The GHZ Forum

So apparently, Mario Galaxy is the second coming. Instead of taking a weird widget idea like Sunshine and building an entire game around it, Mario Galaxy takes the traditional Mario gameplay and inserts weird widget ideas in and around it. 40 levels? Damn, we haven't had a 3-D platformer that size in like, forever. The levels are actually a tad smaller than Sunshine or 64, but it allows them to use lots of different themes - like a solar system made out of DELICIOUS candy.

I think what I'm most impressed by is that they finally gave you a decent reward for collecting all 120 whatsits. Luigi, byatch. With his own unique cutscenes where the supporting cast mocks him, too.

Thanks for the spoilers!

That being said, that rewards sounds incredibly awesome. I kinda figured it'd be Luigi, but them constantly putting him down the whole time just makes it so much more delicious.

Shame I won't be at this until Christmas or later (trying to save money, see - college is not kind, part-time job or no)...

Well, my only dissapointment is no Yoshi. Poor guy hasn't been in a truly great original platforming game since Yoshi's Island. Mario 64 was a remake, Yoshi's Island 2 blew chunks, and Mario Sunshine was mediocre AND they didn't even have green Yoshi in it!

It's about time they gave us something good for 100% completion. A sparkling jump and a hawaiian shirt are lame rewards.

You got a sparkling jump in <i>Sunshine</i>? News to me. I knew about the shirt, though.

No, you got the sparkling jump in 64, which was actually less usable and controllable than your regular tripple jump. Sunshine got you the lame outfit change.

From what I've seen, the only way this game could be greater is if the Koopalings and Yoshi had been in it. Oh well, maybe for Mario Galaxy Tripple Screen eight years from now. : p

Mario Sunshine's Yoshis were horrifying if you really gave it any thought. Seriously, all they did was vomit fruit juice.

Which is even freakier if you consider:

1) That was acidic fruit juice
2) That was his very life force - he can vomit himself into nothingness.

IIRC you can use an Action Replay to force Yoshi to remain green, but then he just vomits water, meaning he can't melt the orange goo stuff, meaning there really is no point whatsoever to using him. Meh.

Sparkling jump was <i>64</i>? Must be why I don't recall it; only version I bothered to get all the stars in was the DS remake, and I don't think the jump sparkles after 150 stars in that.

Shadow Hog wrote:Sparkling jump was <i>64</i>? Must be why I don't recall it; only version I bothered to get all the stars in was the DS remake, and I don't think the jump sparkles after 150 stars in that.

I got every star in 64, and I don't remember any sparkling jump, just Yoshi on the roof. But that was nearly a decade ago, so my memory might be unreliable.


And by the way, when is Waluigi going to appear in an actual game? I'm getting tired of seeing him pop up in every spinoff game like he's an important character. Either put him in a real game or stop using him.

If you talk to Yoshi on the roof, you get a sparkling tripple jump.

And 99 Lives that are so useful after you beat just about every aspect of the game. Assuming I remember that correctly, it has been like 10 years since I watched my friend beat it.

People don't play and enjoy games anymore.
I saw a gameplay vid some two weeks ago and considered doing this thread, but whatever... It's so fucking beautiful...

I'm actually not touching this until Christmas. I have a copy reserved and everything, it's just that I don't want to play this on my itty bitty apartment TV. I'll wait until I'm visiting my parents for the winter break, and use my dad's hi def widescreen, for the consummate experience.

Yeah, getting Mario is a Christmas experience for me. : D It's very special. I got my first Mario + NES for Christmas all those years ago, and got Super Mario World + SNES and M64 + N64 in the same manner - so it's a very special feeling for me to wake up to a fat guy in a red suit on Christmas morning.

Zeta wrote:it's a very special feeling for me to wake up to a fat guy in a red suit on Christmas morning.

I'll <i>bet</i> it is.

"Howzabout another cookie... with sugar?"

