# [The Spirit of *Super Mario Galaxy* – A Video Essay](https://youtube.com/watch?v=2VpIId7YjcQ) <div class=iframe-container> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/2VpIId7YjcQ?si=D1XdUT0aAi-tV4C1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> Five months later and it is finally here—The Spirit of *Super Mario Galaxy*. It took a bit longer than I anticipated; roughly one month. I think I could have done it much faster barring the flu, workflow, and general mind-game-fueled procrastination. But we can discuss all that in detail in the forthcoming behind the scenes post. This one has been seeded in my brain since I read Philip Summers' review of *Splatoon 3* back in January 2023. The essay was sparked by that gem and the fact that *Splatoon 3* was on [my game's to beat list in 2024](https://maxfrequency.net/2024/01/07/max-frequency-year-four/). Those two seemingly unrelated things collided and paved the way for this essay. I am proud of this video. Check out the [[The Spirit of Super Mario Galaxy Credits|credits]], should you so desire, along with the [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxCxW3Sbhy5Y-fGBNFjLsnfhhw_udIWbA). Thank you for watching and reading. I hope you enjoy. # The Spirit of Super Mario Galaxy – Script >[!warning] Spoiler Warning >- *Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat* >- *Super Mario Galaxy 2* >- *Super Mario Galaxy* >- *Splatoon 3* > [!quote] > "I remember very well when you were saying how you wanted to make the next Mario in a spherical field. But at the time, I did not fully understand its benefits. I knew right away that visually, it would look great. But its true value was beyond what could be seen with the eyes, it was something that I hadn’t realized." — Satoru Iwata, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 4, Part 2 "It's Just Fun Playing Around"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/3/1/) My buddy Philip Summers is a father of two, a hardcore NES fan, and a wonderful artist. He's the mind behind Hand Drawn Gaming and he has made some spectacular books. During 2022 and 2023, Philip was drawing out little "Reflections" for each game he beat—a couple paragraphs and a new piece of art to go with it. In 2024, he’d combine them all into the slick book 202X: Video Game Reflections. His Reflection for Splatoon 3, in particular, caught my attention over two years ago. > [!quote] > "Did you love Mario Galaxy? Splatoon 3’s single player campaign is sorta kinda like Mario Galaxy 3... > > ...Saying it’s like Mario Galaxy 3 doesn’t mean it plays like a Mario game, but more so about how the game creates brilliant scenarios based around the unique weapons, move set and abilities. In that sense, it has the spirit of a Galaxy game." I'm sorry, what? *Splatoon 3* is sorta kinda like *Super Mario Galaxy 3*? Sign me up. I latched onto this quote. I told it to my friends *as if* I had played the third game—as if I had even beaten any *Splatoon* single player mode. I proselytized the good word of the Splatlands and its inhabitants. I was given the game for Christmas of '22 and finally set my sights on it in '24. As the year ticked down and my time shifted to actually venturing into the ink-drenched desert, I came back to the review that framed my perception of the campaign. I never let go of Phil’s words. I had become fixated on this potential. The two *Super Mario Galaxy* games are lauded as some of the greats. I mean, they are the fourth and fifth highest rated games of *all time* on Metacritic, beating out the likes of *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*, *Red Dead Redemption II*, *BioShock*, *Uncharted 2: Among Thieves*, *Half-Life 2*, *Grand Theft Auto III* and *V*. *Splatoon 3* was being compared to the pair of games at this caliber. > [!quote] > "I’m willing to say that if this game was single player only and billed as some Mario off-shoot game it would have a Metacritic score in the high 90s." My fixation begat curiosity. How? How is *Splatoon 3* like *Super Mario Galaxy*? How does this game about punk Squid Kids rolling paint around town share the same breath as any Nintendo essayist's favorite Mario platformer set amongst the stars? How can *this* be like *this*? Really, it all boiled down to one question... What is the spirit of a *Galaxy* game? ## A Brief History Lesson > [!quote] > "...Miyamoto-san kept saying over and over again that he wanted to make it happen." - Yoshiaki Koizumi, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 1, Part 1 "How Super Mario Was Born](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/0/0/) Before we try to define "spirit," we need to go back. Back before the Teraflop Turf Wars of the teens; before the Motion Movement in the late aughts. We need to go back to the turn of the millennia, when the best way to convey new hardware power was to double bit numbers and talk about 3-D graphics. We need to go back to Space World. Space World was Nintendo's own event to showcase the future of their gaming platforms and 2000 was a big one. The GameCube was introduced to the world. This is where *the* Zelda tech demo paved the way for Cel-da backlash. Yeah, that demo. There was