ok. i was lucky enough to have my friend borrow me his wii while he went out of town. i have the retail version of super mario galaxy, and i've got 30 stars so far.

just to preface my impressions, the last mario platformer i played was mario 64. i never owned a gamecube and i never played super mario sunshine.

Gameplay

Think how you felt when you first played mario 64. now imagine playing that again but with even more amazing worlds, a simple & effective control scheme and gravity which adds much more than you think to this game.

Graphics

Amazing attention to detail. Every little bit is done so well and overall it is stunning considering what other developers are doing. Everything from the water to the characters is well executed.

Overall

I'm very impressed by this game. It takes all the stuff that was good about mario 64, introduces some great new elements, and takes elements from other games to make an outstanding experience. I own a ps2 and ps3 and I can honestly say this is the first Wii game i've played that made me go "wow". The presentation is absolutely top notch.

A couple of my friends asked me what is was like, and the best way to describe it imo is super mario 64 on mushrooms. sometimes while playing you get the idea that they just locked a bunch of developers in a room with a bunch of drugs and told them to make a new mario game, and that this is the final product.

The game controls very well, but it seems that the motion controls don't really add anything major to this game. Is that to say they are bad? Absolutely not, but it seems like one of those games that would be just as fun & accessable with a "traditional" controller. Not complaining, just pointing that out.

Finally, i think it is important to mention that i put beating ratchet & clank on hold to play this. After seeing previews i just had to play it. Now that I have, i can say it is very very fun and wii players everywhere are in for a spectacular game. But you likely already knew that.

Stop what you're doing and pack up the wii and copy of SMG...please PM for address to send it to! Thx~

I spent more than an hour on the demo at Gamespot but that's it. I had a blast playing it, but the beginning is pathetically easy. I'm not worried though as every review has said it gets much harder as you go.

Thanks for the impressions. I'm glad to hear it's a great game, and I can't wait for it.

I've already booked the time off work as vacation time.

No, seriously. The idea of getting paid to play the game makes me very happy.

might contain spoilers

I already got 40 stars, what really is amazing is the levels and how creative they are, in each galaxy you have 6 levels and always 2 of them are special levels where you can only get 1 star (like that waterway where he is surfing over a flooting waterstream.) each normal level has 3 stars and almost always (or always) you can 'buy' (with those stars you can collect with pointing your wii-mote) an aditional way to get a star (an new little planet or somehing else crazy) and there are also special stars where you have to finish the level in a very fast time or enemy's move faster so it's harder.

the amount off end-bosses is really a great thing , in each galaxy you got a real end-boss (such as bowser or that mechanical thing you see in the movie's) but almost in each of the normal levels you have to fight to other level bosses (like the baby piranaplant), they are al extremely fun (but not really hard).

the graphics are really good, water is beautifull (nintendo always makes it beautifull), the characters are awesome, bowser and some of the end-bosses look really good. and flags look absolutly stunning too (yes they really deserve to be mentioned).

Controls is where the game really shines, everthing just feels so great, the spin attack, collecting those little coloured stars, throwing stuff, and the power-ups (bee mario feels far better then I would have ever anticipated).

story is not really special but still better then in sunshine, what I like is the why you collect stars, afcours to save peach, but to do that you need to power up your base of operations and it's just really good done.

The music in this game is just phenomenal, o lot of old songs return (remix and original) and a lot of cool new ones too, almost all orchestrated.

overall it's just gaming awesomeness

oh and for the people who are afraid it's too easy, it can be a really difficult at times, not really becouse of enemy's though, it's the levels who will sometimes make it hard for you. With those special stars though even enemy's can be very hard and the real chalange in the game is to get all of these.

Saying that you put R&C on hold to play this is interesting.
I havent played R&C in 3 days because of the PSN game: Everyday Shooter

But to stay on topic- thanks for the reviews so far, it makes me even more excited about Mario and his crazy adventures through the galaxy.

Just for the record I don't think he meant that as an insult to R&C but as a very big compliment to SMG.

If you look at everything through the lens of Nintento VS Sony or Mario VS R&C then it was probably an insult. But back down here on earth where both are fantastic games it just means gamers have two very good games to play. And as I have said in other threads I think just like R&C is a fantastic reason to own a PS3 I think that SMG is a fantastic reason to own a Wii.

When someone utilizes you as a high standard by which to mention something else its a compliment not an insult in my book. And as much as this might come off as an elitist view it is a Mario game and its never a bad thing for another platformer to be mentioned along with Mario games.

So IF that made your blood boil, I suggest you breathe deep and look at it in a different light.

Are you guys japanese?
Or how can you play a game that releases in 10 days?

Either Japanese or very lucky...because if there was a store selling it early I would probably be in my car right now driving...even if it was only one store and was 2 states away =P

 Yep, it's a compliment to SMG. Also, keep in mind i only have his wii for about a week, so i can resume playing R&C once I give it back. this is my chance to play some nintendo platforming goodness.