Super Mario Galaxy Turns 15!

Fifteen years ago today, on November 12th 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was released on the Nintendo Wii in North America!

Of course, Super Mario Galaxy was first released in Japan, and in that case, its fifteenth anniversary was on November 1st. But since I only kind of mentioned that on a post the day after the fact, and because I’m American so the US release is more personal to me, let’s celebrate Super Mario Galaxy now!

Goodness gracious, where does the time go? I remember the buildup to Super Mario Galaxy more than most games: that 2006 demo that looked pretty different from the final game, checking the Japanese website for updates, hearing the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme for the first time from a making of video showing an orchestral recording session… I even remember when the game was at Wii kiosks at GameStop, I’d actually take a few minutes to nab a star or two (though the same star or two every time. Didn’t want to spoil too much of the game ahead of time).

Super Mario Galaxy was the third 3D Mario game, but it felt more like the proper successor to Super Mario 64 than Sunshine ever did. Like 64, Galaxy felt like the next evolution of the Mario series, combining elements of its 3D predecessors as well as elements from the 2D Super Mario titles, and using the idea of outer space to add its own bag of tricks into the proceedings, like spherical planetoids and gravity (it seems odd in retrospect that it took Nintendo that long to combine a series that so heavily features jumping with gravity).

Galaxy even expanded on Mario norms in fun and meaningful ways. After being toned down in 64 and entirely absent in Sunshine, Galaxy marked the proper return for power-ups in the Mario series. Not only did the Fire Flower make a long-overdue comeback (and for the first time in 3D!), but new power-ups such as the Bee Suit, Boo Suit and comical Spring Suit left an impression (I’m still wondering why the original version of Ice Mario seen in Galaxy hasn’t returned, being replaced by the less creative New Super Mario Bros. version thereafter). Super Mario Galaxy even brought back Luigi, after years of being sidelined from the main Mario series post-SNES. We even got a new addition to the Mario canon in the form of Rosalina, who has become a Mario mainstay ever since.

Combine all of these elements together with some absolutely stellar level design, pitch perfect gameplay, and one of gaming’s greatest soundtracks, and Galaxy proved to be one hell of a Mario game.

And what a game it was! Super Mario Galaxy not only succeeded where Sunshine fell short, it set the bar for the Wii, and was something of a new benchmark for not only the Mario series, but for Nintendo itself. It was one of the most fun and imaginative games of its day, and fifteen years later, age hasn’t effected it at all.

I also feel like Galaxy started something of a renaissance for the Mario series. Although the Paper Mario and Mario & Luigi games were great, for the most part, the Mario series hadn’t really seen the same critical heights as it once did after Super Mario 64 (though again, the Mario RPGs really deserved a bigger spotlight). Sure, the Mario Karts, sports games and Mario Parties were fun, but not exactly the defining gaming experiences Mario was once synonymous with. Super Mario Galaxy brought back the pedigree of the Mario series. Galaxy earned a critical reputation that very few games could hope to claim, and rightfully so! And since then, the Super Mario series has seldom looked back, being on perhaps a longer winning streak now than it ever had before. Games like Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Odyssey have continued Mario’s winning ways, and titles such as Super Mario Maker and Mario Kart 8 raised the bar for the spinoffs (it’s just a shame the RPGs seem to be the only aspect of the series that haven’t shared in this renaissance). Even the music of the series remains elevated post-Galaxy (Mario games always had great music, but I feel like now it has the most consistently great soundtracks in gaming).

Okay, so things may have looked like they peaked with Galaxy 2 there for a minute, seeing as 2011 and 2012 were extra safe years for the series, but then Super Mario 3D World was released in 2013 and the world was happy again. So those two off years were just little blips.

In short, Super Mario Galaxy was a special game that took the Mario series to new heights (literally! He was in space!). And even now, fifteen years later, this Wii classic is still one of Mario’s finest hours!

Happy Fifteenth (US) Anniversary, Super Mario Galaxy!