One of the funniest games ever made.

Super Mario 64 revealed a platformer galvanized by the advent of 3D tech, unfolding its world in parallel to the new dimension. Far from including linear obstacle courses, this instead adopts a more open and surprisingly accommodating structure, akin to an adventure game that just so happens to contain the traversal of platformers. The wealth of movement options enabled by 3D - from long/side/back/triple/wall jumping to ever more eclectic 'powerups', grants a subtle degree of mastery over the perceived wobbly controls and shoddy camera. In addition, the change to quasi-missions leaves enough room for gameplay variety aplenty, that yet again complements the loose format.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. This is de facto less of a proper platformer and more of a delightful slapstick comedy where the player assumes neither the role of the audience nor director, but rather the bumbling stooge clumsily navigating the world around him. Primitive, almost volatile 3D physics and collisions actually contributes to the rampant hilarity, enhanced by a wondrous soundtrack and charming level aesthetics. Add to that the slippery controls plus odd sound effects from most entities (not to mention Mario's reactions) and the experience is an immaculate balance of skill-based complexity and unexpected humor. Of course, the unintentional nature of these gags is their greatest asset, an organic method that puts most overtly 'comedic' platformers before & after it to shame. That capricious nature prevails all throughout - even when their mannerism gets difficult lategame, the setbacks somehow get funnier as the stakes and desperation increase, defusing player frustration while making victory especially gratifying. Super Mario 64 is certainly influential, but its ilk - despite tighter controls and more memorable characters, never came close to matching this work's unstable goofball spirit.

Ah, an instant classic

Nothing felt better than to 100% this game and see Mario waving to you at the end

What a masterpiece

I already knew plenty of things about this game before starting it. In the past few years, I've watched a bit of SM64 content on YouTube, especially speedruns...
It's unfortunate that I didn't go in Mario 64 completely blind, but hey, doesn't mean I didn't have fun!
And since the only speedruns I've watched are any%, I was still very unfamiliar with most of the levels.

I played an unofficial PC port of the game called "Super Mario 64 Plus"
The best additions of this port are the improved movements with Mario, and free camera control.

I've seen everyone and their mother complain about the game's controls, and how poorly they have aged. I guess this port did a wonderful job fixing the controls, because they didn't bother me at any point 👍

I love how fluid the movements are compared to Mario Galaxy, which is the only other 3D Mario game I've played. The Side Somersault especially is so much better. I often found myself using this move into wall jump to reach really high places. These moves are very flexible & satisfying to use.

Yes. I threw the baby penguin in the void after his mama gave me the Star 😈 evil laugh

"File Select", "Inside Peach's Castle" and "Dire Dire Docks" are my 3 favorite pieces of music in the game. It's just so good, I'm not surprised Mario 64's soundtrack has become so iconic!
I like how peaceful the exterior of the Castle is. No music, just the sound of waterfalls, birds & grasshoppers. Very calming ❤

For a game released in 1996, there were very interesting ideas in the level-design:
- The fact that they were already messing with the gravity, way before Sunshine & Galaxy (the tall pillars in Shifting Sand Land)
- In Tiny-Huge Island, the way you teleport to a shrunken version of the level gives the illusion that Mario shrinks after entering the green pipes. It was pretty clever.
- It's cool how some level's layouts change depending on how you enter the paintings! Whether it's Wet-Dry World with the water, or Tick Tock Clock with the pendulum's speed.

This only occured to me after finishing the game, but that's funny how tiny the Worlds are. And what's great is that they all seem to be packed with content. There isn't any wasted space in any of the levels.
I also like how after unlocking the wing cap, vanish cap & metal cap, new stars become accessible in every level. It gave a satisfying feeling of progression.

After obtaining the 120 stars, you can meet Yoshi on the castle's roof and receive a sweet message from the developers. This was such a cool reward for finishing the game.
I don't know if I would have enjoyed the game as much as I did if I played it vanilla. This PC port made the adventure really enjoyable!

To end this review, I felt like ranking each World from most to least favorite:
1) Wet-Dry World
2) Hazy Maze Cave
3) Lethal Lava Land
4) Jolly Roger Bay
5) Big Boo's Haunt
6) Snowman's Land
7) Cool Cool Mountain
8) Tick Tock Clock
9) Dire Dire Docks
10) Tall Tall Mountain
11) Shifting Sand Land
12) Whomp's Fortress
13) Bob-Omb Battlefield
14) Tiny-Huge Island
15) Rainbow Ride

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Started on April 28th & finished on May 1st 2024]
Playtime: 16 hours
100% Completion

fun game - lots of great levels, great design in place around them and tons of movement options

controls did NOT age well
you WILL bonk and you WILL slide way more than what is fun
you WILL want to ragequit a babygame for babies
you WILL fantasize about killing mario
you WILL call stage obstacles slurs
mario WILL spread his asscheeks with his entire two fists and point his depths directly at the camera (if you can manage to control the camera for more than 3 seconds)

It might not be the best in mechanical terms, but nothing has come closer to the eerie, adventurous, colorful, diverse, creative aesthetic of it all. Each level has a unique personality, a unique feeling and atmosphere attached to it. You really feel you're traveling to different worlds.

