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.

Clearly the fact that this exists tells me that it appeals to people, but it feels like we've now hit the 3D equivalent of pixel over sharpening that happens with emulated 8- and 16-bit games. There's something off putting about this, maybe even uncanny. I think I prefer the original blocky look of N64 games, which is partially why I am glad the 3D All Stars version of Mario 64 isn't a remake or remaster. I have seen plenty of comments on articles featuring this video from people who wish the contrary. Because once again, some people would prefer playing a better looking remake than play the original game.

(P.S. I am in Old Man Yells at Cloud mode this week.)

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

This game was my uncontested GOAT game for a long time, mostly due to it being my number one childhood darling. After having replayed it, it's pretty clear that it's not as perfect as I remember it being, but it's still a damn great experience. It's impressive how such an old game can still be so fun to just sit down play. Even mindlessly running around in the area outside Peach's Castle or running through its halls feels good. Honestly this game still has some of the best movement controls in the entirety of gaming --- the Super Mario series has nailed the art of simply moving in a 3D, which I appreciate a lot when so many games even today feel so clunky and slow.

Things I noticed this time around that never bothered me as a child for some reason:

1. The obvious one, that camera. It's a real pain, and sometimes it seems to actively work against the player. Even in areas that aren't some off the beaten path places, just your regular paths to the star, there's always a wall or object getting in the way - I especially noticed in Tick Tock Clock, which is a shame because otherwise I really appreciate it as a straightforward obstacle course which had a clever star progression. Even in more open areas, sometimes you can't get the camera to let you look at the platform you want to jump to.
2. Some levels are just too slow-paced. Not specific stars, but the entire level itself seemingly conspiring so that traversing it will be as annoying as possible. It's a bit impressive how movement in the outer garden hub is so much fun but some of the levels, the main attraction themselves, feel so slow. This only applies to Dire, Dire Docks, Jolly Roger Bay and to a lesser extent Rainbow Ride, where you're stuck waiting for the carpet ride to reach its destination without much to do in-between. This is a Mario game, I want to jump and run and try to master my moves to travel even faster through the maps, not slowly swim towards red coins or wait until I'm on land to have fun again.
3. This is something that only came to mind after having played Odyssey, but getting kicked out of the levels really destroys the momentum of the gameplay. It mostly affects the 100 coins challenges, forcing you to go into a course for that challenge specifically as trying to do any other star during the coin collecting will kick you out of the level and reset your progress, so you'll have to go back through all the coins you collected once again. It's a real pain, and I really felt the differnce when compared to Odyssey's purple coins, which you'd find while exploring the level, and the game never forced you to go back and collected them again if you got interrupted by some moon or something.

Ordering non-bowser levels by how much fun I had playing through them:

1. Shifting Sand Land - Probable the largest level, with endless ways to travel through. Varied Star challenges, all being cool and interesting in their own way, a super cool boss battle, and has an inside and outside area, both of which are big and awesome to explore. The ideal level.
2. Whomp's Fortress - So many ways to climb the level, and it's always so much fun to move around it. As a child this used to be my favorite level to just go in and move/jump around, without any specific objectives in mind.
3. Cool, Cool Mountain - I used to not like ice levels as a kid very much because I had trouble with all the sliding and slippery surfaces, but after replaying it and trying the Green Demon challenge in this stage it became one of my favorites. Despite being a pretty tall course full of slides it's so easy to move around from the top to the bottom and back up again.
4. Wet-Dry World and Hazy Maze Cave - The most interesting thing about these levels to me is the way the stars are hidden, and how the player needs to puzzle things together to find them. It's a very special feeling zooming in and seeing a star hanging in the distance, or behind bars in a cage, and wondering how to find it. Exploring the level to find a way to reach it. These levels feel so mysterious, with several hidden areas that always made me feel like I was unearthing secrets every time I went through them.
5. Bob-omb Battlefield - A classic. It's the perfect introductory level for a new player to understand what it means to play this game, but it's still super fun to play and walk around in. It's easy and fun to traverse and gives you a lot of flexibility in how to proceed through the star challenges. It's just overall great. 3D Mario games are at their best when they give the player flexibility of traversal and movement.
6. Lethal Lava Land - A straightforward obstacle course. The lava adds a really interesting challenge element to the level, and the volcano is super cool. I love how after finishing the star challenges you unlock a koopa shell to zoom through the entire level freely. It feels really great.
7. Big Boo's Haunt - This course used to scare me as a child. I might still have some residue feelings of those times because I still get tense upon entering it despite there not being anything particularly dangerous in here, lol (no lethal falls or OHKO enemies). I love the sense of mystery it has, as is usual with boo houses.
8. Tall, Tall Mountain - I really like this stage. Somehow it feels so refreshing to play to me, even though it's designed in a way that you have to go through the same path several times it never felt tedious to me. Despite how linear and straight-forward it seems the stars are really cleverly hidden and I always had a challenging time puzzling through what I was supposed to do to get them. Made me really enjoy this stage. Also, the monkeys are super cute, I love them!
9. Tick Tock Clock - I love the idea of this level and how you can change the difficulty level by switching the clock's speed, with cleverly hidden stars that make you want to explore the level despite how linear it seems at first, but the camera makes it not very fun to go through more often than not, especially since you have to climb the clock tower several times.
10. Tiny, Huge Island - The gimmick didn't really work well imo, and going back into the level for a new star and having to go through the motions of leaving that first area always felt boring and annoying. Most of the star challenges sans the boss battle, red coins and koopa race felt really uninspired too.
11. Snowman's Land - I like the ice maze and some of the challenges, but it's pretty small all things considered, with really not much to do. What really damns this stage for me is that damn giant snowman blowing air on the bridge and the slow, slow penguin you need to ride to cross it. It's the worst every single time.

Worst levels:

1. Dire, Dire Docks - The worst level in the game. It throws you into the water and keeps you there most of the time. It's slow and a slog to go through from end to end. The 100 coins challenge feels slow and annoying since you're just swimming along from end to end.
2. Jolly Roger Bay - It's mostly the same as DDD, but it has more land areas, the star challenges are at least actually interesting to figure out and cleverly hidden, and hey, it at least has a cool looking sunken ship.
3. Rainbow Ride - It's not a horrible stage, but the long periods of waiting without nothing to do standing on the flying carpet make this otherwise challenging level feel like a slog for at least 4 of its stars. The stars that don't require the carpet riding are great though, and it's fun to find out ways to jump through the level without using the flying carpet.

Besides that, all Bowser levels are great, straightforward platforming challenges. All fun, especially when you factor in red coin collecting.

Also: Peach's Castle is the best hub world in any video game I've played. It's straightforward and easy to travers, but still has its own secrets and mysterious places and even puzzles for you to figure out, without it ever becoming a hindrance.

All in all, this mostly served me to realize just how much Mario Odyssey polished out so many of the flaws of this game, how much smoother it is to play, and how good the design of its worlds are. It never feels slow, it makes the coin collecting element amazing and interesting by keeping your progress and not forcing you to go through the same things you already did, traversing every world never feels like a hassle at all, going from end to end of a level always feels like a pleasure, like simple concentrated fun, it has its own separate platforming challenge rooms that don't interfere with the sandbox element, and the sense of adventure of looking at something in the distance and going there is always amazing. Mario Odyssey is really the uncontested best 3D Mario game.

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.