The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

Released: April 27, (JP), October 26, 2000 (USA)

Platform: Nintendo 64

Introduction

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a game in the Legend of Zelda series. If you're unfamiliar
with the Zelda series, they are a series of action-adventure games in a fantasy setting, featuring an overworld and dungeons that revolve around puzzle solving.

Majora's Mask is known for being different from most Zelda games for a variety of reasons, even though it uses the same engine and many of the same assets as Ocarina of Time. Majora's Mask doesn't take place in the kingdom of Hyrule, as most games do, but in an alternate-reality world called Termina. When Link (the main character) arrives in Termina, he learns that the moon is falling, and that Termina will be destroyed in three days. The game features a 3-day cycle, and is constantly counting down to when the moon crushes Termina. At any point in this cycle, Link can play a song to time travel back to the first day, but by doing so he loses everything he obtained during that cycle except for the key items.

The game revolves around this concept. Link starts at the beginning of the first day, makes some progress that can remain after the cycle resets, and resets the cycle before he is killed by the moon. When he goes back in time, everyone he has met forgets who he is, which makes the game feel pretty lonely.

Official art for the game's 2015 remake on the 3DS

Because of this, the game has a constant foreboding, oppressive atmosphere that sets it apart from the other Zelda games, none of which are as dark as Majora's Mask is. Without further ado, let's begin!

Gameplay

Like I said before, Majora's Mask uses the same game engine as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. OoT is commonly cited to be the greatest game ever made, so you know that both games have excellent gameplay. The 3 day countdown, the thing that really sets Majora's Mask apart from Ocarina of Time, can be bothersome at points, but I give it a pass because it contributes so much to the game's atmosphere and sense of "doom". 

The three transformations

Like Ocarina of Time, the game revolves around Link completing dungeons to continue the story, and getting important items from the dungeons that let him access other places in the world (For people unfamiliar with dungeons in video games, they are usually large labyrinths with puzzles to solve and enemies to battle).

Another new aspect of Majora's Mask is the transformation masks, which let Link take 3 alternate forms, each with their own abilities and puzzle-solving use. Keeping with the game's theme, each mask is obtained after the character the mask is based on dies. The form Link takes is supposed to use the 'soul' of the recently deceased character.

The central gimmick of the Great Bay Temple

There are only four real dungeons in Majora's Mask, as opposed to the 9 dungeons of Ocarina of Time. And to be honest, the dungeons in this game aren't the best. The one I really enjoyed was the Great Bay Temple, which seems to be an unpopular opinion. I loved the dungeon's main mechanic, which involved changing the flow direction of the water being pumped throughout the dungeon. The flow direction changes which underwater rooms Link can access, and I thought it was a pretty unique idea. The fan-favorite dungeon from this game is the Stone Tower Temple, which I didn't enjoy as much as everyone else seems to. The gimmick of this dungeon is that you have to keep flipping the dungeon upside down and rightside up in order to progress, which I'll admit is pretty cool and novel.

Music

Staying with the game's theme, there is a lot of music that is either creepy, unsettling, sad, or all three. The most famous song from this game is almost certainly the Song of Healing, so please take a listen:

This song, despite its title, has a melancholy feel to it. The dichotomy of the happy title and sad-sounding music can also be found in the situations where the song is played. For example, Link must play the song to a character who is passing away in order to rest their spirit. The moment is sad because the character is dying, but happy because the song makes them at peace.

Nintendo loves to use variations on a central theme in their music. The four main areas of Majora's Mask use different versions of the same unsettling melody to fit the environment. These are the four songs:

Another cool music trick Nintendo uses is shown in the music of Clock Town. This (subtly named) town is the central hub of the game, and is where most of the characters can be found. The town's clock tower is also where the moon crashes into if Link doesn't go back to the first day in time. The town has a very distinct melody, but the music changes depending on the day. The first day, the theme is very laidback. On the second day the theme uses different instruments and includes fast moving patterns to make it sound slightly frantic. On the third and final day, the song is very quick, and you can hear ominous, minor undertones that clash with the melody, signaling the end is near.

Here is the theme for each of the days. I would suggest starting at 0:18 for the first one.

Art

SMEARY WALLS AND FLOOR

The art direction is not this game's strong point, especially if you're considering only the original version. I think the 3DS remake makes it look a lot more bearable. But the fact is that Majora's Mask uses a lot of the same assets as Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a game created when Nintendo was still learning how to make 3D games look good. The Nintendo 64 couldn't render a lot of polygons at once, making a lot of models pretty chunky. That would be ok if the textures were nice, but like most N64 games, textures tend to be "smeared" across surfaces.