another demo on the floor that year showcasing the power of the GameCube and a possibility for the next 3D Mario title—Super Mario 128. This curious demo featured, you guessed it, 128 Mario characters running around on an amorphous saucer that transformed beneath all the models causing them to slip and slide around. The demo was not directed by Mario's creator – Shigeru Miyamoto – but rather by one Yoshiaki Koizumi. While Super Mario 128 did not turn into a Mario game (unless we count Double Cherry madness in *3D World*...), it did pave the way for another 100-characters-on-screen game for the GameCube. As the GameCube entered the market, Koizumi-san rose alongside the console within Nintendo, directing the GameCube's actual 3D Mario title—*[[Super Mario Sunshine]]*. After the sun-soaked platformer, Nintendo built a new team in Japan, dubbed Tokyo Entertainment Analysis Division (Tokyo EAD for short). Their debut project would become *Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat* and the first entertainment they analyzed was people's faces. > [!quote] > "The reason why I came to the conclusions I did was, it wasn’t from watching the television monitor. It was watching the expressions on people’s faces as they played, or when they used those controls. I thought of the original Famicom, when I saw one person say, “Hey, give me the controller so I can play.” — Yoshiaki Koizumi, "[6 Things We Learned About the Making of *Super Mario 3D World*](https://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/07/6-things-we-learned-about-the-making-of-super-mario-3d-world)" by Jose Otero for IGN, Nov. 7, 2013 This focus on player delight, expression, and ease of play worked—in a way. I had never played *Jungle Beat* before this video. I bought the iconic bongos a few years ago, because I have always wanted GameCube bongos. Why? Because they were *bongos*. I wanted them because some of you FromSoftware sickos decided beating those games with these beautiful, simplistic controllers was a way to freshen up fighting supremely difficult boss fights. I didn't have a desire to own them beyond shelf appeal, which is why they sit inside this cubby where I can’t see them. Then I just haaaaad to find out what the spirit of a *Galaxy* game was, so it was time to bongo my way to the answer. I booted up *Jungle Beat* and after a little loose controller port troubleshooting, started banging my way across the stages. It's strange at first—frustrating even. Some 25 years of platforming muscle memory had to be broken down. I wanted to be light and airy, feathering my jumps—I wanted to move like Mario. Slapping drums does not offer this level of granularity. > [!quote] > "You can't perform the same kind of moves with a conga controller that you can with a regular controller, so we had to think up some new mechanics." – [IGN Interview with Yoshiaki Koizumi, 6/14/2004, E3 2004](https://www.ign.com/articles/2004/06/14/donkey-kong-jungle-beat-info) As you bang and clap your way through the first few levels, whether you are a platforming professional or a novice, a smile *will* grow across your face. The act of using this goofy controller to move Donkey Kong brings joy to the player and those watching. The spectacle of the drums draws their audience in close. The more you play, the more you discover that *there is* a flow state. There is a (ahem)...rhythm. Everyone's favorite ape has an undeniable grace as he barrels forward. Spiraling off flowers, bopping his way in the air, and sliding down hills to the big pile of bananas at the end. And watching high level play reveals just how deep the flow goes. It's Tony Hawk without the board. The depth and fluidity is astounding for what is ostensibly a three-button controller. I never transcended to the heights of the pros, but the appeal of the game went beyond novelty to genuine. Plus, the game is only 4 hours long. 10/10. And some others seem to agree with me? > [!quote] > " Where Donkey Kong Country was subtle and atmospheric, Jungle Beat was f---ing crazy. There was a Tony Hawk style combo system where the more tricks you do the higher your multiplier goes and your score is your health bar. I don't know why no other platformer has ever tried to do something like this, but it is genius." - [dunkey](https://youtube.com/watch?v=MKjYYsZzyGA&t=135) > [!quote] > "Jungle Beat is a surprise haymaker, a striking, in-your-face statement that   showed DK in a totally new light, one with unprecedented potential." – [PostMesmeric](https://youtube.com/watch?v=GlSMpn2p9D8&t=987) > [!quote] > "Jungle Beat is a surprisingly addictive and well-made platformer with a unique control twist. Anybody who says differently either didn't take the time to really play it or has no business playing games. Buy it." - [IGN's review](https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/03/12/donkey-kong-jungle-beat) > [!quote] > It's not a controller. You're not like analog control...You're sittin' there, smackin' this one to run to the right..." > . > "So...weird." > . > "You're smackin' this one to run to the left." > . > "It's the kind of weird that Nintendo really needs to get back into in a serious way." > . > "And