Anyone who really believes that Japanese game design has a declining role against the success of Western game development needs to dunk their head in a pool of water – specifically the floating pools of water suspended in the air, rotating between connections with other pools as Mario attempts to swim toward the next checkpoint. Somewhere along the way players will also be hitting switches that alter the directional force of gravity while trying to grab a star, and the significance of a rare second mainline Super Mario title during a single hardware cycle becomes as clear as those small floating cubes of water.
Within Mario’s Galaxy, anything can and will happen. And what’s truly surprising is the depth of logic at play while navigating the sea of sudden possibilities that shows the complete lack of inhibition proving one of Nintendo EAD’s greatest design strengths.
For some a building is a place where action takes place around or within. In Super Mario Galaxy 2, bricks break free of structures to create pathways toward star portals, launching players through the roof and into the sea of stars overhead.
Short on filler and stuffed plump with that type of energy, the results are often extraordinary.
