Super Mario 64: The game that started it all.

Super Mario 64 is way more than just a game. It’s a piece of history and is beloved and praised by many as the best platformer to ever be created.  So join me and lets take a look at Super Mario 64’s launch, the fanbase and the ongoing love and praise the game receives.

 

Origins

Picture this: It’s 1997, the Playstation 1 released a while ago with the first 3D games on it. Most videogame fans instantly bought one and everyone loved it… except for Nintendo. Their last home console, the SNES, still only had 2D graphics. But then Shigeru Miyamoto made the best choice ever and created the N64, their first ever 3D console. 

One of the games that released with the console was Super Mario 64, Mario’s first look in 3D. Now, the team who worked on Super Mario 64 did an incredible job transferring Mario into 3D. From the coders to the sound designers, they all worked together perfectly to create the masterpiece we know and love today. So, let’s dive straight into the game.

 

Starting out

When you start the game for the first time, Mario’s head pops up to greet you. In this menu you can stretch and pull on Mario’s face. This was created as a way to show off the N64’s ability to render 3D graphics. When you press the START button on your controller, you will be taken to a menu where you can load up the game. 

The music that plays in this menu is so reminiscent if you have memories with this game, listening to the song as you start up your adventure. Anyways, when you start your new file there will play a short cutscene where Princess Toadstool (Peach) invites Mario for cake at her castle. The camera then pans around the desolate outside of the castle, devoid of any life; except for Lakitu who is broadcasting your adventure. This isn’t really new to the franchise, as Super Mario Bros 3 is confirmed to be a stage play. 

The camera then stops at a position and out comes a pipe and out of the pipe, Mario! After Lakitu give us the basic rundown about what is going on, the game is yours. You can choose to go directly to the castle and start the game or you can first explore the outside of the castle, climb a couple of the trees, or swim in the nearby lake. 

That’s the beauty of this game. Its all your choice. When you decide to enter the castle, you will be met with a sinister laugh of The Koopa King, Bowser. The one toad will tell you that Princess Peach is nowhere to be found. Now, you decide to go into the one door than will open and you see this painting.

 Yes, you enter levels by jumping through the paintings. It is a really interesting way to connect the levels to the hubworld, the castle. But before I talk about the levels, let me first tell you about the castle.

 

The Castle

Peaches castle gives off an extremely eerie feeling. The first laughter of bowser, the landscape painted walls and the red staircase helps abbreviate the feeling. But lets talk about the further parts of the castle, like the specific places.

 Firstly, the basement. The basement’s sound design is unique, as everything sounds more hollow and echoes slightly. The whole basement feels… off. Even the levels in the basement is mostly weird. Like Hazy Maze Cave and Lethal Lava Land feels dangerous. Next, the courtyard.

 The courtyard feels empty at first, before you realize that you enter Big Boo’s Haunt through one of the boo’s there. The fountain is also the subject of many mysteries, namely the mystery of Luigi being a hidden playable character in the game.

 Next up, the second floor. This floor is unlocked after your first Boss Battle with Bowser. The floor has a whole lot of levels in it, namely: Snowman’s Land, Tiny-Huge Island, Tall Tall mountain and Wet Dry world. This floor is not really eventful otherwise, so lets move on. 

The third (and kind of) final floor consists of the levels Tick Tok Clock and Rainbow Ride. This floor has the most beautiful walls in the whole game. And look, I’m a sucker for a pretty skybox or level, so this floor is really beautiful to me. The walls depict a starry night, and Tick Tok Clock's level entrance is inside this clock that looks like a tree and… it’s just beautiful, I don’t know what else to say.

 

 

 

Liminality of Super Mario 64

Now, for the reason I’m so in love with this game. It’s liminality. The game creates such beautiful contrast between the familiar and the unknown. Take the castles entrance for example, it’s so beautifully nostalgic in a way that it’s hard to explain if you haven’t experienced it yourself. So please, just try Super Mario 64, it can be completed in less than 8 hours. 

The game consistently uses skyboxes that evokes feelings of familiarity while showing a landscape so foreign. And to explain this to the best of my degrees, I will be taking Womp’s Fortress and Dire Dire Docks as examples. 

Let’s be honest here, Womp’s Fortress looks strange. The design is fun to play around in, don’t get me wrong. It just looks very foreign. But the realistic skybox gives it this feeling like I have been there before. And let’s also take Dire Dire Dox, the soundtrack alone can evoke feelings of nostalgia and liminality, but it being a water level (and a calming one at that) it also makes you instantly feel more at ease. Like the enemies nearby can’t touch you in this small piece of paradise.

The Fanbase and Future of SM64

Let’s face it, Super Mario 64 is an old game. Heck, it’s even older than me! But its interesting to see how the fanbase of Super Mario 64 still lives on through it’s mysteries, it’s modding community and most importantly, the speedrunners. 

The speedrunning community has almost singlehandedly kept Super Mario 64 in the spotlight for as long as it has. Look at the legendary speedrun where a gamma (I think) ray from space made the one speedrunner get a world time (this is really oversimplified, please search it up on your own if it interests you). 

But even though the years have passes since the games first release, it’s heartwarming to see that the game is still doing well and is still relevant. I do not know what the future of this game is, but I know for certain that people won’t stop looking for secrets, shortcuts and glitches for a long time.

 

In Conclusion…

Look, if you haven’t noticed by now, I love Super Mario 64. It’s one of the best platformers I have ever played. And if you are still reading this, please watch Liam Triforce’s video about Super Mario 64. Here is the videos link. He explains what I love about the game in ways that I would never be able to. And with that, my first blog entry has come to a close. My next entry will be about All Tomorrows: A Billion Year Chronicle of the Myriad Species and Mixed Fortunes of Man, so stay tuned to not miss it!