Zero Punctuation: Super Mario Galaxy

[Boricua_bob]

Well I never felt the thrill of Wanker's Cramp throughout this game, but I never felt the need to obtain this monolithic treasure either(sob sob). But I thought it was akward for me to shake my Wii and do a fruity spinny-move-thingy like they do in Genji: Days of the Blade. Akward or not, this is definatly suited for the Wii, even if some of the gimmicky stages were just unnesscessary (i.e.: Ray Surfing). Even so, here was a lack of gimmicks, which surprized me quite a bit since more Nintendo Wii games are becoming less and less Motion Sensable and less gimmicky, which I really think was the idea the Wii started off with.

Hell, not like it matters, I liked the game. The review makes sense for the fact that it might've been better on the GameCube, lack of gimmick and all, but the final nail on the purple lunchboxes coffin was put when Naruto: Clash of Ninja 3 came for the Wii instead.

R.I.P. GameCube

Ye we knew little of.

 

[tobyornottoby]

So, it's not that it's not a review. It is that it is not /your/ review.

Though I personally am not sold on the "reviews r SEERIUS BIZNIS" idea. I kind of like context relevant jokes. And while I might concede that, on other games, I would like to know what the characters are like et al, I'm pretty certain that at this late date, I rather know what Mario and Zelda are like. Though you were probably referring to gameplay, and I think, rather, it covered that fairly well. No, you won't get all 100% of the information regarding every nuance of the game, but I have yet to see a review that does that well.

You might prefer gametrailers.com, for your "hmmm should I buy this game?" wonderment.

yes true

I always start with gameranking.com for that 'should I buy it' thingy, where I feel I get 20% information, instead of ZP's 5%. ZP is perfect to watch if you already know the dry facts, is that what you said too?

 

[exiges]

There's a certain irony in Yahtzee complaining about Mario being yet another iteration of a tired theme, when thats precisely what his reviews are. Hey ho.

With respect to the review, I've played SMG through and had no issues with camera, and didn't have problems with shaking the Wiimote. Go figure.

As it's his job to rip things apart, to remark on pretty inconsequential things like the Mario/Peach/Bowser story line is a good thing IMO. It means there was little else to complain about.

I still think Yahtzees review of Halo 3 is one of the funniest and well observed reviews out there.

 

[PBJPlatypus]

Well, I loved the game, but then again, I'm a Nintendo fan... My camera had no problem whatsoever. And, quite frankly, the hardest boss battle is Bouldergeist. You've got to admit that.

 

[zorniki]

Good review - as usual.
That pretty much sums up my impression of the wii. A huge letdown in so many areas! That´s from a Nintendo fanboy point of view. I still own my precious DS.

 

[N1ghtNinja]

You know what guys - if you really want Nintendo to make new games with no Mario/Zelda/Metroid in them, it would be a good idea to STOP SUCKING ON ALL OF THEM!!!!!

Seriously, next time you see a Mario game, you should go "OMFG THIS SUX, I WANT NEW SHIT" no matter what you really thought about it. Even if you liked it, you should act like you hated it. As long as Nintendo sees that you guys keep buying the same games over and over, they will continue to make them. So, stop buying them, or act as if they are all A LOAD OF CRAP. that is the only way Nintendo will give you something else.

 

[SomeCrazyGuy]

(Long Story Short: This review has more of an aquired taste... It's a little different, but still great)
Honestly, I was thinking of complaining about this review, but, and this is very strange, Zero Punctuation has the strange quality of getting better and better each time you watch them (Unlike many other reviews, where I only grow more critical with every view [Even the more comedic ones], Yahtzee's reviews tend to make me lighten up)... He had very few complaints, and the rest was just his usual satirization of major videogame franchises. He seemed a bit slower, but in no way did that take any of the punch away from the comedy. And if you honestly don't think this review was very good, I doubt anyone would be able to consistantly make great reviews, so while you don't think this is great, I doubt this is a sign that he's lost his apt at reviewing.

(Long Story Short: They have the right to complain, don't bother complaining about thier complaints)
Also, I find it a bit annoying when people say 'If you don't like it, don't watch it/complain about it'... They have as much right and reason to complain about something they feel was a waste of their time as you do to praise it for being a great experience. You can't avoid every video or page on the internet for fear of disliking the content, so telling someone to simply not watch or read something is hardly a reasonable option, and again, they felt their time was wasted, so they have the right to complain... I'm sorry to repeat the point, but this is a message board topic made for the specific purpose of discussing and telling your opinions about Yahtzee's SMG review, and not just the positive ones.

(Short Story Shorter: Yahtzee = 1337)
Great review, Yahtzee, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

For the record I hated the jump zones in Mario:SS totally out of character for the game, it went from easy with light frustration to WTF on the frustration scale to, I also didt care for the theme of SS as well like Mario64 it dose not feel like a Mario game without proper power ups.

