I never owned a Wii as a kid. I played Wii Sports and a handful of other flagship titles at friends’ and family’s houses in the mid-to-late 2000s, but without my own console I missed out on several standout Nintendo experiences.
One such title was Super Mario Galaxy. Its recent port and remaster for the Nintendo Switch (alongside its sequel) — and the original’s inclusion in the 2020 collection Super Mario 3D All-Stars — finally gave me a chance to see what so many players praise. I dove in immediately and found that it more than justifies nearly two decades of admiration. At the same time, it reminded me why motion- and gyroscope-driven controls have mostly faded from favor.
As with many Mario adventures, Super Mario Galaxy opens with Bowser abducting Princess Peach and carrying her castle off into space, flinging Mario into the cosmos in the process. Mario quickly encounters the star-like Lumas and meets Rosalina at her Comet Observatory. Rosalina asks Mario to gather Power Stars to restore the Observatory’s energy so they can pursue Bowser — and from there the game lets you loose to explore.
Image: NintendoThe platforming in Super Mario Galaxy is a delight — after just a few stages it’s clear why the game is so highly regarded. If you’ve played 3D Mario titles before, the fundamentals will feel familiar: Mario jumps, ground-slams, and spins, and the controls are as approachable and polished as you’d expect from Nintendo. The mechanics are elegantly simple, and they never grow stale.
As a fan of space settings, I loved how the game toys with gravity. Spherical planetoids let Mario literally run around entire worlds, evoking images of Goku chasing Bubbles on King Kai’s planet. When worlds sit near one another, a well-timed leap — or the pull of a neighboring body — can sweep Mario onto a new surface. Other stages use flat discs that hide surprises beneath them, rewarding players who look in unexpected places.
Image: NintendoPlaying Super Mario Galaxy now also comes with the pleasure of recognizing characters I’d previously only seen elsewhere. I didn’t realize Rosalina first appeared here or that she serves as the adoptive guardian of the Lumas; until recently I simply picked her as a driver in Mario Kart. I also enjoyed revisiting moments like swimming alongside the game’s penguins during an early beach stage.
The main drawback in 2025 is the motion-control design. Star Bits — the colorful collectibles scattered through levels — require pointing and aiming, and in handheld mode that means tilting and rotating the Switch, which can feel awkward. Motion is also used in certain platforming segments where you must direct a star-shaped cursor to pull Mario toward targets.
Stages that hinge on motion controls play best with detached Joy‑Cons for greater accuracy; the opening manta‑ray surfing section is a good example. I’m not a fan of motion-centric schemes, and they haven’t aged gracefully here. Fortunately, many of those levels can be bypassed if you accumulate enough stars elsewhere. I attempted the giant‑ball course once and decided it wasn’t for me.
Aside from those dated motion controls, there’s very little to fault in Super Mario Galaxy. Its imaginative, space‑themed levels remain a joy to explore, and even with later highlights like Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Galaxy still stands out as one of the most inventive entries in the series.
Source: Polygon
