I've recently been reading Steve Swink's Gamefeel and one of the main points it makes is that the titular gamefeel is built on the response a game gives to a players actions. Videogames, in a way, function as conversations between a player and the developers mediated on one side by the controller and on the other by the game, and this is one aspect that Galaxy uses beautifully. Every aspect of the controller is used to make any action you take within the game feel forceful and responsive, be it the rumble, the speakers, or, yes, the motion controls. Having such a richly tuned sensory experience mediating your mechanical control over an object in a space is, in my opinion, one of the main aspects of fun. It's the -snap- of two legos interlocking or feeling the momentum of a toy car under your fingers.

The Galaxy games also have a masterful degree of spectacle, they manage to capture a sense of cosmic scale that is really uncommon within the genre and every level has one or two set-pieces that take the player, sit them down for a few seconds, and show them, say, the Volcano in Yoshi Star Galaxy erupt or a boss twice the size of the planetoid explode. The pace and consistency of these little moments make the experience feel like a rollercoaster without reducing it to cheap thrills.

And, finally, the level and movement design are just magnificent. If gamefeel depends on your control over an object within a space both the object *and* the space here are polished mirror-smooth. Mario is at his most streamlined yet he feels solidly more spry than in Sunshine or 64, the levels are endlessly creative without losing their distinct sense of forward momentum, it's just generally fantastic.