Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo)

Mario reaches for the stars in his new intergalactic adventure, Super Mario Galaxy. Strap on your space boots and come along for the ride as we tour the cosmos and explain why Galaxy is the best Mario game since the timeless classic, Mario 64!!!

Nintendo's plump mascot has been around for what seems like forever, doesn't it? It's hard to think about video games without conjuring up images of the cheery plumber. His antics and exploits have thrilled and inspired a generation of gamers. And you have to hand it to Nintendo: they've managed to keep Mario -- not to mention their other main franchises like Zelda and Metroid -- relevant across several different platforms and titles, helping to shape the entire industry as a whole along the way.

The Mario series has especially proven influential: the first Super Mario Bros game has attained mainstream pop culture icon status, and deservedly so. Super Mario Bros 3 was, at the time, a revolutionary title that gave the NES a huge boost late in its life cycle, while Super Mario World helped usher in the 16-bit era and gave the Super Nintendo system a strong push.

Then came Mario 64, which helped open our eyes to the possibilities of a 3D world. And we haven't even touched upon related franchises like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros and Mario's foray into the RPG realm.

There's no denying the star power inherent in the Mario franchise and Galaxy is definitely a title that holds its own. It lives up to the stratospherically high bar that we have set for the series and brings new and interesting wrinkles to the table. It is a fantastic addition to the Wii's already impressive library and as we will soon demonstrate, it is, without a doubt, the best Mario game since the N64 classic.

So click through to the next page and start your adventure down the path of enlightenment.