Super Mario 64 is a game that means a lot to me.
It was one of the first video games that I came into contact with! Back when Google Videos was a thing, I remember coming across a TAS Speedrun of this game, and that's how I was introduced to it. I thought that all of the tricks the guy was doing, like backwards long jump, was all part of the game. Silly old me.
I remember when I was in the 4th grade, I used to play with some friends of mine roleplaying us going to various locations in Super Mario 64, and exclamating stuff like "Oh, it's too hot!" or "Brr, it's too cold!" depending on the painting we went to.
Good times.
Funnily enough though, I wouldn't get around to play the original Super Mario 64 until many years later. Before then, I only had access to the DS version, which I'll review one day.
In spite of the many stories I have with this game, and how much it means to me, it's interesting I don't consider Super Mario 64 to be one of my favourite games of all time. I think it mainly stems from other games just having an even bigger impact on me.
Mario makes his jump to the 3rd dimension, having full analogue movement and being able to do all kinds of moves! We've got Double and Triple Jump, the Wall Jump, the Long Jump, the Flip-Jump, a 3-hit punch combo, a Jump Kick, a Slide Kick, and for shits and giggles, we've got the Breakdance move, which I only use to make fun of the game's enemies. lol
It may seem complicated at first, but because all of these moves are tied to only 3 buttons (A, B and Z), you'll get to understand how Mario plays in no time. He's really fun to play as, and I'm glad Nintendo made him how he is!
The level structure has seen a bit of change from Mario's 2D titles. Instead of going to a stage, getting to the goal post, and moving on to the next stage, now in a level, you have Power Stars to get!
Power Stars are scattered all throughout the levels, and to beat the game, you only need 70 of them, out of 120.
Because of this, you have a lot of leeway in how you want to approach levels.
Levels are naturally designed to be sandbox-like in nature. So it's up to you on what you want to do, and how you want to explore a level.
Stages in general, aren't really too big, so most of the stars are easily obtainable.
All of with the exception of the 100-coin Stars. It's exactly what you think they are. They are stars that only appear when you gather 100 coins, and there is one of these in each of the game's 15 levels.
Now, not every one of these stars is hard to get. There are definitely some levels where it's easier to get it than others, like Course 2.
But some of these are an absolute grind!
So, here's some tips from someone who has played this game too much:
1. If you're going for 100%, make these the first stars you get!
I know that sounds odd, considering they're the most pain in the ass to get, but trust me, if you take care of them ASAP, you can comfortably go through the rest of the level without many problems.
2. Red and Blue Coins are extremely important!
Red Coins give you 2 coins, and Blue Coins give you 5. Whenever you see a Blue-Coins button, make sure your surrondings are clear, and that you immediately book to the blue coins that spawn so you don't miss any of them.
3. Unlike other stars in the game, 100-coin stars do not kick you out of the level, so that means you can get the 100-coin star of that level and get another star, like the Red Coin star of that level. 2 birds in 1 stone, as they say.
Outside of that, Princess Peach's Castle acts as your hubworld, and it's relatively small, but pretty fun to travel through. You need stars to unlock more levels, but many of the stars early in the game are relatively easy to get, so this shouldn't be much of an issue.
There are also the 3 Bowser levels, that you'll need to beat. These are more linear than the game's main 15 levels, and they are a great platforming challenge, with a fun boss at the end.
Which leads me into my next point, the boss fights!
They're okay. Yeah, most of these are very simple and don't provide many interesting mechanics of gimmicks. Outside of the Bowser fights... there's not many other bosses that will challenge you.
Even Bowser himself doesn't get challenging until you final encounter with him.
Bowser's model does look a bit funky, but the rest of the game is actually pretty nice to look at! Yeah, some of the game's textures are a bit too simple, but for a Nintendo 64 launch title, I'd say the game's charming low-polygon look still looks decent to this day!
Continuing with the presentation, there's also the soundtrack. A lot of songs here are very iconic, and well composed!
But... there's a lot of repetition, especially later in the game. No, game, I don't need the final 2 levels to have the same goddamn song.
Also, this game was the first one to have Mario speak!... in a mainline title.
Charles Martinet does a really good job as Mario, because inventing the iconic voice we still hear today, even if now we have a different voice actor for Mario.
Additionally, this game was also one of the first games to include a manual camera. Actually, I think it may've been this game that named the concept as a "camera", because Super Mario 64 contextualizes it as a Lakitu recording Mario's adventures on television, and that is really charming!
The camera itself is not bad, but it certainly can get stuck easily in tight spaces. I'll give the dev team a slack, because this was one of the first games to have a manual camera, but it definitely is one of things that hasn't aged gracefully.
