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Matthewmatosis' Mario 64 Review

K

K.Sabot

Member
Like this guy's reviews (particularly his Demon's Souls commentary), but get ready to here a bunch of people whine about his monotone voice.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
This guy always does quality stuff. A hard thing to find on youtube these days, when dealing with games.
 
Kadin

Kadin

Member
And now I want to play this game again. Just watching him play in the first level brought back enough good memories to make me fire up my Wii.
 
M

mullet2000

Member
About 6 minutes in, pretty cool video so far. I love in-depth looks at why gameplay mechanics (and any other aspect of a game, really) work and don't work.
 
M

Macapala

Unconfirmed Member
Love Matthewmatosis' videos. The amount of detail he puts into his reviews is incredible.
 
S

Storm Kyleis

Member
I'm a few minutes in, I'm liking it so far. He describes the game objectively as if it was released today, without being influenced by nostalgia.

I disagree with his criticism of the water levels, though. They're meant to be relaxing and slow, as a change of pace from the rest of the game. The music says everything. Given the non-linear nature of Super Mario 64 you're free to skip them and beat the game anyway, after all.
 
M

Marow

Member
Halfway in and it sounds as a description manual with sporadic personal opinions.

Finished watching (yes, I wrote as I watched). He did loosen up a little bit towards the end, but it's basically just a description video. "You can do this, that and that too" isn't very compelling to spend over 30 minutes on, especially as he doesn't really argue for his opinions instead of throwing them out. And the few time he does, it's drowned out by more monotone description nonsense making his speech lose focus.

No, don't like it at all.
 
J

JimPanzer

Member
matosis is levels above every other formal analaysis of videogames, only the mgs2 video of superbunnyhop come close
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
He made some good points that I either hadn't considered or that get me to look at the game differently, but it still didn't really change my opinion on the game. Mario 64 was an amazing game and achievement in 1996. But it's not a great game in 2014.

He also didn't really address some of the complaints I've brought up about the game before. One was brought up when talking about Tall Tall Mountain - the objectives are all basically "scale the the mountain," but it's not the only course that suffers from repetitive goals.

I also feel like the level design within a lot of the courses are pretty weak. It starts off fairly strong with the first couple courses, but quickly falls off things like Jolly Roger Bay, Lethal Lava Land, Hazy Maze Cave, etc which just aren't fun levels to traverse (at least to me.) It doesn't really pick back up until some of the later courses in the game.

Then there is also the fact I just don't really like the non-linear exploration focused Mario, but that's entirely a personal opinion and I know some people care little about the platforming and a lot about exploring. I prefer focus on platforming and enemies, and that's why I put the Galaxy games and 3D World above 64 and Sunshine. They cater more to what I like to see in Mario games.

cavemancolton said:
I see this sentiment a lot and I don't share it. Nintendo is still on top as far as I can see.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I feel like Nintendo is as good as they have ever been in terms of quality. They took a big dip in the N64 era with the transition to 3D and have been climbing back up ever since.
 
O

OnPoint

Member
That was a really good video, in all honesty. He did a great job providing context for a lot of the design decisions, even if some of it seemed to be based on conjecture.

I'll watch his next one for sure.
 
C

Cyd0nia

Banned
Dr. Benton Quest said:
Then you can't see very far.

This game was a true masterpiece. It set off a whole host of copy cats and revolutionized a genre. Where is that Nintendo now?
Click to expand...

It created the sensation that was the Wii which caused a host of copy cats and revolutionised things. Would we have had Microsoft (perhaps erroneously) taking a more relaxed view on specs or banking on things like Kinect without Nintendo's recent influence?

Its easier to make a splash with a huge transition like 2D -> 3D than it is from say 480p to 720p, particularly going from something as brilliant as the Mario Galaxy games. The ingenuity is there, its just not as manifestly obvious to the general public, nor is platform gaming guiding the cultural Zeitgeist in popularity. Tomb Raider and Mario 64 were huge moments that may never come again.

Like with a lot of art, a lot of Mario 64s greatness was borne out of limitation - as the reviewer here points out, there are a dozen stages with seven stars in. Now we have the storage to give Mario 96 individual levels like SMW - but due to an increase in necessary work-effort, each level is perhaps not guaranteed as much attention as Mario64 levels as a result.

