I have been awaiting this game for quite awhile. Actually, I think we all have been waiting for this game for about 10 years (sorry Sunshine.)

So, I can't believe its finally coming next week. The funny thing it that there doesn't seem like there is as much hype for the game as one would think. Time will tell.

Anyway, to get to my point, I got to play it at a local GS here in the Philadelphia area on Saturday, and wow, I was blown away. I don't want to give any spoilers away (I actually played for about 20 minutes before I forced myself to stop playing and not spoil anymore of the game), but it EXCEEDS expectations. It has that certain flair that Mario games have. Something that NSMB and SMS lacked. Its hard to put a finger on why its so fresh and exciting, but I can go on and say that the level design simply blows away all other current games. Furthermore, I did not truly understand the gravity aspect of this game until playing it. It makes this game so different from all the other 3D platformers out there.

EDIT: I played a saved version of the game, so I got a good look at some of the different galaxies, not just the beginning of the game.

A few other tidbits, (most of them I'm sure you all know)
The EB/GS demo kiosk SMG games are actually the full games.
There was a leak onto the internet of copies of said games last week.
Best Buy in some areas actually started selling them earlier this week by accident, so quite a few people actually have the game.
There are some serious spoilers out there, BIG SPOILERS, so beware.

There are already 7+ reviews at Game Rankings... with an average of 96.5!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Super Mario has returned.