Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64

Nintendo 64 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Nintendo Publisher Nintendo Published 1996-06-23 Platforms Nintendo 64 Genres 3D platformer, Action, Action-adventure, Exploration, Metroidvania Themes Action, Cartoon Series Mario, Super Mario Bros. Distribution Commercial

Super Mario 64 is a Mario-themed 3D platformer video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 on 1996-06-23. The game has been remastered a couple times on later Nintendo platforms.

In the game, the player controls Mario who arrives at the castle of Princess Peach only to discover she has once again been kidnapped by Bowser. Most of the game world exists in magic paintings which the player must jump into to explore. Once inside, they must avoid obstacles, defeat enemies, and collect stars. As their collection of stars increases, they can unlock more doors in the castle and more paintings to explore. After unlocking enough of the castle, the player finally reaches Bowser's final level and must battle him for possession of Peach.

Personal

Own?	Yes. Two loose US cartridges and one US manual.
Won?	Yes. 70 stars.
Finished	2024-06-26.

My friend Kevin was the first person I knew to get a Nintendo 64, and, with it, this game. I played his a little and got my first feel for the Nintendo 64 Controller. I remember liking some aspects of the game, like using a koopa shell as a skateboard, pulling off a triple jump, and the slider race in the castle, but, for the most part, I didn't like the game. I found the free-floating camera very hard to work with, and didn't care much for the extremely low poly 3D models. My friend Eric was next to get the game, and I watched him play later parts of the game, but it didn't do much to entice me. Not long after that, I got my first serious girlfriend, and I didn't do much video game playing, and I certainly didn't have the money to waste on a new console which didn't have any impressive games.

When I finally had a computer powerful enough to handle N64 emulation in the mid 2000s, I spent several weeks playing the game. I eventually unlocked a total of 71 stars, but I never beat the game. In the process, I learned to appreciate the game a little more, but I also learned just how bad the terrible camera and poor movement controls really were. I had unlocked 14 stages, and had all the stars in most of the early levels, but I was just so frustrated with the game, I gave up on trying to beat it and eventually lost my save file.

In my 40s, wanting to finally beat the game, I took it up again and, after a lot of frustration, got 70 stars and headed immediately to the ending, with little desire to get them all. However, I did find it easier this time around because I took the approach of just accepting the terrible camera and controls, and tried my best to beat the levels even when I couldn't see what I was doing.

Review

4	3	4	7	10

Best Version: Nintendo 3DS

Good

• The designers did a good job of giving each stage its own unique feel.
• Having several goals for each stage allows the player to appreciate the various locales in each of the stages more. Also, by making many of the goals optional, it adds a lot of replay value for those who wish to keep playing after they've already finished the main story.
• As usual, Koji Kondo's soundtrack is amazing, one of the best on the platform.
• The ending sequence, minus the sexism, is enjoyable.

Bad

• With only 15 levels, and a few other small ones, the game world feels tiny compared to previous Super Mario titles.
• I always feel like the camera is zoomed in too far so I can't see enough of the game world around me. Even at its most zoomed out level, it still feels cramped. I would prefer the ability to zoom out much further than you're allowed.
• It isn't always clear which floors will cause you to slide down them, and which can be walked along safely. Some slopes certainly seem like a shallow enough grade, but cause you to slide, while others, are quite steep, but you can walk up them without a problem.
• The game was not fully optimized before release which resulted in slowdowns (notably in the submarine room in Dire, Dire Docks) and a lower level of graphics quality than what should have been achieved.
• Lacking a manual, I assumed a "wall kick" meant jumping toward a wall, and then pressing the attack button to literally kick the wall and bounce away from it. While this does technically push you back, you don't get pushed very far. Naturally, this prevented me from being able to get the "Wall kicks will work" star in Cool, Cool Mountain. It was only after watching a spoiler online that I learned how a wall kick is supposed to be performed, not by kicking, but by jumping a second time. Had the designers called this trick a "wall jump," I wouldn't have been so confused.
• The solution to the rolling snowman head doesn't make much sense.
• Once again Bowser kidnaps Peach, and Mario must rescue her. A story with a little more thought would have made the game better.
• The sound effect of manually panning the camera gets annoying really quick.
• The ending, rescuing Peach, being rewarded with a kiss and a cake, is pretty sexist.