you're just going: GARGH AHHHH! That game's gonna be awesome." - [Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis](https://youtube.com/watch?v=iEXjii3Lf9s&t=23) > [!quote] Written > "The wonders they worked here within the constraints of an improbable and limited control scheme translated into unbridled genius in Mario Galaxy’s cosmic sandbox." - Jeremy Parish, [The definitive ranking of Donkey Kong games](https://www.polygon.com/features/2018/5/10/17333228/donkey-kong-rankings) Jeremy Parish and so many others are right. *DK Jungle Beat*'s design principles have caught players off guard from the moment it was released 20 years ago. The creativity born out of limitation is wonderful. More than creating a delightful, new DK platforming experience, Tokyo EAD marked the way ahead for future projects. The design principles served the developers well, like stars in the night sky for sailors out at sea. > [!quote] > "But don't get the impression that the journey is over. There's a long way to go before we reach our destination. I've already found an amazing number of new ideas that were born as I contemplated the possibilities of where developing can take us. So the journey goes on and everything we've learned is like another sign post pointing the way to our future destination." — Yoshiaki Koizumi, "[Super Mario Galaxy: The Journey from Garden to Galaxy](https://youtube.com/watch?v=A25Ab7RyUPs)" at the Montreal International Game Summit, 2007 The team was going to need those stars in the sky too, because the Big N tapped them to make the next 3D Mario game. The journey to "Super Mario Revolution" was so far ahead, sometimes, the team wasn't sure how to go about making the game. But the principles marked and explored during *Jungle Beat* guided them throughout development. As we leap from the thumping jungle into the cosmos, let's chart those stars and see what ended up making the *Super Mario Galaxy* games so darn special. ## So What's the Deal with *Galaxy*? > [!quote] > I think Mario is a software that is burdened with such destiny. - Satoru Iwata, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 1, Part 2 "Listening to Many Voices"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/0/1/) I don't remember the first time I played or even saw *Super Mario Galaxy*. We didn't buy it with our Wii in 2008. It was one of those games that just ended up in our collection. My memories are similar to playing it for the first time—unceremonious. Looking at my save data, I got the bare minimum 70 stars to beat Bowser the final time. When looking back at my time with the game, it appears so minimal. My brain always thinks of it as one of the greats, but my lack of memories and the save data make it look like I treated it as just another game. *Super Mario Galaxy 2* was treated in an even more nonchalant manner. A clean copy came with a second-hand Wii I bought after my first one croaked in high school. I dabbled with Yoshi and Faceship Mario, but I never dug deep into it. A far more memorable experience was letting my wife play it one time when we were dating. She thought Yoshi was so cute that [she cried](https://www.instagram.com/p/sV499jtQbq/). Don't take my original time with the games as the standard though. Heck, you're probably watching this video because one or both of the *Galaxy* games holds a special place in your heart. Both games were met with legacy-securing praise at launch. Sales set records at the time. And you don't need to go any further than the YouTube search bar to find countless videos discussing, analyzing, and playing these star-hopping classics. Knowing that playing both *Super Mario Galaxy* and its sequel was vital for this essay, I dove into *Galaxy 1* for the first time in a decade—a decade where I played the likes of *The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*, *Red Dead Redemption II*, *BioShock*, *Uncharted 2: Among Thieves*, *Grand Theft Auto III* and *V* (sorry *Half-Life*, I haven't played any of you yet). This time I was fully focused. My little mind map for notes was ready to be filled out. Joy-Con in hand, 4K pixels searing my eyes, I was ready to *pay attention* to the "revolution" that *Galaxy* was poised to be. And oh my gosh. You've got the music and long jumps around planets and space races and Captain Toad and floating flowers and Bee Mario and this level (purple coin luigi) and, of course, these guys (big pink nomming lumas). Okay okay, *Super Mario Galaxy* is pretty great. There is a sense of *wonder* attached to this game. It’s from the era of Nintendo’s Blue Ocean strategy. The net was cast to reach the widest possible audience, but that didn't sacrifice Mario's skill ceiling or potential. There’s experimentation by letting a new team take on Nintendo's biggest IP. There’s the fulfillment of long held ideas with globe/sphere traversal. In *Galaxy*, things that don’t seem possible at first blush go on to coalesce in a profound way. And then I played *Galaxy 2* and the experience became even better?! 