70%Wii U

Mostly speedran it, don't even remember first playthrough. Speed running is pretty god damn fun.

80%Nintendo 64

Great mario game

80%PC

The game has amazing ideas for its time finished it in pc remake mod and its good nothing special now in 2024 but iccant imagine how much it changes gaming when it comes out in 1996 28 years ago... so for that i give it 8 but if it was out now its 7

collected 89 stars

100%Nintendo 64

It’s Mario 64, innit?

60%Nintendo Switch

I'd played the DS Remake to 100% completion many years ago, so it was nice to finally go back and play the "original" version (from the Switch 3D All-Stars collection) after all this time.

The camera sucks, it feels ancient, and platforming is often nowhere near as precise as it wishes it was. Some of the stages are all-time classics (BBB, Whomp's, BBH, TTM), while others are all-time stinkers (Dire Dire Docks and Rainbow Ride). There's a lot about SM64 that works, and a lot that doesn't, likely coming down to its position as a trendsetter for 3D platformers and 3D gaming as a whole. I don't think it entirely hits the mark, but it paved the way for many better games.

However, this is definitely the best game to watch Speedrunning for, no contest.

90%PC

There's flaws, but the game does hold up. It is quite ambitious and it's not falling apart (but these mods to affect that lol).

90%PC

MUITO BOM E EU JOGEI O COOP DX QUE MELHORA O SEU UNICO PROBLEMA AM CÂMERA!!!

85%Nintendo Switch

Iconic and genre defining 3d game and still enjoyable to this day. Age hasn't been kind to the controls which is the most frustrating part of the game along with the camera. That said it's a part of history and is picked with 3d platforming goodness.

100%Nintendo 64

It's very unique even as a 3D Mario. None of the future games have such strong inertia and momentum. The newer games while not 1:1 movement, are close enough that you'll be good with very little effort as opposed to this. There were two courses I didn't like. One was course 15 (the autoscroll level) and course 13 (the one where you get big) otherwise it was as amazing as expected.

80%Nintendo 64

Really fun Mario game. Controls are certainly dated at this point and can be frustrating at times, but the graphics are charming and the levels are a blast to play through.

60%Nintendo 64

This holds a special place in my heart for being the first video game I ever played. I was obsessed with this game for years as a kid and would constantly go back just to hang out in the worlds and do random things in it. But playing it today, it's rather a chore despite it not being an absolutely horrible game by any means. As one of the first wave of 3D Platformers, it's certainly extremely important on how others learned and attempted to do better with many of the game's mechanics. The stuff that works in the game still to this day are the vibrant, bright worlds that allow you to enter a hub to collect stars by any means necessary. The graphics still are lovely to this day and everything from Mario's character model, the Toads, King Bob-omb, the Boos, Koopa the Quick and all the other enemies and characters in the game have become iconic for a reason. There's loads to love here in these worlds and there's tons of variety. The music is also still awesome to this day, with memorable tunes that will be engrained in you memory for all time. The levels are hugely impressive and unlike most N64 games doesn't come with a heap of fog and smoke. Instead, everything is visible and crystal clear and the draw distance is much better than most N64 games. In terms of the style of the game, it's a triumph. This looks better than some games released today.

However, Mario's Moveset and controls have not been graceful to time. When the platforming and controls and camera do work, the game can feel really nice to play. However, there's tons of problems with the movement that doesn't allow for the most smooth experience. The camera is incredibly restrictive and even though they try to explain to you the limitations in the best detail, it doesn't give you a good idea about where you're going to land or jump sometimes, meaning you'll be doing leaps of faith and hoping you won't fall to your death mainly because half the levels either have hazards that kill you or bottomless pits. I also feel things like Wall Kicking and Triple Jumping are REALLY hard to pull off sometimes and grabbing onto ledges is another problem entirely. It just feels a tad clunky but it's to the point where you begin to notice the game's imperfections. The controls might have been praised in the day for being really smooth, but today they're coarse and don't stand up to other games on the N64.

