Super Mario 64 (Video Game Review)

Video Game Review
Super Mario 64
Nintendo 64
1996
Developer: Nintendo EAD
Publisher: Nintendo

When game companies think up ideas on how to sell their games, the phrase "this will change the way you’ll think of/play videogames" gets thrown around quite a bit. Rarely is this ever true and is nothing more than marketing hype. Super Mario 64 was more than just and really did change everything. Nintendo’s premiere mascot was busy showing off what he could do in the third dimension and what magic can come out of the Nintendo 64. Playing Super Mario 64 for the first time back in the mid-90s was an incredible experience. Even today, the game does a great job drawing the player into the world of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario gets invited to the Princess’s castle for some cake. Little does he know it’s a trap set by Bowser. He’s kidnapped the Princess again and stolen all the castle’s power stars. He’s hidden them within micro-worlds that can be accessed by jumping through the castle’s various paintings and walls. If Mario doesn’t defeat Bowser, the Mushroom Kingdom will have to cancel their kart racing season and the golf tournaments that they had planned.

When it comes down to it though, Mario is one of those games that doesn’t need a story because it’s always the same scenario to a certain extent. Mario needs to save the Princess from the evil clutches of Bowser. In this case, Mario needs to find the power stars to release Bowser’s control over the Princess’s castle (although only 70 stars are needed to open the final confrontation between Bowser and Mario). Each level has six stars corresponding to each of the missions that Mario has within a particular level. There is also an extra star in each level that Mario can obtain by collecting at least 100 coins in the level. Although Mario can enter a level with the instructions about one particular star, most of the time Mario can seek out and collect other stars if he finds them during his exploration of a level.

Mario also has power-ups to help him along the way. These come in the form of different hats that he has access to once he find the corresponding colour switch somewhere in the game. Once the switch is hit, exclamation boxes of the same colour appear throughout the game giving him access to these hats. Red boxes give him a hat with wings that allow him to fly. Blue boxes give him a hat that causes him to go invisible and walk through certain walls to access secrets or hidden routes. Green boxes give him a metal hat that makes him invincible to enemy attacks as well allows him to sink to the bottom of water areas. These power-ups only last for a short period of time. The Metal Cap is the most fun to play with although the Wing Cap has its moments too. The Vanish Cap is fine but it isn’t the most exciting power-up ever created.

Unlike previous Mario games that offer some form of linear progression, Super Mario 64 allows players to select which levels they want to try. This is done by using the Princess’s castle as an overworld hub that connects all of the levels. All Mario needs to do is jump in the corresponding painting or shimmering wall to go to the desired level. The hub also acts as a training ground for the player to get accustomed to the three dimensional controls and camera. Not all parts of the Princess’s castle are accessible immediately and are only opened up after either a certain amount of stars have been found and/or Mario gets a key to unlock doors to access more of the castle.

Despite being one of the first three-dimensional explorative games in history, Super Mario 64 has some of the tightest and well-balanced control schemes in the entire genre. This is mainly due to the fact that the controller for the Nintendo 64 was designed with Super Mario 64 in mind. Mario’s movement is controlled by the analog stick. The A button makes Mario jump and the B button makes Mario attack. The Z or L buttons are used to make Mario duck. With various flicks of the analog stick in conjunction with using the A button (as well as the L/Z button) Mario can perform different types of jumps which can be useful in certain situations; like long jumps or wall jumps. The C buttons control the camera movement while the R button centers the camera behind Mario. The camera buttons are very important as it can be very easy for the automatic camera to move into a position that may obstruct the action. This game was one of the first of its type so the camera setup isn’t perfect. Nevertheless, the camera controls are one of the best on the Nintendo 64.

Graphically everything looks clean although it does feel a bit empty. There aren’t many enemies on screen for Mario to deal with. To counter this, the game relies heavily on platforming segments and there are plenty of areas that offer up intriguing jumping (and flying) challenges. However, many of the areas don’t look all that detailed. To put it in persepective, it’s as if the original NES game Super Mario Bros. had its environment moved into the third dimension instead of the more detailed and lively SNES game Super Mario World. Super Nintendo games felt more complex than Super Mario 64. This isn’t to say that Super Mario 64 looks bad. At the time, it was amazing to see and explore a 3-D Mushroom Kingdom. Even by today’s standards, Super Mario 64, although on the rudimentary side, still looks and feels special. It also helps that the game looks plenty colourful which became a rarity during the latter stages of the Nintendo 64’s lifecycle as developers began taking shortcuts on the system. Granted, it does have trouble holding up visually compared to games of the PS3 and Xbox 360 era with its blurred textures and pop-up. However, even though it was a launch game, Super Mario 64 is one of the best looking games on the system.

