Modern 3D gaming – particularly if we put aside the first-person shooter as being its own distinct category – owes a great deal of appreciation to many trailblazers, but especially two stupidly influential games in particular:
“Super Mario 64” and “Tomb Raider.”
The specifics of how we got to the point that those two games could be as successful as they were is probably a little too boring and certainly too technical (at least for me) to dive into fully. It’s hopefully enough to say that years of development led to advances in the technology (and even a few games reaching the market) that predated the dual releases of Super Mario 64 and Tomb Raider in 1996 (we should acknowledge that lots of people were working hard on this).
And yet, while all of that development was important, none of it hit with the force of my kids stampeding to the front of a dessert table quite like those two did.
1996 was a very big year.
The industry was NOT the same afterward.
And so, with that context, we can probably safely say that those two games are essential. They each, in their own specific way, offered the gamer of the mid-90s something new, and they left an undeniable impact on all of the 3D gaming that would come afterward.
Yes, there were other 3D games to land that year and in the years following. “Crash Bandicoot” gave Sony its own mascot for their new PlayStation, which in and of itself was no small thing, but if we’re honest, that game was also somewhat limited in its approach and also just not as popular as those other two.
In a similar way, no one today is pointing to “Bubsy 3D” as being particularly influential in this sphere, because we’re not crazy. (The game was VERY rough around the edges, the main character is generally reviled rather than adored, and it also didn’t sell super well.)
Conversely, we can speak to the fact that Tomb Raider was a well executed and well regarded game that sold over 2.5 million units in its first year of release, and Mario 64 was considered a landmark title by nearly everyone and sold about 3 million copies in six months itself.
So yes, those were the two biggies. And despite differing from one another in fairly significant ways, they deserve to be joined at the hip in these kinds of discussions as being important, influential titles.
Certainly, at the time, I recall vividly that each game was a “killer app” of sorts for their respective consoles.
Tomb Raider was on the Dreamcast and PC in addition to the PlayStation originally, though it came to become synonymous with Sony’s system (by design … Sony signed an exclusivity deal with Eidos for all of the sequels shortly after the release of the first game).
Mario, naturally, was strictly Nintendo, through and through.
As a result, gamers were presented with a distinct choice in the mid ‘90s. Go with the new hotness and the PlayStation, personified by one Laura Croft, the curvy star of Tomb Raider. Or stick with the colorful and playful “sandbox” cartoon-like stylings of Nintendo.
Having recently become a college student in 1995, it’s not difficult to understand why I would have gravitated toward Sony at the time.
Circling back to Mario 64 many years after the fact, I was struck by the depth of the controls and the craftsmanship that went into his first 3D offering. And yes, while there is undoubtedly some jank present, the game largely succeeds at its objectives in an impressive manner.
Much of the same can also be said of Tomb Raider, of course, and it deserves its flowers too. But as I look back at the two games and consider which to recommend above the other, I come back to a pretty simple equation.
Mario 64 is more fun.
So, let’s dive into why that is.
Mario 64 at a glance:
Genre: 3D platformer
Released: 1996
Platform: Nintendo 64
No. 4 on EGM’s Top 100 Games of All Time
We got into a fair bit of Nintendo 64 history in the “GoldenEye 007” writeup. You should go check it out. Conveniently, it was right ahead of this game in the big countdown. Also, I linked it for you. (I’m pretty great like that.)
For the purposes of talking about Mario 64, I think the main takeaways from that article, should you not be inclined to do the homework, are that Nintendo made a lot of mistakes during that time period, that they nevertheless had a powerful machine to work with, and that they needed a really, REALLY impressive collection of first-party software to stay afloat as developers – and customers! – ran for the hills (Sony).
As mentioned above, I (like many people) was way into the PlayStation at this point, partly because of the appeal of Tomb Raider, but also partly (mainly?) due to Sony hosting the latest college football video game from Electronic Arts.
The call of football was strong.
I didn’t own the first Tomb Raider (a buddy of mine did), but I did get Tomb Raider 2 shortly after it hit the market, and subsequently my PlayStation life was truly off and running. The PlayStation (and its direct successor, the PlayStation 2) would be my primary gaming experience for the next decade.