In conclusion, there are a lot of things I love about Super Mario 64, but there are also some growing pains in this title that future games would fix. I have a lot of nostalgia with this one, so that's probably this review came out as big as it did, so despite the criticism I have with this game, it still holds a special place in my heart.
Rock on, Super Mario 64!
It was one of the first video games that I came into contact with! Back when Google Videos was a thing, I remember coming across a TAS Speedrun of this game, and that's how I was introduced to it. I thought that all of the tricks the guy was doing, like backwards long jump, was all part of the game. Silly old me.
I remember when I was in the 4th grade, I used to play with some friends of mine roleplaying us going to various locations in Super Mario 64, and exclamating stuff like "Oh, it's too hot!" or "Brr, it's too cold!" depending on the painting we went to.
Good times.
Funnily enough though, I wouldn't get around to play the original Super Mario 64 until many years later. Before then, I only had access to the DS version, which I'll review one day.
In spite of the many stories I have with this game, and how much it means to me, it's interesting I don't consider Super Mario 64 to be one of my favourite games of all time. I think it mainly stems from other games just having an even bigger impact on me.
Mario makes his jump to the 3rd dimension, having full analogue movement and being able to do all kinds of moves! We've got Double and Triple Jump, the Wall Jump, the Long Jump, the Flip-Jump, a 3-hit punch combo, a Jump Kick, a Slide Kick, and for shits and giggles, we've got the Breakdance move, which I only use to make fun of the game's enemies. lol
It may seem complicated at first, but because all of these moves are tied to only 3 buttons (A, B and Z), you'll get to understand how Mario plays in no time. He's really fun to play as, and I'm glad Nintendo made him how he is!
The level structure has seen a bit of change from Mario's 2D titles. Instead of going to a stage, getting to the goal post, and moving on to the next stage, now in a level, you have Power Stars to get!
Power Stars are scattered all throughout the levels, and to beat the game, you only need 70 of them, out of 120.
Because of this, you have a lot of leeway in how you want to approach levels.
Levels are naturally designed to be sandbox-like in nature. So it's up to you on what you want to do, and how you want to explore a level.
Stages in general, aren't really too big, so most of the stars are easily obtainable.
All of with the exception of the 100-coin Stars. It's exactly what you think they are. They are stars that only appear when you gather 100 coins, and there is one of these in each of the game's 15 levels.
Now, not every one of these stars is hard to get. There are definitely some levels where it's easier to get it than others, like Course 2.
But some of these are an absolute grind!
So, here's some tips from someone who has played this game too much:
1. If you're going for 100%, make these the first stars you get!
I know that sounds odd, considering they're the most pain in the ass to get, but trust me, if you take care of them ASAP, you can comfortably go through the rest of the level without many problems.
2. Red and Blue Coins are extremely important!
Red Coins give you 2 coins, and Blue Coins give you 5. Whenever you see a Blue-Coins button, make sure your surrondings are clear, and that you immediately book to the blue coins that spawn so you don't miss any of them.
3. Unlike other stars in the game, 100-coin stars do not kick you out of the level, so that means you can get the 100-coin star of that level and get another star, like the Red Coin star of that level. 2 birds in 1 stone, as they say.
Outside of that, Princess Peach's Castle acts as your hubworld, and it's relatively small, but pretty fun to travel through. You need stars to unlock more levels, but many of the stars early in the game are relatively easy to get, so this shouldn't be much of an issue.
There are also the 3 Bowser levels, that you'll need to beat. These are more linear than the game's main 15 levels, and they are a great platforming challenge, with a fun boss at the end.
Which leads me into my next point, the boss fights!
They're okay. Yeah, most of these are very simple and don't provide many interesting mechanics of gimmicks. Outside of the Bowser fights... there's not many other bosses that will challenge you.
Even Bowser himself doesn't get challenging until you final encounter with him.
Bowser's model does look a bit funky, but the rest of the game is actually pretty nice to look at! Yeah, some of the game's textures are a bit too simple, but for a Nintendo 64 launch title, I'd say the game's charming low-polygon look still looks decent to this day!
Continuing with the presentation, there's also the soundtrack. A lot of songs here are very iconic, and well composed!
But... there's a lot of repetition, especially later in the game. No, game, I don't need the final 2 levels to have the same goddamn song.
Also, this game was the first one to have Mario speak!... in a mainline title.
Charles Martinet does a really good job as Mario, because inventing the iconic voice we still hear today, even if now we have a different voice actor for Mario.
Additionally, this game was also one of the first games to include a manual camera. Actually, I think it may've been this game that named the concept as a "camera", because Super Mario 64 contextualizes it as a Lakitu recording Mario's adventures on television, and that is really charming!
