By Ben Salter
The Wii is dead. Okay, that might be a little harsh, but the reality is the Wii looks dreadful in terms of software. As we approach the weeks prior to E3, when the gaming industry dies for a little bit and there are next to no releases, it’s time to go back and play the gems we may have missed over the past few months. But wait! The Wii has nothing. The start of 2010 for Nintendo’s console has been as bare as I can remember. There’s been little to persuade new gamers to finally join the waggle revolution (old school pun intended) even with $100 knocked off the price.
We’ve only reviewed six Wii games in 2010. That’s not because we’re slack, it’s because there’s little else to review. Monster Hunter Tri is the 7th title worth our time (review coming) but it’s almost too little, too late. It was released in Japan 6 months ago, which in this day and age just isn’t acceptable. Yes, I know translation has to be taken into account but 6 months? Really?
Each week we’re inundated with PS3, Xbox 360 and PC news that blows our socks off. All three platforms have some seriously cool stuff on the horizon and it seems we can’t go more than a week or two without something new being announced. What does the Wii have? The Vitality Sensor. Yay. As a result the Nintendo of old almost feels lost to me. I feel abandoned, like the classic Big N games I grew up with will never see the light of day again. But just when all hope is lost Ninty goes and releases a Super Mario Galaxy 2 teaser. Last week we got Transmission 8, a trailer showing Luigi in full flight, and it was freakin’ awesome!
Nintendo has found a way to pull me back in by releasing a new Super Mario Galaxy 2 video every other day (the transmission trailers are all great). When they’re not doing that they’re releasing screens, promo-art, information about new power-ups and various other tidbits. Our Wii news section at MMGN is full of it. And now, as if it wasn’t tantalizing enough, review scores are starting to appear. I think I saw a glimpse of a 10/10, but I can’t be sure and don’t want to know. I try to play every game with as little influence from other publications as possible, but never have I wanted to go into a game with a clean slate more so than with Super Mario Galaxy 2.
The original Super Mario Galaxy was one of the most hyped games on Wii. It’s also one of the few games in history to actually live up to its unprecedented level of anticipation. It’s simple yet engaging story, coupled with deeply engrossing gameplay made it the must own game on Wii in 2007. Depending on your personal preference, to this day it remains the best game on the system (competition only from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; although for God knows what reason some people are under the delusion SSBB and Mario Kart should be mentioned in the same breath of air).
Despite the Wii and even Mario’s ‘for kids’ stigma, even the most hardcore of gamers admits Super Mario Galaxy was a masterpiece. Many Nintendo fans consider it to be the true successor to Super Mario 64, after the somewhat disappointing Super Mario Sunshine; although, it was only disappointing by comparison and due to the Mario legacy. On its own merits it wasn’t half bad, but I digress. Back in ’07 we were also treated to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. At that point in time it looked as though Nintendo was going to give their loyal fans some support. While the GameCube was defeated by the PS2 and Xbox, 22 million sales isn’t a complete failure. It’s my favourite console due to its strong catalogue of quality games, most of which were aimed at the Nintendo faithful. Galaxy and Prime 3 left us with some hope that Nintendo would still cater for that market, even though they had new friends in casual gamers. Unfortunately it didn’t really happen. Three years down the track, and New Super Mario Bros. is perhaps the only game in the same league from Nintendo and we’ve only had the occasionally decent third party release.
That’s why Super Mario Galaxy 2 is so important. At first I was flabbergasted that Nintendo would release a direct sequel Mario title in the same generation, but it needs to happen. Loyal Nintendo fans, true gamers and even new Nintendo owners need this. They need a game that’ll remind them of the quality from the SNES, N64 and GameCube eras. Times when that very 80s retro “Nintendo seal of quality” actually meant something.
If you own a Wii and aren’t considering getting Super Mario Galaxy 2 on day one (WTF is wrong with you?) we’ll have stacks of content in the lead up to its US May 23 and rumoured Australian June 10 release that’ll hopefully convince you otherwise. The original Galaxy didn’t sell all that well with Nintendo’s new casual and non-loyal fans, but I hope that’s not the case with its sequel. If nothing else it’s a chance to experience something different on the Wii. While it probably won’t be as groundbreaking as the first game, if it’s half as good it’ll be a game you’ll cherish from start to finish. A game that could just win Nintendo game of the year and one I hope to see dominate the sales charts.
Tags:
Galaxy
GameCube
ICC
mario
nintendo
PS2
Sunshine
super
wii
xbox
Submitted by ICC_06
10/05/2010
10
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