A (partial) Mea Culpa

I hate the Wii. I've made no bones about that ever since I got it back in January. I feel that the machine is little more than a spruced up Gamecube with a novelty control scheme that appeals to the masses mostly based on nostalgia for Nintendo products and price. I saw virtually no games that justified its existence or its control scheme. Nor did I understand why people thought it was such a "revolution" when it was doing nothing more than updating twenty year old technology (did we all just decide to forget the Power Glove?) And once it became a haven for so called "shovel-ware", crappy titles hastily ported to it to make a buck, I was sure I was right.

Then I played Super Mario Galaxy.

I don't like platformers, I haven't liked Mario since he went 3D (no fault of his own, or Link's, I've just not liked those titles in 3D). But this game is good. Really good. Maybe not the best game of all time good, but still, awesome.

I think why I like it so much is that it does what so many games on the Wii before it have failed to do, make the controls feel necessary. The experience involved in SMG could not be duplicated on the other machines, it just couldn't. Specifically, the highly enjoyable multiplayer facet where one person controls the target to assist the other person with Star bits and enemies.

I don't have enough play time to really review the title or speak too deeply on it, but I have seen enough to know that I was, at least partially, wrong about the Wii. What it offers is unique enough to give experiences that you can't get elsewhere. However, one game does not a saving grace make. I expect this level of excellence from Nintendo in house development, they've been getting it done since I was still in diapers, I want to see the equivalent of a Mass Effect on Wii from a third party till I admit it has long term viability. In the meantime, I'll have some Star bits to snap up...