The camera itself is not bad, but it certainly can get stuck easily in tight spaces. I'll give the dev team a slack, because this was one of the first games to have a manual camera, but it definitely is one of things that hasn't aged gracefully.
In conclusion, there are a lot of things I love about Super Mario 64, but there are also some growing pains in this title that future games would fix. I have a lot of nostalgia with this one, so that's probably this review came out as big as it did, so despite the criticism I have with this game, it still holds a special place in my heart.
Rock on, Super Mario 64!
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.
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.
A primeira aventura 3D do nosso encanador favorito é maravilhosa.
I must've said "this game is aids" like 20 times while in a call with my friends
Near enough the perfect video game. I could genuinely play this forever
Still a good time to go back to but shows its age profusely. A true revolutionary in the platforming genre and 3D games as a whole, but desperately calls for a remaster with tighter controls.
Every Mario game released after this one wishes to be as good as it is.
dont kill me but this game is sooooo tired. for what it is i loved this game as a kid but have no desire to play it 10+ years later
I liked it. I understand why people would say this is a good game, I mean the gameplay is fun, and it was the Childhood of a lot of People.
The game itself has aged like fine wine but the camera controls have aged like 2% milk.
INSANELY replayable. I've beaten this game so many times it's not even funny.
although kinda dated, this game is still a blast and i can have a good time running around in the game because mario controls like a god if god was a nintendo 64 controller.
overrated but way too important nonetheless
for whatever reason my 5 year old self managed to single handedly emulate this properly; this game holds some of the best memories i could ever have related to having fun and whatnot
There isn't a whole lot I can say about this game that hasn't already been said about a trillion times by now, so I'll just leave it at this:
This game is a lot of fun if you're just going through it at your own pace and playing it through any%. The first and second floors are very strong in the level design department, although Shifting Sand Land's 100 coin star is pretty tedious. The third floor has some doozies, but I remember feeling like a genius for figuring out an unintentional way of getting the star on the far-off mushroom in Tall Tall Mountain as six year old.
The game really drops off in quality by the last two courses, which are not only super linear (contradicting the design philosophy of being more open ended that the game has used up to this point) but exist over a huge ass bottomless pit.
The beauty of this game's collect-a-thon nature is that you can skip all of the badly designed courses. You'll still have to collect more than half of the game's power stars, but there is more than enough leeway to ignore Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride (and then some). Go for all 120 stars, however, and it really puts things into perspective and suddenly all of those comments about the game aging poorly start to make sense. I have a feeling there's a reason that I never bothered to get all of them until a year or two ago.
I'll also highly recommend Super Mario 64 Plus for PC while I'm here. It's a highly customizable experience that lets you tweak the gameplay to be as close to (or as far removed) from the vanilla game as you'd like. Just want to play at 60 FPS with all of the growing pains in tact? Go for it. Want that buttery smooth 60 FPS with a side of no boot-outs and a much better camera? It's there too.
This game is a lot of fun if you're just going through it at your own pace and playing it through any%. The first and second floors are very strong in the level design department, although Shifting Sand Land's 100 coin star is pretty tedious. The third floor has some doozies, but I remember feeling like a genius for figuring out an unintentional way of getting the star on the far-off mushroom in Tall Tall Mountain as six year old.
The game really drops off in quality by the last two courses, which are not only super linear (contradicting the design philosophy of being more open ended that the game has used up to this point) but exist over a huge ass bottomless pit.
The beauty of this game's collect-a-thon nature is that you can skip all of the badly designed courses. You'll still have to collect more than half of the game's power stars, but there is more than enough leeway to ignore Tick Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride (and then some). Go for all 120 stars, however, and it really puts things into perspective and suddenly all of those comments about the game aging poorly start to make sense. I have a feeling there's a reason that I never bothered to get all of them until a year or two ago.
I'll also highly recommend Super Mario 64 Plus for PC while I'm here. It's a highly customizable experience that lets you tweak the gameplay to be as close to (or as far removed) from the vanilla game as you'd like. Just want to play at 60 FPS with all of the growing pains in tact? Go for it. Want that buttery smooth 60 FPS with a side of no boot-outs and a much better camera? It's there too.
An experienced dev team's first foray into true 3D that, shockingly, gets it right all the way back in June 1996.
Absolutely rock-solid fundamentals which set the tone for the rest of the genre. Analog controls enable precise adjustment of angles which have huge downstream effects. A signature focus on momentum, combined with tricks both intentional and unintentional, birthed one of the most legendary and iconic speedrunning scenes of all time. Systems like this in a casual single player context, balanced to enhance rather than subvert challenges, are rare to find, and even the devs themselves never quite managed to recapture this particular flavor.