Mario Galaxy is ok, for Mario its probably the best 3D one yet, but frankly I would like a Zelda style Mario game where you follow a story move town to town buying upgrades and the ability to use new powers up ad what not make it a full adventure style game like SMB3...only with towns and story

 

[Ydna]

Yahtzee's comment about "where to go from here" struck me as particularly insightful. He mentions Mario Universe as a prospective title for the next chapter, but I don't think it ends there. What about "Mario String" or more specifically "Mario 11th dimension"? The next step past the edge of the universe [according to string theory] would leave you at the subatomic level, so maybe a Mario Cellular is in order.

Hell, that'd work just fine. You can place multicolored jumping blocks anywhere and it'd work just the same.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Ydna
I would like a prequel or just a non "off the wall" Mario game...SS and 64 were smoking some serious crack, sure Mario world is weedvile but sheesh...they need to lay off the hard drugs man...

Like I said I would like to see a platforming adventure game like Mario world or SMB3 where you have a full world with lower levels(sewers,dugoens,ect) land level(land,sea,climate zones,ect) and sky levels(lots and lots of platforms set in diffrent locals), forme I want to see polish on the adventure/RPG elements as well as the action and platforming call me a game nazi but I didn't care for the mini world/astroid theme of MG....I want a real mario game dammit....also a neat way to do power ups is to give him "armor HP" while in alt mode he can take a few hits before lsoing the form and this armor can be upgraded so he can stay in form for longer, add gadets and what not and one can tweak it so that it acts diffrently for soem forms and what not.

I do love the punching/kicking/sliding that Mario can normally do at least since 64 just add a simi normal world like 64 or SS with powerups and I will sht in my pants, altho MG is probably as close as they can get LOL.

 

[Gab]

Seriously, next time you see a Mario game, you should go "OMFG THIS SUX, I WANT NEW SHIT" no matter what you really thought about it. Even if you liked it, you should act like you hated it.

If you liked the game, wouldn't it kind of make more sense to say so? If everyone said that they hated it when they actually liked it and some radical changes were made, then they could very well end up getting a game that they ACTUALLY hate.

 

[SomeCrazyGuy]

Yahtzee's comment about "where to go from here" struck me as particularly insightful. He mentions Mario Universe as a prospective title for the next chapter, but I don't think it ends there. What about "Mario String" or more specifically "Mario 11th dimension"? The next step past the edge of the universe [according to string theory] would leave you at the subatomic level, so maybe a Mario Cellular is in order.

Hell, that'd work just fine. You can place multicolored jumping blocks anywhere and it'd work just the same.

Yes, but he also mentioned that anywhere you could go from 'Galaxy' would only postpone the actual problem. Until now, Mario has been locked on a single planet (With rare exceptions where Mario goes to the moon or a non-descript place that looks like the moon), protecting a princess from that planet with endless possibilities as to where to go from there (Since it was never established exactly how many continents there actually are in the Mario world)... If this latest title had stuck him on yet another continent, there wouldn't be much worry over scale, but now that they have, the whole Galaxy where Mario lives has become a playground, and going back to kicking ass and taking names in regular gravity and on standard lands, no matter how diverse, just wouldn't seem as original as before. However, what if they simply used the same formula as this game, but added new puzzles, more challenging bosses, etc.? People would then accuse Nintendo of being cheap for using a gimmick... They made a great game, but unfortunately, at the cost of making a major brick wall for future titles.

 

[tobyornottoby]

Yahtzee's comment about "where to go from here" struck me as particularly insightful. He mentions Mario Universe as a prospective title for the next chapter, but I don't think it ends there. What about "Mario String" or more specifically "Mario 11th dimension"? The next step past the edge of the universe [according to string theory] would leave you at the subatomic level, so maybe a Mario Cellular is in order.

Hell, that'd work just fine. You can place multicolored jumping blocks anywhere and it'd work just the same.

Yes, but he also mentioned that anywhere you could go from 'Galaxy' would only postpone the actual problem. Until now, Mario has been locked on a single planet (With rare exceptions where Mario goes to the moon or a non-descript place that looks like the moon), protecting a princess from that planet with endless possibilities as to where to go from there (Since it was never established exactly how many continents there actually are in the Mario world)... If this latest title had stuck him on yet another continent, there wouldn't be much worry over scale, but now that they have, the whole Galaxy where Mario lives has become a playground, and going back to kicking ass and taking names in regular gravity and on standard lands, no matter how diverse, just wouldn't seem as original as before. However, what if they simply used the same formula as this game, but added new puzzles, more challenging bosses, etc.? People would then accuse Nintendo of being cheap for using a gimmick... They made a great game, but unfortunately, at the cost of making a major brick wall for future titles.

