Why Super Mario Galaxy is still considered one of the greatest 3D platformers ever made, and how you can play it today.
Super Mario Galaxy launched on the Wii in 2007 and immediately reset expectations for what a 3D platformer could look like. Instead of the sprawling open hub worlds of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, Nintendo built the game from dozens of small, self-contained planetoids, each with its own gravity field. The result is a game that still feels inventive nearly two decades later.
Every galaxy in the game is a cluster of tiny worlds. Mario can run along the surface of a spherical planetoid and curve completely around it, walking upside-down without falling. Launch Stars fling him between planets in a straight line, and Pull Stars yank him toward gravity points. It sounds disorienting on paper, but the camera and physics are tuned so precisely that it becomes second nature within the first hour.
Super Mario Galaxy introduced several power-ups unique to its space setting, including the Bee Mushroom (temporary flight and wall-clinging), the Boo Mushroom (turns Mario semi-transparent and lets him float), and the Spring Mushroom, which turns him into a bouncing spring. Combined with returning classics like the Fire Flower, the galaxy setting gave the design team room to experiment more freely than a grounded Mushroom Kingdom level would allow.
The most straightforward modern option has been Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a Nintendo Switch compilation that bundled Super Mario Galaxy alongside Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. Nintendo has run this as a limited-time release in the past, so eShop or retail availability can change — check the current Nintendo eShop listing before buying. Original Wii discs also still work on backward-compatible Wii hardware if you already own a console.
Super Mario Galaxy's influence is visible throughout later Nintendo titles, and it's frequently cited by critics and fans alike as one of the best games in the entire Super Mario library. Its orchestral soundtrack, composed under Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo, was also one of the first fully orchestral scores in a Mario game.
Super Mario Galaxy was included in Super Mario 3D All-Stars, a Switch collection released for a limited time in 2020 alongside Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. Availability has varied since then, so check the current Nintendo eShop listing for the most up-to-date purchase options.
Instead of one big open world, Super Mario Galaxy is built from dozens of small planetoids with their own gravity fields. Mario can run around the underside of a tiny moon or launch between planets using Launch Stars, which was a genuinely new way to design 3D platforming levels at the time.
Yes — the core movement is forgiving and the game eases players in with a co-op assist mode where a second player can collect Star Bits without controlling Mario directly, making it approachable for newer or younger players.
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