What is the surprise when you get a perfect completion? How about a character that hasn’t been playable in an original Mario game since SNES. Hello Luigi! I had just got done finishing the grueling/annoying/satisfying mission of collecting 100 purple coins in the remaining uncompleted galaxies. Relief and ecstasy ran through my blood. I had just got my perfect completion of Super Mario Galaxy. I dutifully stayed away from anything that could spoil the surprise of the pending reward. After the credits a little window popped up and said “You can now play as Luigi”. Part of me was like “Effin’ A Cotton!”, and the other was, hmm…do I care?

I guess the reason for the mild discontent is due to missing the classic days of Mario. The times where two people could sit down and equally share in beating a Mario Adventure. Super Mario 2 didn’t really have that, but 1, 3 and World did, then for some reason with Mario 64 it became a one player endeavor and it doesn’t look like it is going to change. I was happy to see Luigi but I don’t think Nintendo got the point. We don’t want to play Luigi just for the sake of playing Luigi, we want Luigi because it signifies one of the greatest parts of classic Mario, sitting down with a friend and saving the princess as the Mario Brothers.

I guess the final word is that it is awesome to get Luigi, but still a little disappointing because it just feels like I am getting teased with one of my favorite features of the past.

It is official, Super Mario Galaxy is officially the highest rate game of all time. Apparently the cumulative score is 97.9, just edging out The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time at 97.6. I am not totally sure I agree but “the professionals” have spoken and it now holds the top spot. I have already got a completed game with a 120 stars and got the most surprise ever, but I don’t know if it will take the spot in my heart that Ocarina of Time has. What do you get when you get 120 stars in Mario Galaxy, find out.