Super Mario 64 (

1996

)

There is a difference between being historically significant and being a good game. Pong [1972] is historically significant but when’s the last time that you sat down and played a couple of rounds of it? Whereas Hollow Knight [2017] is a fantastic game but does almost nothing original. It can’t even be said to be the first game to combine Dark Souls [2011] with Super Metroid [1994], because Salt and Sanctuary [2016] beat it to the punch. Of course, sometimes there is an overlap, just look at Tetris [1984] for proof of that. Not only did it inspire hundreds of block sorting puzzle games (not to mention a seemingly endless number of directly related sequels and spin-offs) it’s also so addictive that if I were to start playing now I would probably keep going until sundown. Super Mario 64 is certainly a historically significant game, but is it one that holds up and something you’d still like to play despite being old enough to drink? While there certainly are more than a few problems with it as a result of being on the cutting edge of technology and game design, the answer to that question is still a resounding yes! Super Mario 64 may not be as pristine as the day it came out but it’s still a damn fun and exciting 3D platformer.

When this game was released in 1996 it was nothing short of a technical marvel. It was the first game that successfully brought the old 2D platformers into the third dimension. A quick glance at its competitors shows just how remarkable a feat this was. Some were ambitious and failed spectacularly as a result, like Bubsy 3D [1996]. Others took a more conservative approach to 3D platforming and kept the stages so narrow and linear that they might as well have stayed in 2D (I’m looking at you, Crash Bandicoot [1996]). None of the first crop of 3D platformers was anywhere near as successful as Super Mario 64 in adapting the old school gameplay to a new dimension. The competition took notice, and pretty much every platformer released after 1996 would copy from it to a greater or lesser extent.

In 1996, when this game came out, there was nothing like it. Even as a kid I was acutely aware of the way it towered over the competition. My family had a Sony PlayStation, mostly because my older brother wanted to play Final Fantasy 7 [1997], so I only got to play bits and pieces of super Mario 64 at friend’s houses. I’m sure that there were plenty of other kids in my position, who were mocked because they had to make do with Crash Bandicoot [1996] and Spyro the Dragon [1998]. However, when writing this review, I found it something of an asset, unlike most guys my age, I don’t have fond memories for this game and consequently, I find myself able to see it with clearer eyes than most. It’s not that Super Mario 64 is not as good as everyone remembers it as, it most assuredly is, it’s just that there are a lot of rough edges here and there.

Super Mario 64 is revolutionary, no doubt, but being the first of your kind comes with some serious risks. There was nobody that Nintendo could copy when it came to setting up a camera that could handle a free-moving character in a 3D space. As a result, the camera in this game is more of an obstacle than the goombas or the lava pits. Even veterans of this game will admit to times where they have to wrestle with the game’s camera to get it to work the way they expect it to. The fact that the camera resets back to the default configuration after death or exiting the level just adds another layer of frustration to the whole process. I had it set that way for a reason! While part of the issue with the camera is no doubt due to this game being the first of its kind, it wasn’t helped much by the bizarre N64 controller that was seemingly designed for someone with three hands. Maybe it’s just because I didn’t grow up with the N64, but I can barely figure out how to hold the damn thing. Fortunately, since I’m running an emulator I can use a controller that was designed for human beings and not whatever space monster Nintendo was marketing their console to.

The technical issues go further than just wonky camera and absurd controller though, Super Mario 64 bears many issues that come hand-in-hand with its radical innovation. The physics, in particular, are prone to certain wonkiness where Mario will move in ways that seem unpredictable and indeed impossible. Wall glitches and graphical glitches abound and lesser tricks and exploits are everywhere. These problems are not insignificant, but when compared to the overall majesty of the game in question they are certainly forgivable. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that Super Mario 64 is exactly the game I like to see. It’s the type of game that I wish got made more often: The big-budget, highly innovative, masterwork that pushes the boundaries of what we think is possible in the medium. Yeah, some parts simply don’t work as expected, but by taking chances it paved the way for future entries in the genre to excel.

