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Super Mario 64

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For the enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS, see Super Mario 64 DS.
Super Mario 64
North American box art, Player's Choice re-release
Developer(s)Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Designer(s)Shigeru Miyamoto
SeriesMario
Platform(s)Nintendo 64, iQue Player, Virtual Console
ReleaseNintendo 64[1][2]
iQue
  • CH: November 2003

Virtual Console[4][5]
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Super Mario 64 (スーパーマリオ64, Sūpā Mario Rokujūyon) is a platformer developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe on March 1, 1997.[6] Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the Nintendo 64.[7] Super Mario 64 has sold over eleven million copies,[8] and as of September 25, 2007, it is the seventh best-selling video game in the United States.[9]

Super Mario 64 was the first 3D platform game in the Mario series, and it established a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. did for 2D sidescrolling platformers. Hailed as "revolutionary", the game left a lasting impression on the 3D game design, particularly notable for its use of a dynamic camera system and the implementation of its analog control.[10][11][12]

By going from two to three dimensions, Super Mario 64 replaced the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games with vast worlds in which the player must complete multiple and diverse missions, with an emphasis on exploration. While doing so, it managed to preserve many gameplay elements and characters of earlier Mario games.[12] It is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Gameplay

File:N64 Super Mario 64 whomp fortress.jpg
Whomp's Fortress requires the player to navigate chasms, a classic Mario element

Super Mario 64 is a 3D platformer where the player controls Mario through several courses. Each course is an enclosed world in which the player is free to wander in all directions and discover the environment without time limits. The worlds are filled with enemies that attack Mario as well as friendly creatures that provide assistance, offer information, or ask a favor. Mario gathers stars in each course; some stars only appear after Mario has completed certain tasks, often hinted at by the name of the course. These challenges include defeating a boss, solving puzzles, racing an opponent, and gathering coins. As Mario collects stars, more areas of the castle are opened.[19][20] Mario unlocks doors in the castle with keys obtained by defeating Bowser in special courses.[19]

Mario is assisted in some courses by three cap power-ups. The Wing Cap allows Mario to fly, the Metal Cap makes him immune to most damage and allows him to withstand wind, walk underwater and be unaffected by gases; and the Vanish Cap renders him partially immaterial and allows him to walk through some obstacles such as wire mesh, as well as granting invulnerability to some forms of damage.[19] Some courses contain cannons that Mario can unlock by speaking to a pink Bob-omb Buddy. After Mario enters a cannon, he can be shot out to reach distant places. When Mario has the Wing Cap, cannons can be used to reach high altitudes or fly across most levels quickly. There are many hidden secrets to the game, most containing extra stars needed to complete the game entirely.

Controls

File:Super Mario 64 jumping.jpg
Mario can perform a wide range of jumps among other moves.

Mario's abilities in Super Mario 64 are far more diverse than those of previous Mario games. He can walk, run, crouch, crawl, swim, climb, and jump using the game controller's analog stick and buttons. Special jumps can be executed by combining a regular jump with other actions, including the extra high double and triple jumps; jumping two and three times in a row, respectively, the long jump, and the backflip. There are also special maneuvers, such as wall jumping; jumping from one wall to another in rapid succession to reach areas that would otherwise be too high.[19][21] Mario can pick up and carry certain items, an ability which is used to solve various puzzles.[20] Mario can also swim underwater at various speeds. His life energy slowly diminishes while underwater, representing how long he can hold his breath, and he must find coins or air bubbles to replenish it, or return to the surface before drowning.[19] If Mario surfaces from underwater, he heals all of his damage regardless of the source, with the exception of icy water in some snow levels.

Plot and setting

Super Mario 64 is set in Princess Peach's Castle, which consists of three floors, a basement, a moat, and a courtyard. The area outside the castle is an introductory area in which the player can experiment. Scattered throughout the castle are entrances to courses via secret walls and paintings.[20]

Story

Super Mario 64 begins with a letter from Princess Peach inviting Mario to come to her castle for a cake she has baked for him.[22] When he arrives, Mario discovers that Bowser has invaded the castle and imprisoned the princess and her servants within it using the power of 105 of the castle's 120 Power Stars. Many of the castle's paintings are portals to other realms, in which Bowser's minions keep watch over the stars. Mario searches the castle for these portals to enter the worlds and recover the stars. He gains access to more rooms as he recovers more stars, and will have to tackle three obstacle courses leading to a battle with Bowser. Defeating Bowser the first two times earns Mario a key for opening another level of the castle, while the final battle releases Peach and rolls the credits. Peach rewards Mario by baking the cake that she had promised him.[19][21]

Development

The development of Super Mario 64 took less than two years, but producer/director Shigeru Miyamoto had conceived of a 3D Mario game over five years before, while working on Star Fox.[23] Miyamoto developed most of the concepts during the era of the SNES and considered making it a SNES game (making use of the Super FX chip), but decided to develop it for the Nintendo 64 due to the earlier system's technical limitations.[15][24]

File:Mario64 bowser level.jpg
"Bowser in the Dark World", one of the linear levels where Mario encounters Bowser