SM 3D World has some of the most refined and satisfying gameplay in the series though - there is nothing like beating Champion Road - the rest of the game just has a very gentle difficulty curve.
 
P

Pappasman

Member
He nails why I think Mario 64 is still, by far, the best mario game. The movement in 64 is incredible. Mario has so many abilities that have so many uses and it all feels great. The analog stick gives the player such fine control and the physics, gravity, and friction of the game world all mesh perfectly. Just looking at high level 64 play and you see Mario using all of his moves at a blistering pace.

This is also the reason why I was left slightly disappointing with the Galaxy and 3D Land/World games. In Galaxy, Mario lost most of the moves that made him as acrobatic and fun as he was in 64. Mario also stuck to the ground in a way that he didn't in 64, this made him feel slow and boring. The 3D Land/World games continued this trend, except this time removing analog movement as well. This change felt awful especially playing it on the pro controller which uses an analog stick. The intentional downgrade of movement quality greatly affected my enjoyment of the game.

I'm not really sure why Mario has kept losing abilities and I sincerely hope that one day Nintendo decides to give us a Mario game that is as fast and deep to control as 64.
 
A

Anura

Member
chaosblade said:
Mario 64 was an amazing game and achievement in 1996. But it's not a great game in 2014.
Click to expand...

I wish people would stop saying this. I played both Mario 64 and Galaxy for the first time over a year ago. Mario 64 quickly became one of my favorite games of all time while I couldn't even stomach the first few levels of galaxy. Nothing wrong with liking Galaxy more but 64 is still an amazing game.
 
R

Ragnarsson

Member
Great review, it hold my interest through half an hour, which I didn't thought was gonna happen. Will definitely watch more of his work!
 
V

Visualante2

Member
I completely disagree with him about the swimming stages. But I do respect that he brought it up in the context of a 100 coin challenge. It was the least fun level to do that.

edit. I'll also second his comment about the uncanny particle snow. Almost made me throw up once. Don't play that level when high.
 
S

Seik

Banned
Cyd0nia said:
It created the sensation that was the Wii which caused a host of copy cats and revolutionised things. Would we have had Microsoft (perhaps erroneously) taking a more relaxed view on specs or banking on things like Kinect without Nintendo's recent influence?

Its easier to make a splash with a huge transition like 2D -> 3D than it is from say 480p to 720p, particularly going from something as brilliant as the Mario Galaxy games. The ingenuity is there, its just not as manifestly obvious to the general public, nor is platform gaming guiding the cultural Zeitgeist in popularity. Tomb Raider and Mario 64 were huge moments that may never come again.

Like with a lot of art, a lot of Mario 64s greatness was borne out of limitation - as the reviewer here points out, there are a dozen stages with seven stars in. Now we have the storage to give Mario 96 individual levels like SMW - but due to an increase in necessary work-effort, each level is perhaps not guaranteed as much attention as Mario64 levels as a result.

SM 3D World has some of the most refined and satisfying gameplay in the series though - there is nothing like beating Champion Road - the rest of the game just has a very gentle difficulty curve.
Click to expand...

Well said, I'm still working on to do the bolded though.

While I didn't finish Champion's Road yet, I can say that Nintendo still is the uncontested platformers top dog, and it shows with games like 3D World, DK and NSMBU (which I thing is the best 'New' Mario game to date.).

The satisfaction I'll feel when I'll be done with Champion's Road will be so....satisfying.
 
N

nullset2

Junior Member
Thanks for the cool new youtube sub OP, always looking for material like this instead of random assholes yelling into the mic while playing.
 
L

Leafhopper

Banned
I remember I watched his reviews of other games. They are really good but lengthy. Need to find some time to watch the others.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Anura said:
I wish people would stop saying this. I played both Mario 64 and Galaxy for the first time over a year ago. Mario 64 quickly became one of my favorite games of all time while I couldn't even stomach the first few levels of galaxy. Nothing wrong with liking Galaxy more but 64 is still an amazing game.
Click to expand...

Even if I left that comment out it wouldn't really change anything about the rest of my post.