🫠 After being just absolutely *saturated* in 240~ *Super Mario Galaxy*-related stars, I picked up on a couple of things; just a handful. Each was subtle; one could even argue that they are unrelated. When taking in the totality of these experiences and reading interviews with the developers, these were what made up the core of *the Galaxy* games. Perhaps you could even say the "spirit;" or as the team at Nintendo would say—the essence of Mario. You weren't expecting an answer in the middle of the video were you? The *Galaxy* games have Flow, they have Spectacle, and they always,—always, always, always, always—put Function before Form. ### Going with the Flow > "It’s designed to be easy to approach but deeply engaging..." — Yoshiaki Koizumi, [Japanese Nintendo Interview](https://web.archive.org/web/20201215074056/https://www.nintendo.co.jp/nom/0412/pick/2_int/index.html) We already know Tokyo EAD can cook up stellar game flow. We experienced it with *Jungle Beat*. Flow is fundamental to game feel. Friction melts away. The player enters a zen-like state of mind. The only barrier being the enemies and obstacles, not a wonky camera or unclear level design. The game has The Juice™. Flow is why *Galaxy* took to the stars and used spheres as the foundation of its level design. > [!quote] > "So there you have it; the best thing about spherical worlds is the unity of surface, the connectedness that lets you run forever. Also the player won't get lost easily. They never need to adjust the camera and they can get fully absorbed in play as they run endlessly on the planetoid. We had found a way to make a game field that never ended." - Yoshiaki Koizumi, "[Super Mario Galaxy: The Journey from Garden to Galaxy](https://youtube.com/watch?v=A25Ab7RyUPs)" at the Montreal International Game Summit, 2007 Spherical worlds remain the backbone of *Galaxy 1*. Their novelty has not faded with time. The genius lies in how invisible spheres make traditional 3D mechanics, like the camera, without sacrificing functionality. Planetoids also let EAD chunk up levels, letting players hop between the stars. This let the team actually adopt a 22-year-old design by bringing 2D Mario linear level structure into a 3D setting, giving birth to the "Course Clear" era of 3D Mario. We see this in prominent fashion within *Super Mario Galaxy 2*. It is *the* 3D-ification of 2D Mario. > [!quote] > Miyamoto: Right. And we noticed something while making Super Mario Galaxy 2. We often talk about 3D Mario games, but actually you're just playing in a world made in 3D. What's fun is the gameplay itself is often still 2D... > > ...You understand such actions in 2D in your brain, but it actually feels that you're playing them in 3D. > > Iwata: ...Of course, it is a 3D world, but you got rid of the places that would be difficult to understand and confusing because of their third dimension. You consciously structured the game so that the essence of the game's appeal would be two-dimensional. > [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy 2*, Volume 1, Part 1 "Playing a 3D Game Like It's 2D"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/supermariogalaxy2/0/0/) Or as I put it in [[Super Mario Galaxy 2 Notes|my notes/review]] of *Galaxy 2*— > [!quote] > "3D Mario is far more about acrobatics, flying, movement in the air. This brings that to 2D scenarios." The question of "where to go?" all but vanishes. The question shifts from "where?" to "how?" and the answer lies in the mechanics. Break open the crystal. Get to the star. Avoid the Thwomps. Get to the Launch Star. Climb the tree. Slide down the tree. The fun resides inside those constraints. Freedom of expression is a cornerstone of many, many titles—including bangers from Nintendo's catalog—but playing inside these tiny box gardens also has immense fun potential. If flow was embodied by a singular mechanic, it would have to be Yoshi. Yoshi is transformative in *Super Mario Galaxy 2*; and no, I am not just talking about the actual transformations. You've got the flutter jump. Nomming up enemies. Swinging on flowers. You move *so much* faster. When you hop on Yoshi's back, you enter that aforementioned zen-like state of mind. You lock in, the little dino demanding your attention because the little dino is so much fun to use. This philosophy would go on to shape Mario's adventures for years and years. What is important to remember, but is easy to forget these days, is that this was *new* at the time. Mario had "left" 2D design behind. The tsunami of *New* 2D titles was cresting on the horizon, thanks to *New Super Mario Bros.* on the Nintendo DS the year prior. Before that, there hadn't been a new 2D Mario game in 14 years. The last two Mario games embraced a sandbox exploration design. *Galaxy* was a major shift, melding the old with the new. Flow doesn't just exist in the game feel and level design. Flow is the ideation between levels, it's the way Rosalina's Observatory lights up as you collect Power Stars. Flow is in the music. Everything was designed to have flow. > [!quote] > "I didn’t want to use an orchestra just for the sake of it. I even thought that although you may be able to make the scale of the game seem more epic by using music from a live orchestral recording, if that ended up sacrificing the game’s rhythm it would have the opposite of the intended effect. But when we made the music stream during game play... I’m sorry, does everyone know what I mean by streaming music?" – Mahito Yokota [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 3, Part 1 "Why Use an Orchestra?"