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What were your impressions of Mario 64 when it was released?

As a kid I begged my parents for any issue of Gamepro, EGM etc. that had previews of this game before it released whenever we went for groceries. When I actually got my hands on it it blew my mind. Still play it today with my son—and he enjoys the hell out of it. Even by today's standards it plays remarkably well. Hard to believe they nailed so many things down right out of the gate.
 
I was blown away. I remember seeing the blurry pics in that old EGM where they had the Ultra/N64 blowout from Spaceworld that year. First time Mario 64 and stuff like WaveRace, Star Wars, the controller were all shown. I held onto that issue for years. The little shitty blurry pics didn't do it justice. I was not a PC gamer so I could not wrap my head around 3D gameplay. Even though Star Fox and stuff like Virtua Fighter/Racing had come before, this seemed different.
 
We've had this exact same thread a few times before.

But, my initial impression was like looking into the eye of god. Their was nothing like it before and there's been nothing like it after. It's still quite possibly the best 3D platformer of all time.
 
really happy and glad i was able to see it for myself and be at a good age to remember it.

I was 7 or 8 i think and it was my cousins birthday party and everyone was gathered around the living room and his parents set up a Nintendo 64 as a surprise and after he found it, he turned it on and everyone was glued to the tv. it was nuts.

everyone from the kids and adults to my grandma were just watching the tv and being amazed haha, it was amazing.
hell we watched him play around with marios face for a good 10 minutes , it was that mind blowing haha

don't think there will be anything like that again.
 
I was admittedly like 18 or so at the time it came out, and I thought the controller for the n64 was an abomination and would rather just play PC games. The N64 didn't really have a must-have title for me util Ocarina.
 
Didn't really like it at the time, not even gonna try to go back to it, just seems like it would make it worse.

Sunshine clicked with me a bit more (even though I still hate some sides of it), but honestly, I didn't really like Mario until Galaxy. Paper Mario aside.

I know, blasphemy, blah blah blah.
 
I was 12 when my two former step-brothers and I put our Christmas money together and bought the N64 with mario 64 the holiday it released. I didn't yet comprehend how forward-thinking and so well executed the game was - I was just a naive kid who took it for granted, and I loved just about every minute of it. It was probably the first game that I beat 3 times (edit: I think it's the only game), though I still never have succeeded in getting all 120 stars. My memories are still so vivid that I feel I could replay the whole game in my head.
 
Mario 64 was one of those magical moments I got with games.

completely baffled how they never make a Mario 64 2.
 
maquiladora said:
I just remember being blown away by the 3D and how good it looked when I first saw it. But the music is what has left the most vivid and lasting impression.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The game was awesome and the music was even better. It definitely made me get an N64 much sooner than I thought I would.
 
I wasn't that impressed to be honest. I played it at friend's houses, but it contained very little of the pure, simple fun of a 2D Mario game. It was a great explore-a-thon, but a mediocre platformer. It remains one of my least favourite Mario games.
 
Then:-
Playing for the first time at a kiosk at a store when I was young mine was "what the fuck is this shit, where is game" I was roaming around in the castle and could not figure out how to enter a level, lol.

Now:-
One of the best games of all time, my favourite Mario game.
 
Doc Holliday said:
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuckkkkkkkk

I said this out loud at toys r us, I cut class to play it!
Click to expand...

That was a crazy fall. The TRU where I live had like 4 N64 demo stations all playing Mario, and this was like a month before launch. They also had a Saturn with Nights and a PSX with Crash in the same area. Pretty sure my parents dropped me and my brothers off there like 4 times a week until the system came out.
 
I actually saw banjo-kazooie before mario 64 at best buy. That feeling of exploration and adventure! Since then 3d pltaforming games have been my favorite genre
 
I can't recall if I played it at a kiosk in a store or just looked at it while maybe a friend was playing it. Either way, I had no use for it.

I later bought a Nintendo 64 before fall semester in 1997 along with Mario Kart.
 
Unfortunately I didn't really like SM64 that much. The analog use when it came to defeating bowser (someone already cleared the game on the cart I had) proved very difficult.

Ocarina of Time was the first game to literally blow my mind. People think you exaggerate when recalling these memories but it really was life-changing.

Other moments of sheer gaming awe: legend of dragoon demo cd, shenmue release, final fantasy 7 (seeing my neighbor at 9999 HP was unconscionable at the time) and finally shadows of the Colossus about 5 years ago.

These games were so gripping. Not just fun but.....something else. It's like nothing else matters while you play... Immaculate Immersion? I'll go with that.

Many other games were fun, but those moments were magic.
 
I was 13, and was amazed by the screenshots. I traded my PSX and games at Babbages on launch day and got the console day one...

...but couldn't afford a game. I rented Super Mario 64 and experienced gaming heaven. The title music is now in my head, and that small yet unforgettable piece of my childhood is rushing back to me.