Ugly

• The free-floating camera, though innovative at the time, makes the game maddeningly frustrating and ruins most of the enjoyment for me. Far too much of the game is spent looking at the zoomed-in back of Mario's head or a close up of a brick wall which obscures everything you need to see. The designers tried to help by allowing the player to manually move the camera, but, since it can't be moved through walls, you can never get a good view of the game when you're in an enclosed space. Also, the camera never stops panning around you and can't be set to a fixed angle, so, even if you set it the way you want it, it will immediately turn away. In several sections of the game, you're prevented from moving it. Because the direction Mario walks is tied to the camera, as the camera pans, Mario's direction also changes. This means something as simple as walking in a straight line becomes annoyingly difficult. And, since the camera is programmed to slowly follow behind you, if you change direction abruptly, you won't be able to see where you're going until it finally catches up with you. This makes it especially frustrating when you turn around to fight a monster that is chasing you. I considered this just being my own fault of not being able to adapt from having grown up on 2D games, but every other gamer I've ever seen play the game, even those raised on 3D games, has struggled with the controls. Even something as simple as walking up to a sign to read it often takes several attempts, let alone trying to catch Mips. This is a massive flaw results is a strong test of patience for players and should have been corrected before the game was shipped.
• Although the developers give the player a lot of new controls for Mario, they didn't refine them very well. You often find yourself accidentally falling off a ledge, catching a ledge you're trying to jump off of, causing a jittery bug when getting too close to an edge, failing to wall jump in the direction you were expecting, flying off poles in unpredictable directions, etc. Reversing direction causes Mario to make a unnecessarily large arc, triple jumps are difficult to gauge, trying to jump your way up small platforms on a slope will result in dozens of failed attempts, most of which will send you all the way back to the bottom, flying with the red cap is hard to steer, and so on; it's a constant fight trying to get Mario to do what you want him to do which is maddeningly frustrating when you know exactly what to do, but you just can't get him to do it. Many of these failures aren't the fault of the terrible camera panning, they would be just as difficult with a fixed camera, it's just a bad control design in general. When you compare this to the highly refined controls of the previous games in the series, it's even more of a letdown.
• The extremely low polygon count and ugly 3D models look terrible. Although there weren't any other good-looking 3D games at the time, compared to the best pixel art of 1996, the game looks like hot garbage. The textures are also ridiculously small for 1996; in 1993, Doom used 128x128 pixel textures, and even Wolfenstein 3-D was using 64x64 pixel textures back in 1992, but, in 1996, the best Super Mario 64 can manage is 32x32 pixel textures, and many 3D objects are left untextured.

Media

Cover Art

• 

  The Japanese box has Mario and Bowser in a defiant back-to-back stance.

• 

  All other regions uses this box with Mario flying high over Peach's castle with the winged cap. I prefer this box.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Japan - Digital.

• 

  Manual - USA.

• 

  Manual - USA - Digital.

• 

  Manual - Europe.

• 

  Hint book - Totally Unauthorized Super Mario 64.

• 

  Ad - USA.

Maps

• 

  Peach's Castle.

• 

  Bob-omb Battlefield.

• 

  Whomp's Fortress.

• 

  Jolly Roger Bay.

• 

  Cool, Cool Mountain.

• 

  Big Boo's Haunt.

• 

  Hazy Maze Cave.

• 

  Lethal Lava Land.

• 

  Dire, Dire Docks.

• 

  Snowman's Land.

• 

  Wet-Dry World.

• 

  Tall, Tall Mountain.

• 

  Tiny Huge Island.

• 

  Tick Tock Clock.

• 

  Rainbow Ride.

• 

  Castle Secret Stars.

• 

  Bowser Stages.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  Floating severed head.

• 

  Bob-Omb Battlefield.

• 

  An all-too-common camera screw.

Graphics

• textures-resource.com/nintendo_64/mario64 - Textures.

Videos

Review - What's So Great About Gaming?

Modern Vintage Gamer - Debug release.

How collision creates invisible walls.

Longplay - Nintendo 64.

Longplay - Nintendo DS.

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	The sole woman is a damsel in distress who rewards you with a kiss and baked goods.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There is only one woman.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	All of the characters are white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
Chinese	超级马里奥64	Chaoji Maliao 64	Super Mario 64
English	Super Mario 64
Japanese	スーパーマリオ６４	Supa Mario 64	Super Mario 64
Korean	슈퍼마리오 64	Syupeo Malio 64	Super Mario 64

Links

               

• mariowiki.com/Super_Mario_64 - Mario Wiki.