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/2/0/) Back in my day, streaming music wasn't Spotify or Apple Music: Streaming music was gaming technology that let developers use the power of CDs to synchronize and harmonize music and sound effects in real-time with the player's actions. It took the idea of sync to a new level. It took this (DKJB jump sync) to this (GALAXY 2 launch star harp with music). It took this (Wind Waker sword chime) to this (Bowser fight in Galaxy 1). So good. Flow is everywhere in the Galaxy games, permeating all aspects of their design. It sucks players in, taking us somewhere only the best games can. Flow saturates design and permeates the player's mind. It's what you miss when you put the controller down. It's the siren's call, luring you back to play. Flow is what resonates with us. EAD's next "constellation" is anything but subtle. It's bright, shining brighter than all the others. It captivates. It is over the top. It has style. It has grace. It does not have a funny face. The next constellation we will explore is, in a word, cool. ### Galaxy Brain > [!quote] > "At heart, Mario games are cool adventure games." — Mahito Yokota, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 3, Part 2 "A Sound That Defines Mario"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/2/1/) There's this story from the creation of the *Super Mario Galaxy* soundtrack. Mahito Yokota was the main man in charge of composing and arranging most of the songs. On the other hand, the father of Mario music—Koji Kondo—was an advisor to ensure the game sound had the "Essence of Mario." He also composed four new songs for the game, including... When Yokota-san was cooking up songs for *Galaxy*, his initial attempts were "pop with a taste of the tropics and had a space-age feel to" them. Sorta sounds like *Sunshine* in space to me. While Koizumi-san approved the vibe, Kondo-san did not. > [!quote] > "Yokota-san, if somewhere in your mind you have an image that Mario is cute, please get rid of it." — Koji Kondo, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 3, Part 2 "A Sound That Defines Mario"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/2/1/) Yokota-san was so discouraged that he thought about quitting his job, but Koji Kondo helped Yokota-san reframe how he perceived Mario and the music that accompanies everyone's favorite Italian plumber. > [!quote] > "I’d always made music under the idea that Mario was cute, but Kondo-san said that Mario was cool." - Mahito Yokota, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario All-Stars*, Volume 1, Part 6 "Music Commentary by Koji Kondo (3)"](https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Iwata-Asks/Iwata-Asks-Super-Mario-All-Stars/Vol-1-Super-Mario-History-Soundtrack-CD/6-Music-Commentary-by-Koji-Kondo-3-/6-Music-Commentary-by-Koji-Kondo-3--220102.html?srsltid=AfmBOooHQtUXiunKYMMFoUWeseB9pIxIs5VUsGXHgKdRqLBM_FK4bbcx) Advice in hand, Yokota-san would go on to write two new songs to see if he grasped the "cool" concept—the theme song for the game and, you know, just a little ditty called "Gusty Garden Galaxy." Mario is cool. We may not always think about Mario as cool – I certainly don't – but he *is* cool. And he's not the only one at Nintendo. The people at Nintendo – the minds behind Mario and all the other games – are cool. This makes the *Galaxy* games cool, in a de facto sort of way. And how could it not be when the games look like this? I mean, come on! The *Galaxy* titles are dripping in style. Every action has flourish. Every set piece pops. Boss battles are grandiose. Spectacle litters the stars. Is there a more delightful and cinematic transition than the launch stars? What isn't to love about a long jump around a planet? Don't want to leap around? Then use a drill! These games are where Toy Boxes become galaxies; where Mario can bounce around a Donkey Kong level as a bee; where black holes duke it out in a bizarre fusion of anime and Christopher Nolan. The first game in particular really went for the cinematic. Cutscenes adopt a widescreen presentation. Bowser's plot has a dramatic flair—serious dramatic flair. Have you ever gotten chills from the boss fight music with *Bowser* before? All that bombastic presentation elevates your actions. There's a mission to pursue besides saving Princess Peach. I mean, Rosalina is basically a space goddess who is letting Mario use her spaceship to save the universe. There is an air destiny that lends itself to spectacle. The emphasis on story was changed in *Galaxy 2*, and by that I mean radically cut back, but that doesn't mean that the sequel lacks the signature wonder and spectacle. In fact, I think Nintendo crammed so much coolness in the game that it surpasses the original. Their secret? Gameplay that resonates with players. > [!quote] > "I came to notice that my way of making games may have been to seek for resonance. I didn't necessarily want to include story or not include