Super Mario 64 (1996)

Super Mario 64 still holds up surprisingly well, especially in its core mechanics. Its art style is unmistakably Mario, and the movement system remains tight, expressive, and skill-based. Even today, controlling Mario feels good in a way many modern games still struggle to match.

As the quintessential 3D platformer, SM64 is built around patience and precision. The game often asks the player to master difficult jumps, camera management, and awkward angles. While this design can be rewarding, it can also be obtuse and frustrating, especially by modern standards. Some challenges feel less like deliberate tests of skill and more like fights against the camera or unclear level design.

The game’s main strength is its focus on gameplay above all else. Mario feels athletic and acrobatic, and each level functions as a sandbox meant to test your understanding of movement. Experimentation and mechanical mastery are constantly encouraged, and at its best, the game delivers a unique sense of accomplishment that few platformers can replicate.

That said, Super Mario 64 offers very little beyond its mechanics. The lack of a meaningful story or environmental storytelling feels like a missed opportunity, especially given the variety and creativity of its levels. While this minimalism was understandable at the time, it does make the experience feel somewhat hollow compared to later entries or other Nintendo franchises like Zelda, which I personally prefer for their stronger narrative focus.

Overall, Super Mario 64 is a historically important and still enjoyable game, but one that clearly shows its age. It’s absolutely worth playing today—especially via the PC port with 60 FPS, 4K textures, and quality-of-life improvements—but it’s no longer the untouchable masterpiece it once was. Instead, it stands as a strong foundation for the genre rather than its definitive peak.

Super Mario 64 mullisti kertaheitolla 3D-tasohyppelyt. Se oli käytännössä pioneeri, joka teki kaiken paremmin kuin mitä suurin osa kilpailijoista pystyi pitkään aikaan. Vaikka kamera on nykymittapuulla kamala ja Mario ohjautuu hieman tahmeammin kuin nykyään, on peli edelleen varsin hauska. Musiikit läpsivät, grafiikat ovat värikkäät, tasohyppely on hauskaa. Pelissä myös etenemisen vapaus on toteutettu hyvin, ja läpipeluuta varten saa keskittyä haluamiensa kenttien tähtien keräilyyn ja skipata palkeita pahiten polkevat paikat.

Itse peli tuli pelattua kaverin kanssa ohjainta kierrättäen Super Mario 3D All-Stars -version kanssa. Remasteri on ihan hyvä, mutta jos fanikunta pystyy talkoovoimin tekemään pelistä FullHD-resoa (sekä 4K:ta) ja 60fps-tilaa hyödyntävän, pitäisi Nintendonkin.

Super Mario 64 is one of the most famous examples of a 3D game that nails it in its first attempt. Nintendo was very late to the 3D market so all eyes were on this game for a first impression.

Super Mario 64 nailed it and set the Nintendo 64 on the map and it led to many more successful games such as The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time.

The game doesn't have a deep story or high stakes. The game is simply fun

Princess Peach invites Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom for cake. Upon arrival Mario discovers that Bowser has sieged the castle and has taken all the Stars and has kidnapped Peach. It's up to Mario to gather the stars and save the princess.

There's a total of 120 Stars in the game but you only need a total of 70 to beat the game.

The game provides the player the ability to choose what levels they want to do, what stars they want to get, and how they want to get it. There's a huge priority on player choice and freedom.

The atmosphere in each of the 15 levels is amazing, with amazing music and challenge in them.

You can tell that Nintendo prioritized Mario's movement and it shows. Mario moves really well and he controls so well to the point where every time I did something remotely cool... I felt so amazing and it was because the fun of the game was seeing how Mario moves and what you can do it with it

However, the game has aged poorly in some aspects... The camera is a clunky mess that makes a lot of the deaths feel very cheap, the game is very VERY unforgiving. If you so much as fall off the ledge.. You are booted back to the beginning, the 100 coin stars are very angry inducing, and backtracking is a bit irritating.

With that being said, Super Mario 64 is a wonderful game so full of imagination and charm and it's a must play to anyone who loves video games as I do

Would Recommend

4/5

Well, one day I'll actually complete this game with an N64 controller. Back in 2013, I got all 120 stars on a tiny Acer laptop, and this week I did it on my SNES classic with an SNES controller. Trust me: the platforming in this game is so much easier with an analog stick.

