Best of the Decade: Super Mario Galaxy
Tue, December 14, 2010 at 10:29 PM 
Super Mario Galaxy
Platform: Wii
Release Date: November 12, 2007
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo EAD Tokyo
Everybody that buys Nintendo consoles anxiously awaits those rare days when we get to unwrap the plastic covering a precious new proper Mario game. Mario may be in half of the games Nintendo releases these days, but his proper platforming outings, the ones for which so many gamers hold him so dear, are still fairly few and far apart.
There’s a reason for this. Every last one of Mario’s games has been stellar. Some perhaps more or less than others, but more than just about any other franchise in Nintendo’s stable, Nintendo keeps each of Mario’s outings fresh and unique.
The ultimate case in point is Super Mario Galaxy. Nintendo made us wait for this one. Like Super Mario Sunshine, Wii owners were left without a new Mario game at launch. Sunshine, while a terrific game, received an unusually tepid response from the masses, for a Mario title at least. This left people wondering what would follow. Had Nintendo lost their touch? Could they revive the magic of Super Mario 64 two generations after the landmark title had come and gone?
Indeed they could.