I haven't played the 3DS remake, but from what I've seen, the models have a lot more polygons and the textures look a lot better. If you care about how your games look, definitely pick up the 3DS version if you can. Here's an example of the improvement, with the original on the right and the 3DS remake on the left:

Story/Characters

This is where Majora's Mask stands out, especially among Zelda games. While the plotline isn't especially complicated, the game does a great job of making the fantastical story pretty believable.

As you know, the game is about the moon falling into the land of Termina, and Link's time-traveling journey to stop it. In the main town of Clock Town, people seem to be getting worried as time goes on, but there are also lots of people who are in vicious denial that they will die in 3 days. Even though the moon can be seen growing closer and closer, some people laugh it off and continue preparing for the Festival of Time, which is supposed to take place on the 4th day, after the moon hits. This particular tidbit has some eerie parallels to the real world, where people deny climate change in a similar fashion, which makes the story that much more believable.

Denial can be found many places in Clock Town, but the other parts of the world all seem to react differently. In fact, a popular fan theory is that each of the world's five areas represent the 'five stages of grief': denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This is very well discussed in the popular video by Game Theory theorizing that Link is actually dead during the events of Majora's Mask. I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it.

Other than the main moon plot, there are several smaller plots and character developments that flesh out the game. The most famous one is the Anju and Kafei quest, following the events of two lovers trying to get married. However, the Skull Kid, the game's antagonist, turns Kafei into a small child, who then runs away in shame. Link must help Anju find her transformed fiance, and the quest ends with the two marrying themselves in a room in Anju's inn, and cowering together in the last few minutes before the moon hits the town and kills them.

The main antagonist, the Skull Kid, also has a story if you look hard enough. Before he stole the Majora's Mask and became consumed by its power, he was a lonely woodland creature who wanted to play with the fairies. Various moments make the player pity him, which I thought made him a good antagonist.

Some other great characters are Cremia, the young woman who runs the ranch, and her little sister, Romani. Romani is pretty young, under 10 years old, so Cremia acts as a mother to her. On the night before the moon falls, Cremia knows what's going to happen, so she lets Romani drink Chateau Romani, the game's milk equivalent to alcohol. She also says they'll sleep in her bed that night, knowing that they would die before morning. Little stories like this really make the story and characters seem more real.

Context/Impact

As I've said before, Majora's Mask was created using the assets from a previous Zelda game, Ocarina of Time. It was also the first game that Eiji Aonuma produced, and he has produced all the Zelda games since. Aonuma was given less than a year to create Majora's Mask, which was a challenge from Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Zelda, Wii Sports, etc.). This is why so many assets were reused from Ocarina of Time.

Majora's Mask

People were skeptical about a game created in such little time. They thought it would be too similar to Ocarina of Time, and would be an underdeveloped mess. But most agree that this is not what happened, as Aonuma managed to make a game with an entirely different atmosphere and unique game mechanics that set it apart from OoT.

Ocarina of Time

Notes

I'm really excited for Fire Emblem Awakening, and I will certainly have a lot to say about it. With Majora's Mask I didn't have as much to say about the gameplay, and practically nothing to say about art, but with FEA I expect to talk about all the aspects because the game is amazing in so many ways.

Bayonetta 2

Released: September 20 (JP), October 24, 2014 (USA)

Platform: Wii U

Introduction

Here we go! So, this post is about Bayonetta 2, a combo-based action game starring the witch known Bayonetta, came out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2009, and though it was very well recieved, it didn't sell very well. The sequel, Bayonetta 2, came out exclusively for Wii U, and most fans agree that it is better than the first game, which is why I'm looking at it before the first one. However, because there is so much overlap between the games, don't be surprised if I keep referencing the first one.
as Bayonetta, produced by Platinum Games and Sega. The first game,

Now, one famous/infamous aspect of the two Bayonetta games is the games' open sexuality. When you hear about the games, you're more than likely going to hear about this part as well, and I think there are some widespread misconceptions about this aspect of the game. So if you're excited to hear an American boy's opinions on an English woman created by Japanese game developers, I'll discuss it near the end of this post. But I think that this aspect of the game usually takes attention away from what makes the game great, namely its fantastic gameplay, beautiful environments, and memorable characters.

