Is Mario Galaxy is the best game in this generation ?

[foont]

I enjoy a lot of games, in a lot of different genres, on a lot of different consoles, but so far Mario Galaxy has been my definitive game this generation. It moved me like no game has in a long time.

Let me put it this way. I usually have trouble waking up in the morning. I'll sleep until 11am on weekends if you let me. But when I was deep in Mario Galaxy one Friday night, I played until 3am, went to bed, then woke up at 7am with the music still drifting through my memory. I got Mario's final star that morning.


And can we talk about the storybook/Rosalina sub-plot for a second?

I know a lot of people weren't too crazy about this. But for some reason it really spoke to me. Her whole story is just a metaphor for dealing with loss and growing up to be responsible for yourself and others.

Mario games have always been about light-hearted Alice in Wonderland escapism in terms of story and content, and Rosalina's story added some real-world gravity to that idea. You can escape into imaginary worlds of whimsy and fantasy and star bits, but you still have to be responsible and deal with life. I'm struggling to put into words how great this is.


I read an article months ago (probably on Gamasutra) that referred to Rosalina's story as mature content. And I have to agree. Who knew that a Mario game would be so esoteric and poignant?