Background | Year of Release | Media | Mini-Reivew | The Result

System: Nintendo 64 Developer: Nintendo: EAD Publisher: Nintendo Players: 1 Save: Battery Genre: Platformer

The premier launch title on the Nintendo 64 brought Nintendo's popular mascot, Mario into the realm of 3D gaming. This game is one of Nintendo's most resounding successes. It was released in 1996.

North America: 09/29/1996
Japan: 06/23/1996
Europe: 03/01/1997

Screeshots: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5

Super Mario 64 introduced free-roaming 3D adventure gaming to the world. There were other three dimensional games released before Super Mario 64, most notably Tomb Raider and Nights, but those games where somewhat restrictive to where you could move your character. In Super Mario 64, Mario can go anywhere and do anything which is what truly makes this game amazing.

The goal of this game is to collect stars in 15 different levels. Because of the freedom given in this game, Mario can explore each level several times and face different challenges to attain stars.

There are only a few knocks on this game. The camera system can be somewhat difficult to control in certain situations, however keeping in mind that this game was one of the first to have a controllable camera, it really is quite an innovative option from a design standpoint. The other issue is that certain star challenges may appear repetitive to some gamers, most notably collecting 100 coins in each level, but completing these challenges is not required to reach the final boss.

Super Mario 64 is everything you could ask for in an adventure game.

Score - 9.6

It's a classic!

Page by Player Guy Forever

01/09/2005