I dunno, maybe there is just something wrong with me. I respect Mario 64 for what it did, but I've only been able to replay it once since the 90s ended without getting bored and quitting in the basement levels. And that was only because I was playing it with others.



I do agree that Mario's movement and the level of control the player has over Mario is best in Mario 64. But I think it takes a lot more than that to make a good Mario game, and I don't think the Galaxy games or 3D World are significantly hindered despite taking steps back in that regard. They were clearly designed around Mario and not the other way around so they still feel fine to play. Having more options and having levels that take that into account would have made those games even better though.
 
S

Solid Samus

Banned
Dr. Benton Quest said:
OK? Not really sure what your point is.

My point is that Nintendo is no longer the trend setting mold-breaker it used to be.
Click to expand...

there aren't as many trends to set and molds to break now that 3D gaming is so widespread and has been iterated upon so much. and even despite that I can name more than a fair share of post-N64-era Nintendo games and devices that did just that - so could anyone with seconds of thought. not to mention Nintendo titles that rivaled Super Mario 64 in terms of creativity, design chops, and vision, or at least sought to provide genuinely new and fun experiences in gaming, even when iterating on older designs... but weren't the de facto 3D platformer of the era and so aren't as ubiquitous. of which there are several, just as easily named
 
K

K.Sabot

Member
PhantomGaming said:
Awesome. I love Matthew's reviews.



People have an issue with that? I like his calm voice. Accent is pretty great too.
Click to expand...

There have been threads of his videos before (particularly his Bioshock Infinite review I believe) where people just resorted to petty jabs at his voice and how they couldn't stand watching the video.
 
J

JayEH

Junior Member
Matthew is legitmately the best reviewer I've watched on YouTube or any site for that matter. He knows his stuff and puts a lot of time and detail in his reviews. Looking forward to watching this.
 
S

sappyday

Member
K.Sabot said:
There have been threads of his videos before (particularly his Bioshock Infinite review I believe) where people just resorted to petty jabs at his voice and how they couldn't stand watching the video.
Click to expand...

There was also a Dark Souls 2 critique video where a lot of gaffers resorted to shit talking the guy's hair. It's one of the more annoying things I see on GAF.
 
S

Saintguine

Member
PhantomGaming said:
Awesome. I love Matthew's reviews.

People have an issue with that? I like his calm voice. Accent is pretty great too.
Click to expand...

People hate him for not liking Bioshock Infinite and Dark Souls II.

I guess you don't kill the sacred cow and not make a few enemies that hates your guts.
 
P

Phantasmal Repose

Member
K.Sabot said:
There have been threads of his videos before (particularly his Bioshock Infinite review I believe) where people just resorted to petty jabs at his voice and how they couldn't stand watching the video.
Click to expand...

Saintguine said:
People hate him for not liking Bioshock Infinite and Dark Souls II.

I guess you don't kill the sacred cow and not make a few enemies that hates your guts.
Click to expand...

God forbid someone have an opinion that's different than yours.
 
U

UncleSporky

Member
Dr. Benton Quest said:
Then you can't see very far.

This game was a true masterpiece. It set off a whole host of copy cats and revolutionized a genre. Where is that Nintendo now?
Click to expand...

Every new first party game Nintendo has made in the last few years has been the best game in its respective series. Usually in spades, not just "oh this is marginally better."
 
D

Danomeon

Neo Member
Looking at this guy's channel is making me drool. I love massive in-depth reviews of games, particularly when they stretch past the 20 minute mark. Super up-close critique is awesome.

I'm about halfway through this Mario video, and really impressed by some of the things he's noted. I never realized that most of these levels drew player attention by having a spire structure in the middle of the map, nor did I notice that the left-to-right movement of previous mario games had been transferred to an ascension. Interesting trivia about Miyamoto designing a rabbit to chase and obsessively tuning his own game until the core gameplay nailed it, that's some A-class game design.

Does anyone know of any similar channels to this that discuss specific games in extreme detail? I'm particularly looking for examples of channels that pick apart bad games and explain exactly where they go wrong.
 
J

javadoze

Member
Love how this guy constantly nails certain things I can't put into words (like the good feeling of controlling Mario).

Have to disagree with him though on the subject of water levels, I thought they were more of breather levels than anything.
 
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