User:Nintendo101

Nintendo fanatic and enthusiast. (You probably are too if you're looking at this page.) I'm otherwise an artist and an ecologist. Within my field, I specialize in wildlife and (currently, but not exclusively) insects. I've had an account here since 2012.

I wrote the character sections for Super Mario Odyssey. I contributed a lot to the articles for Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy (which is now featured - yay!), and Super Mario Galaxy 2, alongside many other people on this wiki who have contributed their time, energy, and passion to writing about video games.

I have been a fan of Nintendo since a very young age. My first Mario games (and three of the first video games I ever owned) were Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2, Super Mario 64 DS, and Mario Kart DS. These games were good company for a young kid who moved around a lot and had difficulty keeping long-lasting friends.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I sequentially played some of my favorite games in the Super Mario series to 100% completion. This includes, in order, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and Super Mario Odyssey. It's been really fun! These are great games, and I always wanted to marathon a series like this before but never had the time. It has been interesting to see where the series began and where it has ended up. The design philosophies, the characters, the art directions, world building, level design, narrative, etc. All good stuff. It might be fun to write something about it some day.

My favorite video game character is Yoshi.

For assets I have uploaded to the wiki, I suggest viewing them here.

Sandbox for current project

In-house (conceptual)

• Miyamoto considers it the true sequel to Mario 64 (as opposed to Sunshine)
• Last Mario game to see "serious" involvement from Miyamoto until Super Mario Run (ref)
• Last game directed by Yoshiaki Koizumi, who would be given greater roles as producer for other Mario projects, while Galaxy level designer Koichi Hayashida would be given directorial duties for subsequent entries
• Fostered a direct sequel - SMG2; one of the only Mario games to receive a named sequel (they're all kinda related to each other though, so how important is this actually?)
• Muted narrative elements in SMG2, per the explicit requests of Shigeru Miyamoto, and incorporated desired elements for the first game that were omitted (Starship Mario, Yoshi)
• Experience and mechanics streamlined and simplified
• SMG2 would be the last time Nintendo attempted to create a platformer with spherical worlds (have they ever said why?)
• heavily influenced design and structure of subsequent 3D Super Mario games, especially SMG2, SM3DL, and SM3DW as a course clear-style Mario game
• 3D games would become progressively more linear and more comparable to 2D Mario games; increasingly deviating from hakoniwa design philosophy of Mario 64
• When sandbox-style game did return with Odyssey, Galaxy's influence is still apparent (particularly in the lunar kingdoms, where gravity is less intense, giving Mario a floaty feel comparable to the feeling of moving in Mario Galaxy)
• Apparently Odyssey's Photo Mode derived from the developer's attempt to mitigate the complexity of camera controls (ref)
• Miyamoto expressed that Nintendo is open to developing a third game (his comments suggest Nintendo continued to pursue design choices that would make 3D games less daunting to 2D-players, hence why SM3DL and SM3DW appeared they way they do, but of note, the author of this work aligns SMG with SM64 and SMS as a sprawling adventure-type game) (ref)
• Folks clearly missed the idea of having a 3D Mario game that felt like an adventure (ref)

In-house (referential)

• Direct Galaxy-based iconography is present in every subsequent 3D game (Galaxy 2, obviously; Rosalina, Lumas, Octoombas, Comet Observatory in SM3DW; 8-Bit Rosalina and Star Bit-shaped regional coins in Odyssey)
• Rosalina would be incorporated into subsequent ensemble/spinoff games, Nintendo's marketing, have a direct presence or homage in subsequent main series games, and would become a largely beloved character
• Immediately appears in Mario Kart Wii, which was being developed simultaneously with Galaxy, and has been a fixture of every subsequent Mario Kart title
• Clampy would be incorporated as "the" clam enemy in the 2D games, one of the few enemies to have been introduced in a 3D game to become a recurring stable of the 2D ones
• Captain Toad rises in prominence within Nintendo's games and be playable in his own title; distinguished from the Toad in coming years
• Lumas and Toad Brigade would also become less frequent but consistent elements
• Space-themed portions in subsequent ensemble/spinoff games would often incorporate allusions to SMG

Industry at large

• Very few studios would attempt making platformers with spherical worlds (I recall some developer somewhere mentioning the technical difficulty with trying to do this)
• When a game does try this or attempts something comparable, it is often referred to as "Galaxy-styled" even though SMG was not the first platform game to attempt this design (Sonic Adventure 2, Ratchet & Clank, Yoshi's Island)
• Low-effort theme park-tie in clearly based on (maybe even directly stole from) Galaxy
• Both Sonic Colors (in a positive sense) and Sonic Lost World (in a negative sense) likened to Galaxy
• Cited influence behind:
  • Super Smash Bros. 4
  • Armillo
  • Solar Ash
  • Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope

Rosalina was proposed as a new playable character in the earliest phases of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U during 2012, explicitly with the desire to replicate the feel of Super Mario Galaxy in her aerial movements.

The game has been cited as a source of inspiration for Armillo (2014), Gears 5 (2019), Solar Ash (2021), and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (2022).

Retrospectives

• Eurogamer considers SMG the game of the generation (ref)

Things to read

• 15 Years Ago, Super Mario Galaxy Made It Cool to Be a Gamer
• Super Mario Galaxy: In Space No-One Can Hear You Mamma Mia
• Super Mario Galaxy Showed Us Something The Series Hadn't Before, And Hasn't Since
• 15 years later, Super Mario Galaxy is still the series' most stellar entry
• Super Mario Galaxy Coming To Nintendo DS Thanks To Fan Project
• In Battle of Consoles, Nintendo Gains Allies
• E3 Interview: Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto
• E3 – 2006 : LIVE :: Massive Wii games ‘hands on’
• Halo 3 Arrives, Rewarding Gamers, and Microsoft
• Nintendo: Wii play now, but Wii ship later
• One on one with Nintendo at E3
• E3 2005: Shigeru Miyamoto Interview
• TGS 2005: Hands-on the Revolution Controller
• Super Mario Galaxy and the Videogame Aesthetic
• Super Mario Seriality: Nintendo’s Narratives and Audience Targeting within the Video Game Console Industry
• Redesigning Super Mario : Creating realistic versions of some characters and animations featured in Super Mario franchise
• The Fine Line Between Rehash and Sequel: Design Patterns of the Super Mario Series
• The evolution of the introductory section
• Molecular Mario: The Becoming-Animal of Video Game Compositions
• Impact of an Active Video Game on Healthy Children’s Physical Activity
• It's a-me Density!
• Super Mario 64: an exercise on freedom and style
• AusGamer Review
• Is the Japanese gaming industry in crisis?
• Nintendo defies recession with record profits
• Nintendo Wii: Lessons learned from noncustomers