Gameplay

Hoo boy, this game is fantastic. The combat is easy to use if you're unfamiliar with it, and can be mastered by learning different combo patterns and buying new moves in the shop. When I first started playing, I had never played a game like Bayonetta before, but I got the hang of the combat right away. 

The combat revolves around two buttons, one that controls the weapons on in your hands, and one that controls the weapons on your feet. That's one thing that sets Bayonetta apart from other games in its genre, the ability to use two different weapon types at once and combo between them. And the weapons in this game are cartoonishly ridiculous and creative. including Bayonetta's signature revolvers, a hammer twice her size, a bow and arrow that shoots insects, a giant mechanical scythe, and two chain saws that can be attached to the feet to be used as roller blades. And because of the combo system, Bayonetta can whack enemies with her guns and then squash them with her hammer in one fell swoop.

The main feature of Bayonetta's combat is the mechanic known as Witch Time. By dodging an enemy attack at the last moment, time slows down and Bayonetta can get a lot of damage in before the enemies speed up again and resume attacking. In game, this is very satisfying to pull off, and I think it's an amazingly fresh gameplay concept.

Music

The soundtrack of Bayonetta includes 3 major kinds of tracks: ambient background music, jazzy J-pop vocal songs, and grandiose church choir music. The ambient music is not much to write home about, though it sounds nice, because it's usually subtle piano music. But here are the other two kinds of music, equally amazing, are really special.

Also, I want to note that because a lot of music in Bayonetta 2 was also in the original game, I'll also talk about when the songs played in the first game. I think it's important to know what the song was originally written for.

"Churchy" Music

When I say this type of music sounds like it was recorded by a full-on Catholic choir, I mean it. Most of these songs are a contrast between the grandiose choir and an intense piano part. These songs usually play during the main boss fights of the game, so when they do, you know the game means business. A great example of this is "Sapientia [In The Choice Between Good and Evil]":

I also want to note that all of the major bosses in the first game are named after the Cardinal Virtues (Fortitudo, Temperantia, Iusticia, and Sapientia), and I'll get back to that when I talk about the various cultures Bayonetta draws from, including heavily borrowing from Christian lore. b b       

The choir music is also accompanied by a symphony orchestra background, which helps make the sound feel so huge. I would kick myself if I didn't also show "One of a Kind", which plays during the game's opening and climax, and is probably the most iconic choir/orchestral music piece in the game

"Jazzy J-Pop" Music

As you might expect, the music I put in this category sounds like Japanese pop music with a jazzy twist. There are usually vocals, sometimes with lyrics and sometimes with just a melody. The most iconic songs from both Bayonetta are probably that main themes of both games, which are upbeat, energetic renditions of 'moon' songs, These songs, which are "Fly Me To the Moon" and "Moon River", were initially slow songs, but they both were made to fit the fast-paced style of Bayonetta, and they did it well. Take a listen, if you want:

Whereas the "church choir" music was created to be in line with the game's grand Christian imagery, music like these pieces were made to fit the character of Bayonetta, and her sassy and confident personality (wait 'till I talk about her character). Easily my favorite song of this time is the end credits theme of the first game, "Let's Dance, Boys!". This song has no lyrics, but it's a fast-paced jazzy song that really ends the game on a high note:

Art/Visuals

The locations in Bayonetta 2 are truly spectacular. The team that worked on the game took trips to Europe to use the architecture there as an example, and the fictional city of Noatun is an excellent example of how well they pulled it off:

There's not a lot more to say about the environments other than how beautiful they are, so for more examples I would recommend checking out the Cathedral of Cascades, Inferno, and Mt. Fimbulventr.

The "color theme" of Bayonetta 2 is blue, as opposed to the red of the first game. By the "color theme", I mean the color of the trails behind Bayonetta's attacks, which make her moves pop and make the action look cooler and more exciting. The first game's color was red, which I felt was a little harsh on the eyes at times.

Story/Characters

Both Bayonetta games get a pretty bad rap when it comes to story, but if you really understand it, it's quite a good one. To the first-time player, the story is admittedly confusing. It's because the story of the two games are intertwined due to time travel, and a knowledge of the lore of the Bayonetta universe is pretty necessary. The characters, however, are generally well recieved. 

