Super Mario 64 by far has to be one of the best Mario games ever made to date. I don’t care what next generation technology is available today; this game still surpasses them all.
Like most Mario games it starts of cheery. The Princess Peach has invited Mario to her castle to have some cake. He arrives only to discovery she has been kidnapped ‘again’ by the lizard king, Bowser.
The game starts outside of the Princess' castle, which is an entire game all its own. It's filled with a beautiful landscape. A lawn, trees, bushes, a moat. Everything one would expect to be outside of a beautiful Princess castle.
There are so many hidden treasures outside of the castle for you to find. You can climb trees and find coins in them. You can take a dip in the river that surrounds the castle and find more coins. Here you will find hidden doors that need keys that you will discover elsewhere in the castle. Everything is in 3D, which was at the time the first time I had ever seen any game done in this manner. It was like being alive when the Wizard of Oz first aired in color. I was in awe.
I was also surprised at how far and how high Mario could jump, once I gained some speed.
The music that is played while your outside gives you that true feeling. Bird’s chirp, and whistle while a low pleasant tune plays in the background. The outside of the castle should be treated as a tutorial. Use it to practice jumping, and getting a feel for the controls before you enter the castle.
Once you enter the beautiful 3D rendered castle you will at first be amazed at the beauty and detail that has been added. You will talk to the Toad and he will give you a quick conversation on what happened to Peach. You will then move on to your mission.
Throughout the castle are doors, all of which have stars on them, and a number. This number represents how many stars you need to unlock the door. Only a few doors open in the very beginning. In each door is a painting. At first you will have no idea what the heck to do with the painting. If you move up close to it, it ripples like water. You can jump into the paintings, and this will warp you into the world that the painting will represent.
At first you enter bomb man land. Your mission is to collect as many stars as you can from the lands by completing the mission that is asked of you. Your main mission however is to collect all 100 stars.
In each land/painting there will be a boss to defeat at the end. They range from extremely easy to difficult. You will run into giant bombs, foot races with turtles, slide races with penguins and walruses. Each battle boss has a weakness. It won’t take long for you to be able to figure out what it is, and usually there are clues that make it easy to spot the weakness. For instance, if you grab Bowser by the tail and spin the controller’s analog, you can easily throw him off of the board. Some bosses only require you to stomp on them. You will find that missions throughout the game are actually harder than the bosses.
Other Lands You Will Encounter:
There is a snow filled land that played jingle like music, so you feel like you’re in a world of Christmas. There are snowmen that throw snowballs at you, penguins that squeak, and ice, which is slippery.
There is also a tropical island paradise world with a pirate like theme. Here you feel as if you’re really on an island. You have to dig up treasure, take caution in the water, for the giant shark, which will actually have your heart pumping once you encounter him.
On your adventure you will also come across a sewer plant like world. There is oil leaking everywhere and you have to figure out how to stop it. You will also encounter a huge robotic shark. You must figure out how to free him from the pollution.
You will find a land that is so high in the sky that if you fall it will take quite some time to get back up to the top again.
Each land you come across will be just as, if not more impressive than the last. Like any Mario game, the deeper you get into the harder the missions become. Yet they are still all very enjoyable.
You will find secret staircases that lead to places out of this world, holes in roofs that will take you to a mission, tornado's that swoop you up and kill you, switches that causes rivers and ponds to drain, lava that dances towards you, 10 foot cactus's with spikes that slowly make their way towards you, intimidating you the whole time, bridges that fold up on you, and warp zones for shortcuts to other areas within the land.
You will also come across a few secret rooms within the castle allowing you to gain more stars. You will find secret races, and slide games, and one particular cloud land that Mario fly’s through trying to collect coins and find the star before time runs out.
You will meet up with strange characters throughout the lands. Owls that lift you into the sky, rabbits that you have to run after and catch to obtain keys, pieces of cement blocks that have come to life with rage, eels, and killer fish. You will also recognize a few classic characters from the original games. The toadstools are still present, but in 3D making them look spectacular. The bombs now have feet and run towards you crazily, the man-eating plant is also present, and not limited to only popping out of the green tubes. They’re everywhere.
Mario will also have the ability to fly once you find the secret stomp switch. Once you hit the secret switch, all of the red blocks will give Mario the ability to soar throughout the skies. It will add wings to his hat.
There are also 2 other secret switches you must find hidden throughout the castle, a blue one, and a yellow one.
DIFFICULTY:
I’m going to have to say that at time this game could get very difficult. There is still a wall kick mission that I have yet to complete without kicking myself over the ledge of a mountain and dying, or landing on the ledge correctly could be just as difficult. The camera controls are easy to use, it only requires the push of the yellow arrow buttons, however at times it can get all quirky and actually cause you do die.
In the beginning it may be difficult to grasp the controls, however after a few jumps and spins, you pretty much get the knack of it.
It would be difficult for me to put a grading on the games difficulty. Some lands and missions are easy as pie, and other lands are close to impossible to complete. There is really no middle. Either the task is so easy its pathetic, or the task is so hard your ripping your hair out and screaming.
However with my own personal experience on the game I would have to give it a 4 out of 10, seeing how there are a lot more easy missions throughout the game than brain bleeder missions.
SOUND: Mario actually makes noises, and talks. He however is limited to ‘its-uh mee Marriiiooo’ or ‘whooay’ ‘hyahh’ ‘woo’ and other cooing noises he makes throughout the game. He will huff and puff and wheeze if he is almost about to die. He will make loud screaming screeching noises when he jumps high.
Each land has a theme, and with each theme the music matches it. I liked this a lot. If you’re in a Boss castle, the music is scary and intimidating. If you’re racing the music is fast and upbeat. If you’re at the beach, you hear seagulls and appropriate background music to give the player a full effect feel for the land they are in. I’d easily give the music a 7 out of 10. You don’t have to have today’s greatest hits playing for the game to have enjoyable music and sounds in it.
GRAPHICS:
I said this before, and I will say it again, I adore Nintendo’s cartoon like games. Back in the 90’s this game would grab a 10 easily, out of a 1-10 scoring on graphics. Honestly today I can still say it still deserves a 10.
It paved the way to all 3D games that followed shortly after, yet none could equal Super Mario 64’s originality and charm.
Super Mario 64 is filled with beautiful and fantasy/mystery like surprises. There are hours upon hours, upon more hours of game play that this game will deliver. I would recommend this game to everyone and anyone.
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