Super Mario Galaxy

When I was a kid, we had an Atari 2600. More then one, because those suckers broke, often. Then my brother got a Commodore 64. From that time on, I was hooked on computer games. My brother some how found about 100 mixed disks of games (pirated, I now know, but at 8 had no idea). And we bought many games too. Classics like the Gold Box D&D games and Ultima III through V.


After the C=64, I got an Amiga 500 that didn't really do it for me so right before college, I got my first PC. And a copy of X-Wing. As a matter of fact, that summer, I would come home from whatever I was up to and find my friends gathered around my computer playing! X-Wing gave way to too many computer games for me to recount


Through all this time, I never really got into console systems. No SNES, no Sega Dreamcast, no Play Station I or II. That changed this past December when we got a Wii. I still love the PC gaming platform, but with a wife and a child, the 'casual' game console in the family room became more and more appealing.


With the Wii, we got a copy of Super Mario Galaxy. I had played some Mario games in the past. I knew what a goomba was and who Yoshi and Bowser were, but hadn't really played any Mario game to completion. As of this writing, I still haven't, but I am on the verge of completing Super Mario Galaxy. The game showcases the strengths that the Wii brings to market; an intuitive control system, good (if not state-of-the-art) graphics, and lots and lots of fun. Both me, the avid gamer, and Saundra, the not really at all gamer, can sit and have sat down to enjoy gathering coins and stars and stomping on turtles. The storyline of the game is barely coherent, but that is not the point of the game. The point of the game is to get to the end. I am now ready to take on the last super-secret level and have really enjoyed the ride.