It's not the representation of 'galaxy' that makes MG interesting, it's the rules of the gameplay. So while the next mario can't go back to normal platforming indeed because it would also need some unique rules, whatever the representation is for that doesn't matter

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Yahtzee's comment about "where to go from here" struck me as particularly insightful. He mentions Mario Universe as a prospective title for the next chapter, but I don't think it ends there. What about "Mario String" or more specifically "Mario 11th dimension"? The next step past the edge of the universe [according to string theory] would leave you at the subatomic level, so maybe a Mario Cellular is in order.

Hell, that'd work just fine. You can place multicolored jumping blocks anywhere and it'd work just the same.

Yes, but he also mentioned that anywhere you could go from 'Galaxy' would only postpone the actual problem. Until now, Mario has been locked on a single planet (With rare exceptions where Mario goes to the moon or a non-descript place that looks like the moon), protecting a princess from that planet with endless possibilities as to where to go from there (Since it was never established exactly how many continents there actually are in the Mario world)... If this latest title had stuck him on yet another continent, there wouldn't be much worry over scale, but now that they have, the whole Galaxy where Mario lives has become a playground, and going back to kicking ass and taking names in regular gravity and on standard lands, no matter how diverse, just wouldn't seem as original as before. However, what if they simply used the same formula as this game, but added new puzzles, more challenging bosses, etc.? People would then accuse Nintendo of being cheap for using a gimmick... They made a great game, but unfortunately, at the cost of making a major brick wall for future titles.

It's not the representation of 'galaxy' that makes MG interesting, it's the rules of the gameplay. So while the next mario can't go back to normal platforming indeed because it would also need some unique rules, whatever the representation is for that doesn't matter

Whats normal platforming for Mario anyway? LOL

 

[Daizaru]

Well I am by no means a nintendo fanboy, many times have I considered ridding myself of the entire system and an overly hyped controller that for the most point has only been successful for first person shooters. Mario is probably the best game to come out this year though, it is the next gen the world has been waiting for and is should be the basis people use to define a truly "polished" game.

I've often tried to defend that Yahtzee, while being his primary concern is to entertain had a certain degree of honesty in his reviews. Not only dismantling the most ridiculous of elements of the game (like the number of lives in a Mario game) but coupling it with great wit and cynicism.

With each passing review I find this to be less and less of the case. What it boils down to is that it's a guy with a "funny" accent using curse words most North Americans don't hear on a consistent basis nitpicking relentlessly. If you want to talk about gimmicky, your review process is a gimmick and one that is growing old faster than the Mario series ever will.

A) I thought your psychonauts review was as equally poignant as some of your wittier negative reviews.
B) If escapist will tolerate it, people would be just as easily satisfied hearing you complain about older horrible games. With the exception of maybe Halo and Tabula rasa, the more mainstream reviews have seemed dull in comparison.

Hopefully once your next review finishes downloading I will prove myself utterly wrong.

 

[wongu]

Hi Fellas.

For those who wonders why he slow down in this Mario Galaxy review, check out his website; http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/ under the topic '3/1/08: Super Mario Jalopy'

"You'll have to excuse me if I seem a bit slower this week; my roommate was sleeping in the next room while I was recording and I was paranoid that I might wake him up."

 

[Lee Christie]

Hi Fellas.

For those who wonders why he slow down in this Mario Galaxy review, check out his website; http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/ under the topic '3/1/08: Super Mario Jalopy'

"You'll have to excuse me if I seem a bit slower this week; my roommate was sleeping in the next room while I was recording and I was paranoid that I might wake him up."

Hahaha thanks for pointing out that post look at what else he says there:


"But while we're on the subject of Mario, I'd like to share something that a number of correspondents have drawn to my attention. If you look at the game title on the box art of Super Mario Galaxy, you'll notice that some of the letters have little orange sparkles on them:

http://www.fullyramblomatic.com/images/mariogalaxy.gif

See them? You'll notice there's one under the U and the R in the word 'SUPER'. And if you continue looking at which letters possess this mark, you'll also notice that when put together they create the God-forbid-I-call-it-a-phrase 'UR MR GAY', which can of course be interpreted as You Are Mister Gay.

It seems like I should be grown up about this and talk it down as a probable coincidence, since the designer of the logo was more than likely Japanese. But on the other hand, there's no real explanation for the stars being positioned like that except to covertly highlight the letters. I really don't know what to make of it. Huh. Doubtless now that it's on the internet the box will be re-released in a matter of nanoseconds, so check it out on your local copy of the game before Nintendo calls in the stormtroopers."


Haha, "You Are Mr. Gay". I'm surprised he didn't mention that in the review.

 

[Lee Christie]

BTW, anyone else think Bee Mario handles a lot like Jetpack Mario form SMS?

 

[Evan Waters]

Just to be the king of all pedants- the song at the start is NOT called "Fly Me To The Moon". The title is "In Other Words". Everyone thinks it's "Fly Me To The Moon" since all we remember is the first couple of lines, but it's not.