Played on the fan PC port using the Render96 retexture/remodel mod
I've never actually beaten Super Mario 64, I've played it on dozens of occasions, getting to every level, getting most of the stars, but they were all separate instances and half the time powered by cheats, I've been in a bit of a 3D platformer mood recently so I sat down and went through the entire thing start to finish, and long story short, while my opinions have hardly changed for the game, it's really a landmark title and a great game.
In terms of how I feel after finally replaying it, best case scenario I can say that I've grown more fond of the control scheme than I was before, and worst case scenario I've really figured out how bad the level design is in the game.
Fundamentals wise the game is tight as hell, it's the major reason why the game is so great, the controls are just really really good, and it's fun to do what effectively feels like cheating to do some tight jumps to get a star without going through the objective the game intended.
Level design kind of reeks though, it's not offensively bad just a bit boring and simple, there are a few particularly bad ones like the water level though, and the ones with giant falls for every missed jump aren't an amazing experience, and it kind of sucks how generic a lot of the visuals are, most levels sharing a set of like 4-5 songs doesn't help either, the joy is just out of how often the levels are oversized playgrounds and have been designed thoughtlessly enough for you to be able to just hit some jump and snag a star because of it.
Power-ups aren't really worth noting, 2/3 of them are just basic tools to solve a problem you'd have with a puzzle, and the other one is a gimmick that rarely gets used that while cool for it's time, isn't fun to control.
Bosses are super forgettable, there's 3 that'd I'd consider actual boss-fights, and 1 of those 3 you can totally miss, there's King Bob-omb who's more of a tutorial, the bowser fights which are cakewalks with the third one being a bit annoying if you don't know how to chain throws together, and there's the hand fight in the desert level, they're all nothing special.
It's really interesting to look back and see how much this game really influenced the industry due to how much of a hit it was, it's still got a chokehold on the design of current 3D Mario games, and plenty of indie games take massive inspiration from it, though you'll just as often see a major inspiration by another game I plan to play eventually, Banjo-Kazooie.
I can't really say this game is one-of-a-kind though, as not only did the industry and indie devs follow in suit for years, but that Nintendo themselves did the same with most 3D Mario games lifting major elements from this, but it's definitely worth playing if you've even somewhat enjoyed anything that takes inspiration from this.
I've never actually beaten Super Mario 64, I've played it on dozens of occasions, getting to every level, getting most of the stars, but they were all separate instances and half the time powered by cheats, I've been in a bit of a 3D platformer mood recently so I sat down and went through the entire thing start to finish, and long story short, while my opinions have hardly changed for the game, it's really a landmark title and a great game.
In terms of how I feel after finally replaying it, best case scenario I can say that I've grown more fond of the control scheme than I was before, and worst case scenario I've really figured out how bad the level design is in the game.
Fundamentals wise the game is tight as hell, it's the major reason why the game is so great, the controls are just really really good, and it's fun to do what effectively feels like cheating to do some tight jumps to get a star without going through the objective the game intended.
Level design kind of reeks though, it's not offensively bad just a bit boring and simple, there are a few particularly bad ones like the water level though, and the ones with giant falls for every missed jump aren't an amazing experience, and it kind of sucks how generic a lot of the visuals are, most levels sharing a set of like 4-5 songs doesn't help either, the joy is just out of how often the levels are oversized playgrounds and have been designed thoughtlessly enough for you to be able to just hit some jump and snag a star because of it.
Power-ups aren't really worth noting, 2/3 of them are just basic tools to solve a problem you'd have with a puzzle, and the other one is a gimmick that rarely gets used that while cool for it's time, isn't fun to control.
Bosses are super forgettable, there's 3 that'd I'd consider actual boss-fights, and 1 of those 3 you can totally miss, there's King Bob-omb who's more of a tutorial, the bowser fights which are cakewalks with the third one being a bit annoying if you don't know how to chain throws together, and there's the hand fight in the desert level, they're all nothing special.
It's really interesting to look back and see how much this game really influenced the industry due to how much of a hit it was, it's still got a chokehold on the design of current 3D Mario games, and plenty of indie games take massive inspiration from it, though you'll just as often see a major inspiration by another game I plan to play eventually, Banjo-Kazooie.
I can't really say this game is one-of-a-kind though, as not only did the industry and indie devs follow in suit for years, but that Nintendo themselves did the same with most 3D Mario games lifting major elements from this, but it's definitely worth playing if you've even somewhat enjoyed anything that takes inspiration from this.