Mario

For anyone that doesn't know who Mario is (yea right); I'll start off by giving some basic information about him.

Taken directly from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, totally unchanged:

'Mario (マリオ, Mario) is a video game character created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto and the official mascot of Nintendo. He has appeared in over 100 video games since his creation, more than any other character. Originally used for platforming games, he has also found his way into racing games, puzzle games, role-playing games, fighting games, sports games, and many others.'

Yes, you read that right: 'He has appeared in OVER 100 VIDEO GAMES' No joke.  Wikipedia even has an article on it:  List of Mario Games by Year.  Mario, Miyamoto's brainchild, is (possibly) the world's most recognisable video game character.  More so then Master Chief, Sonic and Zelda.  Sure, he may not be as cool as Master Chief - I'll give you that.  Since Master Chief is a 7-foot, gun-toting Spartan warrior... while Mario is a fat Italian plumber who spends the majority of his time saving Princess Peach from Bowser.  I know who I'd rather be.  But you've got to say Mario looks good for his age, he first broke onto the gaming scene in 1981.  That's quite a few years before I was born.  If I use Master Chief as an example again, then Mario was 20 years before him.

Anyway, Nintendo's Mario games always deliver (when I say Mario games, I don't include all the spin-offs etc.).  Sure, Super Mario Sunshine was a bit of a drag but it was still a great game.  Not great Mario game, since Mario's standards are UBER high.  On Metacritic:  Super Mario Sunshine scores in at 92.  That's pretty damn good.

Anyway, as I was saying ever since the first Mario Bros. right up to the latest iteration of Mario: Super Mario Galaxy.  Nintendo has continued to churn out awesome Mario game after awesome Mario game.  Well... they ought to, since it tends to take a whole console cycle for them to make one.

Ok, enough beating round the proverbial bush.  I got Super Mario Galaxy on Friday and I'm loving every minute of it.

Seriously, if you're not awed by some of the stuff they do in this game - there's something seriously wrong with you.  The whole concept of the gravity and the spherical worlds and the amazing visuals just makes heads explode.  I'm not ready to say anything definitive about it yet, seeing as I've only collected 50 odd stars out of a possible 120, but it's a damn fine game.  And I mean it.

On Metacritic SMG's score is a whopping 98.  All the reviews give 90 or above.  There's only one game that has ever received a higher score.  And that is Zelda: Ocarina of Time, with a near-perfect 99.  BUT WAIT!  Let's take a look at Gamerankings...  Here are The Rankings.  Guess what?  Super Mario Galaxy has overtaken LoZ: OoT.  That's something to boast about.  I'd also like to note that the top three games there are all Nintendo franchises.

So what does all this mean?  I have no f*cking clue.  But I'll give you this advice:  If you have a Wii, you need this game.  If you don't have a Wii... this is a damn-good reason to get one.

Short and sweet.  I'm not going to bother even writing a review seeing as you could type into Google: 'Super Mario Galaxy Review' and find one easily.  But why bother?  They all say pretty much the same thing:  'AWESOME.'  The only real problem in the game is the camera.  It's does an adequate job, and for any other game it's great.  But for Super Mario Galaxy where you are jumping upside-down, inside-out, all the way around and back again it can sometimes make it hard to see where you're going.

Oh and there's another problem:  The game does end sometime.  Which is an awful shame.

The GameTrailers review.  Score: 9.8.

So, let's review what I said: GET THIS GAME.

If you don't get this game; not only are you doing a horrible injustice to yourself, but your children, and your children's children and their children's children's children and so it goes on.

An instant classic.  If only I get more play-time with it...

 

Note:  If the above just looks like total Nintendo fanboyish dribble, I'm sorry.  I can't write anything good or think properly the last few days.  All I keep hearing in my hollowed chasm of a skull is this...

Beautiful, isn't it? The music, I mean.

EDIT#1: About Gavin... yea, he's dead. Again. I heard this time he got obliterated by an army of giant sea kings. What are sea kings? Er... kings that fell into the sea... and they you know... became sea kings. Yea, you can tell by their names they are pretty bad-ass and powerful.

I phoned Gavin up the other day and asked him what hell was like. He said: 'Unpleasant and stuffy. And it's very humid. The service is also very bad, you'd think they'll at least stop poking you with pitchforks for a while so you can- Ow! Hey, stop that! I'm on the phone. Dumbass.'  Yea, so from what I gathered from that phonecall is that hell is pleasant and... er... not much else.  I phoned back yesterday and I heard things are much better, especially since Satan called in a engineer.  He got some hot springs going and now Hell is a thriving business!

/sarcasm