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.
Continue reading Super Mario 64 — Retro Gaming Essentials (No. 40)Mario 64 at a glance:
Genre: 3D platformer
Released: 1996
Platform: Nintendo 64
No. 4 on EGM’s Top 100 Games of All Time