I didn't even consider the Christmastime factor. And there's definitely something special about holiday gaming. Used to be I'd get the annual Sonic Game Gear title for Christmas as a kid, and play the snot out of it, everywhere, ignoring all the relatives that traveled across the state in a blizzard to get there.

Good times.

Now the question is, do I get Metroid Prime 3 or Mario Galaxy...?

Videos from this game make it look like Mario is running around on the planets the Prince of Cosmos created in Katamari Damacy.

Despite a nagging toothache, I've managed to enjoy the game so far. I've only played a couple of stages, but it's structurally pretty different from Mario 64 and Sunshine. One of the problems I had with those games is that the stages were so open-ended you could wander around and scratch your head for long stretches before deciding what to do or figuring out what you were supposed to be doing. This is no longer an issue. The level design goads you along exactly where it wants you to go while successfully making you think it's all your idea. This also means that you're doing interesting stuff every step of the way. There's none of the filler that lurked like a cancer in every corner of Sunshine.

The Star Pieces are kind of a masterstroke. All the while you've got Mario hopping around doing his fat plumber platform acrobatics, your right hand is kept busy sweeping for the colorful nuggets that explode all over the place everytime you flip a rock or shuffle a bush. My right arm is actually kind of tired, which is a problem I didn't have when I was playing Zelda. (Granted, it could just be that the free controller condom Nintendo sent me adds more weight to the wand than it looks like it does.)

The camera is pretty amazing. I'm pretty sure it's the best I've ever seen in a 3D platform game. I'm totally unaware of it 90% of the time, which I think is what the goal has been for the past 15 years.

Much like Twilight Princess, it doesn't have the same kind of impact it did a decade ago, but it's better than Sunshine by an order of magnitude and is big, compelling fun no matter how you look at it. There's some really clever thinking all around - assuming the momentum lasts (and there's no reason why it shouldn't), this could turn out to be the single best platform game of the past 6 or 7 years. It really doesn't have to be a dead genre.

Also, not a blue coin in sight!

gr4yJ4Y wrote:Now the question is, do I get Metroid Prime 3 or Mario Galaxy...?

You don't make a retarded choice like that as they're vastly different and virtually incomparable experiences. You either get both or you obviously FOR NOW get the one that's in the genre you feel like playing more at this moment in time.

...yeah, get Galaxy. You're not going to want to miss out while everyone else raves about it, and you can always come back to Corruption. If it helps, Corruption's story isn't that great

Corruption is extremely awesome, though. Honestly, I would just say get them both. I mean until February, Mario and Metroid are basically two thirds of the Wii's entire library of exclusive, console-defining 'must have' titles. If the Wii is your console of choice, what else are you going to get?

I mean there's lots of other decent stuff like Trauma Center or Super Paper Mario, but they can definitely wait. Galaxy and Metroid -- along with Zack and Wiki -- these are the priorities!

I know I'm going off on a tangent but I want to hear more impressions about Zack & Wiki. The reason I'm reluctant to play it is that I think it looks too obviously kiddy because the art <i>really</i> turns me off. The changed localized title only furthers my not wanting to check it out because it sounds like a third-rate Disney sitcom cartoon thing. Also, the more I read about it in articles the more my enthusiasm dwindles towards checking it out because the game really doesn't sound special at all on paper (the fact that I have to shake the remote really brings back bad memories from Dewy's Adventure). Now that I think about it, I loathe shaking the remote when I'm holding the remote like a controller sideways (which is what Dewy did), and swishing the remote around doesn't bother me when I use one hand to it.

On the up side, it's an original Capcom game that's not a sequel and I've heard mostly positive things from the people who've played it. Would you care to enlighten me on why I should be playing Zack & Wiki?

Esrever wrote:Honestly, I would just say get them both.

Oh no, I'm definitely with you there. But if you've got to pick one in the immediate future, my excitement for Galaxy right now is miles above what it was for Corruption. And that was pretty high!

I picked up Treasure Island Z too, but I haven't played it yet. Did you play it, Ass?

I want to hear about Dewy's Adventure. I thought it sounded cool at first but then I decided it looked retarded so I never played it.