The level design here is emblematic of the early 3D era "golden age": enough detail and representation to evoke sense of place, but with the abstraction necessitated by the time's technology both facilitating dense layouts and imbuing the atmosphere with a surreal, dreamlike quality. No established formulas for success existed yet, so levels aren't overly concerned with providing the player a frictionless experience. Each expresses their own quirky character, something felt even more strongly than usual since gameplay is so contextualized by the precise placement of nearby geometry.
Shortcomings mainly occur in obtuse progression/secrets and a handful of stages (more concentrated in the latter half) that don't play to the game's strengths. Luckily, the huge modding scene has leveraged this fantastic foundation and learned from these mistakes to create a veritable cornucopia of visions, both vanilla-like and experimental, for you as a player to explore.
Yup, Quake is a pretty great game!
Absolutely rock-solid fundamentals which set the tone for the rest of the genre. Analog controls enable precise adjustment of angles which have huge downstream effects. A signature focus on momentum, combined with tricks both intentional and unintentional, birthed one of the most legendary and iconic speedrunning scenes of all time. Systems like this in a casual single player context, balanced to enhance rather than subvert challenges, are rare to find, and even the devs themselves never quite managed to recapture this particular flavor.
The level design here is emblematic of the early 3D era "golden age": enough detail and representation to evoke sense of place, but with the abstraction necessitated by the time's technology both facilitating dense layouts and imbuing the atmosphere with a surreal, dreamlike quality. No established formulas for success existed yet, so levels aren't overly concerned with providing the player a frictionless experience. Each expresses their own quirky character, something felt even more strongly than usual since gameplay is so contextualized by the precise placement of nearby geometry.
Shortcomings mainly occur in obtuse progression/secrets and a handful of stages (more concentrated in the latter half) that don't play to the game's strengths. Luckily, the huge modding scene has leveraged this fantastic foundation and learned from these mistakes to create a veritable cornucopia of visions, both vanilla-like and experimental, for you as a player to explore.
Yup, Quake is a pretty great game!
first time i actually finished after starting and restarting over and over for probably over a decade at this point. the goat the bible the blueprint ect. the greatest advancement in the phenomenology of video games as far as My Specific Tastes are concerned. wall kicks will definitely work
I will never forget mine and my brother's disappointment with Super Mario 64. We could not believe this game was not similar to Super Mario World. At that point, our experience with Mario was with the 2D formula: get to the end of the stage, beat the boss in the castle, go to another world. Super Mario 64 was clunky, confusing and even frustrating in the beginning. The idea of 3D games was interesting in the magazines, but nauseating in real life. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with this game and to start appreciating the new. I still don't understand how we got this game instead of something more similar to Crash Bandicoot, but after some years and some playthroughs, I love Super Mario 64 more and more.
The First 3D Mario game, an ageless masterpiece.
fuck ass camera
Just as enjoyable as the previous replay. I can feel myself getting even better at controlling Mario. The camera isn't an issue to me anymore. The vast majority of levels are really good but Dire Dire Docks is pretty dull and Rainbow Ride is annoying. I like how you can finish the game rather quickly, ignoring the vast majority of the least fun stars and still get to the cool Bowser stages and end credits.
I never actually beat this game. Jumping around was fun though.
Stop me if youve heard this one before! super mario 64 is a very good video game Oh would you look at that it appears i have been stopped
There is a fine line between hate and love as this game has shown me
Super Mario 64 knocks it out of the park as being not just a great 3D platformer, but the first to incorporate it in a meaningful capacity with easy to pick up yet incredibly nuanced controls.
I remember my mind opening up when playing Donkey Kong 94 and the aerobatic controls being brought over to Super Mario 64. It’s a 5 Star game for me not just in terms of influence but I genuinely enjoy playing this to the point that I went for a 120 Star clear - this is not even the first time.
I remember my mind opening up when playing Donkey Kong 94 and the aerobatic controls being brought over to Super Mario 64. It’s a 5 Star game for me not just in terms of influence but I genuinely enjoy playing this to the point that I went for a 120 Star clear - this is not even the first time.
This game is super important to me because it was the first game I ever beat. It's a great game with the main weak point being the bosses, not to say they suck, they just aren't as challenging as the platforming required to get to them. Still, if you haven't played it you should give it a try.
Now before I begin I just want to clarify this:
This is strictly my own opinion. If you disagree with me, more power to you. Just keep the comments civil and respectful.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to
GAME MODE: ON!
