‘Mario Galaxy,’ ‘Astro Bot,’ and Finding Joy and Whimsy in Uncertain Times | by Ben Ulansey | Dec, 2024
Why Team Asobi’s latest release is the unofficial sequel to a childhood favorite that I’ve been craving for over a decade
As soon as the rumors around the Nintendo Wii began to swirl, I knew little else in life other than that I needed to be among the first in line to buy one come launch day. Initially dubbed the Nintendo Revolution, the console conjured images for me that no hunk of plastic and screws could ever reasonably fulfill. Picturing a chrome metallic sphere that could whisk me away to another world, I placed the image on an altar in my mind and praised it daily.
After a months-long pressure campaign, my father had been adequately worn down by my adorable ten-year-old pleas. “Dad, can I pleaaaase get a Wii!?” I said the words a thousand times in a thousand different forms before he finally caved.
So on November 19th, 2006, he emerged from bed on that frigid dawn to drowsily transport me to our local shopping mall. I could see my breath hover in the air as my legs shook with a mixture of anticipation and quickly-onsetting hypothermia.
Walking free from the car, it was the dawn of a new era — even if the sun still had yet to rise. The black of the night…
