What do you want out of a potential Super Mario Galaxy 3?

More emphasis on the incredibly underused Red Star power-up, perhaps by giving Mario the ability to fly freely between planets with it in certain stages. Think that one Red Coin mission in Mario 64 where you're in the clouds and you fly between platforms using the Wing Cap.

Improve the stiff controls. Maybe those are caused by Mario's low oxygen intake. The programmers should just put a fish bowl on him or something.
 
Last edited:
I don't really think Mario Galaxy 3 needs to be a thing, even though the first two are my favorite 3D Mario platformers, but if it is I think it should be very different game-play wise from Galaxy 1 and 2. There's still a lot you could do with the concept of gravity based platforming and space, but Galaxy 1 and 2 are clearly built for the Wii in many ways.
 
Last edited:
Needs to build on the storybooks of both Galaxy 1 and the remastered version of Galaxy 2. I hope they do not invent a 3rd hub word leader (Rosalina, Lubba, fill in the blank) and make the 3rd storybook of them, but rather combine Rosalina and Lubba and build on both of their lore.

That said, the Comet Observatory could function the way Plessie did in Bowser's Fury. In this case, Nintendo fulfills making a true sandbox Mario game that Bowser's Fury foreshadowed while still making Galaxy 3 to coincide with the movie.
 
Luigi being playable from the start 🥺
 
I'd want the game to keep pulling creative ideas out of the space theme in its aesthetics, new mechanics, and story. I prefer the first game's tone and sense of place, and i think it's been long enough, with enough technical development in the meantime, that the right move is to elaborate on that rather than setting a third game apart from it.

I'm conflicted on whether the level design should be made more open-ended. I like the idea of an expansion on Bowser's Fury, and looping in something like the Red Star as a Plessie replacement is tempting. There should probably be at least a few missions like that. But i've never had an issue with the linear mission structure as long as each planetoid is varied in objective and geometry. Changing that foundation for the entire game would be risky. I'm not sure the grand return of the Galaxy style is a good place to shake things up and experiment with sandbox level design.

I'd want the core mechanics that were handled with motion controls, like picking up Star Bits, to be retained in some way, as they feel like a big part of the series identity. But more accessible controls should be offered where feasible, in the same way that spinning can easily be mapped to a button. You could choose between Pull Stars with the stick, or fling from a Sling Pod like in Odyssey. I definitely don't want extraneous motion-control minigames like the Star Ball or Fluzzard. They're not horrible in a vacuum, but it's not fun to be pulled away from Super Mario Galaxy and forced to quickly adjust to some abstracted quasi-joystick where you can't even aim for Star Bits without falling off the course. The game should feel cohesive in premise and input.

I'm really hoping for a cool new hub world. The Comet Observatory is this awe-inspiring retrofuturist blanket-fort space station mobile thing built around a reactor, a place straight out of a storybook in its own right. Sure, it might as well reappear at some point in a Galaxy 3, but we've had a whole game to soak the place in, and the cameo approach that the follow-ups took doesn't do much for me. I want a hub that complements it while going in an original direction of its own.

I also want an original villain. Look, i think Bowser had a really good showing in SMG1. The sequel's shtick of "Hey look everyone, I'm HUGE now!" "Aw, golly gee, you'd better go stop that :bowser: monster!" is super nothing and got grating real fast. Thing is, i don't know what more they can do with him! Bowser doesn't have much relevance to outer space or the Lumas or anything, and they've used the conquest angle. Getting to know a new antagonist with a closer connection to the setting would be really fun and would give the game a strong reason to exist.
 
I'm tempted to write a detailed meme response to this thread but honestly, I think I've already done the joke before how Mario can benefit from having a gritty reboot and pander to the popular audience by introducing forced in PvP multiplayer modes, a massive empty open world filled with radio towers and busy work, and 100 dollar season passes, so I won't.

If I were to seriously design a third entry in the Super Mario Galaxy series, it would be ridiculously hard for me to come up with ideas, because I'd rather just make an entirely new game with fresh new ideas at this point, because Super Mario Galaxy 2 really failed to generate any hype and steam for me personally and it never captured the same magic the first game had, because it mostly uses recycled ideas and it's filled with "been there done that". But if I were forced to, I'd stick with a linear level format, because 3D platformers being collect-a-thons have been completely done to death at this point, and we really don't need another open sandbox game, especially since Odyssey exists.

