Recently I was handed a copy of Super Mario Galaxy for the Nintendo Wii. I didn't know what to expect. I mean, I remember loving the original Super Mario Bros. and Mario Bros. 3 for the NES, (Super Mario 2... Meh, your princess is in another castle.) as well as Super Mario 64. You can't deny it, our favorite little plumber has provided many cherished childhood memories. He's also a household name and has been fully ingrained as a pop-culture icon in our society... Sort of like Abraham Lincoln…Well, an Abraham Lincoln that saves princesses instead of slaves and wears suspenders instead of a stovepipe hat.

I remember playing Mario 64 for the first time on N64 and just exploring the area outside of the castle before the game even started. It was amazing. It made me feel the way I did when I played the original Super Mario Bros. (NES) for the first time when I was a kid. I was completely under its spell.

When you get the chance to fire up Super Mario Galaxy on your Wii, right from the get-go you're in the middle of a Mushroom Kingdom star festival that is abruptly ended by cannon fire. Bowser and his minions descend from the sky in their airships and kidnap Peach, taking her into space. Like always, it's up to our plucky plumber to get Princess Peach out of this perilous predicament. (By the by, shouldn't Mario and Peach be married and have like 6 kids by now? Just a thought…)

From the start, you'll notice the exceptional attention to detail by the developers. Mario has never looked and moved so well and the surroundings are fantastic --shimmering water, lighting effects, fireballs destroying the landscape-- it all works together brilliantly. The graphics are amazing for a Wii game. In fact, I think that this is the best looking game that I have seen for the system yet.