Hero of Hyrule
Frieren the Slayer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Outer space, the universe, physical reality, existentialism... all this shit is super depressing. Highly fascinating, but there is a built in depressiveness built into it all, given what it truly implies for the ephemerality of human existence in the big and small picture, and how little any of that might matter.
I don't bring this up to be randomly philosophical and spout off existential nonsense on a Saturday afternoon, this is built into the very premise of any story that attempts to take on outer space as its central theme. And while a lot of stories manage to turn that around into a spirit of swashbuckling adventure fun or optimistic frontiers being explored (such as Star Wars and Star Trek), the best stories that cover outer space keep the central melancholy of outer space in mind - things like 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov, even modern day entries into the sci fi canon such as Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, Alfonso Caron's Gravity, or Andy Weir's The Martian and Project Hail Mary.
All of these are the precise kinds of things that you ordinarily don't associate with Mario. Nintendo typically shies away from overt narrative in its games, and while they don't mind getting weird or dark with the implications of their storytelling, usually that is reserved for Zelda or Metroid, not something they embrace with Mario. It would have been absolutely reasonable to expect Mario Galaxy to use the space setting as a justification for the madcap lunacy and gameplay variety the game frequently trots out, while also simultaneously expecting zero narrative or thematic lip service done to the aesthetic it was appropriating to do so.
Which is why Super Mario Galaxy is such a shocking game to me. It not only embraces the melancholy and sadness built into the outer space aesthetic at its core, but it seems to embody and express it better than almost any other game I can think of. There is an undercurrent of sadness through all of Mario Galaxy, and you can see this reflected in story elements such as not only Rosalina's storybook, but also the infamous ending, which is probably responsible for 50% of the existential crises Gen Z experienced growing up. Don't get me wrong, this isn't edgy or grim dark Mario - it retains the spirit of whimsy and fun and buoyancy and vibrant adventure that the character and the IP embody, and it is the ultimate manifestation of that all - but it is juxtaposed against the melancholy of outer space, which actually accentuates the edge of both sets of sentiment - the adventure and vibrancy of Mario hits much harder, as does the increasingly unignorable undercurrent of melancholy that persists in the background.
For a very long time, I wondered if my take on Mario Galaxy was simply me projecting what I understand of outer space as an aesthetic on to an otherwise innocent and fun kids' game, but replaying the game when the 3D All Stars collection launched a few years ago was when I realized, no, this wasn't just in my head, and Nintendo had actually very much intended it all along. The biggest hint for this is actually found in the soundtrack menu for 3D All Stars. When you get to Mario Galaxy's section, the description reads
No, they very much knew what they were doing, and they also leveraged the most potent tool in their arsenal to make sure that the melancholy would come through: the music:
I think, to me, it's this extra level of thematic and narrative cohesion in Mario Galaxy that truly elevates it above all the other games in the series. Mario Galaxy is also gameplay brilliance - the mechanics, controls, and incredible, mind breakingly inventive and creative level design are all in harmony with one another to create a game that is as incredible to play as the best of this series. But Mario Galaxy has something no other Mario game as ever been permitted to have - ambition beyond just the mechanical and gameplay sphere (pun very much intended), which it leverages to a frighteningly effective degree.
One can argue that Mario Galaxy 2 and 3D World are far better with their level design and mechanics than Galaxy is (they probably are). One can make the case for Odyssey's sandbox brilliance allowing for a far more expressive platformer than Mario Galaxy's more pared back take on Mario's movement (also true, but I feel like that comparison does miss the point of what Galaxy is trying to be to begin with). But ultimately, none of those other games ever even attempted to emulate Galaxy's ambition with its narrative, thematic, and emotional resonance. Super Mario Galaxy perfectly well understood the melancholy of outer space, and the ephemerality that any treatment of existentialism, even light hearted treatment as Mario would necessarily be, implies and involves. It didn't shy away from that. It delivered on a transcendental experience, and I truly don't think we will ever get something that was this incredibly put together across all its fronts until Nintendo decides to allow Mario to have more than the bare minimum of plot justification again.
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