Super Mario Galaxy 3 is a real love letter to Nintendo games, especially previous Mario titles. There are so many parts lifted from or referencing bits of the earlier games, as well as other Nintendo titles.
You’ve the Mario 64 Bowser boss fights and Tiny-Huge Island, Super Mario Sunshine’s FLUDD and void levels, Super Mario Galaxy’s worlds and “flying into the level” sequences, a replica of Mario Odyssey’s Lake Kingdom, and characters and enemies from across the series like Thwomp and Wriggler make appearances, as well as Mario game features like a ghost house and switch palaces.
Then there’s a whole level based on Link’s Crossbow Training, another which is Donkey Kong 64, a number of Kirby areas and mechanics, and sections where you’re Samus in morph ball form. There are even a few bits of the game which are taken from Splatoon, a power up to make you a character from Arms, some Wii Bowling, and even a bit based on the Donkey Kong tilting game from Nintendoland on the Wii U. The hub world acts like a Pikmin level too. So much Nintendo crammed into one game!
It is glorious and fun, and slightly confusing, as it doesn’t make any sense that as well as all this Nintendo stuff there’s also a level based on the Sony PSP Loco Roco game, a Minecraft level, about seven million collectible Nathan Drakes, each in minutely different clothes, and the aim of the game is to (re)build a PlayStation 5 console. Plus this is Nintendo’s first game on a Sony platform, perhaps as a response to Sony allowing Lego Horizon Adventures on the Switch? Most queer.
Yes, I am being intentionally facetious but in a positive way. Sure, the whole game looks and feels like a Nintendo game, and yes there are so many bits that seem transplanted directly from a Nintendo title, but it’s done really well. It’s the most Nintendo non-Nintendo game I’ve ever played, and that’s high praise.
Really, this is supposed to be a celebration of PlayStation history, but because Sony doesn’t really have any – not like Nintendo does – most of the referenced games and characters you encounter and collect are actually from the likes of Konami, Activision and Sega. Rez, Katamari, Devil May Cry, Persona, Tony Hawk – they all had a presence on a Sony console but they’re not Sony games. There’s a lot of Ape Escape, Horizon and Uncharted here, but nothing like the amount of first party stuff you could get with Nintendo so it has to be beefed up with cross-platform stuff.
Also, I have no affinity with, love for, or fond memories of Sony stuff so all that passes me by anyway.
What’s left is a great Mario game without Mario in it. And that’s OK.
@deKay
@rooster111 @deKay@lofi-gaming.org.uk I WAS RIGHT!