Mario Galaxy kinda fucking sucks - Surprisingly not impressed.

[Dom Cruise]

I didn't like it either, I tried it a couple of times and just couldn't get into it.

Consequently there was a 15 year break in mainline Mario games for me, I wouldn't complete another one until Odyssey and it says it all how fucking good Odyssey is that it was totally worth the 15 year wait.

 

[Pissmaster]

Galaxy really was bad. I never understood the internet's love for it.

For one, the mouse cursor used throughout the game to pick up star bits was really obnoxious, like you constantly had to mouseover every one you saw when they could just be collectibles you could navigate Mario over to. It was really annoying and took me out of the game, and I was surprised there was no way to turn that off in 3D All Stars. And I don't think I need to point out the whole waggle-to-spin controls for Mario's attacks. Just the sheer controls of the game were enough to make it practically unplayable for me.

Though I did try to give it another shot several years later, trying to just deal with the controls in hopes of enjoying the game, and I really didn't get very far. Last thing I remember was some ice-looking thing with a star at the end, and it just wasn't any fun to do... whatever I had to do to get that. For a game set in outer space with gravity gimmicks, the levels sure weren't interesting.

For that matter, I didn't enjoy Sunshine much either, though it came out at a time when I really had no interest in playing a Mario game, so I guess I'd be willing to give it another chance. I remember climbing up some really high structures and accidentally falling and having to spend ages climbing back up. So that's no fun either.

I really didn't enjoy a Mario game between Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D Land. 3D Land & World had really tight, quick levels and I had a lot of fun with those two, and it's a real shame Land isn't coming to Switch. And then Odyssey was basically just 3D Land & World's level design implemented in Mario 64/Sunshine-style worlds, so that was great. Odyssey did get kinda long in the tooth at times, Luncheon Kingdom was miserable and Bowser's Kingdom was way too long, but other than that, I had fun.

 

[Buttigieg2020]

Haven't played it in over 10 years, but I do remember it being really, really long.

I thought that too, I’m shocked by how short the game is if you know what you’re doing. You can complete the main story in 6 hours if you don’t fuck around.
I like Galaxy, didn’t care much for Galaxy 2, 64 is ok, and sunshine is sunshine, playing them again makes me realize how great Odyssey really was.

 

[Dom Cruise]

I thought that too, I’m shocked by how short the game is if you know what you’re doing. You can complete the main story in 6 hours if you don’t fuck around.
I like Galaxy, didn’t care much for Galaxy 2, 64 is ok, and sunshine is sunshine, playing them again makes me realize how great Odyssey really was.

Where Sunshine really excels is the tropical atmosphere which it totally nails, the game is simply beautiful looking even to this day.

As a game though it's definitely got some flaws, but I still think it's a perfectly solid little game.

Odyssey was on another level though.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I feel similarly. Mario 64 I got all 120 stars, Sunshine I got most stars, but gave up on getting all of the blue coins otherwise I would have finished it. But Galaxy, I've been doing small bits and pieces and then I'm done after an hour. Now I'm remembering why I only played it once compared to the others I've restarted and played through fifty times. 64 more so since I had that first, but I still love Sunshine.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

I like Galaxy 1 and 2 because of the small worlds.

Sort of a The Little Prince thing there.

I also like 64, but could never really get into Sunshine...

 

[Vapewizard]

I never played this myself cause I hate the Wii era of waggle in everything, though on the subject of the storybook parts I thought they were interesting exactly because it's not something you usually see in a mario game. Without knowing the context behind it, I assumed they were just trying something new to see if it'd work. Though if they had done it more than once the novelty probably would've worn off.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Sunshine sucks and 64 aged like sour milk , actually Mario 64 is the truly overrated one, Galaxy was the best Mario game since Super Mario World

 

[Ponchik]

Sunshine sucks

where's the "cringe" rating

 

[Groundbreaking-maize]

3d world is the best super mario game.
Fite me.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

where's the "cringe" rating

Right next to the "truth hurts" one sunshinefag

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Besides Mario 2 the only Mario game that I really like is Galaxy. I tried to play SMW a couple of years back and I felt like a straight dude trying to suck dick, it's not for me. Galaxy good though, very heterosexual.

 

[Totally Awesome]

I remember not liking the space levels in Super Mario Land 2, so I barely played the Super Mario Galaxy games. All the levels were really linear, the camera constantly span around made me feel funny, and the joy con kept not wanting to stay aligned with the TV. No thanks. All the other Mario platformers are better.