The gameplay is fine, but again, the controls can really make a problem of attempting to get Stars. Some of the stars are designed in a way that makes sense for the camera and controls. Other times they don't. Levels like Tick Tock Clock, which has a huge bottomless pit you can die in if you make one wrong move is notorious for this. There's a couple of levels/stars that don't mesh well with the rest of the game such as the water levels, which break down the speed to sluggish lengths and features challenges that I still don't know how I am able to figure out. Even things like the penguin race seem impossible for me considering I've tried it several dozen times and I never can seem to win. Some levels are great, some of them are not very fun to begin with. And depending on the Star you're getting, it can make things easier or harder.

I still think this is not a bad game and I actually think it's still worth playing to this day, but there should be a bunch of asterisks because I feel a new generation of players may find the controls too cumbersome. They certainly haven't aged well, but it's ABSOLUTELY worth it for experiencing the plethora of worlds, gorgeous and colorful graphics, excellent music, memorable moments and one of my favorite endings to any game ever that gets me emotional to this day. The game has become more of a cult classic than it is an overall classic as so many people of my age grew up on this game and fell in love with it. Maybe you'll be the next one to do so as well! Just be sure to remember that the controls are awkward. There have been so many games that have improved upon this formula, but I feel it's still mandatory for anyone who loves gaming to play this. It's a hugely important title and without a doubt, in a class of it's own.

65%Nintendo Switch

This game was the fourth game in my longplay series on Twitch. I don't have much fondness for this game, but I also don't heavily dislike it either! :)

85%Nintendo 64

Super Mario 64 wasn't the first 3D game. It wasn't Nintendo's first 3D game. It wasn't even the first 3D platformer. But as more time passes since its release, it becomes more and more clear that Super Mario 64 was the first 3D game that really mattered. While having 3D models or simulated 3D environments was all the rage, most games lacked either the hardware or the innovation to commit to a fully 3D world. The sentiment, then, when SM64 was revealed was understandably one of unbridled wonder and curiosity. It was like nothing gaming had ever seen before, and everyone from reviewers to casual players wanted to get their hands on it. The Nintendo 64 had lost a lot of inertia due to its delayed release, so a game like SM64 was just what Nintendo needed to remain relevant. Not only did they retain their relevance, but they created one of the most beloved and iconic games of all time.

When players think about Super Mario 64, the first thing that comes to mind is probably their favorite levels, or the impressive hubworld that is Peach's Castle. But SM64 impresses even before that. Opening this game up for the first time, you're placed in a small, grassy field. There's no music or incentive, just the calming sounds of chirping birds to accompany you. It's an underappreciated starting area that allows players to get the hang of the basics of movement that SM64 has to offer. For those who played this at the time of release, this was a totally new concept to them: not only being able to move in a fully 3D, 360-degree environment, but being able to see in a 360-degree environment too. The controllable camera was one of the first of its kind, and its inclusion was so novel that it was almost alienating. Luckily, there was also a mode that automated camera controls, which impressively predicted player movement to decide what angles it should show.

While moving in a 3D world was groundbreaking, there's no doubt that SM64 wouldn't have had the impact that it did if it were not for the movement being so polished. It's no hyperbole to say that development of this game was mostly focused on movement; Nintendo had basically no one to draw inspiration from. They were trying to take a strictly 2D character who runs and jumps in 2D and turn them into a 3D one. A 3D character who runs, jumps, dives, kicks, double jumps, ground pounds, backflips, wall-jumps...The undertaking involved with getting Mario's movement just right was absolutely massive. Nintendo understood that if this game was to be fun, the movement had to be effortless. And on their first try, they nearly perfected it. Even Mario games that came after sometimes lack the same freedom of movement that 64 has, and even modern AAA games can still feel clunky and restrictive in movement when compared to this nearly 30-year-old gem. Super Mario 64 was the first 3D game that felt just as good to play as a 2D game did. And where 2D games had years of experience and inspiration to benefit from, SM64 had to do everything by itself. It feels like almost a miracle this game came out as good as it did, and it hasn't lost a step since 1996. There's a reason it's such a popular game with the speedrunning community; the game feels so good to play even now, and the creative expression the game's movement allows for is nearly limitless.