In the first game, Cereza sees Bayonetta as a role model,
 and this responsibility gradually fleshes out Bayonetta's character

First of all, there's the main character, Bayonetta, whose childhood name was Cereza before she lost her memories. In the first game, she is introduced as being a powerful, sassy woman who is always in control of the situation she is in, while sometimes being subject to overconfidence. Throughout the first game, her character is developed after she meets a young girl named Cereza, who thinks Bayonetta is her mother. Greatly annoyed at first, Bayonetta soon takes on a motherly role for the child and becomes fiercely protective of her. She teaches her how to survive on her own, and near the end of the game it is revealed that Cereza is actually Bayonetta as a child. This dynamic both develops Bayonetta's softer side and depicts her as she was before going through the tragedy of her past.

In the second game, Bayonetta's quest is to save her best friend Jeanne's soul from Hell, after she 'died' protecting Bayonetta. While the relationship with Cereza forced Bayonetta into a maternal role, Bayonetta's friendship with Jeanne is emphasized in the second game to show her strong loyalty to and respect for her friends

Other Characters

Jeanne is Bayonetta's best friend and friendly rival. Contrasted with Bayonetta's relaxed attitude in
the face of danger, Jeanne is more uptight and impatient. She is more of a risk taker as well, which is why she jumped in the path of a demon to save Bayonetta in the second game. Through the events of both games, Jeanne is initially portrayed as self-serving and spoiled (she grew up wealthy and Bayonetta grew up poor), but her numerous sacrifices for her friends make her a very likeable and cool character. The plot of the second game follows Bayonetta saving her soul from Inferno (Hell).

Rodin is the bartender and Bayonetta's arms supplier. He is hinted at being the Bayonetta universe equivalent of Satan, but he's a really cool dude. He is very good friends with Bayonetta, and while their banter frequently tries to reinforce that they only work for themselves, it is always in a joking manner and their relationship seems to be a personal, not professional one. Even though he's "Satan", Rodin has been shown to have a moral compass, as he does the best he can in the second game to help Bayonetta save Jeanne.

Balder is the villain of the first game and an ally in the second, and is very interesting as a character.
He is Bayonetta's father, and a member of the Lumen Sages, the counterpart of Bayonetta's clan, the Umbra Witches. In the first game, Father Balder is an aging, flamboyant man who is the CEO of a company which is the front for a religious cult. He tries to manipulate his daughter into helping him destroy the world, which she eventually stops by killing him (and the equivalent of God).

Culture

Bayonetta pulls from a great many cultures to create the game's mythology and lore, primarily from European cultures, especially Christianity. The game's monsters, the Angels, have marble baby faces and are crusted with gold, making them resemble Renaissance-era sculpture. The character Rodin is named after the French sculptor, and his bar is called "The Gates of Hell", which was a Rodin sculpture based on Dante's Divine Comedy. The three realms, being Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno, are pulled directly from Dante's Divine Comedy, and the Angels have a hierarchy directly pulled from the same book. As I talked about in the music section, the first game has church-choir-styled music that plays during the major boss fights. The Angels and Demons have names that reference the Bible and other Christian literature as well, such as the demon Gomorrah and the Cherubim angels.

There are also aspects of the game that parallel Christianity, without being directly pulled from it. For example, during a fight with Balder in the second game, he starts flying with 12 ribbon-like wings, much like how Lucifer is said to have 12 wings. Rodin has many parallels to Satan/Lucifer, esecially Dante's version, such as how he is encased in ice after falling in battle. He refers to himself as a fallen angel.

Besides Christianity, there are a whole bunch of other cultural references. Balder is named after the Norse god, and Mt. Fimbulventr is named after Fimbulvetr, the apocalypse precursor in Norse Mythology. Bayonetta's weapons Durga and Rakshasa are based on Hindu figures. Her bow, known as Kafka, is named after the writer Franz Kafka. Jeanne's bow is named Samsa, the protagonist of a Kafka novel, which confirms this.

There are countless other examples, but figuring out each reference was really fun for me (and it helps me remember who Kafka is for scholastic bowl).

"The Sexy Part"

Ok, so this has been the elephant in the room (not really), but there is a huge stigma around Bayonetta and its portrayal of sexuality. Let me start out by saying that 1), Bayonetta is objectively a pretty tame game, and 2), I acknowledge that I have very little authority on women's portrayal in video games, which is why I'll be referring to women who have played the game and who have not played the game to see their thoughts.