story. Rather, I have been making games that I hope will resonate with players, I now think." — Shigeru Miyamoto, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy 2*, Volume 1, Part 3 "The Most Important Thing Is Resonance"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/supermariogalaxy2/0/2/) > [!quote] > "That's right. I realized that our objective isn't telling a story, it's making a tool." — Yoshiaki Koizumi, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy 2*, Volume 2 Part 5 "Mario Is Like a Musical Instrument"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/supermariogalaxy2/1/4/) And Nintendo EAD built some extremely cool courses with the tools inside *Super Mario Galaxy 2*. The team was overflowing with ideas. The game famously went from a 1.5 expansion to the full blown sequel we were given. I love these stars that require non-stop movement. They are so clear in their objective, but the skill required is reasonably high. I died my fair share on these trying to nab all the secrets. The satisfaction of beating these challenges though was triumphant. I love the inherent stress of Beat Blocks and Flip Switches. I love when everything around Mario is gigantic. I love switching from lifebar-melting lava to non-stop sliding ice. The chase of Cosmic Mario clones. And let us not forget the sheer delight that Throwback Galaxy induced the first time we saw it. Even this gamer monkey that annoyed me, especially on this one challenge, was a part of EAD's endless, spectacular, cool ideation. That's the secret to *Galaxy*'s spectacle; it's the balance of resonance and a "sense of the unusual." The game turns spectacle from an outward observation to an inward reflection. The developers take you from "how did they come up with that?!" to "how cool is it that I just did *that*?!" They lay the spectacle out, they give you the tools, and they make you cool—They make *you* Mario. Now it's time to follow the North Star of this cluster of design principles. This guiding light has shaped not just Mario games, but Nintendo's catalog for decades. It's time to explore how the function precedes the form. ### Function Before Form > [!quote] > "...the fundamental elements of Mario is to express the form to follow the function... - Shigeru Miyamoto, [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 4 Part 3 "The 'Essence of Mario' Finally Put in Words"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/3/2/) Let's go back one more time, back to that Space World demo, good ol' Super Mario 128. Both Koizumi-san and Miyamoto-san got hooked on this idea of Mario roaming freely on a sphere. Miyamoto-san was particularly insistent in the years following that demo. After *Jungle Beat*, the team decided to give the next 3D Mario game a shot and Koizumi-san thought that this team might be able to crack the code on spherical gameplay. They spent three months building a prototype. During the prototype phase, a galaxy was born. > [!quote] > "A spherical shape would be best understood as a planet, so we put that in outer space and added gravity. It looked just like a bare minimum version of the current *Super Mario Galaxy*. That’s where the development really took off." — Yoshiaki Koizumi [Iwata Asks: *Super Mario Galaxy*, Volume 1, Part 1 "How Super Mario Was Born](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wii/super_mario_galaxy/0/0/) This is function before form. Sure, the idea to play on a sphere is a form in and of itself, but the core there is function. "How would the experience be?," not "how cool would this look?" And like I discussed with the flow of the game, using a sphere as a surface provided benefits to design, while being unique. That's my favorite part of the *Galaxy* games. The pure dedication to creating impossible floating courses. Outer space isn't the point. The cosmos are just a backdrop for EAD to create whatever level they need to make for their ideas. They are uninhibited. Gameplay possibilities soar on the wind of developer's imaginations. The shapes make no sense, when you think about it from a cosmic perspective. We have bowls of water that are perfectly contained; Battle stations shaped like cylinders; Haunted mansions scattered into pieces; Golf courses in the sky; Junkyards, volcanoes, and frozen mountains. Whatever this boardwalk halfpipe monstrosity is. The level can *be* anything since it is designed in service of the gameplay function and idea of the level. A never-ending stream of water to race within; a 2D platformer under constant rotation; disappearing walkways; vertical motion controls *shivers*; zero-g momentum, rising lava, timed flower powers; hot chili sprints; a Mario that never stops jumping. These and so many more ideas are the whole point of the game! It is all in service of the player experience. This principle of function before form is much older than EAD. It dates back to the beginning of Mario. In an Iwata Asks interview about the "essence of Mario," Miyamoto-san talked about how certain Koopas ended up with spikes on their shells and why Boos blush and play peek-a-boo. These visual markers clearly express what each enemy does and prompts the player with ideas on how to approach or avoid the situation ahead. Function before form is so permeated in Nintendo's design ethos that it is not just limited to Mario. It is at the foundation of their game design across the board. Back in 2013, Frank Cifaldi, the now Founder and Director of the Video Game History Foundation, made an observation from a string of Miyamoto interviews. Frankly, Frank saved me a few steps by gathering these particular quotes. A crowning example of function before form can be found in the original specs of what would become *The Legend of Zelda.