AgentMuffin said:
I'd want the core mechanics that were handled with motion controls, like picking up Star Bits, to be retained in some way, as they feel like a big part of the series identity. But more accessible controls should be offered where feasible, in the same way that spinning can easily be mapped to a button. You could choose between Pull Stars with the stick, or fling from a Sling Pod like in Odyssey. I definitely don't want extraneous motion-control minigames like the Star Ball or Fluzzard. They're not horrible in a vacuum, but it's not fun to be pulled away from Super Mario Galaxy and forced to quickly adjust to some abstracted quasi-joystick where you can't even aim for Star Bits without falling off the course. The game should feel cohesive in premise and input.
Click to expand...

I have an injured right arm, I cannot play with original Wii hardware any more because of that, a lot of Wii games that require rigorous, repetitive motion is simply off the charts for me, as it would exacerbate my injury. If Nintendo wants to have the idea that their games that are accessible and anybody could play, they absolutely should adapt a control scheme that people like me can play.

Hell Nintendo needs to better their accessibility output, period, it's very miserable by industry standards.
 
Shaking the Nunchuk might also work, in your case? But it certainly doesn't fix the underlying design problem like the rereleases' button mapping does
 
Thing is, I'm right-armed, so I just wouldn't be as comfortable shaking my left arm, plus I don't really want to injure my left arm as well, I have no clue if it will have a breaking point like my right arm did.
 
wherever my mind went when i first found out Galaxy 2 was a thing back in 2009. So, a villain other than Bowser (at the time i was firmly on Dimentio copium but i mean come on a universal-scale game calls for someone right up his alley imo). Bowser is great in the Galaxy games but idk I feel like the setting and scope of Galaxy would be the perfect place for having a villain actually made for that level of threat. I always said to myself that Super Paper Mario gave me the type of narrative stakes that Galaxy's grand spectacle deserved. I would say Tatanga, but i think he'd fit better as a normal boss given he wasn't exactly introduced with groundbreaking stakes either. An original villain with a cape made of outer space like Count Bleck, but in 3D and using the Cosmic Mario effect and with a crazy moveset of spawning black holes with a cool ass scepter or some shit. Oh wait Count Bleck weaseled his way into my mind again. I don't think it should be him, his story is nice and wrapped up. But god he has so many design elements that would go hard on a Galaxy themed antagonist. Of course i know it'll be Bowser again, it'll always be Bowser again, i just dream of a world where Mario's main games were more open to rotating it around once in a while.

Well to be fair my mind back then also randomly decided Sonic should be a secret unlockable character, and i wasn't even a Sonic fan i just really liked the idea of a secret crossover character and I knew Mario and Sonic had a history. Pass on that idea, but i WOULD like multiple playable characters beyond Mario and Luigi. Characters that were also in my head back then were Wario and Waluigi. I still think SM64DS's approach to different characters should be revisited and the idea of that happening in a Galaxy game sounds exciting.
 
Ever since Bowser's Fury came out — and even more so since both Mario Galaxy games were remastered for the Switch — I've often been thinking about a potential Super Mario Galaxy 3 in an open-world format. I could totally see it being released around the end of 2026, right after the new movie comes out.


There are several things I'd love to see if this game ever came out.


The first one is navigation. Like in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, or more recently Bowser's Fury, I think it would be really interesting to actually control Mario as he flies freely from one level to another.

In the first two Mario Galaxy games, before Mario lands in a new level, we see him soaring through space — and I think it would be great if the player could control him during those moments, exploring a vast universe. He could dodge airships, meet Lumas, pass through asteroid fields, or get launched by shooting stars.

That would be thrilling, and I can totally imagine an orchestral soundtrack accompanying Mario as he flies from one galaxy to the next. It would feel so epic, like the natural culmination of the first two Mario Galaxy games.


In this open-world universe, there could be all kinds of levels coexisting within the same space — some small, some large, some very linear, and others more open and exploratory.

It could be like a vast collection that pays tribute to all the previous Mario games. Some levels could be classic flagpole races, while others could focus on star hunting — just like in the first two Galaxy games, but even more refined and diverse.

