Super Mario Galaxy Preview

An important use of wiggling, however, is in combat. While Mario can just on the unsuspecting Goombas, as he has done since time immemorial, other enemies must be taken out by a different method. Towards the end of the demo, Mario encounters a Pokey that could only be harmed by standing closing to the conveniently-placed coconut and spinning the Wiimote. Doing so sends Mario into a spin jump, knocking the coconut towards the enemy.

Throughout the demo, Mario also encounters a number of small, rough jewels which a Toad informs you are Star Shards. The significance of the Shards hasn’t been explained yet, but at points they join you as you fly to the next ‘Oid. Judging from the interface in the bottom-left corner of the screen, players have to collect one hundred Star Shards from Star World in order to move on to the next level. This may make you feel sick as you realise it’s another collection-based Mario game, but then, if you didn’t like those type of games, you wouldn’t be playing this, would you?

The interface itself, bearing the usual coin and life counts as well as the traditional circular health meter, disappears after a few seconds, so nothing distracts from the beauty of the game. And it is beautiful. At the beginning of Star World, you’re on a large ‘Oid on a sandy beach, which a rippling ocean that could have been ripped straight from Super Mario Sunshine. Indeed, Galaxy is closest compared with the plumber’s vacation-based GameCube outing, as even some elements of the interface are all but identical to that which accompanied you around Isle Delphino. Some ‘Oids are home to flowerbeds and tufts of grass, all of which rustle nicely as you barge through them with your lasagne-laden gut. Perhaps the thought of that will make you sick as well.

But what will really make you sick is the camera angle. The footage we saw didn’t get stuck in a corner or suffer from screen-rocking spasms like so many poorly programmed cameras that have haunted our gaming past. On the contrary, this camera obediently stays behind our nimble Italian protagonist, which is good news if you like staring at Mario’s backside all day. The problems arise, however, when he traverses some of the smaller ‘Oids.

Super Mario Galaxy is possibly the most three-dimensional game that Mario has ever appeared in, in that he can walk on every inch of each ‘Oid, offering a stupid number of angles to each level. So, while a starshape could sending you flying to the top of one ‘Oid, another on either side would send you in a completely different direction. Two-dimensional mapping in future guidebooks will not be possible. As a result, however, the camera often ends up in a mind-bending and stomach-churning angle where you see an upside down Mario at a 45-degree angle. Even when watching the video footage, it’s hard not to tilt your head to compensate.

The final thing that made us sick was the fact that no release date has been confirmed or hinted, no story details have been revealed (though our money’s on that Koopa bloke being behind it all) and, worse still, no one has explained how Mario can survive in space without a suit on. But that’s Nintendo for you; stringing you along with some highly promising footage and the yearn to explore every inch of a galaxy far, far a-wiggle. Pass me the brown paper bag.

(For UK readers, the footage used for this preview is available on the DVD that comes free with Issue 5 of Nintendo Official Magazine)