* Its initial name? "Adventure Mario." The mission is never what's the next character or next IP. The mission is "What is there within this structure of video games or this sphere of video games, from which we can create new play structures?" Sometimes that new play structure—that new function—fits well with an existing character and sometimes it leads to the birth of a whole new IP, like a hundred characters running around on screen or a squad of Squid Kids. > [!quote] > "I try not so much to create new characters and worlds but to create new game-play experiences. If a new experience is better suited to a new type of character or world than one of our existing franchises, then we might create a new character or world around it." - Shigeru Miyamoto, [10 Questions for Shigeru Miyamoto](https://web.archive.org/web/20120615151200/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1645158,00.html) from TIME Magazine Throughout Nintendo's history, you can see their pursuit of new play experiences. From bongos to touch controls to building mech suits out of cardboard. They all don't hit, but when they do, you get a game like *Super Mario Galaxy*. But we aren't just limited to Mario, now are we? A *Galaxy* game can come in another form, as long as the function captures that spirit. ## Welcome to the Splatlands > [!quote] > "The gameplay is very simple – it’s just inking colors – but it offers limitless ways to fight and there are all kinds of play styles to enjoy, so you can keep playing for a long time." — Shintaro Sato, [Iwata Asks: *Splatoon*, Part 6 "Spell it Out in Black and White"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/splatoon/0/5/) We're here. So how is *Splatoon 3* like *Super Mario Galaxy*? How does this game about punk Squid Kids rolling paint around town share the same breath as any Nintendo essayist's favorite Mario platformer set amongst the stars? How can *this* be like *this*? These are the questions that sparked this entire video essay. Now that we have a grasp on what I think makes up the spirit of a *Galaxy* game, it won't take us long to see how the "Squid Researchers" at Nintendo have embraced these design principles. For the uninitiated, *Splatoon* is a third-person action shooter where players adopt the form of Inklings, little humanoids that can turn into a squid. Primarily a multiplayer game, teams of four spray globby ink all around the terrain of the map. The team that wins isn't the one with the most eliminations, but the team with the most ink on the field. The primary mode may be PvP, but there is a PvE horde mode and a single player campaign and *that* is what I am going to hone in on. Single-player in *Splatoon 3* is full of what I would call third-person action shooter puzzle boxes. No level is longer than five minutes, most are two to three. They are distilled ideation. They are exercises in limitation. The devs asked themselves, "What can the player do with *this* item or ability? What can we teach? How can we make the player feel?" They embody hakoniwa—box garden—design that is core to Nintendo. To put it another way, they are little galaxies. This zippy nature of the levels gives the game such a brisk pace. There's always time for one more level. Mechanically, the swimming and shooting put you in this trance-like state where you are firing and then swimming in your own ink. It's mesmerizing and satisfactory. In the hub worlds between the levels, you wipe away these fury globs and unveil more of each island. Then you paint your own paths and shortcuts to each level kettle. As long as you don't quit the game, these ink paths stay put and provide a bright, neon sign of your progress through the world. Everything is back in service of shooting and swimming action. There's a flow. You don't have to look very far to see how cool *Splatoon* is either. The whole style of the game is street punk, rock 'n' roll swagger, which is much cooler on the screen than when I say it out loud. There's *edge* in the most Nintendo way and I love it. The world building is textured. The background music in matches is from in-world bands that the Squid Kids listen to hype themselves up. The log entries and scrolls found in the overworld paint two distinct pictures. The logs are slowly decrypted and describe the fall on mankind in a pursuit of knowledge and escape. It's a post-apocalyptic history. The scrolls on the other hand are like a scrapbook of Inkling culture that is dense and rich. Some of those third-person action shooter puzzle boxes are all thriller and no filler. There's this level called "Simply Zipcaster" where you are essentially Super Sayian