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In my youth, I never owned Nintendo's Wii system. Sure, I tried Wii Sports along with several premier games while staying with loved ones and acquaintances during the 2000s decade, but I never had a Wii of my own, causing me to overlook numerous outstanding titles from Nintendo's beloved series.

Among those titles featured Super Mario Galaxy, together with its follow-up, was recently remastered and transferred to Switch consoles. The initial release also appeared within the 2020 special compilation Super Mario 3D All-Stars. I welcomed the chance to experience what’s regarded as one of the best Mario adventures created. I became immediately engrossed, while affirming that it lives up to about 18 years of hype. Nevertheless, I also recognized how happy I am motion and gyroscope controls generally persisted as historical features.

Initiating Galactic Exploration

Following traditional Mario adventure, Super Mario Galaxy starts when Bowser nabbing Mario's royal friend and her castle. His collection of spacecraft resembling pirates carry her among the stars, throwing Mario through space as this happens. Mario encounters star-like cuties named Lumas and meets Rosalina aboard her comet ship. She tasks Mario with tracking down stars to fuel her spacecraft so they can chase after Bowser, opening exploration opportunities to start discovering.

The game's jumping mechanics offers pleasure, and all it took experiencing a couple levels to understand why it’s held in such high regard. It seems recognizable among veterans of Mario's 3D adventures, and the mechanics are approachable and intuitive as Nintendo typically delivers.

Unique Movement Systems

Being cosmic enthusiast, the environment perfectly matches my interests, enabling Super Mario Galaxy to play with physics. Orbital stages allow Mario to circle repeatedly surrounding them similar to Goku chasing after Bubbles on King Kai’s planet. When structures approach, players can transfer getting captured by the gravity by neighboring objects. Additional areas are flat discs, typically including rewards underneath, where you may not think to look.

Revisiting Beloved Personalities

What’s fun about engaging with Galaxy after nearly two decades involves recognizing certain personalities. I didn't realize Rosalina made her debut through this adventure, or that she acted as the adoptive mother to stellar beings. Earlier in my gaming, to me she was just part of my regular Mario Kart World character selection. Similarly with Penguins, alongside whom I enjoyed swimming in initial coastal stage.

Motion Control Challenges

The primary drawback in playing Super Mario Galaxy today concerns movement inputs, which are used for acquiring, directing, and launching stellar fragments, vibrant items found across galaxies. Operating in mobile format meant tilting and rotating the device to direct, seeming somewhat awkward. Movement features feature heavily within certain jumping segments, needing users to point the star-shaped cursor toward structures to attract Mario toward them.

Levels that wholly require gyroscopic features work better when played using separate controllers for better precision, such as the ray-riding stage in the beginning. I’ve never been a fan of motion controls, and they remain especially well throughout Galaxy. Luckily, if you get enough stars via alternative missions, these movement-based stages may be completely avoided. I tested the mission featuring Mario maneuvering a large sphere across a path containing openings, then quickly abandoned after one attempt.

Timeless Mario Excellence

Apart from the awkward motion-based input methods, there's virtually nothing to complain about in Super Mario Galaxy, and galactic environments provide enjoyment to explore. Even as standouts such as Odyssey launched later, Super Mario Galaxy stays among the finest and creative Mario adventures existing.