The Nintendo 64 thusly wasn’t in the cards for me, but it was for my brother. Unfortunately, I also didn’t get to play Mario 64 via my brother’s N64, because he skipped right over it in favor of the system’s various multiplayer party offerings. MarioKart, GoldenEye, and Madden carried the day instead.*
* Can we talk briefly about how I think it’s a mistake for console makers to no longer do pack-in games? The accounting on this checks out for them, I’m sure. But having the option to skip out on “Super Mario World” denied me the experience of getting to play that game through to completion for like five years. Having no Super Mario 64 packed in with the Nintendo 64 caused me to miss out on that experience for closer to 25(!) years. Maybe that’s a “me” problem, but I don’t know man. “Super Mario Bros.” packaged with “Duck Hunt” is a core gaming memory for me, essential to the experience of owning an NES. A bunch of people that owned an N64 (my brother included) just … never had that with Mario 64. Seems weird/wrong to me.
Literally no one else I knew at the time, other than my brother, owned an N64. So there weren’t a lot of other options.
What I DID manage to do was check Mario 64 out at various big box store kiosks, even though that experience was of course brief and limited.
First impressions were mixed.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the problematic camera and the seemingly overly complex control scheme – previous Mario outings had been easier to pick up and play on the fly. Also, the jagged edges of seemingly simple, cartoonish objects were somewhat off-putting, even at the time.
“Why doesn’t this look as good as Super Mario World?”
What did jump out at me right away was that the setting – Princess Peach’s castle – was 100% compelling as a sandbox opportunity.
I think many gamers of the time wondered, “What’s her castle like anyway?” At least I did, and it made the game really intriguing to me in a kiosk setting.
Like, “Dude, you can nose around in her CASTLE???”
It wasn’t even that it was her castle, specifically, but more to the point a cartoonish castle, reminiscent of a bounce house for kids.
I think the developers really hit on something there. Once they settled on giving the player some measure of freedom to wander around and explore and basically just do whatever they want, whether in pursuit of a specific objective or not, it made the setting of the princess’ castle a wonderful choice.
That experience, of briefly just getting lost in her castle, effectively implanted a memory in my mind, and it was compelling.
It promised something more.
“What else could that castle have in store for me?”
So, once I had the means, it was an easy choice to circle back to Super Mario 64 properly later on.
The opening few levels pulled me right in. The draw of controlling Mario in a big, colorful, three-dimensional space was itself a factor in that. And one can’t overstate just how critical those controls themselves were too (more on them in a bit). But I also credit longtime legendary composer Koji Kondo for much of the early sense of magic. The tracks he led this game off with are extraordinarily good, even by Mario standards, so much so that I’d venture to say that playing the first few levels of this game – particularly Bob-omb Battlefield and Whomp’s Fortress – are a required gaming experience for basically everyone.
I don’t know that you can do that and not come away with a big goofy grin plastered across your face.
Of course, if you’ve played this game, you already know that the castle itself is a bit of a bait-and-switch and comes off as perhaps a little disappointing. It offers the whole sandbox experience that was promised, but in very limited doses. Instead, the bulk of the game is spent in specific levels that are accessed via gateways through paintings. Mario jumps into a painting, and the next level loads. Each level then has specific objectives Mario has to complete to earn stars, which unlock doors in the castle which lead to more paintings.
As stated, the first few levels within this structure are outstanding in nearly every respect, with subsequent levels varying in quality and challenge.
And this system – rather than having Mario navigate a gray, somewhat boring sameness for the game’s entire runtime – instead allowed for the player to experience diverse worlds such as mountains, snow-covered hills, a sunken pirate ship, dangerous lava fields, a sun-soaked pyramid, and so forth.
This was … really smart. Yes, we are disappointed that the sandbox, such that it was, is gone (or at least diminished). But the variety in scenery keeps the game from getting stale quickly and was a necessary decision to make.
The other big thing that keeps the player interested here is how Mario controls.
Yes, it’s kind of complicated at first. Yes, the camera, at times, works against you.*
* A few sentences on the camera: it’s notoriously bad. This is pretty well accepted. There are occasions that no matter what you do, you’re not going to be able to see the action about to unfold. HOWEVER, you do have a ton of ways to manipulate the camera via the little (usually useless) yellow buttons on the N64 controller, and it usually gets the job done. That’s a WAY better outcome than most games of that era (or even this one), I can assure you. Plus it’s cutely implemented with a cameo from Lakatu. Fun!
But gosh, getting Mario to move really well in this game can be a satisfying, if not downright joyful experience.
The main thing here is that you move Mario around utilizing the control stick, so you basically have full 360 degree control here without the utilization of a toggle or other control mechanism. So you avoid the “tank” controls that you’ve gotta slog through in Tomb Raider (and waaaaaaay too many games that came along afterwards). The stick is sensitive, and the action is faster (a major advantage over the tank methodology), so Mario will do some funky things at times like launching himself diagonally into a pool of lava (this is not so good in a platformer, to be honest).