 

[-4ZURE-]

Galaxy is not a bad game, but it certainly is the weakest of the 3D Mario titles, and I am glad that I am not alone in that opinion.

I feel like Mario 3D titles fall into 4 general categories, and Galaxy comprises the worst as it tries to be an in between of two categories like @Pissmaster said. I feel like Super Mario 64, Super Mario 64 DS, and Sunshine make up the classical 3D Mario. 3D World and 3D Land make up the 2D, linear Mario hybrid titles. Odyssey is the newest category as I always felt that it fit the blue prints of Breath of The Wild more than a 3D Mario. I consider Odyssey the 3D exploration genre. It’s moons are like Korok seeds as they encourage the player to traverse the area rather than the get to the goal of the past 3D titles. Galaxy felt like the in-between of the classic and hybrid Mario titles. It just never committed to one style, making it feel a lot more hollow, especially Galaxy 2 for me. The levels never feel well realized, they are too short for classic exploration, but are too long and big to get the fun of the 3D style titles. Personally, I prefer 1 over 2, mostly because I feel 1 has more character. The first really nailed the emptiness and sadness of space, and while I know some on here have mocked Rosalina’s story, I think the emotions work as most of the game just feels...alone? The music is quite, space is beautiful, but not colorful, and so much of the game just feels unnatural for a Mario title. I kinda wish that another entry could provoke that same sense of emptiness again, because all Galaxy 2 did was dive right back into bing-bang-wahoo, good times.

personally, I would rank the titles as follows:
#1. Super Mario Odyssey
#2. Super Mario 64 DS
#3. Super Mario 3D World
#4. Super Mario Sunshine
#5. Super Mario 64
#6. Super Mario Galaxy
#7. Super Mario Galaxy 2
#8. Super Mario 3D Land

 

[RightToBearBlarms]

It's fun on Dolphin where you can:
1. Play it with an actual controller
2. Bind a button to the spin move
3. Bind a button to sweep the screen for bits and shoot them with the right stick

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

It's fun on Dolphin where you can:

1. Play it with an actual controller
2. Bind a button to the spin move
3. Bind a button to sweep the screen for bits and shoot them with the right stick

In other words, the game is ok when you turn it into something else entirely from what it was made to be!

 

[Don't Tread on Me]

See, my plan is to just never finish Odyssey. That way whenever the mood to play Mario strikes me, I have a good Mario game to play.

 

[Cardenio]

I know I'm not the only one who felt this way because Yahtzee said it years after (and now a decade ago). Sunshine was just not a great game. I know there's a lot of people who love Sunshine so I'm not saying the game is trash but to me Fludd was a giant hinderance and just not fun. I hated having to refill Fludd, I hated having to swap out parts which was tedious. I was a kid at the time so maybe it's not as hard as it appeared to me at the time but I had a tough time using Fludd's rocket launch ability.

Why am I ranting about Sunshine in an Anti-Galaxy thread? Because Galaxy was seen by many at its launch as a back to basics Mario game. The levels were linear, there wasn't a bunch of puzzle solving, it was just pure platforming. In hindsight I'd definitely say Galaxy 2 blew it away as 2 has significantly stronger set pieces and game design. And Odyssey is in my opinion the best Mario since Mario 64.

But my point is we liked Galaxy because it felt like a refuting of Sunshine, in the same way the great lot of 90s kids instantly loved Zelda Twilight Princess because it was dark and dramatic as opposed to Wind Waker's cutesy cel shaded visuals. And if anyone claims Wind Waker was unanimously well liked at its inception is a damn liar. Although in hindsight it has aged well it was Wind Waker that kicked off the perception that Nintendo was kiddy shit.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

It was too sad. I could never learn Rosalina's backstory because the music was so damn depressing.

 

[Disc]

I was at exactly the right age and experience when galaxy came out and was absolutely blown away.

it’s definitely the game that relies the most on pulling you in to the fantasy. If it gets you in, you’re exploring space and leaping from planetoid to planetoid as a grand orchestra sounds off. If not, you’re exploring like a beaded necklace of a linear level, with each step being a round platform.

as for the controls, they felt very solid, honestly. The spin is great as a mobility tool to steady you out, and as an attack that otherwise might be hard to aim due to perspective. I’d only played sunshine beforehand, and after the fiddliness of fludd, Mario Galaxy felt so damn good.