Leave it to Mario to give the Wii its best game -- maybe even one of the best games of the year on any system.

"Super Mario Galaxy" is a perfect fusion of the Wii's controls and the classic Mario feel.

The story starts off typically: Princess Peach wants to see Mario, only the dastardly Bowser comes along and kidnaps her. This time, however, he uses a UFO to pick up the entire castle. Mario, clinging to the edges, gets taken into space and given the boot.

When he awakens, Mario is in the presence of Princess Roselina, the guardian of the gate to the heavens, who wants Mario to recover the stars that Bowser stole to pull off his Peach heist. She grants him some star powers of his own to do it.

Personally, I think Mario would be better off with Roselina than Peach; at least she isn't constantly getting kidnapped.

Anyway, what follows is a game so full of originality and fantastic level design that players will be hard-pressed to find a platformer that does it better.

Each galaxy Mario visits is unique, and each planet within each galaxy is different than the one before it.

By planet, I mean semi-large spheres. Mario lands on them and can walk completely around them. Sometimes the camera angle changes to keep Mario upright on the screen, and sometimes it doesn't, which can take some getting used to.

These planets are why the level design shines. Each has a bit of a puzzle element. Sometimes you have to take a pipe into the inside of the planet, where Mario will be walking in a bowl shape. Some use buttons Mario must step on, or switches that change the gravitational pull. Some have alternating fields of gravity, leaving Mario to pop back and forth from the ceiling to the floor and back again.

Mario's controls are nearly flawless. The thumbstick on the nunchuk controls Mario's direction. The Wii remote's A button makes him jump. Pointing the remote at the screen brings up a cursor that is used to collect star bits that fall from the skies or from defeated enemies.

Defeating enemies is as simple as shaking the remote, which causes Mario to spin attack. Or, the B button on the remote can shoot star bits at wherever the player is aiming.

In addition to all this, Mario picks up costumes that give him different abilities. For example, there's a bee costume that lets him buzz around, or a costume that changes him into Boo the ghost so he can float through walls.

Even after the game is beaten, collecting every star is a reason to keep playing. Plus, many levels can be replayed with alterations, such as quicker enemies.

"Galaxy" also has a cooperative mode -- sort of. If you're not a control freak (like me) for what's going on in the game, a second person can control the remote and collect the star bits while the main player moves Mario around.

Simply put, "Super Mario Galaxy" looks, sounds and plays fantastic, and every Wii owner should have it.