But mostly, by and large, the gamer *feels* like they have control here. That’s no small thing in trying to elicit an emotional response in a member of the audience. It feels natural, even if it sometimes doesn’t feel accurate. You feel connected, and everything moves along at a good pace … and these are good things.
You, the gamer, are therefore simply more connected to Mario than you are to Laura Croft (even if you’re more likely to accidentally jump to your death).
In terms of specific moves, Mario can perform a charged jump similar to what he can do in “Super Mario Bros. 2,” allowing him to reach higher ledges. He can further butt stomp enemies and objects via his “ground pound” maneuver (but let’s be honest, it’s really a butt stomp), and this move is also lifted from another Mario adventure, “Yoshi’s Island.”
These two moves are implemented into the level design such that they’re critical to advancement. Fortunately, they’re really fun to execute and easy to learn.
But what’s even more fun is getting Mario running with a head of steam, and then timing correctly three chained jumps, which each cover greater distance with each succeeding execution. Timing the second jump correctly has Mario making an even bigger leap, but then timing the third jump correctly after that provides an epic, HUGE jump, allowing the gamer to cover a lot of ground all at once.
Again, this becomes pretty important at certain points in the game, and it also feels really good to get it to happen. The only better feeling is perhaps flying.
Fortunately, you can do that too.
Continuing the tradition of previous Mario titles, Mario can get a power-up that allows him to fly. And no lie, flying is pretty epic, but the other power-ups aren’t shabby either. Metal charging Mario operates like the Juggernaut, plowing through things (and sinking below others) in a similarly satisfying way.
In sum, there’s a complexity and variety in Mario’s list of available actions that one didn’t see elsewhere at the time, and frankly we barely see movesets this varied in today’s games either.
I’d also like to add that the final Bowser fight in particular felt more challenging or epic than any previous attempt at it. You have to do all this crazy parkour just to get to him, and then you have to stun him, grab him by the tail, and spin him off into a hazard to damage him. You gotta do this it feels like 50 times or some nonsense, so it’s challenging and feels like a major accomplishment when you finally emerge victorious. It’s such a major step up from trying to trick him into stomping himself into oblivion in “Super Mario Bros. 3,” for example, and it is befitting a major adventure such as this. The final boss fight should deliver, and this does.
The game has been re-released a few times since, on the Nintendo DS as a slightly reworked version of itself, on the Wii virtual console, and as part of the Switch collection, “Super Mario 3D All-Stars.” Thanks to the latter, I somehow now own two copies of this game after having no ability to play it for the previous 25 or so years of my life. My point being, you don’t have to track down an old clunky N64 to play this nowadays – you do have other options. It’s much easier to come by.
So yeah, that’s Super Mario 64.
So what makes it worth playing today?
Hey, our countdown has reached 40 games!
Super Mario 64 is, I think, a great choice for No. 40.
The game has a lot of issues, but those are easy to get past because the game itself is so dang influential … and just plain fun. Said issues keep it from being ranked higher, but they don’t knock it down and out.
In fact, we can probably go ahead and call this THE most important title in the history of 3D, third-person platforming (over Tomb Raider and others).*
* I maintain that first-person shooters are kind of their own category here, so I went ahead and added the “third-person” qualifier. If you want to lump those in, I suppose you have to consider things like Wolfenstein 3D and Descent … but I’m not doing that, so there. Also, I recognize that Zelda throws another wrinkle into the mix here, even though “Ocarina of Time” came along a couple of years after Mario. Hence the other qualifier of “platforming” to disqualify “adventure” from the proceedings, even though if we want to get technical about it, Tomb Raider might have more in common with Zelda than Mario on that score. But we’re getting lost in the details here, methinks. The point is that Mario 64 is dumbfoundingly important.
I acknowledge that Mario is (very) well represented on this list. But we can’t call this one overrated either, given how many other Mario entries check in above it.
See the logic? (I’m not quite sure this logic actually checks out, but hey, it works in my own head!)
I’m fond of saying that Mario works better in 2D and Zelda works better in 3D. And sure, I stand by that. But let’s also be honest about how much we’re splitting hairs when we do that. Mario 64, much like “Zelda: A Link to the Past,” is great entertainment, historically important, and worthy of anyone’s time.
Sounds like some excellent reasons to play to me!
Dave’s Score: 9/10
Check out the whole Retro Gaming Essentials list here!
How to play
- Original hardware (N64)
- Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo DS)
- Virtual Console (Wii)
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Nintendo Switch)