5. Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy is the third 3D Mario title, and boy, did it shake things up from the previous two games. As you might expect from the name, Galaxy revolves around traveling to different galaxies, which are each filled with different minor planets and worlds. The game also introduced a popular character to the series, Rosalina, along with her star friend Luma.
Galaxy often plays with gravity as each planetoid has its own gravitation field, allowing Mario to completely walk around whatever object he’s on, and even upside down at points. This drastically changed up the platforming gameplay with new challenges, even if the core mechanics were carried over from 64 and Sunshine. Galaxy features a ton of varied environments that each have a distinct feel, from the beautiful Gusty Garden Galaxy to the hot and cold Freezeflame Galaxy.
Upon its release, Super Mario Galaxy received huge amounts of critical praise and even garnered quite a few Game of the Year awards, and for good reason. Galaxy is another example of the series at its best, providing an interesting new spin on gameplay while simultaneously giving players a varied and richly detailed world, or in this case, universe, to explore.