It's not just the movement that's inspired in SM64; level design is mostly excellent as well. Peach's Castle is a truly iconic hubworld, and it's one that you'll want to explore every nook and cranny of. Early-level standouts like Bob-omb Battlefield and Cool Cool Mountain are great for getting a hang of the game, and more nuanced levels like Shifting Sand Land and Tick Tock Clock do well to test a player's exploration, problem-solving, and platforming skills. Most worlds are fun to explore, but there are some exceptions that can drag slightly and make the game slightly less fun. The water levels always feel like the least interesting to explore, and while you can skip parts of them in a normal playthrough, a 100% run does have its lackluster moments. 100 coin stars suffer the most from this; while some levels are abundant in coins, other levels with more limited coins can feel more frustrating than fun. Some of the level designs suffer as well, although this is more understandable due to the limited hardware at the time. Still, though, levels like Whomp's Fortress still feel a little generic compared to some others. On a whole, though, there's still a lot of impressive and memorable level design in this game.

The word "first" was used 14 times in this review, and there might not be a better word to describe Super Mario 64. It truly was the first game of its kind, and for a lot of players, it was the first game they remember. But SM64 is not a game that requires nostalgia to thrive. To this day, it's inspiring first-time players and developers alike and dumbfounding those who ponder how the first game of its kind could've gotten so much right.

100%Emulated

eu não conseguia mais me levantar da cadeira, tá maluco.
foi daí que surgiu a piada da ex-esposa.

emulei via n64 no bizhawk.

100%Nintendo 64

MASTERPIECE! ★

90%Nintendo 64

Pioneered 3-D platforming for all games to come.

Good
- controls are smooth
- Mario has various animations that makes him feel alive. Idle sleep animation, getting squished when falling from high up, or getting squashed by enemies.
- cap power-ups are fun
- going into paintings to enter levels is cool. The levels themselves are also diverse in visuals and environment.
- when I played this as a kid, I never read the dialogue, but it’s actually not bad.
- so much movement and attack options making the platforming very versatile.

Bad
- a button that automatically put the camera behind Mario would have been great. But completely forgive-able given this was the first foray into 3D camera controls.
- I felt like they could have used a more appealing font. The text font used is a little hard to read and ugly.
- rotating the camera in fixed lengths messes up with the movement
Reflection
- This game felt so difficult when I played it as a kid. The worlds felt so massive and detailed. It’s crazy to see how much bigger games have grown since. The worlds we see in Mario games now are so much more detailed.

100%Emulated

The best game ever made. At least the best platform game ever made :)

70%Nintendo 3DS

It's fun, but let’s be real, some level are super frustrating. Bad camera, sketchy movement, as much as it’s an influencial game, it is outdated. No shame to the people that love this game, it’s just not for me.

90%Emulated

Got 70 stars

70%Wii U

An innovative game held back by an awful camera and imprecise controls. Playing without nostalgia, it feels quite dated and deserves a remake on modern hardware.

100%Mobile

A super classic and incredible game, the stages are well constructed and the challenges keep you hooked, I had a lot of fun!

90%Nintendo Switch

The OG collectathon platformer, my favorite genre.

The only thing keeping me from giving it a 10 is Tiny-Huge Island. What a dump of a level.

The rest of the game is absolutely stellar. 100%ed it on 3D All-Stars, found out Yoshi is real, and played it for funsies on Switch online.

9/10, not only great, but impactful.

80%Emulated

its peak, i speedrun it from time to time

100%Nintendo Switch

Very fun Mario game and it's a classic for a reason.

90%Nintendo Switch

amazing game, amazing first 3d mario, amazing controls, awful camera

70%Nintendo Switch

Leveldesign is very creative and the soundtrack is amazing but the camera didn't age very well and the platforming suffers very badly due to this issue. still a fun game it just aged badly

60%Nintendo Switch

Points deducted for no gay Bowser.