Well, took longer than expected to get around to it but at last, I'm finally reviewing a game on a Nintendo platform.
Don't ask me why it took be forever to do this, quite frankly, I don't know.
But anyway, Nintendo.
I'm sure we all know these guys by now. They're some of the biggest pioneers of gaming and have done alot in terms of game design and the home console market. They were responsible for saving the industry after a horrendous crash and have been enchanting consumers with some of the most charming and classic games and franchises ever made including The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, CastleVania, Pokemon and, you guessed it, Super Mario Bros.
Much like how Nintendo is the Disney of the gaming industry, Mario is their Mickey Mouse. Being the definitive gaming mascot, he's known for capturing the hearts and minds of players everywhere with great game after great game. From the olden days of the NES to the fantastical heights of Odyssey and Wonder, Mario continues to remain relevant in a time when, let's be honest here, another crash could happen at any moment for a multitude of reasons.
That being said, while lots of people have different opinions on which is the best Mario game, there's also discussions on what they consider their least favorites. Now I'm not talking about the obvious spin-off junk like Hotel Mario, I'm specifically referring to the mainline entries. Despite each game receiving critical acclaim, not everyone is on-board with what certain games brought to the table. Some aren't a fan of the New sub-series for playing it too safe, others aren't keen on Sunshine for it's FLUDD mechanics and requirement to collect every Sprite to finish it, hell, I'm sure there are some people out there who didn't like World much for it's cryptic secrets that stopped players from advancing through.
As for me, my least favorite Mario game happens to be the one that revolutionized 3D platforming and refine the series for a new generation, Super Mario 64.
Yeah, I know the game was a huge hit when it first came out, yeah, I know people really loved it, yeah, I understand it's memorability and lasting factor, and yeah, I understand how anyone can find so much enjoyment in it. But I'm sorry, this one just didn't do it for me.
It wasn't all that fun, it wasn't all that exciting, it just wasn't as great as people made it out to be. Granted, I respect it for what it did for the franchise and without it, we wouldn't have Galaxy and Odyssey. However, I can't help but encounter problem after problem trying to play through this thing.
I know this is a pretty big hot-take but hey, that's nothing new for me, I spew hot-takes all the time. After all, you're listening to the same guy who cited Rick & Morty as the worst thing to happen to comedy since SeltzerBerg and the worst thing to happen to television since Peppa Pig and the olden days of Caillou.
So what is it about Mario 64 that exactly didn't do it for me? Well, whether you wanna read on or not, here we go.
STORY & CHARACTERIZATION:
If you've ever played a Mario game before, you pretty much know the gist:
Giant turtle-dragon kidnaps princess, Italian-Brooklyn plumber goes to save her, get some sprites, stomp some foes, etc.
This time, Bowser has invaded Peach's castle and drained it of it's Star power so Mario now has to traverse through fifteen worlds to collect enough Star Sprites in order to save the day. Same old shit.
Therefore, there's not much point in me going over the story since, well, there's barely any to be found. Just your typical Mario adventure only now it's in 3D. This is a formula that has gone on for so long and yet, people still buy these games and enjoy them because, well, it's more or less the gameplay and the extra bells and whistles that changes up the experience that really brings on the fun and provides plenty of everlasting entertainment.
That's all well and good. However....
GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS:
As stated before, this was a massive pioneer for the platforming genre as it brings Mario into the third dimension with a variety of new challenges and gimmicks to honor the new direction. At the time, yeah, I can see what all the hubbub is about but today.... I sometimes struggle to understand how anyone can play this thing without raging and crying.
Now keep in mind that I'm playing the 3D All-Stars port on the Nintendo Switch so there's a good chance it may play differently from it's original hardware. But holy shit, if playing this on my Switch Lite was a pain, I can't imagine how much worse it would've been on the N64 with that abomination of a controller. Again, I know it's a port so it's expected not to play as smoothly but when you take the time to try out the other games on the collection, Sunshine and Galaxy, they played perfectly fine and controlled very well. So it's not really 3D All-Star's fault, it's more or less that 64 is an absolute dookie.
Sure, when you first start up the game, moving around, jumping and getting used to certain moves may feel fine but then later on, it can get pretty slippery especially when you're trying to maneuver around tight platforming challenges. There are times when sharp turns only work when they feel like it thus resulting in me unfairly falling off a cliff to my death, there are times during a timed challenge when pulling off a specific move in a hurried state can fuck me up, there are times when I would bump into a wall accidentally and that would often bounce me back or stun me which more often than not gets me killed and of course, there's the camera. OH GOD! THE CAMERA!
