History Videogame / SuperMarioGalaxy

''Super Mario Galaxy'' received widespread critical acclaim and is widely considered to be one of the best games in the ''Mario'' franchise and one of the greatest video games of all time, receiving praise for its gameplay, graphics, innovative level design, orchestrated soundtrack, and story. It was ''the'' highest rated videogame ever on [[https://web.archive.org/web/20191201100747/https://www.gamerankings.com/wii/915692-super-mario-galaxy/index.html GameRankings]] with a 98% score at the time of its closure and one of the highest rated on [[https://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered Metacritic]], having a Metascore of 97.

A direct sequel, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', was released on May 23, 2010. This game got an UpdatedRerelease on the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch in September 2020 as part of ''[[CompilationRerelease Super Mario 3D All-Stars]]'' for the [[MilestoneCelebration 35th anniversary]] of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''

*** The Kamella's Airship Attack level revolves around throwing Koopa shells to break chests and progress through the level. Kamella is defeated by throwing the shells she summons at her. A much later mission featuring airships has you do the same thing regarding Koopa Troopa shells with Bowser Jr.
*** Tarantox's Tangled Web introduces the Sling Pods, particularly in the planets leading up to the fight. The only way to defeat Tarantox is by using the pods.

*** Bomb Boos are introduced in Ghostly Galaxy's Beware of the Bouldergeist mission, and can be used to break stone. Guess what you have to use to defeat the Bouldergeist himself?

*** Throughout, in various levels, there are rolling geode/boulder obstacles that can be destroyed by spinning their red crystalline cores. In the final battle, Bowser takes on a boulder covering, and due to the boulders before, the player should have learned by this point that spinning his exposed face breaks it. This might work the other way, however- it's not the most intuitive to try to break the giant invincible boulders, so the final boss may instead suggest that the obstacles are vulnerable.

* {{Antepiece}}: Nearly every boss level features a game mechanic or enemies with unique defeat strategies (if the boss is a KingMook) that will be used to defeat the boss.
** King Kaliente's Good Egg Galaxy encounter will see you fight some Octopus enemies who spit coconuts before he can proceed. Defeating them involves spinning their coconuts back into them, teaching you how to beat King Kaliente, whose fight consists of [[TennisBoss playing tennis with him]] when he shoots a non-flaming coconut.
** The Kamella's Airship Attack level revolves around throwing Koopa shells to break chests and progress through the level. Kamella is defeated by throwing the shells she summons at her.
** Major Burrows' minions are the Undergrunts, enemies you have to ground-pound to get them out of the ground, and then jump on them/spin them to kill them. Major Burrows is a [[KingMook very large Undergrunt]], so naturally, the same strategy is required, though you have to chase him once he's out of the ground.
** Baron Brrr is an enlarged Li'l Brrr. The Li'l Brrrs are defeated by spinning them (they float) to extinguish their ice cloud and bring them to the ground. They will turn darker and bounce around the ground, trying to fall into ice water to revive themselves. If you kick them by walking into them in this state, they will be defeated, and drop a coin. Their Baron is very much the same, but with added attacks.
** An example between levels comes with Bonefin Galaxy, featuring the Kingfin boss fight. The fight takes place underwater while you ride Koopa shells and throw them to hit the boss. Drip Drop Galaxy precedes the level, teaching you about this style of fighting as you're tasked with hiting three Gringills underwater with Koopa shells. In fact, Bonefin Galaxy only becomes available after clearing Drip Drop, ensuring the player has a safer tutorial for underwater fighting before they take it to the boss.
** The first mission in Toy Time Galaxy has Mario either screw or unscrew setpieces that are attached to walls and floors, which can be done by shaking the Wiimote (or the Joy-Cons in the ''3D All-Stars'' version); and in the second half, he begins using the Spring Mushroom to jump onto high areas. When time comes to storm Mecha-Bowser at the end, Mario has to disable its parts by screwing some parts and unscrewing others, and eventually he has to reach the head by using the Spring Mushroom so he can GroundPound it and destroy the whole structure.
** Sand Spiral Galaxy only becomes available after completing the first mission of Ghostly Galaxy (which introduces the Boo Mushroom that Sand Spiral prominently features in its first half)[[note]]Sand Spiral Galaxy also requires the second mission of Sea Slide Galaxy to unlock, but the two share no themes, and the unlock requirement only seems to be because Sea Slide is found in the Engine Room and Sand Spiral is tied to the Engine Room's Hungry Luma; Bigmouth Galaxy features a similar case due to it only being unlocked after the first star of the unrelated Dusty Dune Galaxy, as does Snow Cap Galaxy (unlocked after the first star of the unrelated Melty Molten Galaxy)[[/note]]. The Hungry Luma leading to Sling Pod Galaxy is only unlocked after the third mission of Space Junk Galaxy (which introduces the titular Sling Pods). The Hungry Luma leading to Drip Drop Galaxy itself is only unlocked after the first mission of Beach Bowl Galaxy (which teaches the player how to swim underwater). And lastly, Matter Splatter Galaxy is only unlocked after the first mission of Toy Time Galaxy (which introduces the Spring Mushroom that is required to use for part of Matter Splatter).
** Throughout, in various levels, there are rolling geode/boulder obstacles that can be destroyed by spinning their red crystalline cores. In the final battle, Bowser takes on a boulder covering, and due to the boulders before, the player should have learned by this point that spinning his exposed face breaks it. This might work the other way, however- it's not the most intuitive to try to break the giant invincible boulders, so the final boss may instead suggest that the obstacles are vulnerable.