Wave Race 64 screen shots literally made me nervous. I had one magazine that I specifically recall obsessing over screenshots of Wave Race in 8th grade. The game lived up to the hype.

I also obsessed over early screens of Top Gear Rally for N64, but when the game finally came out it wasn't that great.

Turok, however, blew my fucking mind.

I need to stop.
 
I was 16 when I bought my N64 at launch with Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Both blew my fucking mind. The only thing that bummed me out was that there was no fire power. I also was amazed on how so much game could fit in 8MB. Only if they opted for CDs...
 
I was all about the pokemon and my mario on the gameboy at that time. I was aware of it but I did not care much. I was more impressed with Zelda and Pokemon Stadium when it comes to the N64 at the time.
 
Best game I have ever played. Didn't think gaming would get better until I played Ocarina of Time a couple of years later.
 
Eh, I was in high school when the N64 came out. Only games I liked for it were GoldenEye, Starfox and the AKI wrestling games. I'm weird. Never much cared for SM64 or Ocarnia. I think SMB3 and SMG are the better Mario games. The again I was a dumb Sega fanboy back in the day, so I hated that Nintendo stuck wit cartridges. It was mostly Sega Saturn and PS1 games for me back then.
 
Pretty mind-blowing as expected. Played an import copy at a retail shop months before the US release, which made the wait far more difficult for the N64 launch.

Actually I was equally blown the fuck away by SMB3 and SMW at their respective launches as well.

Mario 64 was the last time I really went ape-shit over that franchise. Galaxy came close, but I was edging close to 30 at that launch, and while great games, it's very rare for me to get hyped up for any videogame as I did in my youth.
 
I went to a toys r us when I was twelve and instantly fell in love. I was just amazed how you can actually run in a circle around objects. Begged my mom to get one for me and she did eventually. I remember her buying me the system and Mario 64 for Christmas when I was twelve.
 
I was 10, bugged my mother to death and got it for christmas along with wave race 64. Best christmas ever. I remember thinking "dang this controller is weird"
 
WealthyGadabout said:
mind_blown.gif
Click to expand...

Came here to post this exact gif
 
That its not Mario as i knew it

Its a very different game than what came before it, back then i just expected Mario 64 to just be like all the previous Marios, only in 3D.


One could say that 3D Land is actually that Mario game, because it really does feel and play like SMB but in a 3D space.
 
It floored me. I was around 11 when I first got to play it, in Europe, and since I wasn't going to be getting an n64 until years later, as soon as my Canadian friend got the game and system I convinced him to let me borrow it for a day. I just played the hell out of it, even forgetting to eat for the first six hours or so.
 
My 5 year old mind pretty much exploded. When I got my first star I ran around the house saying "here we goooooooo!" All my daily journals in kindergarten from that point on were mario 64 related. Mario 64 was probably the most fun and rewarding gaming experience i've had. I remember having dreams about the game thinking about what was behind the next door. So many good memories.
 
i had a PSX at that time (had SNES before that) and sold it to get the n64 for mario.
I was put off by it not beeing like mario used to be. I played through it and got 99 Stars afaik, but my young me was sad nonetheless. I did not like 3D Mario and wanted it to be like the SMB and SMW Series. 3D just felt wrong for the series.
i had 2 or 3 more titles (waverace beeing one of them) and then quickly sold the n64 to get a Playstation again.
Had a quick go at mario galaxy on a friends wii but other than that never played a mario game henceforth..
 
Being heavily into PC games at the time, I didn't like it, honestly. When I played it on my best friend's N64, I couldn't get past unusual (for the time) analog movement, somewhat stubborn camera, and blurry textures. Today, I really wish I'd have given it more of a chance.
 
It blew my mind much like that gif posted on page 1 did for many. I'd seen the first footage from the 1995 shoshinka being broadcast on some crappy canadian video game show at the time (videogame nation or something it was called?, it was long before EP came out and showed people how a show like that could have been set up). Even that first early footage blew my mind, there was also a short clip of a 3d link fighting a stalfos in that same footage.

Between that and all the videogame magazine hype I just really REALLY wanted one. By the time mid august rolled around in '96 and the local zellers had a demo station showing the real game off my jaw just hit the floor with how stunningly good the game looked. Playing with marios face in the opening, grabbing stars and so on. Later in 96' I ended up being a lucky enough kid to get the system and mario for christmas. It remains one of the scant few games I've ever obtained every single secret in... just too bad the N64 kind of fell on it's ass after that until ocarina of time came out 2 years later...
 
My friend got an N64 on Japanese import, way before the official UK release. I was really excited to play it, but as soon as I began playing it was just the biggest dissapointment.

The move to 3d meant losing the tight, precise, twitch controls of the earlier games. We kept falling off ledges due to the rubbish camera.
 
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