What Were Your First Feelings/Impressions of Super Mario 64?

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Hey Wave Race 64 is a great game. As for Nintendo now, say what u want about them, they're not #1 in terms of $$$'s, but they're the only ones left who've maintained their real identity 100%. The Nintendo identity has not dwindled an ounce in 30 years. It used to be that every competing system seemed to have their own distinct features, physically and thru the games. The SNES looks very different from the Genesis. N64 looks way different from the Playstation. They had character then.

I'm getting a Wii U, for sure.

[Edmond Dantes]

Hey Wave Race 64 is a great game.

It's currently my favorite N64 game. All I was saying was that back then, as a kid, I really wanted Mario and getting Wave Race instead was disappointing (tho years later I realized Wave Race was the better game).

To be fair none of the console making companies are that great anymore.

[thegamezmaster]

Got an N64 and Super Mario 64 was the first game I got on launch day. Loved it from the very start and still play to this day. The only thing that I didn't like is how Japan got a rerelease that supported the rumble pak but not in the USA. Would still like to have. Great game IMHO.

[Leo_A]

I don't think I'd of bought another copy of Super Mario 64 just for rumble (Although I've enjoyed playing it on my Everdrive), but I definitely would've done it for Wave Race 64.

With how little and unimportant the dialogue is (I bet you don't even bother reading any of it at this point) and how easy playing a Japanese cartridge is on a North American N64, you should just import it.

[Little Miss Gloom]

My first reaction playing Super Mario 64: OH MY GOD WHAT DO I D--WHAT--WHAT--HOW DO I--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

My latest reaction playing Super Mario 64: OH MY GOD WHAT DO I D--WHAT--WHAT--HOW DO I--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA


I'm not very good at Super Mario 64.

[Tanooki]

I knew of and about Super Mario 64 mostly as stills at that point from Nintendo Power and the limited online websites at the time which back in 1995/6 really didn't have video, and with me on dialup even if there was I wouldn't bother on that garbage. I first saw it going into the local toys r us in the day and came around the corner to see the big black kiosk with the big N on it and a game on. It was thankfully in demo mode, no one was around at that time and I jumped to it. I was just sheerly blown away knowing what the SNES had been capable of with the DKC high point, Street Fighter Alpha 2, and the other gems of that period. I had seen what the Saturn and PS1 was capable of with the very polygonal look mixed with very bland and harsh textures, some being as bad a bunch of little squares intermixing over triangles and it did nothing for me. The N64 even if Mario still was angular with the smooth visuals, no poor speckled texturing, annoyingly long load times and the rest was just great. The controls really were a surprise to me how smooth they were and I feared the camera would be the hellish nightmare people complained about with PC and other console games of the period and was really surprised how it didn't end up getting me killed or blocked from seeing stuff. It's still amazing how few, really actually sad how few games have ever got that right.

[jammajup]

I remember being impressed with the whole scale of the playing area, it just seemed so vast.I was also bowled over by the textures on the giant eel but the rest of the game seemed to lack any texture or detail at all, but this was the first N64 game I had seen and I was to later discover this was just a characteristic of the graphics engine on the system.

[tom]

I thought oh well another tried 3D game, seen it all before on PC (Alone in the Dark, 1992, Ultima Underworld, 1992), or PSX (Jumping Flash), and even Amiga (Hunter) and A8 (Lucasfilm games), so Mario 64 was old hat by then.
As I always mentioned, the fuzzy graphics on N64 were a real turn-off for me, that spoiled game play immensely.

[kupomogli]

Back then and now, I hated it. Mario 64 to me is one giant unenjoyable fetch quest. In order to progress through the game you had to repeatedly go into the same ridiculously small level and completely a different objective. Get to the top of the mountain, race to the top of the mountain, fight a boss at the top of the mountain, etc. Or the last stage. Ride the carpet to this star, maybe this one, or this one over here. You're doing essentially the exact same thing over and over again just to complete a level. Then there are the stars that you can pick up after collecting all the red coins, after collecting 100 coins, etc, but you can't just pick the star up because like all other stars, you'll be kicked out of the mission. You really have to determine whether it's worth picking up a star you come across because you might currently be in the final steps of your objective. So yeah. Small stages that you have to repeat over and over and over again.