Not gonna sugarcoat it, I fucking hate the camera controls in this game. It is unbearably snappy, it usually sticks on positions that makes navigating very difficult and no matter what angle I tried to set it on, it usually does whatever the hell it wants. At least Banjo-Kazooie had competent camera controls compared to this crap!
Speaking of Banjo, while I did have my problems with that game as well, I would dare say it has plenty of improvements over Mario 64 such as not being booted back to the hub every time I find a main collectable and having somewhat better flying controls(which I'll get to soon). That being said, similar to Banjo, it has a tedious issue where every time you come back to a save file, you always start back outside the main hub and, to make things even more frustrating, all your lives are automatically reset to 4. So if you're thinking about farming for extra lives for the more difficult challenges and boss fights, do not plan on turning the game off and coming back later, just forget about it.
I will give it this over Banjo that there's no bullshit quiz show with timed boss rematches and even the final boss against Bowser is a cakewalk compared to Gruntilda. But again, it has it's shortcomings.
Besides stomping on enemies, Mario now can not only punch and kick but can also pick up certain items. Sounds like a decent mechanic but even that's a pain to do. When trying to talk to a character or picking up something, those commands are usually mapped to the same buttons as punch and jump so if you're not in a specific spot, you're gonna have a bad time. Trying to grab a turtle shell from a clam while swimming underwater is an absolute chore and even trying to throw Bowser at a bomb is much harder than it looks.
And yes, there are power-ups like in the other Mario games but only two of which are of any decent help while the one that makes you fly can go eat a dick. When I first got it, it seems to work fine and is even a little fun but once I tried it out on some worlds, it somehow lost it's functionality and now plays like shit. Trying to fly around is frustrating as all hell as I constantly float back down and I need to dive down and back up to gain any height and momentum only for it to barely work thus rendering certain challenges unbeatable. Fuck this shit!
Therefore, the difficulty balance is all over the place. Some challenges take less than two minutes to figure out while others can fuck off for all I care. Seriously, how is anyone supposed to wall-jump to a certain point in Boo's Mansion to reach a Star on the balcony? It's fucking impossible! You know a game isn't appealing to you that well when the best thing you can say about it is that it's swimming controls are competent at best.
I don't mind a game being difficult when it's done right but for Christ's sake, this was a pain in the ass to play through. Thank god that I only needed 70 Stars to finish it or else, I would've slit my own goddamn throat out of frustration.
Say what you will about the old 2D Mario games but the difficulty felt fair and better balanced. If I missed a jump or hurried too quickly to defeat an enemy, that's my own fault, not the games'. Can't say the same for this unfortunately, alot of my failings felt like utter bullshit.
GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION VALUE:
Now let's try to be positive for a moment and at least praise some aspects of the game.
While it is one of the very first of it's kind, the 64-bit graphics are quite nice to look at with some decent shading and models and plenty of iconic visuals. Despite being a port, I haven't had any game-breaking bugs or hard crashes, it just runs perfectly fine. That, and the music by Koji Kondo is excellent and very memorable in it's own right.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, sorry to say, folks, but Super Mario 64 did not do it for me that much.
While I can respect for alot of good it did for both the franchise and the industry and I'll give it that there are sprinkles of charm, I cannot get over how stiff and clunky it plays. Granted, it plays way better than Conker's Bad Fur Day on Rare Replay but that's not saying much.
Had Nintendo actually remade the game with better controls and camera for 3D All-Stars or, if they were going to port it anyway, touched up them up so that it plays much better, I wouldn't have been so hard on it as I have been.
That being said, Sunshine and Galaxy still play great so pre-ordering 3D All-Stars for it's original asking price wasn't a regrettable loss and I'll definitely play those more over this any day.
If you guys loved this game and still cherish it, hey, that's cool even if I'll barely understand how anyone can play it without smashing a controller in frustration.
But just to play fair for a bit, I'll give it three stars just on the basis that I've played worse-controlling games than this. Far worse! Sonic Heroes, anyone?
Until next time, thank you for taking the time to check out this installment of GAME MODE: ON.
If you liked what you've read here and want to see more, you can go ahead and follow me whenever you want.
And also, don't forget to check out my Letterboxd page for new film reviews every week.
AFTER-NOTE: I'm gonna be holding off on publishing for this site for a while since I've got an event planned for later this year and that's going to take up plenty of time and energy so no more game reviews from me for a while until I'm done with that project. Nevertheless, stay tuned.
This is strictly my own opinion. If you disagree with me, more power to you. Just keep the comments civil and respectful.
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to
GAME MODE: ON!
Well, took longer than expected to get around to it but at last, I'm finally reviewing a game on a Nintendo platform.
Don't ask me why it took be forever to do this, quite frankly, I don't know.