There is a dichotomy about Bayonetta's sexuality, with some saying that the game objectifies her, and others saying her sexuality empowers her. And the reason it's such a topic is that unlike games like Lollipop Chainsaw and others that blatantly objectify women, Bayonetta is portrayed as a human person whose sexuality is simply an aspect of her personality, and is never for the enjoyment of the male characters.

Please check out this survey of female gamers' opinions on the Bayonetta series.

If you've read the opinions above, you can see that there is a split among female gamers, and even among all gamers, about how the game's sexuality is portrayed. What I noticed is that the people who were disgusted with the sexuality had not played the game, while those who thought it wasn't degrading had actually played the game. I chalk this up to the game's marketing and how the game presents itself in advertisements. Because the marketing focuses so much on that aspect of the game, people are driven away without getting to see how well Bayonetta's personality fits with her sexuality. 

I was inspired to get the game after I saw someone playing it, but the less-than-tasteful advertising almost drove me away. All in all, because this is such a heated debate, I didn't want to mention it until the end so I could evaluate the game's merits, but it is definitely a worthy topic of discussion. I personally think that Bayonetta is a complex character whose sexuality fits right in, but people like feminist game critic Anita Sarkeesian have strong opinions otherwise (although, once again, she has not played the games).

Notes

I REALLY apologize for how long this one took. I promise the next one, Majora's Mask, will not take as long. There was so much I wanted to say about all the categories in this game, and the next game will be much simpler. I also talked about the first Bayonetta a whole bunch, so that may have been part of the reason.

Super Mario Galaxy

Released: November 12, 2007 (USA)

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Introduction

Super Mario Galaxy is a 3D platforming game released for the Wii in 2007. It followed the first two
3D Mario games, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, and compared to those games, the worlds in Super Mario Galaxy are more linear.

The game takes place in outer space, and the main gameplay quirk is the ability to walk around planets using new gravity effects. It also makes use of the Wii's motion controls, as Mario can only perform his spin move when the player shakes the Wii remote (at the time, Nintendo was really pushing the Wii's motion controls).

Also, just a heads up: this game is my favorite game of all time, and because of my many memories associated with this game, I can't promise I will be unbiased. Actually, you can count on me being biased, but bear with me, because I NEED to share why I think this game is so wonderful. Besides, this game is the highest rated game of all time on GameRankings, and the second highest on Metacritic, so I'm far from alone. Without further ado...

Gameplay

As with most Mario games, Super Mario Galaxy is the king of gameplay. Mario travels through 42 galaxies, with multiple missions in most galaxies, to get a Power Star at the.
 end. He uses a variety of jumps, many of which were in previous games, but what was novel in Super Mario Galaxy was the ability to walk all around the surfaces of the 3D planets, as can be seen below:

Mario has a new move, called the Star Spin, which makes him do a spin when the player shakes the Wii Remote (this was part of Nintendo's push to get motion controls in every single game). But even with the weird controls, the move feels natural, and for me it helped set the game apart from previous Mario games because of all the new moves and mechanics it offered. The spin move is used to screw in giant screws, deflect flying coconuts back at a boss, launch in a launch star from planet to planet, and to extend Mario's jump in midair. This move and the new gravitational mechanics are really what makes up the 'meat' of Super Mario Galaxy.

There are some points in the game where the player is required to point at the screen. By pointing at the screen, the player can collect 'star bits', shoot them at enemies, and pull Mario from place to place using Pull Stars. Unlike the motion controls needed for the spin move, this actually felt a bit forced and unnecessary. Whenever it was required to point at the screen, I felt ripped away from the core gameplay.

Music

The score to Super Mario Galaxy was almost entirely recorded by a full symphony orchestra. It was the first Nintendo game to do so, and they did it perfectly. The sweeping soundtrack really fits the atmosphere of outer space, and I think the score is movie-quality. One song, "Gusty Garden Galaxy", is probably the most well-known Mario song today aside from the songs from the first game, and for good reason:

Not all the music is orchestral, however, as the game also boasts some great electronic-style synth music, especially in galaxies based around artificial structures. Many songs also combine the recorded orchestra music with electronic instruments to create some really interesting music, such as with "Buoy Base Galaxy":

The song starts out with some electronic arpeggios switching between two chords, and then shifts into an orchestral melody for a short while. It switches back and forth a few times, until it reaches a point where the electronic background plays while the sweeping orchestral melody sits on top. Songs like this really fill out the grandiose atmosphere of space.