I feel that Super Mario 3D Land is a good 3D Mario game. The off angle viewing is a major issue and the game itself is a bit easy aside from that, but it's still a good game. I saw that Jorpho mentioned that Super Mario 3D Land is on rails, but what is Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 3? Or what about most platformers in general? Super Mario 3D Land is following the classic platformer trend of getting through a large line up of uniquely developed stages, 16 worlds when including the bonus worlds. The game feels that even with its flaws, I got my money's worth because of the varied designs of all the stages, where repeating the same stage over and over on Super Mario 64 really feels like artificial length. They developed a few stages then they pad out playtime by requiring you to repeat these stages again and again.

*edit*

The only stages I don't like on Super Mario 3D Land are the repeat stages where you're chased by ghost Mario. I find those are in there just to cheap out on a stage and cut development costs. Sort of like they cut development costs on Super Mario 64 by including seven stars in every stage instead of having seven unique stages.

[Jorpho]

Or the last stage. Ride the carpet to this star, maybe this one, or this one over here.

The last stage I will readily admit was a little shabby.

Then there are the stars that you can pick up after collecting all the red coins, after collecting 100 coins, etc, but you can't just pick the star up because like all other stars, you'll be kicked out of the mission. You really have to determine whether it's worth picking up a star you come across because you might currently be in the final steps of your objective.

You do not have to exit after you collect the star that appears after collecting 100 coins. Have you not played this game lately?

I saw that Jorpho mentioned that Super Mario 3D Land is on rails, but what is Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 3? Or what about most platformers in general?

They tend to have a lot more variety than Super Mario 3D Land.

[Greg2600]

Got an N64 and Super Mario 64 was the first game I got on launch day. Loved it from the very start and still play to this day. The only thing that I didn't like is how Japan got a rerelease that supported the rumble pak but not in the USA. Would still like to have. Great game IMHO.

Hang on, where have I been? There's a SM64 that supports rumble? Dah, too bad they're in Japanese.

[Tanooki]

They also got a Wave Race with rumble as well which seems far more appropriate for the tech since you're riding around and slapping down off of waves, jumps, and wakes the whole time.

Kupo does raise a good point. Mario games have taken a slide a bit since the SNES era, even the GBA->3DS stuff has jumped into it with small stages and overkill collection of junk forcing it too or some later stage is locked. I guess the whole instant gratification group kind of screwed us all into that since it's no longer good enough to beat a stage anymore, now you have to repeatedly beat it for stars and coins so you can progress which blows and it's all traced back to SM64.

[Darkwing]

I guess the whole instant gratification group kind of screwed us all into that since it's no longer good enough to beat a stage anymore, now you have to repeatedly beat it for stars and coins so you can progress which blows and it's all traced back to SM64.

You could trace it back even further to Super Mario World, in a way. 96 exits to complete the game; you needed (unless you knew what to do) to find the Switch Palaces in order to use those blocks to reach some of the exits and "progress."

[Tanooki]

Kind of, but they really were not required to enjoy the game to the general finish. Mario 64 and all the later games require like 60% of the stars/coins or so to be picked up from repeat visits and obscure(some) locations so you can be allowed just to knock the game off. SMW just rewarded you with Star Road if you found it and then the super secret area with those small clock pro stages too but it was all fluff for fun. Yeah it did put the 96, but even the non-Mario Yoshi's Island kind of started the trend of heckling people with shitty ranks (I loathe games with rank systems) throwing it in your face if you don't have 100% of all the 3 collectibles in each area in each world. THe way they are now I find little fun other than doing the motions on much of it. The 3D Land on 3DS was better than most, and Mario U was a total SMW throwback down to the physics for the most part so it's forgiven unlike the other 'new' SMB games which are stinky but even that one plays the coin abuse as the wiiu 3D world does it too with stars. It was a bad road to go down to create more game play time being forced instead of enjoyed as a choice.

