Why Super Mario Galaxy is a wake-up call for developers

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Mario gets it right again. Devs take note.

Use the Wii properly

The Wii took a lot of developers by surprise, both in what it does and how successful it is. It’s totally understandable that a lot got caught unawares at first, standing around, mumbling “Nintenwha?” as the second and third batches of stock sold out. As a result we’ve seen a lot of rushed games this first year that misunderstand how best to use the machine.

The Wii took a lot of developers by surprise, both in what it does and how successful it is. It’s totally understandable that a lot got caught unawares at first, standing around, mumbling “Nintenwha?” as the second and third batches of stock sold out. As a result we’ve seen a lot of rushed games this first year that misunderstand how best to use the machine.

We’ve seen a lot of two very different extremes, too much Wii software being either a “normal” game with some token Wii remote gesturing tacked on, or otherwise an unbridled waggle-fest where the remote is treated as a gimmick and the game itself seems tacked on to justify waving the controller around.

Super Mario Galaxy uses the Wii to its strengths. It treats it as a console which brings accessibility to the non-gaming masses and adds more instinctive control immersion to the hardcore gameplay experience. As such, it isn’t obsessed with throwing in controller-swinging mini-games every two minutes, nor does it make the player stand up and jump around. It’s a Mario game, and it’s more concerned with being that than it is in showing off the controller’s hardware just for the sake of it.

It does make very good use of that hardware, but only when appropriate, utilising it only as and when it truly adds something new and worthwhile to the gameplay, and striking a fantastic balance of turning traditional controller gameplay into a new exprience without ever distracting from it.

Look below and see that remote sing.

David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.