There are also some musical touches to the game that might not be noticed by the average player. There are certain sound effects in the game that change depending on the music being played. This includes the harp glissando that plays when Mario uses a launch star, and the sound effect that plays when a coin pops out of something. In this game, depending on the chord currently being played in the song, the sound effect will change keys in order to be in harmony with the music at its current spot. Because these sound effects change as the music plays, it almost sounds like they're a part of the music, which really adds to the game's epic atmosphere.

Art/Visuals

Green grass against the dark blue background

Mario Galaxy's visuals are striking for a number of reasons, and one I really noticed is the use of bright, contrasting colors against each other. There are a great many galaxies where the background "sky" (outer space) is a deep blue, which contrasts with the bright green grass of the planets. 

Red magma against the blue-green background

There are also many other uses of beautiful color contrast, such as the deep red magma meeting the surrounding blue-green aurora of the background in the Freezeflame Galaxy.

Super Mario Galaxy hasn't aged perfectly, as it was released on the Wii, which can only output at 480p. While some games are uninhibited by a low resolution, Galaxy doesn't fare the best nowadays, especially on larger screens. 

But different aspects of the game make it seem to look better, regardless of the resolution. Everything in the game feels like it has a soft edge, which is not affected by the resolution and gives the game a unifying visual style. Overall though, I feel like the amazing soundtrack picks up the slack of the slightly outdated visuals this game has today.

Story/Characters

Rosalina on her spaceship, the Comet Observatory

Spoiler alert: Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach. Honestly, no one should be expecting a complicated story from a Mario game, and this one is no exception. Almost. On the surface, this game is about Mario saving Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser, much like most of the Mario games that came before it. But some will notice that there is a second story going on, a less obvious one, about the mysterious Rosalina, the mysterious woman Mario meets at the beginning of the game, and who lets him stay on her spaceship while he looks for Peach.

Rosalina calls herself the "Mother of the Stars", and acts as a mother to the many star-shaped creatures known as Lumas. Very little is revealed about her initially, but her backstory can be revealed through an optional storybook on the Comet Observatory. Rosalina's Storybook is laid out like a children's book, with simple and elegant language that describes the heartwarming and emotional story of her youth.

The illustrations are also beautifully simplistic, and unlike anything seen before in a Mario game.

My favorite part of the story was Chapter 7: The Telescope. In the previous chapters, the whole story was about Rosalina searching the cosmos for her mother, who was supposedly coming for her on a comet. In this chapter, however, that search quickly comes to an end, as the music changes, and a memory resurfaces:

She twisted the knob of the telescope, and the blue dot grew until she could make out a grassy hill dotted with flowers. It seemed very familiar to her. Zooming even closer, a terrace on the hill came into view. "I used to go stargazing there when I lived on my home planet."

She remembered rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she followed her father up that hill to look at the stars...

She remembered how she and her brother would sled down that hill...

She remembered having picnics with her mother on that hill on bright and windy days... And...

"I want to go home! I want to go home right now!" The girl burst into tears, and the Lumas didn't know what to do. "I want to go home! I want to go back to my house by the hill! I want to see my mother!" The girl was shouting now, her face wet with tears. "But I know she's not there! I knew all along that she wasn't out there in the sky! Because...because..."

"She's sleeping under the tree on the hill!" The girl's cries echoed through the stars, and a hush fell over the area.

I remember when I read the Storybook for the first time, and my eyes welled up as I read that. The perfect combination of the music shift, the beautiful art, and the eloquent storytelling clicked for me.

Impact/Context

Super Mario Galaxy was released to near universal critical acclaim back in 2007. Even when it was released, untouched by nostalgia, fans and critics alike knew it was something special. The Nintendo Wii, the fifth-best selling video game console of all time, sold 101 million units, and 1 out of every 4 Wii owners owned Super Mario Galaxy. This means there are more people who will have fond childhood memories of Galaxy than its predecessors, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.

Speaking of those games, Super Mario Galaxy marked a shift in direction for the 3D Mario series. While 64 and Sunshine featured more open, non-linear worlds, Galaxy's missions were much more linear, with the player being limited to certain parts of each galaxy for different missions. Because Super Mario Galaxy was so amazing, fans of the 3D Mario series had few objections to the shift, but as the following 3D Mario games became more linear, they began to object. (Responding to those objections, the newest 3D Mario game returns to the style of the first games)

Notes

YAY! My favorite game! Next up is Bayonetta 2, which should be interesting. I'm probably going to have a whole section about Controversy for that game, so stay tuned.