*** Not only is the Engine Room King Kaliente rematch much harder (you're fighting him entirely on lava, he summons lava bubbles more frequently, he takes more hits, and meteors fall on the last phase), you have to fight him for the ''Grand Star.''
*** Kamella also takes more hits in her Ghost Ship battle in Deep Dark Galaxy than on her personal airship in Space Junk Galaxy (not to mention, unleash an additional attack where she transforms into an orb and teleports constantly around the arena). The icing on the cake? She'll get smart and have her final phase be on the ''Crow's Nest.'' Oh, there's also another mission where you fight her on Daredevil Conditions.

*** Dino Piranha has a brand new fiery form that'll make a relatively easy boss ''much tougher'' to handle (his tail leaving flames, and his last phase ''spitting fire balls'').

** Some bosses in the game do get stronger on much later missions.

** Kamella also takes more hits in her Ghost Ship battle in Deep Dark Galaxy than on her personal airship in Space Junk Galaxy (not to mention, unleash an additional attack where she transforms into an orb and teleports constantly around the arena). The icing on the cake? She'll get smart and have her final phase be on the ''Crow's Nest.'' Oh, there's also another mission where you fight her on Daredevil Conditions.
** Topmaniac is fought once again on Dreadnought Galaxy, but his arena has electric barriers that move around (making it a little harder to electrocute him). Oh, and he'll summon Spiky Topmen much earlier this time.
** Dino Piranha has a brand new fiery form that'll make a relatively easy boss ''much tougher'' to handle (his tail leaving flames, and his last phase ''spitting fire balls'').

* KingMook: Several. Examples include Baron Brrr, Topmaniac, and Major Burrows, who are respectively King Mooks of Li'l Brrrs, Topmen, and Undergrunts.

* TookALevelInBadass: Bowser. In previous titles, his goals are to kidnap Peach and [[TakeOverTheWorld take over the Mushroom Kingdom (or the world)]]. In ''Galaxy'', capturing Peach seems to just be a bonus for him; his real goal is ''[[GalacticConqueror the conquest of the entire universe]].''

* CameraScrew: Most of the time, you can't control the camera's position; several challenges in this game would be a lot easier if you could actually ''see what you're doing'' (though the game is a ''lot'' better than ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' in this regard). You can enter first-person view in many places, though.

* MarathonLevel: "The Sinking Lava Spire", the first mission in [[LethalLavaLand Melty Molten Galaxy]]. [[NoDamageRun And later you have to do it again untouched]] for HundredPercentCompletion.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: Several examples. The Bomb Boos that Bouldergeist deals out are the only way to defeat him. Same deal with King Kaliente and the coconuts he occasionally lobs at you. If he'd just stick to fireballs, he'd be invincible.

* ThemeAndVariationsSoundtrack:
** The Bouldergeist is a ghost that encases itself within stone. Normally it would be invincible to Mario's attacks. However, during the fight it will occasionally throw a black rock at Mario, which will become a Bomb Boo, which in turn Mario can use against the Bouldergeist to break apart his stone casing. When it reaches its vulnerable phase, It still ''intentionally'' spawns Bomb Boos.
** Kamella is defeated by the throwing back at her the Koopa shells she summons to attack Mario.

* SurpriseCreepy: The whole game is level after level of pure joy, but at the end, [[spoiler:the universe ends and the Lumas [[HeroicSacrifice give themselves up to bring it back]]]].

* VideoGameCaringPotential: You can feed regular Lumas Star Bits by aiming with the cursor. It doesn't do anything to help you, but their adorable gratitude makes up for it.

[[caption-width-right:349:An adventure that's truly out of this world!]]

[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]... '''[[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE!]]'''

* NostalgiaLevel: Flipswitch Galaxy has a background which features a scene from the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros''.

* BookEnds:

* KickTheDog: Before his boss fight, Major Burrows can be seen chasing after a terrified and defenseless Star Bunny for no real reason other than to be a dick.

* HeKnowsAbolutTimedHits: In the intro, A luma disguised as a rabbit tells Mario "C'mon! Jump with A"! Afterwards, Luma tells Mario to shake a wiimote to spin.

* BigCreepyCrawlies: The game has the Mandibugs and Flipbugs. The former are [[ToughBeetles giant beetles]] that charge at either Mario/Luigi and can only be killed with a GroundPound, due to them having a large star on their backs. The latter are cowardly insects that will run away if they see Mario/Luigi in normal form (and falling over if they get too close), but will chase them is they see them in bee form.

* EverythingsBetterWithBunnies: Star Bunnies are [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter adorable]], playful and helpful rabbits with starry ears, teaching more advanced jumping techniques like spinning at the top of a jump to gain a little extra height. There's three of 'em at the start of the game[[note]]actually they're transformed Lumas[[/note]], and they re-appear several times, including in Gusty Garden Galaxy and [[BookEnds the last bonus galaxy]]. [[KingMook Major Burrows]] [[EstablishingCharacterMoment relentlessly chases a defenseless Star Bunny]] before you whack him to begin his boss fight.
* EverythingsBetterWithPenguins: By now, it's a Mario series tradition to include [=NPC=]s who are penguins. They show up in the Loopdeeloop, Beach Bowl, Buoy Base, Drip Drop, Sea Slide, and Loopdeeswoop Galaxies.

* GoombaStomp: [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning Spinning]] may get all the attention in this game, but for most enemies, jumping on them still works just as well, and usually causes them to drop health-replenishing coins instead of Star Bits. In fact, Goombas themselves take an extra hit to kill after spinning, but still fall to one stomp.

* VoiceGrunting: In place of the full voice acting from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''. Though somewhat ZigZagged as Peach had a full line of dialogue with her letter to Mario, and Rosalina has a few voiced lines such as "Let us begin!", "Thank you!", and "Go, Mario!".