But anyway, Nintendo.
I'm sure we all know these guys by now. They're some of the biggest pioneers of gaming and have done alot in terms of game design and the home console market. They were responsible for saving the industry after a horrendous crash and have been enchanting consumers with some of the most charming and classic games and franchises ever made including The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, CastleVania, Pokemon and, you guessed it, Super Mario Bros.
Much like how Nintendo is the Disney of the gaming industry, Mario is their Mickey Mouse. Being the definitive gaming mascot, he's known for capturing the hearts and minds of players everywhere with great game after great game. From the olden days of the NES to the fantastical heights of Odyssey and Wonder, Mario continues to remain relevant in a time when, let's be honest here, another crash could happen at any moment for a multitude of reasons.
That being said, while lots of people have different opinions on which is the best Mario game, there's also discussions on what they consider their least favorites. Now I'm not talking about the obvious spin-off junk like Hotel Mario, I'm specifically referring to the mainline entries. Despite each game receiving critical acclaim, not everyone is on-board with what certain games brought to the table. Some aren't a fan of the New sub-series for playing it too safe, others aren't keen on Sunshine for it's FLUDD mechanics and requirement to collect every Sprite to finish it, hell, I'm sure there are some people out there who didn't like World much for it's cryptic secrets that stopped players from advancing through.
As for me, my least favorite Mario game happens to be the one that revolutionized 3D platforming and refine the series for a new generation, Super Mario 64.
Yeah, I know the game was a huge hit when it first came out, yeah, I know people really loved it, yeah, I understand it's memorability and lasting factor, and yeah, I understand how anyone can find so much enjoyment in it. But I'm sorry, this one just didn't do it for me.
It wasn't all that fun, it wasn't all that exciting, it just wasn't as great as people made it out to be. Granted, I respect it for what it did for the franchise and without it, we wouldn't have Galaxy and Odyssey. However, I can't help but encounter problem after problem trying to play through this thing.
I know this is a pretty big hot-take but hey, that's nothing new for me, I spew hot-takes all the time. After all, you're listening to the same guy who cited Rick & Morty as the worst thing to happen to comedy since SeltzerBerg and the worst thing to happen to television since Peppa Pig and the olden days of Caillou.
So what is it about Mario 64 that exactly didn't do it for me? Well, whether you wanna read on or not, here we go.
STORY & CHARACTERIZATION:
If you've ever played a Mario game before, you pretty much know the gist:
Giant turtle-dragon kidnaps princess, Italian-Brooklyn plumber goes to save her, get some sprites, stomp some foes, etc.
This time, Bowser has invaded Peach's castle and drained it of it's Star power so Mario now has to traverse through fifteen worlds to collect enough Star Sprites in order to save the day. Same old shit.
Therefore, there's not much point in me going over the story since, well, there's barely any to be found. Just your typical Mario adventure only now it's in 3D. This is a formula that has gone on for so long and yet, people still buy these games and enjoy them because, well, it's more or less the gameplay and the extra bells and whistles that changes up the experience that really brings on the fun and provides plenty of everlasting entertainment.
That's all well and good. However....
GAMEPLAY & CONTROLS:
As stated before, this was a massive pioneer for the platforming genre as it brings Mario into the third dimension with a variety of new challenges and gimmicks to honor the new direction. At the time, yeah, I can see what all the hubbub is about but today.... I sometimes struggle to understand how anyone can play this thing without raging and crying.
Now keep in mind that I'm playing the 3D All-Stars port on the Nintendo Switch so there's a good chance it may play differently from it's original hardware. But holy shit, if playing this on my Switch Lite was a pain, I can't imagine how much worse it would've been on the N64 with that abomination of a controller. Again, I know it's a port so it's expected not to play as smoothly but when you take the time to try out the other games on the collection, Sunshine and Galaxy, they played perfectly fine and controlled very well. So it's not really 3D All-Star's fault, it's more or less that 64 is an absolute dookie.
Sure, when you first start up the game, moving around, jumping and getting used to certain moves may feel fine but then later on, it can get pretty slippery especially when you're trying to maneuver around tight platforming challenges. There are times when sharp turns only work when they feel like it thus resulting in me unfairly falling off a cliff to my death, there are times during a timed challenge when pulling off a specific move in a hurried state can fuck me up, there are times when I would bump into a wall accidentally and that would often bounce me back or stun me which more often than not gets me killed and of course, there's the camera. OH GOD! THE CAMERA!
Not gonna sugarcoat it, I fucking hate the camera controls in this game. It is unbearably snappy, it usually sticks on positions that makes navigating very difficult and no matter what angle I tried to set it on, it usually does whatever the hell it wants. At least Banjo-Kazooie had competent camera controls compared to this crap!
