NINTENDO-64
10
Super Mario 64
The game that invented 3D platforming as a genre. Super Mario 64 launched alongside the Nintendo 64 and demonstrated, definitively, that video games could work in three dimensions. Its influence on every 3D game that followed is incalculable — this is where the template was written.
💡 Super Mario 64 — Key Facts
- → Super Mario 64 was developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Nintendo
- → Released in 1996 on NINTENDO-64
- → Genre: Platformer, Adventure
- → We rate it 9.9/10 — an absolute classic
- → Part of the mario franchise
- → The game that invented 3D platforming as a genre. Super Mario 64 launched alongside the Nintendo 64 and demonstrated, definitively, that video games could work in three dimensions. Its influence on every 3D game that followed is incalculable — this is where the template was written.
Overview
On June 23, 1996, Nintendo launched the Nintendo 64 in Japan alongside Super Mario 64, and the video game medium changed forever. The jump from 2D to 3D had been attempted numerous times, but no game had solved the fundamental problems: how do you control a character in three dimensions? How does the camera follow without confusion? How do you design collectible objectives in a fully spatial environment?
Shigeru Miyamoto’s team at Nintendo EAD answered all of these questions simultaneously, and the results — Mario’s extraordinary moveset, the adjustable third-person camera, the Power Star collection structure — became the template for virtually every 3D game that followed.
Gameplay
Super Mario 64 places the plumber in Peach’s Castle, which serves as a hub connecting to 15 distinct courses through magical paintings and doors. Each course contains Power Stars earned through specific objectives: reaching the top of a mountain, defeating a boss, collecting 100 coins, and other tasks specific to each stage.
The game’s revolution is in Mario’s movement. The analog stick allows continuous variation from walking to running, and Mario’s jump animations change based on movement speed — a running jump reaches further than a standing one; a running triple-jump reaches the highest. The wall-jump, long-jump, backflip, and ground pound create a vocabulary of movement that experienced players can combine into expressive traversal sequences.
Why It’s a Classic
Super Mario 64 works because every system serves the joy of movement. The worlds are designed around their exploration; the objectives give purpose to that exploration; and Mario’s movement is so well-tuned that every second of play is satisfying regardless of whether objectives are being pursued. The game can be “played” simply by running through its environments, and it remains entertaining.
Legacy
Super Mario 64 sold over 11 million copies, making it the best-selling Nintendo 64 title. Every subsequent 3D platformer — Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and on through Super Mario Odyssey — built on its foundations. The game’s speedrunning community, which has discovered extraordinary glitches and routing innovations, remains one of gaming’s most creative and celebrated.
Our Review
9.9
Masterpiece / 10
🎮
Gameplay
★★★★★
🎨
Graphics
★★★★★
🎵
Audio
★★★★★
🔄
Replay
★★★★★
Gameplay
Mario's moveset — triple jump, long jump, wall jump, backflip, dive, ground pound — is the most expressive and satisfying in platforming history. Each of the fifteen worlds offers enormous spatial freedom, and the Power Star objectives provide structured goals within that freedom. The analog stick control is a revelation: precise gradations of speed make Mario feel completely alive.
Graphics
A jaw-dropping technical achievement for 1996. The fully realized 3D environments, expressive character models, and dynamic camera system were unprecedented. Some textures and geometry are simple by later standards, but the game's spatial design and animation quality remain impressive. Seeing it for the first time in 1996 was a genuinely transformative experience.
Audio
Koji Kondo's score is one of the most inventive in Nintendo history. The dynamic music system — which shifts arrangement and instrumentation based on what's happening in gameplay — was pioneering. Bob-omb Battlefield, Dire Dire Docks, and Big Blue are beloved compositions, and the use of tempo variation to indicate power-up states was brilliant.
Replayability
Very high. Collecting all 120 Power Stars requires thorough exploration of every course and the discovery of hidden secrets. Multiple routes through levels, the challenge of 100% completion, and the game's exceptional speedrunning community (which has produced some of the most creative routing in gaming history) sustain engagement indefinitely.
Historical Significance
Super Mario 64 is one of the most important games ever made — not because it was the first 3D game, but because it was the first to solve 3D game design. Its solutions for camera control, movement physics, and spatial objective design formed the template that virtually every subsequent 3D platformer and action game followed.
✅ Pros
- + Mario's moveset is the most expressive and satisfying in all of 3D platforming
- + Fifteen distinct worlds each with unique themes, mechanics, and secrets
- + Analog stick movement allows genuinely precise speed control
- + 120 Power Stars provide a comprehensive long-term collection goal
- + Dynamic camera system works remarkably well for 1996
- + Koji Kondo's dynamic music system was pioneering
❌ Cons
- - Camera can be uncooperative in tight indoor spaces
- - Vanish and Wing Caps feel underused compared to Metal Cap
- - Bowser fights are repetitive — the same formula repeated three times
- - The final platforming section to reach the last Bowser stage is unfairly steep
- - Only 15 worlds; later 3D Marios offer significantly more content
Also Known As
スーパーマリオ64SM64
In the Series
Super Mario 64 FAQ
How many Power Stars are in Super Mario 64?
There are 120 Power Stars in total: each of the 15 main courses contains 7 stars (6 mission-based plus 1 100-coin star), the 3 Bowser courses each have 1 star, and the remaining stars are found in secret levels and from the castle's secret areas. Collecting all 120 stars unlocks a special message from Yoshi on the castle roof.
What was revolutionary about Super Mario 64's camera?
Before Super Mario 64, 3D game cameras were largely fixed or scripted. Shigeru Miyamoto's team created the 'Lakitu camera' — named after the cloud-riding Lakitu enemy who acts as the cameraman — a dynamic third-person camera that players could adjust with the C-buttons. This template of a player-adjustable follow camera became the standard for virtually all subsequent 3D games.
What is the speedrunning community for Super Mario 64?
Super Mario 64 has one of the most celebrated speedrunning communities in gaming, with categories including 0-star (completing the game without collecting any stars using a specific glitch sequence), 1-star, 16-star, 70-star, and 120-star runs. The game's popularity in speedrunning is partly due to its rich exploit history and the creative routing this enables.
Is there an HD remake of Super Mario 64?
Super Mario 3D All-Stars (2021, Nintendo Switch) included Super Mario 64 with higher-resolution output and widescreen support, but without significant gameplay changes. This collection was a limited release. Super Mario 64 is also available on Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack with the original resolution.
Was Super Mario 64 the first 3D platformer?
No — several 3D platformers preceded it, including Jumping Flash! (1995, PlayStation) and Bug! (1995, Saturn). However, Super Mario 64 was the first to solve the core design challenges of 3D platforming comprehensively — camera control, precise movement physics, and spatial objective structure — establishing the template that all subsequent 3D platformers would follow.
