Nintendo has received criticism in the past two years for releasing less than desirable titles.  Lists like this, which is dotted with games over 2 years old, don’t do much to fan the flames of anguish.  What this list does say, though, is when Nintendo does something well, they do it very, very well.

Mario Galaxy 2 follows up the tremendous success of the first title, where we rejoin Mario in his exploits across the universe.  Once again, for the 80th time, the Princess gets kidnapped by the most popular giant reptile ever conceived, who has, once again, jacked all of the precious power stars the lumas require to run the universe.  He also gains all the power that comes with them, including growing to enormous size and the ability to travel all over the universe (and beyond?) to cause all the trouble Mario and his friends can handle.

No game every created for the Wii has ever, and in my opinion will ever, accomplish the sheer detail that this game captures in every stone, every cliff, and every friend and enemy that appear in these games.  As a gamer, I forget when playing these titles that the Wii has inferior power to its competitors.  The Galaxy titles match even the best looking PS3 or XBox 360 games in feel and playability.  They utilize the abilities of the motion control fully in creative ways.  These two titles would withstand the competition from any title on any other console and likely remain high on sales charts for some time.  Their success, I believe, is not console specific.  While a comparison of this game to the success of the latest in the Call of Duty franchise, for example, would be nothing more than apples to oranges, I still believe Galaxy would hold up against it on another console, easily.  One could make the age old, tired argument of “hardcore vs. casual” gamers, but the Galaxy franchise gives even the most hardcore of gamers an memorable and challenging experience in a more arcade like environment.

A game does not have to be set in realism to be hardcore.  It can be set in a fun, semi-cutesy environment and still achieve the same goals, the same level of enjoyment, the same level of challenge.  Mario Galaxy reminds every gamer of this through its hours of gameplay and world after world of detail and excitement why they bought the Wii and why it continues to sell console after console.