It might sound hard to believe, but a lot of us weren't sure what to expect when Super Mario 64 was first announced. At the time, none of us really knew what was going to happen when games made the jump into 3D, especially not us console gamers. What would Mario look like? How would it play? How would it stay true to the structure of the old games? Seriously, there were a lot of questions, even from hardcore Nintendo fanboys.
It didn't take long for us to get our answers though. When the Nintendo 64 finally arrived in late 1996, there were only two games available at launch, Super Mario 64 being one of them. And it's the one just about all of us got as soon as we could. Fun fact, my Nintendo 64 is the first thing I ever bought with my own money. I had been doing odd jobs around the house since it was announced and when I fired it up for the first time, my mind was blown. I remember the first time I saw Mario's face in full 3D, I probably spent like 20 minutes just playing the mini game on the title screen. I remember being confused as to who the hell Princess Peach was, she had been Princess Toadstool in the west up until then. I remember having a feeling of freedom that no video game had ever given me (Doom and Duke Nukem 3D probably came the closest at that point) as I wandered around the grounds and halls of the castle, testing Mario's new abilities and exploring every inch of real estate I could access. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.
Wait, subjectively? Yeah, subjectively. Look, not everyone is going to love every game, and if 3D platformers aren't your thing that's ok. But in general, they're a popular genre and honestly, they really haven't changed much since Super Mario 64. Sure, improvements have been made and kinks have been worked out, but that doesn't change the fact that most games in the genre still follow the basic layout of Super Mario 64 almost 25 years later. It really is amazing how perfect Nintendo got this on the first try. As I mentioned, there was real concern for how 2D side scrollers would make the jump to 3D. Those concerns were quickly quieted when we saw and played Super Mario 64, though they re-emerged as developers botched attempts to bring other franchises into the 3rd dimension. It's not without its flaws, but again, I will reiterate; there's a reason new titles still try to copy this game almost a quarter century later.
But what is it that makes Super Mario 64 so great? To me, it boils down to three things. First, it's as technically sound as any 5th generation game. The controls are tight, intuitive and responsive. The N64's control stick certainly wasn't the best, but you would barely know it playing this game. You can push lightly to walk or all the way to run or rotate it to run in circles. One of the big differentiators between Mario and other 2D platformers was the way he carried momentum, and that was captured perfectly here. You can stop and turn quickly, but not quite on a dime. You can even use that momentum to perform a special corkscrew jump. Speaking of special moves, the developers made use of every button on the controller to give Mario a wide range of different attacks and jumps. He can triple jump, wall kick, backflip, jump kick and perform all sorts of unique maneuvers. All of these are activated with intuitive, simple button presses that don't require you to tie your hands in knots. The graphics were top notch for their time, it's not often a launch title is one of the better-looking games on the system. They may be blocky (what N64 game wasn't?) but they are bright, colorful and eye catching. And the sound, oh boy is the sound great. The actual quality of the music isn't the best due to the cartridge format. But these are some of the most iconic music tracks in gaming history, ranging from bright and peppy to spooky and unsettling to completely relaxing. That Jolly Roger Bay track gets me every time.
Second, is variety. Each of the 15 levels feels unique and different and offers its own unique challenge. There were only one or two levels that I don't like, we will discuss that later, but overall, the level design is strong at worst and inspired at best. Each of the 15 levels has six stars for Mario to get, with an extra 7th for collecting 100 coins. Add in another 15 secret castle stars for an even 120. Some are easy, some are hard, but all of them have their own charm to them. Some levels offer Mario's classic enemies a chance to shine on the new hardware, like Bob'omb Battlefield, Whomp's Fortress or Big Boo's Haunt. Others bring classic 2D gaming tropes into 3D, like the icy Cool Cool Mountain or water level Jolly Roger Bay. Others introduce their own unique gimmick, like the changing water levels in Wet Dry World, the time stopping in Tick Tock Clock or the tiny and huge enemies in the aptly named Tiny Huge Island. It's a great blend of the new and familiar that excels due to well-planned and thought-out levels. There's just enough mix between straightforward objectives and having to explore and solve puzzles that it works. It also helps that you can complete the stars in any order and you can focus on the levels you like. Some of the worlds require more work to unlock than others and you must complete the Bowser boss stages, but each level of the castle will provide more than enough stars to get to the next area while skipping the objectives you hate. Of course, you can also try and collect all the stars if you're more of a completionist.
Which brings us to the third point: freedom. It's not that you have complete freedom in Super Mario 64. But the more I game, the more I realize that I'm not really a fan of having complete and total freedom. I like the Elder Scrolls and Fallout games, but there's something overwhelming about just being dropped into a huge open world with nothing but a few items and a "good luck, jackass!" from a random NPC. Of course, I don't really want the opposite either. Again, it's okay sometimes, but I generally don't like being led from obvious point a to point b scenarios in games. To me, Super Mario 64 is one of the games that struck a perfect balance between giving you guidelines while also providing a reasonable amount of freedom. Exploring the castle is a game within a game, there are secrets to unlock and new areas to discover just about everywhere. Sometimes it's fun to just jump around and see all the areas you can get to, even if they don't provide any practical benefit. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like I find something new every time I play this game. It's gotten to the point where I do playthroughs where I make it my mission to read every sign in the castle, just to see if I find some text I'd never seen before (which I did this time, btw). You are locked into a bit of an order with the levels, but you don't have to complete them all one after another after another. You can get all seven stars in one level and not even touch another if you so choose. This is common now, but it wasn't at the time. I guess that's a roundabout way of saying Super Mario 64 is open ended without being too open ended.
Of course, even the best games have flaws. The biggest one here is probably the camera. You can control the camera with the C buttons, switch between a variety of views. It's okay in big open areas but can run into some trouble in the more claustrophobic stages. You will always feel like it's just not quite in the right spot. It also leads to some wall clipping and textures disappearing, but it actually ends up being something of a good problem to have. Even with its quirks and flaws, the camera here is still better than what is offered in most of its contemporaries. I loved Mystical Ninja as much as the next person, but the camera in that game is horrible...and it came out almost a year and a half after Super Mario 64. So, while the latter's camera may not be great, it's still passable when compared to its contemporaries.
I also wish they had found a way to include some of the classic Mario powerups. One of the few disappointments I had with this game the first time I played was the lack of mushrooms, fire flowers, capes and other various powerups. The caps are pretty cool, but they just can't replace the classic Mario powerups. I can see why they didn't include some of these, it would have been hard to include the growing/shrinking mechanic, but they should have found some way to include at least something. At least you are given plenty of new and unique moves, so it takes the sting out of it a little bit. Again, this is a nitpick, but it still stood out to me.
As for the last issue I have... is Dire Dire Docks. That would be the 9th level, for those that don't know or didn't remember. Super Mario 64 has some of my favorite level design of all time. There are so many unique, interesting, and fun design decisions and so few levels that provide real challenge without being frustrating. So how one of the worst video game levels I've ever experienced ended up here is beyond me. It's bland, it's boring, it's filled with unnecessary instant death traps. It has an unnecessary section that sucks you out to the outside of the castle, forcing you to walk all the way back to the level to try again. All of the stars here are miserable and they really don't offer anything new or unique. Everything about it is just straight up bad. Awful, awful, awful. And it stands out as awful even more so because all the other levels are so good.
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