85%Nintendo 64

This game was fantastic. The was the first game to get 3D controls and a moving camera right. The music is some of the most culturally impactful video game music to exist, and for good reason. I love the level design. Using the castle for a hub world is a really creative idea. Nintendo has a gem on their hands with this. I had some small issues with camera angles, hit box detection, and perception. But nonetheless, amazing fun.

100%Nintendo 64

This game is so incredible that you can complete it many times without getting tired of playing.

40%Nintendo 64

Gets a little bit annoying to the end but still fun 3d platformer

95%Emulated

Ahhh... Super Mario 64, como posso descrever esse jogo... Incrível, controles maravilhosos, gameplay absurdamente bem feita, bastante conteúdo, trilha sonora IMPECÁVEL. Sem dúvidas, um dos melhores jogos do Mario e de todos os tempos, foi o jogo que mostrou como fazer um verdadeiro jogo 3D! Como sempre, Nintendo ajudando a indústria dos games significativamente!

(1\394)

90%Nintendo 64

First video game I've ever played and to this day I love it! A true classic!

95%Nintendo 64

Easily one of my favorite games of all time.

100%Nintendo 64

At the time, Super Mario 64 almost killed video games for me. It took me years to find something as entertaining.

Hopefully I feel better now, but even decades later, there's still this little voice in my mind whispering that I'll never see such a revolution anymore. It's the pillar of 3D platforming just like Super Mario Bros was the pillar of 2D platforming, with the notable difference that SM64 has never really been overstepped. Tech evolved. Players evolved. But for most part, 3D platforming is still totally dependent on the foundations laid by SM64. Only nintendo itself was able to succeed at times, not always, in improving the formula. This makes SM64 all the more essential as it is somehow unique. I said above I was feeling better today : it's true, I've been able to find pleasure in many games since then. But in 3D platformers? Do I remember just one that was half as successful as SM64?

I don't.

80%Nintendo Switch

Super Mario 64 is undoubtedly an important game in the history of the medium, and rightfully so as it pioneered the 3D platformer. The expansive moveset that the player can utilize is impressive and gives the game a fast and frenetic feel. The castle hub world is great fun and remains possibly the greatest Mario game hub; I thoroughly enjoyed mining the hub for secrets. The majority of the courses are smartly designed to accommodate the moveset and fun to play.
The game is dated however, and since I didn't play it 25 years ago, I am not blinded by nostalgia. I have the usual complaints regarding the camera but further I find the traversal a little slippery and imprecise. This can make the platforming in the later (and more challenging) levels quite frustrating. Tick-Tock Clock and Rainbow Ride in particular can be troublesome. The two water levels I also found a bit of a chore as the swimming mechanic is quite slow and cumbersome. Finally, the flying mechanic is also quite jank, turning what should be a fun reward into a point of frustration.
As important as this game was, I dont think we should blindly praise it. Games that followed managed to iron out many of its wrinkles. But it remains a fun and frenetic 3D mario game to this day.

100%Nintendo 64

It is impossible to describe the feeling of playing this game when it first came out. Our whole gaming lives we ran left and right and there was never a way to really look into the distance. Most games were still stuck with a lot of arcade idea hold overs, like high scores, time limits, and a constant sense of urgency. All that changed instantly when playing this game.

All of a sudden the world was massive and the rules of gameplay changed. There wasn't any rush and it was a treat to just look at the environment. Even with the pretty restrictive draw distance, you could see basic level geometry even though it might take 5 minutes to get there. It's no wonder that everyone wanted to only make 3D games for the entire generation.

Let's talk about the actual game a little. Every modern player is going to instantly hate the camera and the platforming is quite stiff. The camera moves in 45 degree increments and for some reason you often can't do a full 360 degree rotation. The camera will also frequently get stuck in a wall or go too close to Mario. Some of the fixed camera areas don't let you line up jumps very well, and sometimes you can't see what's going on. But this is one of the first true 3D console games and most of the previous ones were following a vehicle. So there wasn't a lot of precedence for this type of camera and there were obviously a lot of growing pains with it.

