Toronto Thumbs

REVIEW: Super Mario Galaxy

Developed and published by Nintendo for Wii.

One of the most recognizable characters in all of gaming history adds another notch to his belt with his latest Wii platform adventure. Super Mario Galaxy is an incredibly rich and fun game that will not disappoint.

I’ve always had a soft spot for the short plumber ever since I bought my own Game Boy in high school. That’s right. While I tried Mario Brothers on the Commodore 64, and played Super Mario Brothers on the NES, I didn’t really play any Mario game in earnest until I had my very own Super Mario Land cartridge.

Since then, I’ve been hooked.

Super Mario Galaxy does not disappoint from any perspective. Taking advantage of the Wii’s full medley of hardware, the game is a feast for all of the senses (well, except taste and smell, unless you put some sugar or cologne on the disc). You can tell the bar for production value was set high. Even though the character designs are streamlined, there is still an incredible amount of detail present in both them and the worlds you will be playing on.

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Posted in Mario, Nintendo, Reviews, Wii | 2 Comments »

Video Game Contest Alerts

Teletoon.com has three great gaming-related contests running right now, and the prizes are somewhat out there. For their Pokémon Diamond Version and Pearl Version contest (link removed - contest is over), the grand prize consists of four DS Lites, four Wi-Fi USB dongles, four Nintendo DS Headsets, and four copies each of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl.

The Mario Galaxy Zero Gravity contest’s grand prize is a “Zero Gravity Gaming Party” where the winner and seven of his/her friends will get together in a movie theatre for a Super Mario Galaxy battle. The winner will also receive a Wii and one copy of Super Mario Galaxy.

Lastly, the Petz2 Invade Your Space contest has a grand prize of a bedroom makeover, including a flat screen TV, Nintendo DS, a DVD player, and copies of all the new Petz titles for DS.

The contests are only open to residents of Canada. Get entering, and good luck!

Posted in Canada, DS, Mario, News, Nintendo, Pokémon, Wii | No Comments »

Mario For PM?

As much as we love video games here at Toronto Thumbs, we have to admit it’s pretty sad when a video game character is more recognized than the person that’s running the country.

A recent survey conducted by Harper/Decima has found that more Canadians recognize Super Mario over their own Prime Minister, Steven Harper. This even include’s Harper’s own riding of Calgary Southwest, where Mario was more recognizable by a margin of 47 versus 41 per cent.

Among women across Canada, Mario was recognized 66 per cent of the time, as opposed to Harper at 63.

Overall, however, the PM still received the same amount of recognition as the plumber, with 70 per cent of all those surveyed being able to identify both Harper and Mario. The poll was conducted from October 11 to October 16 via random mall intercepts in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax.

Posted in Mario, News, Nintendo | No Comments »