The development of the game started with the creation of the characters and camera system. Miyamoto and the other designers were initially unsure of which direction the game should take, and months were spent selecting a camera view and layout that would be appropriate.[25] The original concept involved the game having fixed path much like an isometric type game (similar to Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars), before the choice was made to settle on a free-roaming 3D design.[25] Although the majority of Super Mario 64 would end up featuring the free-roaming design, elements of the original fixed path concept would remain in certain parts of the game, particularly in the three Bowser encounters. One of the programmers of Super Mario 64, Giles Goddard, explained that these few linear elements survived as a means to force players into Bowser's lair rather than to encourage exploration.[25] The development team placed high priority on getting Mario's movements right, and before levels were created, the team was testing and refining Mario's animations on a simple grid. The first test scenario used to try out controls and physics involved Mario and a golden rabbit named "MIPS", which was included in the retail release of the game.

Shigeru Miyamoto's guiding design philosophy behind Super Mario 64 was to "include more details" than found in games prior to the Nintendo 64.[23] Some were inspired by real life. For example, one character is based on assistant director Takashi Tezuka's wife, who, as Miyamoto explained, "is very quiet normally, but one day she exploded, maddened by all the time [Tezuka] spent at work. In the game, there is now a character which shrinks when Mario looks at it, but when Mario turns away, it will grow large and menacing."[26] Super Mario 64 is also characterized by featuring more puzzles than earlier Mario games. It was developed simultaneously with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, but as the latter was released years later, some puzzles were taken from that game for Super Mario 64.[27]

File:Super Mario 64 beta.jpg
Princess Peach's Castle in a pre-release version of Super Mario 64

Information about Super Mario 64 first leaked out in November 1995, and a playable version of the game was presented days later as part of the world premiere for the Nintendo 64 (then known as the "Ultra 64") at Nintendo Space World. The basic controls had at this point been implemented, and the game was reportedly 50% finished, although most of the course design remained. There were at least 32 courses planned, but the number turned out lower in the final game, as only 15 courses could fit in the game.[23]

Audio

The music was composed by veteran Koji Kondo, who used new interpretations of the familiar melodies from earlier games as well as entirely new material. Super Mario 64 was one of the first games in the series to feature Charles Martinet as the voice of Mario. It also features the voices of Leslie Swan (then Senior Editor of Nintendo Power) as Princess Peach, who also wrote the English text for the game,[28] and Isaac Marshall as Bowser. The characters speak more in the English version than in the Japanese version.[27] In addition, dialog and some sounds differ between the Japanese and English versions. Some of these vocal changes for the English release were brought to the Japanese Rumble Pak edition. When Super Mario 64 DS was released, all the voices were kept consistent in both the English and Japanese versions.

Reception

Super Mario 64 has been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. As of May 21, 2003, the game has sold eleven million copies.[36] At the end of 2007, Guinness World Records reported sales of 11.8 million copies.[8] As of September 25, 2007, it is the seventh best-selling video game in the United States with six million copies sold.[9] As of June 2007, it is the second most popular title on Wii's Virtual Console.[37] The game was praised in the gaming press, and is still highly acclaimed. It has collected numerous awards, including various "Game of the Year" honors by members of the gaming media, as well as Nintendo's own best-selling Player's Choice selection. In addition, Super Mario 64 has been placed high on "the greatest games of all time" lists by many reviewers, including IGN,[13][14][15] Game Informer,[16] Yahoo! Games,[17] GameFAQs users,[18] and Nintendo Power.[38]

Critical response

Super Mario 64 is counted by 1UP.com as one of the first games to have brought a series of 2D games into full 3D.[12] In the transition to 3D, many of the series conventions were rethought drastically, placing an emphasis on exploration over traditional platform jumping, or "hop and bop" action. While its quality was disputed by some, it has been argued that it established an entirely new genre, different from that of previous games in the series.[39] Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded the game a Gold award in its initial review,[30] and in Edge magazine, Super Mario 64 was the first game to receive a perfect score.[29] Nintendo Power praised the graphics, sound, and gameplay, but commented the shifting camera angle took getting used to.[28] Game Informer initially rated the game a 9.75,[40] but re-rated it a 9.0 a decade later in their "Retro Review" section.[32] GameSpot called it one of the 15 most influential games of all time,[10] and rated the Nintendo 64 version a score of 9.4 and the Wii Virtual Console version an 8.[33][41] The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, known for its harsh scoring, rated Super Mario 64 a 39/40.[31]

Michael Grayford of Liquid Entertainment stated he was initially "very turned off" by the openness of the game the first time he played it. Upon playing it later, he was "highly pleased" and stated "each level brought some new unique cool gameplay element and I was never bored".[42] Warren Spector, former lead designer at Ion Storm Inc., stated it was "not possible to squeeze this much gameplay into a single game" and "no game has done a better job of showing goals before they can be attained, allowing players to make a plan and execute on it". He also commented the exploration aspect of the game allowed players to "explore the same spaces several times while revealing something new each time is a revelation".[42] Official Nintendo Magazine referred to the game as a "masterpiece of game design" and stated that Nintendo took its "number-one 2D franchise and convert it flawlessly into 3D".[43] Game Informer commented even a decade later the game still offers hours of entertainment. They also commented on the camera system stating that by present day standards the camera system "would almost be considered broken".[32]

