Galaxy, and I love it. I constantly hear classic Mario tunes remixed and that brings back instant memories. I also feel the camera could use some work. They let you move it when you really don't need to (the surfing level) and they don't let you move it when you really need to.

[Dances in Undergarments]

Alright, I 'clocked' the game last night (ie the 120 stars bit - not the other bit, which is admittedly quite a nice touch), so I've just read through this thread, so its time for my opinions, because, you know, I'm great, and everyone loves my opinions.

Now, the first thing I should mention is that I've been in a bit of a gaming 'rut' recently (hell, for at least the past 6 months) - and no matter how many good games I buy, nothing seems to be pulling me out of it. I say this because it was my big hope that Galaxy would do this.... and I don't really know if it did. I was honestly expecting to put in huge sessions in this game where I just couldn't stop playing (I did it back then with Sunshine - the first night I had it I reckon I played for about 10 hours or so) and I didn't. The longest session I put into Galaxy was apparently 5 1/2 hours, which was when I completed the game, but I spent about a hour of that with the game paused watching TV and probably a half hour to an hour in total jumping on the computer next to me for whatever reason. BUT I did spend more time playing this in the 2 weeks since I got it then I probably have the majority of my games put together, and felt much more compelled to play this game on, say, day 11 then I did for other games on day 1. Is this at all relevant? Probably not, but I feel it is.

Is this the best game on Wii (at least of the ones I've played)? Fuck yeah (though the always ignored for 'best Wii game' Wii Sports has to be considered too - the amount of time me and my mates have put into that little baby is unreal). Is it an incredibly polished experience that kept me coming back for more, and that I could imagine playing again and enjoying in the future? Yeah, for sure. Is it worth a 10/10? Honestly, I think so. ....but it is a gaming revolution? Oh god no. Its not even a 'revolution' for platform games. Honestly, the planet mechanics (in particular gravity) aren't all that different to (gasp) the FLUDD mechanics in Sunshine, and just as Sunshine was 'Mario on an island', Galaxy is 'Mario in space'. Theres nothing particularly new there, just Mario 64's gameplay chucked into a new setting, with a few new tricks (thanks to the Wiimote and the gravity) - ironically, this is what Sunshine was criticised for, while Galaxy gets away with it.

But where I love Galaxy is the fact that, as others have mentioned, its 2D Mario, in 3D. Yes, it probably is SMB1 2D Mario in 3D, but damn it if I don't heavily prefer this to the 'giant-arse world you see a bunch of times' 3D Mario style of 64 and Sunshine. Even if theres not as much space to just 'play around' (though I'm not sure - I had lots of fun long jumping 'off' planets only to have them pull me back upside down or something), I feel the variety and the 'mini-challenges' presented by this style cannot be beat. There's defintely room for both types of 3D platformers, but I very much prefer this approach.

Thats not to say there weren't [minor] issues I had with Galaxy though. First and foremost, there really never is that real galaxy feeling - in one galaxy, there might be 10 planets, but you only ever see 3 or 4 per star. I think it was Fry that mentioned it, but there really needs to be a way to travel through the 'whole' galaxy in one go, instead of having sling stars and the like appear from nowhere when needed for a star, I would have had it all there in every star, thereby allowing you to pick up, say, star 3 when playing star 1. This could even be expanded to its own comet challenge where you have to pick up multiple stars in one go.

Speaking of comets (segue!) I really liked the comet challenges - yes even the purple coins, once I found out the timed ones generally had 150 of the things. And the daredevil challenges were fucking perfect - they were always edge-of-your-seat hard, and left you with sweaty palms and an increased heart rate, but were never cheap - even with the Melty Molten one, which almost caused me to throw my 'mote, I knew that it was doable, and it was just me that sucked.

Powerups were alot of fun, the timed aspect didn't bother me at all (though they could have chucked some star in for the Ice Flower that let you permanently stay Icey and skate around collecting coins until you were hit or something, because I loved the skating mechanics), and the various old school references (Rocky Wrenches! Fucking. Win.) were great.

I loved the game. Not a revolution in anything, but a brilliant game. Bring on more like it.

[Savage Adam]

I just got this game.

Cant talk, I gotta go play it. I'll tell my opinions of it later.

[Captain Walrus]

I never had a Nintendo 64, so I've only got to play a little bit of SM64. I own Sunshine, but I was never drawn into the game and thus never actually finished that one. But I got Galaxy for Christmas and just beat the game (not the 120 stars yet, but I will). I must say this is the 3D Mario experience I've been waiting to play ever since I watched my friends play Super Mario 64.

The game was amazing. I loved the game play. I loved the music, which was either epic or nostalgic. And I loved the the level design. The graphics were superb. The camera only screwed me up a few times, but I've got a lot of stars to go.

My biggest beef with the game was that it had 1-ups everywhere. I got up to 50 twice. While some galaxies really put the drain on my lives, I never had a need for fifty freaking lives. It seemed like they decided to put 1-ups everywhere instead of just saving how many lives you had when you saved.

[Spud]

capnwalrus said:

My biggest beef with the game was that it had 1-ups everywhere. I got up to 50 twice. While some galaxies really put the drain on my lives, I never had a need for fifty freaking lives. It seemed like they decided to put 1-ups everywhere instead of just saving how many lives you had when you saved.

It's even worse on levels where you get stuck and keep dieing but for each time you die you get 3 lives so when you leave the level you have upwards of 70 lives.

[Fryguy64]

So true of the Ray surfing levels, being where most of my lives were lost

[Wildcat]

Man, the first Ray surfing course kicked my ass so many times. I oddly enough died merely once on the tougher course. *shrugs* The ball-rolling, on the other hand...I still haven't got the easy star on that one, yet have beat the game's harder challenges with it...

I need to go back and finish this. God, I've got too many games to play! O_X

[Savage Adam]

wildcat said:

Man, the first Ray surfing course kicked my ass so many times. I oddly enough died merely once on the tougher course. *shrugs* The ball-rolling, on the other hand...I still haven't got the easy star on that one, yet have beat the game's harder challenges with it...

I need to go back and finish this. God, I've got too many games to play! O_X

I beat the Ray surfing game in two tries, and the ball game in one try.

Just saying.

[Sqrt2]

Personally I hate those ball rolling stages. I just cannot seem to do them. Also I dislike those speed run comets as well.

[Savage Adam]

sqrt2 said:

Personally I hate those ball rolling stages. I just cannot seem to do them. Also I dislike those speed run comets as well.

Those are actually my two favorite mini-games.

I dont get why you guys think the mini-games are so hard! I beat most of them in one or two tries.

[Spud]

The Ball rolling challenges seem way to reminiscent of the bumper ball challenges from Mario Party. The first being the harder of the two. The second is pretty simple despite being longer. and the

SPOILER: Click to show

Ti ot desu teg uoy litnu kcen eth ni niap a si Yxalag Netlom Ytlaem Eht.

for some reason the wasn't working for me.