Speaking of Banjo, while I did have my problems with that game as well, I would dare say it has plenty of improvements over Mario 64 such as not being booted back to the hub every time I find a main collectable and having somewhat better flying controls(which I'll get to soon). That being said, similar to Banjo, it has a tedious issue where every time you come back to a save file, you always start back outside the main hub and, to make things even more frustrating, all your lives are automatically reset to 4. So if you're thinking about farming for extra lives for the more difficult challenges and boss fights, do not plan on turning the game off and coming back later, just forget about it.
I will give it this over Banjo that there's no bullshit quiz show with timed boss rematches and even the final boss against Bowser is a cakewalk compared to Gruntilda. But again, it has it's shortcomings.
Besides stomping on enemies, Mario now can not only punch and kick but can also pick up certain items. Sounds like a decent mechanic but even that's a pain to do. When trying to talk to a character or picking up something, those commands are usually mapped to the same buttons as punch and jump so if you're not in a specific spot, you're gonna have a bad time. Trying to grab a turtle shell from a clam while swimming underwater is an absolute chore and even trying to throw Bowser at a bomb is much harder than it looks.
And yes, there are power-ups like in the other Mario games but only two of which are of any decent help while the one that makes you fly can go eat a dick. When I first got it, it seems to work fine and is even a little fun but once I tried it out on some worlds, it somehow lost it's functionality and now plays like shit. Trying to fly around is frustrating as all hell as I constantly float back down and I need to dive down and back up to gain any height and momentum only for it to barely work thus rendering certain challenges unbeatable. Fuck this shit!
Therefore, the difficulty balance is all over the place. Some challenges take less than two minutes to figure out while others can fuck off for all I care. Seriously, how is anyone supposed to wall-jump to a certain point in Boo's Mansion to reach a Star on the balcony? It's fucking impossible! You know a game isn't appealing to you that well when the best thing you can say about it is that it's swimming controls are competent at best.
I don't mind a game being difficult when it's done right but for Christ's sake, this was a pain in the ass to play through. Thank god that I only needed 70 Stars to finish it or else, I would've slit my own goddamn throat out of frustration.
Say what you will about the old 2D Mario games but the difficulty felt fair and better balanced. If I missed a jump or hurried too quickly to defeat an enemy, that's my own fault, not the games'. Can't say the same for this unfortunately, alot of my failings felt like utter bullshit.
GRAPHICS & PRODUCTION VALUE:
Now let's try to be positive for a moment and at least praise some aspects of the game.
While it is one of the very first of it's kind, the 64-bit graphics are quite nice to look at with some decent shading and models and plenty of iconic visuals. Despite being a port, I haven't had any game-breaking bugs or hard crashes, it just runs perfectly fine. That, and the music by Koji Kondo is excellent and very memorable in it's own right.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Overall, sorry to say, folks, but Super Mario 64 did not do it for me that much.
While I can respect for alot of good it did for both the franchise and the industry and I'll give it that there are sprinkles of charm, I cannot get over how stiff and clunky it plays. Granted, it plays way better than Conker's Bad Fur Day on Rare Replay but that's not saying much.
Had Nintendo actually remade the game with better controls and camera for 3D All-Stars or, if they were going to port it anyway, touched up them up so that it plays much better, I wouldn't have been so hard on it as I have been.
That being said, Sunshine and Galaxy still play great so pre-ordering 3D All-Stars for it's original asking price wasn't a regrettable loss and I'll definitely play those more over this any day.
If you guys loved this game and still cherish it, hey, that's cool even if I'll barely understand how anyone can play it without smashing a controller in frustration.
But just to play fair for a bit, I'll give it three stars just on the basis that I've played worse-controlling games than this. Far worse! Sonic Heroes, anyone?
Until next time, thank you for taking the time to check out this installment of GAME MODE: ON.
If you liked what you've read here and want to see more, you can go ahead and follow me whenever you want.
And also, don't forget to check out my Letterboxd page for new film reviews every week.
AFTER-NOTE: I'm gonna be holding off on publishing for this site for a while since I've got an event planned for later this year and that's going to take up plenty of time and energy so no more game reviews from me for a while until I'm done with that project. Nevertheless, stay tuned.
i'm giving it a second chance but the only challenge in this game is the controls and i wont act like its not in zelda its not prohibitive too bad here its a fucking platformer and i cant move the right way oh god it makes me angry
A complete classic, everyone should try this at least once. This is the gold standard for 3D platformers.
i love the movement system but goddamn the level design can be so ass at times