[Jorpho]

This is extremely confusing. Are you saying SMW is a better game because you're allowed to skip the whole thing and reach the end credits without playing 90% of it?

The 3D Land on 3DS was better than most

3D Land will not allow you to progress unless you collect a certain number of Star Coins. It is no worse than the Mario Galaxy games in that regard.

It was a bad road to go down to create more game play time being forced instead of enjoyed as a choice.

Why the heck should you be "forced"? The Game Boy Advance version of SMW tracked your collection of Yoshi Coins in each level; are you saying this somehow makes it a worse game?

[Leo_A]

Dah, too bad they're in Japanese.

There are posts in this thread with more words than probably all of the dialogue in Super Mario 64 combined, so don't let that deter you.

The one thing it misses that actually is a bit of a loss is the titles of each star (Which is a helpful hint for what task you're supposed to do). But even that is of little consequence for the veteran Super Mario 64 player and easily circumvented by the novice.

[Tanooki]

I"m not sure where you're getting the skipping 90% of Mario World stuff from as I didn't say it.

I don't own the Mario Galaxy games anymore, I played them enough to get the stars to just play the stages and finish it as all the design around the repeat runs just stinks. I prefer actual one run stages, or at most a stage like Mario World with a secret exit that has an optional perk you can choose to do or not but won't affect the ending or really have something thrown back in your face.

I will say the yoshi coins made the game less fun for me, it basically would shame you not doing it with that being thrown in your face much like the numbers SNES Yoshi's Island started with, it's punishment for not being slow and overly thorough instead of just enjoying the stages and getting to the finish. They added those coins to all the SMB/W titles plopped on the GBA too, it was just a rank system thing that I found offensive as I hate rank systems as they suck the enjoyment out of the game to a point. The more 'forced' thing with portables was the star/coin stuff they popped into the new smb titles and the 3D newer stuff too. Nintendo in breaking away from a good fun standard platformer with little secrets here and there like SMB3 and 4(World) and turning it into a collectathon, repeat visit play, pay to access later parts of the game system is causing me to more and more dislike and not rush out to buy Mario games. Yeah it's a side track but the various changes into Zelda over time is having the same effect too with the re-tread walking of places too much, the crusty save system that loses some progress they finally dropped with skyward sword, crappy gimmick inputs to control (stylus or motion/m+), and their tearing it apart with sandbox gta open world type stuff I maybe finished with that too depending how that WiiU game shapes up next year.

[frogofdeath]

Super Mario 64 is still one of my favorite games of all time, probably numero uno. My first impressions were how fun it was to run and jump and swim and punch and then combine all those moves into a long series of events. In fact, I find the controls superior to ALL other Mario games. The only downside I have for the game in today's gaming climate are the graphics - they have not aged well. I would be all over a remastered version with Galaxy graphics but original style moves and controls (no damn spinning...). But, I won't hold my breath.

I will say the yoshi coins made the game less fun for me, it basically would shame you not doing it with that being thrown in your face much like the numbers SNES Yoshi's Island started with, it's punishment for not being slow and overly thorough instead of just enjoying the stages and getting to the finish.

I don't completely disagree, as I never took the time to find the red or Yoshi coins, but couldn't this logic be applied to the earlier Mario Bros. games? If you took your time to explore each nook and cranny you were shamed by getting a low score (which is at it's most basic, a rating/ranking system).

[WCP]

They also got a Wave Race with rumble as well which seems far more appropriate for the tech since you're riding around and slapping down off of waves, jumps, and wakes the whole time.

Really ? Wow, Wave Race with rumble would be cool. If I had a N64 flash cart, could I play that Japanese rom on my USA N64 and the rumble would work ?

I need to get a N64 flash cart at some point... (still need to get my N64 rgb modded as well)

[Greg2600]

There are posts in this thread with more words than probably all of the dialogue in Super Mario 64 combined, so don't let that deter you.

The one thing it misses that actually is a bit of a loss is the titles of each star. But even that is of little consequence for the veteran Super Mario 64 player.

I don't care about the dialogue, but I don't know what to select in the menus.