I think an open-world setting in space would be the perfect way to bring together all these different types of levels in one cohesive adventure.


So, Mario could take off from a small central hub and head toward a level that catches his attention somewhere far away. On his way there, he might encounter obstacles — like a flying fortress, for example. Then, after completing the level, he'd blast off again into space, freely exploring and choosing his next destination, just like in Breath of the Wild.


However, we could imagine that once a level has been completed 100%, it would disappear — like a dying star. And maybe, in that case, a Luma somewhere in the universe could transform into a brand-new level to explore.

It would be amazing if the universe felt alive, with levels appearing and disappearing over time, giving the exploration an organic, ever-evolving feel.


That's how I currently imagine a Mario Galaxy 3. And to be honest, I really think there's a good chance we'll see a third installment soon. I feel like there are multiple signs pointing in that direction — and from a marketing standpoint, I'm sure Nintendo will want to make the most of the Mario Galaxy movie coming out in 2026.

I also believe it's going to be an open world, and that Bowser's Fury was an experiment — a way to test the concept before creating a fully open-world Mario game.
We'll see what happens!
 
In macro view, I wouldn't find the need to do the same theme over and over again, it feels more beneficial to build a brand new experience to the brand with new entries. Otherwise that would be like saying Odyssey and Wonder were mistakes, these should had been Galaxy 3.

I personally would say Rosalina's own feature series has more potential to push, not only they play the spiritual sequels to SMG but we can actually see more from Rosalina.

And replying to the main topic, if Nintendo CEO want to force this project and directors cannot reject, it still needs to have dynamic change from the previous game, that basically explains why SMG2 failed. It needs to introduce a new gameplay as well as a new story, such as a brand new villain like outerspace menance.
 
AgentMuffin said:
I'd want the game to keep pulling creative ideas out of the space theme in its aesthetics, new mechanics, and story. I prefer the first game's tone and sense of place, and i think it's been long enough, with enough technical development in the meantime, that the right move is to elaborate on that rather than setting a third game apart from it.

I'm conflicted on whether the level design should be made more open-ended. I like the idea of an expansion on Bowser's Fury, and looping in something like the Red Star as a Plessie replacement is tempting. There should probably be at least a few missions like that. But i've never had an issue with the linear mission structure as long as each planetoid is varied in objective and geometry. Changing that foundation for the entire game would be risky. I'm not sure the grand return of the Galaxy style is a good place to shake things up and experiment with sandbox level design.

I'd want the core mechanics that were handled with motion controls, like picking up Star Bits, to be retained in some way, as they feel like a big part of the series identity. But more accessible controls should be offered where feasible, in the same way that spinning can easily be mapped to a button. You could choose between Pull Stars with the stick, or fling from a Sling Pod like in Odyssey. I definitely don't want extraneous motion-control minigames like the Star Ball or Fluzzard. They're not horrible in a vacuum, but it's not fun to be pulled away from Super Mario Galaxy and forced to quickly adjust to some abstracted quasi-joystick where you can't even aim for Star Bits without falling off the course. The game should feel cohesive in premise and input.

I'm really hoping for a cool new hub world. The Comet Observatory is this awe-inspiring retrofuturist blanket-fort space station mobile thing built around a reactor, a place straight out of a storybook in its own right. Sure, it might as well reappear at some point in a Galaxy 3, but we've had a whole game to soak the place in, and the cameo approach that the follow-ups took doesn't do much for me. I want a hub that complements it while going in an original direction of its own.

I also want an original villain. Look, i think Bowser had a really good showing in SMG1. The sequel's shtick of "Hey look everyone, I'm HUGE now!" "Aw, golly gee, you'd better go stop that :bowser: monster!" is super nothing and got grating real fast. Thing is, i don't know what more they can do with him! Bowser doesn't have much relevance to outer space or the Lumas or anything, and they've used the conquest angle. Getting to know a new antagonist with a closer connection to the setting would be really fun and would give the game a strong reason to exist.
Click to expand...
Maybe in Galaxy 3, Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Rosalina, and the Lumas would have to team up with Bowser and his minions in order to defeat a new antagonist like you suggested.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back