Release Date: June 23, 1996
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Director: Shigeru Miyamoto / Yoshiaki Koizumi / Takashi Tezuka

Rating: 5/5

A mystical masterpiece of mechanical energy.

REVIEW IN PROGRESS

3D Mario. 3D Mario head. Jumping out of the pipe. Open courtyard with ambient noises. Jumping into paintings. Expansive environments with multi-directions to goal. Centered around a one track mind (one objective) with other objectives being possible to side-track players. Freedom.

Showcase of not only 3D but the new N64 controller that has an analog stick right smack in the center of the controller with the Z-button on the back. The controller, just like the game, has a mystical quality to it being a three-pronged controller.

Because Super Mario 64 has more impressive art style, level entry and level manipulation (i.e. water rising), movement mechanics (e.g. flying, shell-surfing on ground and lava, acrobatics), ambience (i.e. Courtyard), monster designs (e.g. Bowser, giant eel), music, etc. There aren’t any games that control like Super Mario 64 with its weight / hip-oriented movement and advanced acrobatic maneuvers, which advanced the platformer physics to such a high degree no one copied it. No plodding — Mario overtakes the environment!

MOVESET

Multiple camera perspectives controlling Mario; additionally, the cannon-aiming is in first person.

STAGE DESIGN

CONCLUSION

Play Super Mario 64.

GAME COMPARISON LIST

Conker’s Bad Fur Day 64, Crash Bandicoot, Tomb Raider, Spyro the Dragon, Banjo Kazooie, Dr. Slump [PS1]