As much as people hate the camera, I actually think it is the most innovative thing about the game. Instead of passively following the player around, the camera was an extension of the player. One of the most important parts of exploring a 3D environment is the viewpoint of the audience. Previously it was on rails, now that power was put into the player's hands.

Except for some pain points with the camera, the game is impressive. There's 15 worlds, 3 boss levels, a hub world and several secrets littering the hub world. Many of them have ideas that are so unique that they are rarely replicated. Stuff like a mirror that reflects everything, except a hidden picture, a tiny/huge world, showing the camera as an actual character in the game world, surfing on turtle shells, bumping enemies until they fall into lava, platforming inside of a working clock. This is just filled to the brim with ideas that seem so foreign to the usual gamer tropes.

If you've never played it, you need to check it out. Be a little patient with the camera and you will be treated with an experience that is extremely unique.

75%Nintendo Switch

This game is difficult to review to today's standards, because in so many ways it helped to establish those standards in the first place. So I have a great admiration for this game and am grateful for it because of how it paved the way for so many great games that came after it and because of it, but there are parts of it that really just don't hold up well now. I also didn't ever play this one growing up, so that nostalgic part doesn't affect me. The big thing about this game is the camera controls. They are just terrible. I know how revolutionary they were back in the day with the change to 3D, but now they are just difficult to work with. They make it hard to see, the noise they make whenever you change views is annoying, and it really dampens the experience today. So what that really means to me is that Nintendo should remake this game and update it to today's standards, that would be a mind blowing experience. But when you play it today, you can't help but feel that its age is really showing, even with its incredible legacy.

95%Nintendo 64

This is a game that everyone has to play at least once in their life,It's amazing how good and genuinely fun it is. the only thing that kinda takes away the 100% score its the camera i know that the game was a pioneer in the third person camera whit the analog control, but man some times the camera makes some angles that are literally horrible,I only mark this as a tiny detail compared to the masterpiece that this game is and in 90% of the cases it works completely normally. well that is the things that i have to say about mario, wanna try all the others super mario in 3d games to see how the franchise evolved over the years, This game is truly a masterpiece and one of the most influential games of all time, so if you are still hesitating whether to try it or not, I sincerely recommend this game to you because it is literally fun to play.

80%Nintendo Switch

Crazy how influential this game is. A bit dated now, but still loads of fun.

90%Nintendo 64

Where 3D platforming all started. Game is fantastic and hasn't really aged poorly at all. Always fun go have a go at this game~

80%Nintendo 3DS

Still worth checking out! Even as someone with zero nostalgia for the game I found myself losing track of hours in this classic. The controls aren't the best, but hold up surprisingly well against newer titles in the series. The game has it's limitations, but the levels for the most part are very well designed around them. The camera can certainly be very frustrating at times, and some of the later stars/levels have very punishing platforming. Most of my time playing I had little to no issue though.

I definintely recommend trying this out, and even finishing it. Completeing all 120 stars can be a little painful though

100%Emulated

Wirklich gutes Spiel und sehr empfehlenswert falls noch nicht gespielt wurde es einmal zu Spielen. Ich habe 100 Sterne gesammelt und das reichte mir aus.

90%Emulated

Découvert avec Tux le mode multijoueur sur émulation, on a été ultra surpris, même si on aura pas fini le jeu, par la qualité du bail genre au delà de pouvoir faire une save ensemble, tu peux changer de persos et faire des mods ensemble on s'est vraiment bien amusés du temps qu'on aura pu faire ça je recommande.

100%Nintendo 64

One of the best games and platformers ever made.

This changed the industry.

100%Nintendo 64

Un passage vraiment réussi de mario à la 3D. Une aventure riche et de nombreux mondes à parcourir vraiment variés.

75%Nintendo 64

Very satisfying game to beat but camera and flying are awful. Camera I'll excuse but nah the flying, wow. Worst mechanic in the game. Metal mario and invisible mario caps were fun and cool though. Overall I like the game enough for this rating.