The sound is great even though the Nintendo 64 had its limitations in that department. The music sounds exactly like what you’d expect to hear from a Mario game. The opening levels sound fun and catchy. Then as players find their way to more exotic locals like ice and desert levels, the music changes to reflect the atmosphere without diverting from the playfulness of the tone. The only time where the music feels like it takes more of a serious rhythm is during the Bowser stages which feel very epic. It’s all incredibly done and well executed. The sound effects are also very good although this is the first game where Mario shouts things as he jumps (which you either are a fan of or completely loathe). The effects aren’t all the prevalent in the soundtrack. They don’t attempt to hijack the game experience. They add to the flavour of the game without overpowering it. All in all, it’s some of the best use of sound on the Nintendo 64 and in the entire Mario series.

Reading the breakdown of the various elements of the game you would think that Super Mario 64 is one of the best games of all time. That may be going a bit far. Super Mario 64 is amazing but it does have its issues that will frustrate players for various reasons. The biggest problem is that the game relies on jumping more than anything else. Aside from the occasional boss battle and the infrequent charging Goomba, there aren’t that many enemies to deal with. The game really pushes the player to explore the 3-D surroundings and make full use of Mario’s abilities. During the first couple of levels, this feels great but it can get quite difficult during the latter half of the game. The controls, while very intuitive, do feel a bit stiff at times, and some jumps feel like a task and a half. There are probably some people who have found religion playing this game while praying for some help to make a seemingly impossible jump. On the other hand, if you’re like me, that controller is going to get spiked on a number of occasions when the same jump is missed on multiple attempts. Flying can get even more frustrating as it’s not the easiest thing to do in the game. It’s fun to do in short bursts but can get problematic in some of the later levels that rely on it as a means of navigation to get to hard to reach spots or to complete various tasks. It’s best not to make sure you’re playing in an area where a tossed controller going at a violent speed could cause some damage. Add iffy camera controls and there are times where you have a recipe for disaster.

Another big hang-up with the game is that there are times where you will enter a level and have no idea what you need to do. You are given a vague clue as to what you need to do in the level to earn the star. Other than that, you’re on your own. This can be perplexing at times. It’s done to encourage exploration but when some of the later levels get quite complex and even require Mario to jump a certain way into the level’s portal to create ideal conditions to find particular stars, it can be annoying. It’s fun to explore Mario’s universe but the Princess is in danger; it wouldn’t have hurt the programmers a little to add something that would at least tell us if we’re going in the right direction. There will be the odd time where you’ll spend a bit of time in an area attempting to navigate the jumps only to screw up several times and try again only to find out you weren’t even supposed to be going in that direction in the first place. During times like that, playing a board game by yourself looks like an incredibly attractive alternative.

These are minor gripes though. You can play through most of the game without giving yourself an aneurysm from the stress of doing something that feels impossible. It’s only if you want to complete the game 100% where you’ll start to freak out. For the most part, it’s very fun to explore all the environments. You’ll find some levels you’ll really enjoy and want to find all the stars and get all the coins possible. There are other levels where you’ll feel that it’s not your taste and never set foot in them again. That’s the beauty with this game in that you don’t need to fool around with a particular level if you don’t like it. If you hate ghost levels, you don’t need to waste that much time dealing with them all that much. There is plenty of variety and something for everyone.

Nintendo did really good to showcase playing in a three dimensional environment with Super Mario 64. It’s fun to play, looks good, and feels like you’re submersing yourself into a whole other world. It does have its issues that can’t be ignored but at least it doesn’t break the game. There will be times where it feels like the game doesn’t work quite right. However, these times are few and far between; most of the time you’ll be loving every moment exploring the Mushroom Kingdom.

☆☆☆☆