Impact and legacy

Critics attribute the initial success of the Nintendo 64 console to Super Mario 64. Edge magazine referred to it as the Nintendo 64's "key launch title".[44] Game Informer commented that the game helped the launch of the Nintendo 64.[32] Official Nintendo Magazine and GameDaily also attributed some of the initial excitement of the Nintendo 64 system to the release of Super Mario 64.[43][45] Though the system was initially very successful, it eventually lost much of its market share to Sony's PlayStation. 1UP.com attributed this decline to Nintendo's use of cartridges and the design of the Nintendo 64 controller, which was reportedly implemented by Shigerue Miyamoto for Super Mario 64.[12] The game also set many precedents for 3D platformers to follow.[12][46] GameDaily listed the game as one of the "Most Influential Video Games" and stated it "defined the 3-D platform experience, influencing numerous designers to create their own, original offerings".[47] GamesTM noted many game companies, including Nintendo, have tried to develop a platform game to match up to Super Mario 64.[48] Super Mario 64 was notable for its sense of freedom and non-linearity. A central hub, where controls can be learned before entering levels themselves, has been used in many 3D platformers since. In addition, the game's mission-based level design was an inspiration for other game designers. For example, Martin Hollis, who produced and directed GoldenEye 007, says "the idea for the huge variety of missions within a level came from Super Mario 64".[49]

Edge stated the game changed "gamers' expectations of 3D movement forever".[44] Super Mario 64 was the first game to have a "free" camera that could be controlled independently of the character.[46] Most 3D games at the time used a first-person perspective, or a camera that was fixed in position relative to the player's character, or to the level. To create freedom of exploration, and more fluid control in a 3D world, the designers created a dynamic system in which the video camera was operated by the in-game character Lakitu.[21] Nintendo Power stated the camera-control scheme was what transitioned platform games into the 3D era.[50] The camera system would become the standard for 3D platform games in the future.[20] The Nintendo 64's analog stick allowed for more precise and wide-ranging character movements than the digital D-pads of other consoles, and Super Mario 64 used this in a way that was unique for its time. At the time, 3D games generally allowed for controls in which the player could either control the character in relation to a fixed camera angle or in relation to the character's perspective. Super Mario 64's controls were fully analog, and interpreted a 360-degree range of motion into navigation through a 3D space relative to the camera. The analog control also allowed for subtleties of movement like controlling the speed at which Mario runs.[51]

Rumors

File:L is Real 2041.png
Mario swims in the castle's fountain with the mysterious "L is real 2401" message on it.

Because of the game's popularity, rumors about glitches and secrets spread rapidly after its release.[52] The most common rumor is that Mario's brother Luigi is an unlockable character in the game. This rumor was fueled by some blurry text in the castle courtyard that supposedly read "L is real 2401". This caused rampant fan speculation that Luigi was real. IGN received so many questions and supposed methods to unlock Luigi that the staff offered a US$100 bounty to anyone who could prove that Luigi was in the game.[53] The number of false codes submitted to IGN dropped dramatically, and no successful method emerged.[54]

Nintendo has consistently denied Luigi's playability, and never commented on the meaning of "L is real 2401" except for the April Fools' Day 1998 issue of Nintendo Power. In this issue, the "April News Briefs" section said that the cryptic phrase would be discussed on page 128, but the magazine only had 106 pages. The section also featured a facetious article entitled "Luigi 64", commenting humorously on the rumor.[55] Luigi did however become playable in Super Mario 64 DS and Super Mario Galaxy.

Sequels and remakes

Super Mario 64 was first re-released in Japan on July 18, 1997 as Super Mario 64 Rumble Pak Support Version (スーパーマリオ64 振動パック対応バージョン, Sūpā Mario Rokujūyon Shindō Pakku Taiō Bājon). This version added support for the Rumble Pak and included voice acting from the American version as well.[56][57] In 1998, Super Mario 64 was re-released in Europe and North America as part of the Player's Choice line, a selection of games with high sales sold for a reduced price. Super Mario 64 2 was planned for the Nintendo 64DD, but was cancelled due to the failure of that peripheral, as well as a lack of progress in development.[58] Super Mario Sunshine for the Nintendo GameCube built on Super Mario 64's core gameplay by adding a water pump device and add-on nozzles, similar to the Caps.[59] The next 3D Mario platformer, Super Mario Galaxy, was released for the Wii in November 2007 and featured similar open ended gameplay.[60]

An enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS called Super Mario 64 DS was available for the launch of the Nintendo DS in 2004. Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario were added as additional playable characters, and the game featured slightly altered graphics, additional stars and courses, touchscreen mini-games, and a few minor multiplayer modes.[61] Super Mario 64 can be downloaded on Wii's Virtual Console service, with a price of 1000 Wii Points.[62] This release adds compatibility with the Nintendo GameCube and Classic controllers, and enhances the display.[41]

References

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