Super Mario 64 was released in 1996 on the Nintendo 64 system, and it is widely regarded as extremely influential and important for being one of the first 3D platformers. The game took the Mario franchise and launched it into an entirely new direction, abandoning the 2D side-scrolling platformers of the past. Instead, Super Mario 64 opted to alter the way people played games in the 1990s. 3D was on the rise, and it was inevitable that big flagship IP’s such as Mario would hop on the train. What really makes Super Mario 64 such a staggering achievement in gaming is that it was able to translate Mario into three dimensions while also innovating and pushing video games and platformers into the future with an extremely well-made experience.
Even past the three dimensions that you can play in, the game does a lot to differentiate itself from the older Mario platformers. Instead of featuring a few worlds with a variety of levels to complete within them, the game contains a hub world (Peach’s Castle) in which you can jump into paintings. In these paintings are levels where you are supposed to complete some sort of objective to attain a star. This mechanic is innovative because it encourages exploration within the level. The game is not linear; it does not want you to go from point A to point B. Instead, it takes more of a sandbox approach by encouraging you to explore its vast levels. In them, you might encounter an NPC that has important dialogue that will clue you in on where to go. One example of a mission in the game is the red coin objectives, in which you are supposed to collect eight red coins that are hidden throughout the level. Super Mario 64 flexes its vast three dimensional spaces by requiring you to explore them.
With the game’s emphasis on exploration comes its subsequent emphasis on platforming and handling. Mario needed to be operational in three dimensions, and this opens up a lot of different and new ways that you can move around in the game. Some new moves that Mario can perform include the ground pound, long jump, wall kicks, and even a flying ability unlocked through a power-up. Unfortunately, with Super Mario 64 being one of the first 3D platformers, the controls were not always the greatest. I often found myself extremely frustrated at the mechanics and situations that I was put into. One massive headache for me was the flying red coin levels.
In these levels, you are tasked with using the wing cap to fly around from cloud to cloud (which act as platforms) and collect the red coins in the level. However, the flying mechanic was so hard to control that these levels felt more like chores. Mario is a little slippery in the game as well, so he would often fall off of platforms unexpectedly, causing me to have to restart the whole level. These shortcomings in how Mario controls in the game are to be expected though. Once again, Super Mario 64 was one of the first 3D platformers, and it is natural for it to come with flaws despite its innovations. However frustrating the controls may be at times, it is still wondrous that the developers were able to create such a vast and exciting game with the limited technology of the time. In terms of concepts, there had to have been a lot of effort and thought put into reworking the fundamentals of how a Mario platformer would operate. I think that they really delivered a fun and challenging experience, and this is enhanced by the game’s innovations. Spatially, there is a lot more to consider when developing a 3D game, and I am grateful that it turned out so well, given my even stronger love for Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Mario Odyssey. As the Mario franchise progressed, it was clear that 64 was a huge influence on subsequent releases in the platformer genre. Sunshine and Odyssey really do borrow quite a bit from the sandbox style that 64 helped to cultivate. Ultimately, these 3D sandbox platformers signal a massive growth in gaming that encourages exploration and deepens the experience. Linearity in games, while not necessarily a bad thing, can be rather limiting. If games had continued to be linear, there would not have been as much variety in gaming as there is today. This is why Super Mario 64 is so important: not only did it bridge Mario from 2D to 3D quite artfully, but it also led to games moving beyond linearity. It encourages the expansion of spatiality and quests, and it ultimately makes for a more curious and compelling gaming experience.