Probably the best game ever just because it's the essence of a videogame taken to its limits: to use mechanical, visual and musical aspects to make you feel in control of things, while also delivering a special, diverse and unique aesthetic experience.

And I always consider a plus the community around a game. The fact that this game continues to be reviewed and analyzed, tier lists and speedruns and unique run ideas like the A Press Challenge (I recommend you watch asap Bismuth's video about such challenge) come out almost every week or the thousands of rom hacks available that add new and fresh ideas are just some signs that this hits the right spot and it does it in a way that shines above similar works.

Seminal 3D platforming classic starring gaming's number one mustachioed plumber in his adventure to find the power stars in the iconic levels/secret areas, throw Bowser into bombs a couple times, and rescue Princess Toadstool so she can bake him a big cake. Nintendo nailed something on their first go-round here that games struggle with nowadays, by making Mario an inherently fun to control state-machine that keeps this game eternally relevant to casuals, speedrunners and theoretical Mario physicists alike.

Soundbox Companion

Ok you can so what you want about this being another dumb Nintendo game or just a shitty outdated platformer or a childrens game or whatever but let me speak my truth here.

Teaching somebody the 16 star speedrun at my dingy home would unironically be more intimate than the most depraved sexual fantasies I could think of. Teaching somebody how to BLJ would be so hot, I would kiss their feet after they succeeded at it.

This is not a joke, if you haven't tasted the speedrunning world of this game you're missing out on a huge part of its appeal. If you're a really close lady friend of mine I would show you how to do it no questions asked. I been thinking this in the back of my head for over a month now. It will probably be a genuine part of my dating life going forward and I'm not sorry for that in fact the reason I'm even saying this is to make room for the fact other people might also feel like that. It also has the best sound design I've ever heard in my entire life. They gave the pirahna plant a lullaby theme song that you activate by stepping into its aura. This is an incredibly experimental sound design decision that you dont see in contemporary gaming. They would try to imitate this lullaby effect 10 years later with Galaxy via a cutscene transition into Rosalina reading a book for to the lunas but because of the diversion in interactivity, it left Rosalina feeling like a maternalistic overlord. In this way I would argue a lot of contemporary game design is extremely parental, its having an event happen towards you that you have to accept. The pirahna plant lullaby is spontaneous and you only have to accept it as long as you are within the boundaries of that space, you can leave it whenever you're tired of it. I think there's a genuine romance in the design of SM64 that's worth exploring, but it cant be done by me alone.

esse jogo é tão estressante e divertido quanto cuidar de uma criança

e o Mario é uma criança sendo filmada enquanto brinca e se exibe com suas acrobacias

as fases tem literal o mesmo layout de parquinhos de rua, com desafios diversos mas nenhum ponto de progressão muito específico pra seguir

e os mundos serem fictícios dentro do próprio jogo é a materialização da imaginação fértil que o mario tem

eu não acredito nesse jogo, mas eu me encantei com suas brincadeiras.

I had never actually beaten this game until 2013, despite having played parts of it a few times since its release 17 years earlier. So even without copious amounts of nostalgia, this game grabbed hold of me and didn't let me go until I had 120 stars. The level of challenge is great. The N64's analog stick makes this the only way to play this game. On the Wii U's Virtual Console the stick has a huge dead zone. On DS you have a D-pad and a touch screen.

If it weren't for the Switch re-releases, the best way to play this would still be on the original N64 hardware!

...or an emulator, I guess

Most people I talk to (understandably) don't like this game, It has some pretty shitty levels no doubt, and the controls do not really hold up, but despite these frustrations I find myself continually going back to it every so often. It's just one of those games that clicks, that I get so sucked into while playing for just a couple minutes. I love revisiting levels I already know like the back of my hand and trying get stars in different, faster, ways, and I love fucking around in the areas and doing stuff that serves to impress no-one but myself. It's so unhinged, and I love it for that. In that sense I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure of mine. Just pure, dumb, fun.

This game looks like goddamn tech demo, and you know what? I fucking LOVE that. I'll be fucked if Super Mario 64 isn't satisfying to run and jump across. Maybe it wasn't perfect, but damn was it everything we needed in 1996. A world before my brain got corrupted by analysts and blowhard reviewers just itching their boners to call something "janky."

I loved this as a kid, and still revisit from time-to-time to love it some more, whether as a half-assed Switch port, or the code-dumped re-engineered PC port. This game still rocks. I'm going to tattoo low-poly Mario on myself someday.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D8sxTdvX4AAMqbd.jpg

Eu acho que é a primeira vez que platino a versão do N64. A primeira vez que joguei SM64 foi no remake de NDS, o qual platinei diversas vezes. Alguns anos depois emulei a versão original e zerei algumas vezes, mas a platina só tenho certeza que fiz dessa vez. Mais do que um mero espírito completionista, o que me motivou mesmo é que esse jogo é bom demais. Marios seguintes evidentemente trouxeram mais polimento e um visual mais aprimorado, mas em relação ao level design e game feel SM64 não deve nada a seus descendentes. Jogão.