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Super Mario Galaxy vs Super Mario 64

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
So yeah, I am a huge Mario Fangirl...

I always wanted to own a Nintendo Wii and play the celebrated Galaxy games, but for years I found the prices too high... Then my friend from Madrid told me about the existence of this less expensive Wii Mini, and I purchased it a little more than three weeks ago.

My small Wii came with Mario Kart, but the game that I was really interested in was Super Mario Galaxy and I bought it that day, too...

I have been playing Galaxy for twenty three days already, so it's time to start a thread here.

After explaining all of this, I want to let you know that I am an expert in Super Mario 64, the legendary game from the 90's that captivated the imagination and hearts of millions of players. I still have my old Nintendo 64 and I play it sometimes, which means that you'll be reading the opinion of a rabid SM64 fanatic venturing into the Galaxy worlds.

I have earned seventy two stars in Galaxy already, there is still much of the game for me to explore but yes, I want to start comparing the two legends:

My first impression playing Galaxy was pretty bad. The game has a very intense, powerful kiddie-style atmosphere, which I found quite annoying. All Mario games feature cute elements, that's true, but Galaxy felt like a true excess of it. The graphics and also the flying sequences are cool, but there is something missing here.

The story is good, that I admit. SM64 has a very basic plot, and Galaxy in comparison features a deeper, more complex story that enriched the Super Mario series a lot.

Rosalina is an excellent character, I love her.

The Lumas, well... I am still very annoyed by them. I wish that I could make Mario go and complain to Rosalina about her animals and how they choose to sell stuff to Mario instead of helping him directly. They are too cutesy, a true sugar overdose!

Long live Rosalina, Screw the Lumas...

The music: The music in Rosalina's starship is a very pleasant, sweet vals-like theme that I really enjoy. The rest of the worlds, however, feature rather weak themes that are pretty forgettable in comparison to the sticky and beautiful music from Super Mario 64.

Galaxy also utilizes music from older Mario games (including the Bowser levels music from SM64!) so yeah, in the musical aspect this game is nothing special.

I'll finish this post now, leaving a discussion of The Gameplay for my next post.

Please tell me, in case that you have played both games intensively... Which is your favorite, and why? What do you think of each of them?

All Feedback is welcome =)
 
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Devor

Fiery Keeper of the Hat
Moderator
I've never played Super Mario 64, so I can't comment on that. We've got 3D World on the Wii U, and I can tell you there are no Lumas and:

Rosalina becomes a playable character after you beat 3D World. (Well, after you beat world 9-2) She's also in the new Super Smash and Mario Kart, and they seem to have every intention of making her a real part of the franchise.

I enjoyed Galaxy a lot. Many of the levels are innovative, and I kind of miss the little ball worlds when I play 3D world, which feels very "normal" by comparison. I would've been happy if Galaxy was a level style that showed up sometimes in 3D World.

I didn't have any qualms about the music in Galaxy. Maybe it's not so much a different musical quality but a different, more space-themed musical style?

The lumas were irritating. I didn't like them at all.

If you're thinking about getting the sequel, you should know that somebody hacked the Super Mario Galaxy 2 disc and found that it was originally titled "Super Mario Galaxy More." There's only a few gameplay differences between the games, like a few levels where you can play with Yoshi, but it's mostly just more levels of the original.
 

Sheilawisz

Queen of Titania
Moderator
Hello there, Devor!

I would like to try the second Galaxy game someday, but the Wii games have virtually disappeared from the shops here. Anyway, I am far more interested in playing Super Mario 3D World. I'll try to get a Wii U console for my birthday, so let's hope that the price gets a good cut by then.

You are right when you say that Galaxy's music is space-themed, at least in many worlds. The whole concept of Mario in outer space feels very weird to me, I am still getting used to it... I also find it strange that some of the worlds are super simple while others are very challenging, the game needs more balance in my opinion.

While playing Galaxy, I find echoes and legacy of SM64 everywhere...

The Castle was transformed into the Observatory, the Castle Floors were turned into Domes, the Painting Worlds became Galaxies and you have to collect 120 stars. This is very familiar to any SM64 player, and on top of that, there are loads of galaxies, creatures and even bosses that reflect our game.

It's almost like Galaxy should have been called Super Mario 64 Reloaded: The Space Adventure.

The Gameplay:

Galaxy is a fun and challenging game, but I am still annoyed by the endless gravity tricks, planetoid scenes, crazy (not to mention unfixable) camera angles and the constant need to spin around. I miss a lot the agile punches and kicks from SM64, those skills should not have been taken away from Mario.

Collecting Star Bits by pointing at them is very cool.

I dislike the heavy linearity of the worlds in this game. Galaxy offers some worlds where exploration is important, but most of the times it's just moving from point A to point B following the established path and that's all. SM64 features Linear-style worlds too, like the Bowser worlds, but its freedom and exploration elements are almost always present and they are very missed in the Galaxy adventure.

The developers decided that Mario can take only three hits, and as soon as you get two you have this annoying alarm thing beeping repeatedly and distracting you from the game. Then, coins are hard to find and the water does not heal you anymore... All of this feels very alien to a player of SM64, but I guess that Galaxy players would feel confused as well by our Metal Mario, the Vanish powers, the complex Flying style and things like the Tiny Huge world and our poison gas.

Cannons in Galaxy are super accurate and easy to use, while in SM64 you have to perfection your Cannon skills in order to achieve good results with them.

Wall jumping is also far easier in Galaxy than it is in SM64.

I don't want to even talk about the awful ball thing that you have to ride on sometimes. That thing is horrible... Maybe it would be less crazy if you played by means of a traditional controller, but the Wiimote makes it a nightmare.

I'll close this post for now, leaving my next post to explain the Feel and Nature of each game.
 
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