70%Nintendo Switch

A 5/7
H 1/1
S 1/2

60%PC

Yes it's a monument, yes I can see what it did that was important but no...I don't particularly like this game

80%Nintendo Switch

When I look at Super Mario 64, I see the beautiful architecture that would eventually be developed and perfected into the many future games in this series that were huge staples of my childhood. It's a primitive structure, sure, but it's imaginative, it's original, and most of all, it's tremendously ambitious. No matter where you look in this franchise, there'll always be a tiny piece of 64 in there. That's part of what makes talking about this game so difficult. Some of my favorite Mario adventures owe so much to this title that it feels a little cheesy coming here and being so critical about it. But Super Mario 64 is not a perfect game by any means. It takes a considerable amount of nostalgia blindness to be able to overlook many of this thing's dreadful shortcomings. And since this was actually my first time playing it all the way through, that won't be a problem you'll find in this review.

For starters, the controls have aged incredibly poorly. They manage to feel both slippery AND stiff at the same time. I'm used to Mario being really snappy and responsive, but something about 64's version of this character never quite reaches that same level of satisfaction as future versions do. The man's got the range, there's no doubt about that. It's just that, during regular gameplay, it's really difficult to execute these commands exactly as you want to due to the unpredictable nature of the game. It gets better the more confidence you build up with this control scheme, but it still takes a painfully long time getting used to it. Of course, this is a problem that has long since been corrected. 3D Mario feels smoother and more fun to control with each passing game, and a lot of what I love about his moveset nowadays can be traced back to here. Which is exactly why this game deserves so many props!

I have a few gripes with the level design that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. I really commend these designers for managing to create such an intriguing and diverse set of courses. They all feel pretty different from one another and are just quite fun to engage with on a fundamental level. But MAN can they be really fucking unintuitive sometimes! No, not sometimes. More like most of the time, really. It's honestly baffling to me how absurdly cryptic a lot of these mission prompts are. Maybe the children in the 90s were just built different, but I would've NEVER figured out some of the stuff this game expects you to do without the help of a guide. For example, "Go on a Ghost Hunt" is just not enough of a clue to lead someone to figure out they had to defeat all the Boos in order to get the Big Boo to appear, especially when a lot of the enemies in the game respawn if you leave an area and then come back. Then you have something like "Big Boo's Balcony" that has you literally climbing up a slope to collect a Star, something that the level design at that point had taught me not to do.

These small grievances build up over time and start to make you wonder if Super Mario 64 is not just an extremely directionless game. I know a lot of people dislike the linearity of Galaxy's mission structure (one I'm particularly fond of), but there's also an argument to be made against giving the players so much freedom that they begin to feel abandoned. I won't deny that I had a lot of fun in many of these courses, but they were very hit or miss for me. And when they missed, it was usually by a long shot. The difficulty aspect was also rather inconsistent. Some levels, such as Snowman's Land, have Stars that barely take you seconds to collect, while others, such as freaking Tall, Tall Mountain and Rainbow Ride, will have even the smallest platforming mistake send you right back to the beginning to painfully redo the entire thing. And that's not even taking into account the logistical hurdles you'll have to overcome to figure out what your goal is in the first place!

I won't fault this game for not having a plethora of power-ups available, since they were still testing the waters with 3D and all that. But the ones they did choose to add here are simply horrendous. The Wing Cap has one of the worst control schemes I've ever seen in a Mario game and every level that required me to use it was torturous. The Metal Cap and the Vanish Cap fare a little bit better in this regard, but they're still wholly uninteresting and their implementation into the level design felt very shoehorned in. I guess they packed Mario's base kit with too much action to be able to come up with things that felt both fun and significant for the power-ups. Oh well!

Overall, Super Mario 64 is an important piece of videogame history that every single person who enjoys gaming should try out at least once in their lives. Without the self-imposed task of collecting all 120 Stars, it can be enjoyed without facing too much frustration. And it was nice catching some of the references added to future games that I didn't know about!

75%Nintendo 64

This thing is fun to control but the level designs are sinister. I did go for 120 stars which isn't required but to get there is awful. It control like hot garbage sometimes but other times it feels amazing