Super Mario Galaxy 2

'Super Mario Galaxy 2' is the Wizard of Oz.

Let me explain.

This week saw the release of 'Red Dead Redemption', a dreary, violent sandbox video game Western of bandits, gunplay and...yes! whores! from the company that brought us 'Grand Theft Auto IV'--another dreary, violent sandbox video game vaunted into the stratosphere by gaming critics but generally loathed by disappointed gamers the world over.

Gritics (gaming critics) with an almost predictable determination, announced that Game of the Year was upon us and 'Red Dead Redemption' would sweep the awards doled out by various gaming websites--watching at the end of the year as each big-name site announces their pick of GotY is perhaps the last great award 'show' that is arguably not rigged (well, as long as YOUR game wins anyway).

The announcement that GotY was finally here comes after the release of a number of other high profile games which, upon their release, were also destined to be the defining game of 2010... 'Splinter Cell: Conviction', 'God of War III', 'Bayonetta', 'Mass Effect 2' among others.

Each one epic, each one violent, and, with the exception of the almost offensively flamboyant and silly 'Bayonetta', each one a rather bleak slog of protags each more angst-filled and badass than the other, filled to the brim with steroid-pumping machismo--tales of revenge, tales of payback, tales of interplanetary warfare. The player is given a weapon and plunked down in the midst of an unfriendly world on the very brink of ruin and utter destruction (literally or figuratively).

('Bayonetta' is perhaps the most disturbing of the lot--a Frankenstein's Monster of grotesque proportions and themes, not the least of which is the concept of twisting God and His angels into villains which Bayonetta gleefully dispatches with extreme gratuity to the tune of 'Fly Me to the Moon')

If video games are art, and art reflects life, well. What more need be said?

A cursory glance at the daily headlines and a grasp of world history should tell you that the brew is coming to a boil. The horrifying story of world conflict is repeating itself as fall unravels into the winter of crisis. Riots increase, natural disasters decimate whole countries, world economies are failing, Great Depression 2.0 lurks in the wings, America marches toward an unsustainable, socialized me-first society of entitlements after bailing out the Wall Street gamblers by selling our grandchildren into slavery, hostile nations acquire weapons of the "mustn't let this fall into the wrong hands" variety, lines are being drawn, countries are choosing sides.

'Red Dead Redemption' is lauded with praise. The game that represents the best of 2010 is here.

But suddenly, here is 'Super Mario Galaxy 2'.

'Mario Galaxy 2' does what no one believed was possible. It takes everything that was wonderful about the first game and makes it even MORE wonderful. The characters, the music, the level design, the various sights and sounds... The game has been streamlined too--instead of a massive space station serving as the gateway to the different 'galaxies' Mario travels to, he controls Starship Mario, which travels, Super Mario World-style, across a level map. As a result, there's less time spent wandering around the hub and more time launching yourself back into the action to uncover the next marvel.

And marvelous they are. Though Mario has remained true to the 'enter this level, get the power star, unlock more levels, get more power stars' style since Mario 64, it still never feels old thanks to the excellent level design.

Miyamoto, Mario's creator, said in interviews of 'Galaxy 2' that the developers of the first game had so many ideas that they just couldn't fit into the first game due to their complexity and time constraints. Thus, this sequel represents all the ideas and distilled creativity the designers had in them.

Which is why, as you play, the 'galaxies' and space theme set up at the beginning of the game quickly trickle away. What we are left with, then, are levels and worlds which represent not outer space, but the creative minds of the developers themselves.

'Super Mario Sunshine' for the GameCube was maligned for its departure from Mario form (in the same way Super Mario 2/USA was when it was released). I remember reading in an interview with that game's creators that the reason for the exotic locales and the squirt gun/jetpack combo came from them sitting down and remembering their fondest memories of childhood. Vacation. Vacation far from home on an island paradise. And squirt gun fights. Lots of squirt gun fights. And dreaming about flying. What if your squirt gun could turn into a jet pack?? According to the interview, the developers were constantly saying, during the 'Sunshine' process, "Wouldn't it be FUN if we...?" and tried to fit it into the game...with admittedly varying degrees of success. It may not be 'Mario', but they still tapped into the FUN. You can't hate a game like that.

Which brings us to today: In the midst of a video gaming culture obsessed with the next jump in graphics and physics, unlockable achievements (MERCIFULLY absent from 'Galaxy 2'--enjoying the game for the game's sake...what a NOVEL idea!!), and wowing the hood-rats with yet another game in which the badass anti-hero blows stuff up or cuts off people's arms while boinking digital vixens for experience points, Mario defiantly returns in perhaps the finest form in his 30 year career to reclaim the joy of video gaming.

It represents something to this gamer. 'Mario Galaxy 2', bursting with color, fun, and goodwill is a love letter to gamers of all ages--to those who remember when SMB3 came out and memorized the instruction book and those who jumped in at New SMB Wii.

It never stops asking "wouldn't it be fun if...?" But best of all, it answers that question with enthusiasm and aplomb level after level after level. And this time it succeeds at every unbelievable turn.

The simple act of picking up a controller and moving a little man through one obstacle course after another, never knowing what's coming next. Swimming in the sea? Exploring a cave? Whatever frustrations are generated by the game's challenge are of the positive kind--"One more try. I won't be so careless next time. Let me try it once more." 'Super Mario Galaxy 2' is perhaps the purest example of the reason why I started playing games in the first place.

It was 1939. The world was embroiled in conflict. Evil was on the march. The destiny of our planet was hanging by a thread.

And in this darkest of times, they made a fairy tale.

Technicolor. Music. Dances. An adaptation of the first truly American fairy tale. Wildly imaginative characters and settings that no one had EVER seen before. Villains who were unmistakably bad and friends who were always true.

It has been said that the Wizard of Oz has so steeped itself into our cultural consciousness that not a week goes by without someone in our lives quoting one of its lines. It's not perfect, but it is a masterpiece.

One month later, World War II began.

Judy Garland sang 'Over the Rainbow', about somehow escaping this life and finding "someplace where there isn't any trouble." When viewed in that context, the song never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

I can't help but feel 'Super Mario Galaxy 2' is going to be this generation's 'The Wizard of Oz'--at least for the gaming community. A storm is on the horizon. The future is uncertain at best and quite grim at worst. And here, just as the smell of rain blows towards us and we brace ourselves for what is to come, a video game masterpiece is released that, like 'Oz' before it, briefly takes us away from nukes and debt and collapsing economies and puts us in a world of color and fun. It is more than just a game. It is a joyful celebration of the power of human creativity.

Someplace where there isn't any trouble...