Super Mario 64 is probably the single most important video game ever made. It’s also almost assuredly the single most-cited “greatest of all time” in the medium, and considering what it did to the industry, it’s no wonder why. Mario 64 is still considered king of the speedrunning scene–a testament to the quality with which Mario controls. In fact, much of my joy from playing through it came from performing the iconic speedrunning strategies like Cannonless, (failing at) Owlless, and the endless staircase BLJ, to name the well-known ones. Unfortunately, due to a larger focus on tighter platforming as the game progresses, the later levels soured my taste on the title and struggled to live up to the excellence of the early levels in my opinion. Those early stages like Bob-Omb Battlefield, Whomp’s Fortress, and Cool Cool Mountain are near perfect displays of what makes Mario 64 so Super.

It's hard to believe this game came out when it did. It still genuinely holds up today. The controls could use some refining in a few places, namely Mario's weird ass Ring Around The Rosy move he does when you try to turn around. My biggest complaint with this game is that Mario is literally too good for the levels. They don't make use of all his tricks enough. The Mario 64 Romhacking community, however, has more than made up for that. Check out SM64 - Decades Later for a good example of a masterfully made Mario 64 romhack.

Esse foi meu primeiro jogo da Nintendo, lá para 2010 quando eu tinha lá meus dez anos. Logo, não tinha ideia do quão importante foi esse game para a história dos videogames, o quanto ele definiu quase tudo do viriam a ser as bases dos jogos 3D e o quanto isso foi marcante em 1996.

Dito isso, dificilmente eu poderia gostar mais desse game. A sua direção de arte, aquele mundo que chama tanto a nossa atenção, as mecânicas, a progressão. Não sou um grande fã dos Marios clássicos, principalmente dos em duas dimensões, mas esse aqui me marcou muito.