This is a Mario game, and as you probably know they all have the same plot give or take a couple of wrinkles here and there. One could criticize Nintendo for keeping the storyline to their main games functionally the same for 35 years, but the effort that they save on developing a storyline for each game seems to be reinvested into polishing the gameplay rather than pissed away. Besides, there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with sticking to a well-worn plot like “hero saves the princess.” Still, each game adds a little something little different to this basic framework from the whole stage-paly atheistic of Super Mario Bros. 3 [1988] to the new sentient hat of Super Mario Odyssey [2017]. The twist for this one is that Bowser, rather than kidnapping Princess Peach and taking her to his own castle as he’s been doing since the 1980s, has instead stormed Peach’s castle and barricaded himself inside with the princess. He’s also stolen the magic stars and used their power to barricade the castle gates. Rather than simply keeping all the stars with him past a sealed gate though, Bowser has decided to be sporting and has hidden the stars inside the various pocket dimensions scattered throughout the castle’s walls. Each one of these stages has six challenges and completing each of them will award you with a star. In addition, there’s also a bonus star for each level that will be unlocked when you get 100 coins. There’s also quite a few stars and secret one-off levels hidden throughout the overworld of Peach’s castle. There is a pretty impressive variety of activities here to engage in and collect stars, but not every star has the same level of thought put into them. For instance, in Big Boo’s Haunt, three of the stars are just beating the same big ghost in three different places.

That said, the levels themselves are nicely varied. You have the instantly familiar and incredibly cozy Bob-omb Battlefield and the surprisingly mellow (for a water level anyway) Jolly Roger Bay. There are levels with goofy gimmicks like Tiny Huge Island where you toggle back and forth between a massive island and a minuscule one, which is amusing mostly because of how insignificant obstacles become insurmountable barriers and vice-versa. The game even takes a horror twist with Big Boo’s Haunt, which is about as scary as an E-rated game developed by Nintendo is likely to get. I know that the killer piano made me jump the first time it attacked me! The levels here are small enough that you never feel lost or just stuck in a big open expanse, but also large enough that they can easily hide a few secrets. Later games in this console generation would drastically increase the size of the maps but created problems where there simply was not enough content to fill these huge spaces. Fortunately, in 1996 the technical power of the system hadn’t yet started to get in the way of development.

The difficulty curve in Super Mario 64 is downright exquisite and could be used as a “how-to” guide for aspiring developers. The first stage available to you, Bob-omb Battlefield, is free from all of the game’s most frightening dangers. There’s no bottomless pits or lava, like there are in the later stages. After that you’ll open up a few other stages, these ones like Whomp’s Fortress and Cold Cold Mountain do have bottomless drops around the edges but for the most part, you’ll be keeping well clear of them. Next up you’ll unlock levels like Lethal Lava Land and Shifting Sand Land that have lava pits and difficult to escape quicksand traps respectively. Stepping on either of these hazards isn’t the end, but they are much more dangerous than anything in the early levels. As the game progresses the number of instant kill death traps keeps going up until you get to the final course Rainbow Ride where there is hardly any ground to stand on. The courses are arranged neatly in order from least dangerous to most and ascend smoothly. Some of the later stages can be quite difficult to clear, but fortunately, you don’t have to get all 120 stars to beat the game, instead, you only need a bit more than half. So, even if your age is still in the single digits, or if you write for a major video game publication, actually finishing the game should be still possible. However, if you’re interested in getting all 120 stars, then you’re in for a much meatier challenge. Nearly every stage, save the very early ones, have one or two stars that are significantly more difficult than the others. On later levels especially collecting 100 coins can become challenging or at least tedious. Beyond just completing the game though, Super Mario 64 has an absolutely astonishing skill ceiling. For many stars, there are all sorts of tricks and exploits you can use to grab them that I can scarcely believe were ever intended by the developers.

This massive skill ceiling is due in no small part to the freedom with which the developers allow the players to traverse the levels. There are almost no invisible walls save the ones that wrap around the level’s borders and provide an impassible ceiling. Every obstacle within those confines is, at least theoretically, traversable. Mario has a small arsenal of jumps, kicks, and flips at his disposal, rather than just the one standard jump/double jump that most 3D platformers had access to. As a result, these moves can be chained together in rapid succession and used to propel the player to ridiculous heights. For instance, if you feel like practicing for an hour or two you’ll eventually be able to finesse your way over the slippery sand hills right near the start of Shifting Sand Land and jump immediately to the pyramid, rather than take the 5-minute walk through all the other obstacles.

Super Mario 64, more than any other 3D Mario game, shows the ravages of time. Where once stood an unrivaled paragon of its genre, now rests an old janky game with considerable technical issues. Yet, despite its many shortcomings those that play the game today can still detect its greatness. It may not have aged like a fine wine, but even today thanks to all its little careful considerations and slight tweaks, Super Mario 64 remains a treasure.