There are people who say that this is the greatest game of all time; conversely, there are those who claim that the former are blinded by nostalgia and that it really isn't all that good. Both are wrong. This is an extremely solid game, certainly one of the best of its time, but to say say that it's the best game ever is an affront to the last 23 years of gaming. And though the controls and camera have aged quite poorly, it remains one of the best games to just pick and play anytime, anywhere. Drop me in at any point in the game, and I won't be able to stop until I've collected at least 10 power stars.

Personally, I rank this as my 22nd favourite game of all time. About half of Mario 64 is an absolute joy to play, while the other is bogged down by dull levels or platforming that is only challenging because of the limitations of the hardware and the fact that Mario (and most other video game characters) had never stepped foot in a 3D plane before. While these limitations are completely forgivable, they do have to count against it when playing in 2019. I still get excited jumping into Bob-Omb Battlefield, Cool Cool Mountain, and Lethal Lava Land, but I do have to force myself through Hazy Maze Cave, Wet-Dry World, and Tiny Huge Island. It all balances out to be one of my favourite games, but not near the top.

Overall, history should remember Super Mario 64 for what it is: a revolutionary game that paved the way for gaming for years to come, but is still just the 3rd best game on the system.

I played the NDS port last year and thought that maybe this wasn't as good as I remembered. Gave it another shot on the N64 and GOD DAMN.

Movement and controls are perfect, level design is awesome and varied, music is catchy as fuck.

This game has it's flaws, but is so good it overshines them. Truly a work greater than the sum of its parts.

I give Super Mario 64 a Super strong 9.

PS. What's your favorite level? Mine is Lethal Lava Land. Lots of great platforming in this one!

There is a true reverence for Super Mario 64. Nearing 20 years after its initial release, the game that set numerous standards for 3d gaming in general is still held in high regard. Just here on Grouvee there is over 1500 reviews at the time of this writing and over a 4 star rating. Nintendo during the time of N64 had to figure out where to take Mario next heading into this new concept of 3D gaming. An icon that deserves no less than a game of epic proportions. So, with the help of the late great Iwata, and Miyamoto as well as the rest of the staff along came Super Mario 64.

From the opening scene of Mario jumping out of a green pipe, the player is immediately introduced to this huge (by 1996 standards) area to play in. Jump, slide, climb on trees and hop backwards, do a handstand on top of them, do the worm, swim in the moat that empties into a small pool near the edge of the playable area, butt stomp, punch the air. All of this possible and all of this comes in handy over the course of the game!

So as the story goes, Princess Peach invites Mario to Mushroom Castle for some cake before she is abducted by the evil koopa king Bowser. It is up to Mario to go to the castle and save her again! As it would turn out, Bowser has made all the Toad servants stuck in the walls, only able to offer advice as a specter of sorts. Bowser also turned the various paintings in the rooms into portals that lead to other worlds inhabited by the various members of his army. In the levels, Bowser has hidden Power Stars or given them to his henchmen to hold and Mario must collect these stars to get at Bowser and rescue Peach!

On a personal note, I couldn't figure out what to do once I had entered the castle on my first playthrough, so I kinda just ran around doing random stuff. I had walked into the first room available to you and punched the paintings, only to find one of them ripple when I punched it! It was incredible to think that these paintings were PORTALS into other levels. That isn't even the best part, It isn't just paintings. There are other objects around the castle that will take you to other levels too!

The camera work in Super Mario 64 is impeccable. Of course it will get stuck if you take it at the right angle, but 99% of the time the camera is able to shift either automatically or manually with a button press onto your back. 3rd person perspective is so normal nowadays, and we mostly can thank Super Mario for that. To close, Super Mario 64 is a game that has stood the test of time. No matter how dated the graphics are on a 20 year old console, the controls are tight, responsive and fun, the gameplay is nothing short of incredible, and everything else included make this a must play for any age, any generation. You haven't played a Mario game until you have experienced Super Mario 64.