Nintendo raises the bar for creative expression with this universe-spanning tale starring everyone's favorite portly plumber. Brilliantly crafted, it's the truest successor to 1996's landmark Super Mario 64 of all subsequent Mushroom Kingdom-housed adventures. It's also a watershed moment for Nintendo's motion-sensing Wii, pushing the boundaries of 3D space in several ways previously dismissed as impractical from the standpoint of game design.

Forget the throwaway story (Princess Peach's kidnapping by Bowser, and Mario's constellation-traveling rescue mission as told via occasional cut scenes); you're here for the platform-hopping, hands-on action, which effortlessly bends the laws of physics and gravity to let you freely run upside-down around spherical worlds or visit distant stars with a wave of the Wii's remote. Experimentation is everything as you travel a variety of themed cosmoses -- from buzzing beehives to undersea colonies and orbiting battle stations -- swimming, bounding or floating above and through interactive landscapes filled with random action-intensive challenges. Difficulty levels increase comfortably over time, as you alternate running atop or below floating platforms to dodge energy barriers, pop giant spiders' gooey pustules or dodge cookie cutter-shaped holes in rotating floors.

With its magical, candy-colored visuals it's easy to overlook inherent faults like aging graphic resolutions and play's constant stop-and-start flow. The real draw is the quality of stage craftsmanship, with countless amusements ranging from hurling turtle shells at evil wizards to stomping on dinosaurs' tails. Cameos by favorite characters, settings and power-ups aside, the game's overall sense of polish and wonder are guaranteed to make fans of the Italian Stallion do a double jump with satisfaction.