Spider-Man flying and zipping around the level. Then, of course, the bosses have to be over-the-top in spectacular fashion, right? I can't think of many bosses that are cooler looking than a shark with rockets that is basically a motorcycle with a tiny pair of sunglasses on top of its head. And while the devs committed the sin of a new, dodgy mechanic during the final phase of the final boss, you cannot deny the absolutely epic, grand nature of launching into outer space to fight a ginormous grizzly bear. Throughout the entirety of *Splatoon 3* there is rarely a moment where you do not feel cool. And let us not forget what I think is the most important piece of design—function before form. *Splatoon* has embodied this from the very beginning in its conceptual phase. The dev team spent six months cooking up numerous ideas and concepts. The one that stuck with the team was this demo of cubes shooting black or white ink at one another. Tofu shooting ink. Not really a form that is sellable. When it came time to find a form, the team struggled. They tried humans. They tried bunnies. They could not find a form that fit the function. It took Tsubasa Sakaguchi creating "a list of what form the character was supposed to be and what functions it needed." > [!quote] > "One of the items was 'motif,' and after a sentence reading, 'A motif where it makes sense for it to be squirting ink,' I wrote 'Squid?'" — Tsubasa Sakaguchi, [Iwata Asks: *Splatoon*, Part 3 "Got to be Squids"](https://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/wiiu/splatoon/0/2/) The Inklings were born. Just like *Galaxy*, the levels themselves adhere to no real laws of physics. The structures are floating brutalist monuments to a culture long since past. Your presence brings color and life to the exploded *Mirror's Edge*-like dystopian architecture. The blunt concrete levels communicate in a clear fashion where the player needs to go and present ideas and approaches for said player to engage with. Nintendo's team asked "what is the idea we want to convey?" and then made the level to answer that exact question. The guns are the same way. I love the super soaker, paint gear slapdash design of all the weapons. It reminds me of building cannons and hoverboards by taping and gluing things together as a kid; except *Splatoon*'s weapons work. There are paint brushes that allow you to glide through a level like you are performing calligraphy. They've got paint buckets to slosh globs of paint around; Umbrellas for shields; Super soaker sniper rifles; and of course, the NES Zapper. These forms are fun, but their design is always at the forefront. Rollers pave wide lanes of ink quickly. The "Splatana" is for slashing through opponents. The mini gun "splatling" peppers the field rapidly. It's never form then function (okay, maybe the NES Zapper was form before function). That's the beauty of *Splatoon 3*. The core idea of two blobs spraying ink at one another in an arena has such depth to it that it was and is able to support an entire franchise—three games, multiple DLC packs, virtual concerts from Inkling pop stars, and championship tournaments. The foundation is rock solid. The game feel and flow is infectious. While playing you lock-in and feel cool. The design is clear and functional before everything else. It's like Phil said; > [!quote] > "Saying it’s like Mario Galaxy 3 doesn’t mean it plays like a Mario game, but more so about how the game creates brilliant scenarios based around the unique weapons, move set and abilities. In that sense, it has the spirit of a Galaxy game." *Splatoon 3* has the spirit of a *Galaxy* game. Of course, it's not the only game... ## Closer The game could be another 3D platformer or it could be a first-person shooter. Sometimes it is a skateboarding game or a game where *Halo 2* meets *Halo 3*. There are games where you explore the stars and there are games were you fling a yo-yo around. There are car chases and demons taking over Mars. The spirit of a *Galaxy* game permeates great design. It invokes a sense of wonder. The delight of human innovation pours out of the screen, through the controller and washes over the player. "How did they think of that?" turns into "how did I do that?" things don’t seem possible at first blush go on to coalesce in a profound way. Add this? Games that tap into your brain and light it up. The loops upon loops upon loops that never seem to run out of fun. The mind-blowing nature of set pieces and levels that stick with us forever. The mechanics that engrain themselves into our fingers. The moves and tricks and combos that always hit, no matter what shape the game takes. It's when the developers go beyond game design and theory and they hone in on the player's expression. It's the pursuit of the smile; that infectious smile that grows across someone's face as they play or watch. It's a game that makes your heart sing. Your fingers play the instrument of the controller, the clack of buttons orchestrating the character to create gaming harmony. The game resonates in a way only this interactive medium can do. What is the spirit of a *Galaxy* game? In a word, it's joy. The spirit of a *Galaxy* game is joy.