haha
okay I feel this thread has moved on from being about games and is now a classic Nintendo VS Sony schoolyard fight nonsense
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What were your impressions of Mario 64 when it was released?
- Thread starter urfe
- Start date
haha
okay I feel this thread has moved on from being about games and is now a classic Nintendo VS Sony schoolyard fight nonsense
CrackPebbles
Member
I first played it when i was like 4-5 years old. I thought it was neat but at that age I would rather have played mortal kombat, tekken 2, or turtles in time. However in retrospect I have more respect for what 64 did.
yeah, blah, blah, blah.
Not a Nintendo Love Hotel...?
Not true. Jumping Flash, which I played before Mario 64, was not garbage. It was great.
Not even a little.
Probly so.
So..what was your desired alternative to MIDI music at the time?...
cough, cough, *bullshit* ... Crash was a fun game, but it was not something that could "spoil" Mario 64...
Regardless of what you'd like to think, I'm pretty sure Mario 64 never felt shame about not being more like Crash Bandsicoot.
This is fucking awesome--oh wait this fucking sucks because now my dad can't play Mario with me: movement is too complicated for him.
Thank you based Criterion my dad didn't play games again until the first Burnout on 360.
Your dad should have played Burnout 3: Takedown.
I'm sorry that you have such a weird idea of what constitutes "bad controls". Not sorry.
Sorry. (not) But, No.
I played the hell out of Crash, but it was only "better" to some people. Obviously you are 1 of those people...
Well I 100% the first two Crash games. I think that's good enough for me.
Apparently not true....just hard to understand.
wut?
wut?
I don't think "needless to say" applies here...
evilromero
Member
It still blows my mind even today that few games are as good. One of Nintendo's absolute best. I know many of my friends that would buy a Wii U just for a sequel to this game.
I Wanna Be The Guy
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Ok I'm just gonna chime in on the Crash vs Mario 64 thing. I can appreciate Mario 64 as a technical achievement for the time. I can appreciate people being wowed by the idea of open 3D environments at a time when proper 3D gaming was a pretty new thing. I was the same with the original Tomb Raider. But I can't appreciate it even a little bit as a platformer. As a platformer Mario 64 was pretty mediocre and not even in the same league as any of the Crash games. Far too open and focused on exploration. The level design of Crash is more focused, it has superior controls due to the more linear nature of gameplay and for that same reason you're not fighting the camera like Mario 64.
Platformers are much better when they're linear and focused. Why do you think the 3D Mario series had such a MASSIVE leap in quality when Galaxy came out? Because they actully focused on the platforming. It was linear, focused and quite frankly it has more in common with the gameplay of the Crash games than Mario 64. Right down the spin being the primary attack method and the 2D/3D hybrid gameplay. Galaxy was a good platformer. The Crash games are good platformers. Mario 64 was not. It was a technical achievement and an interesting game from an exploration point of view. As a platformer it wasn't in the same league as Crash.
Of course these discussions are pretty pointless anyway. We all know Rayman 2 was the best 3D platformer of that era anyway. That game was a linear, focused platforming experience too. The best platformers being linear is not a coincidence.
Platformers are much better when they're linear and focused. Why do you think the 3D Mario series had such a MASSIVE leap in quality when Galaxy came out? Because they actully focused on the platforming. It was linear, focused and quite frankly it has more in common with the gameplay of the Crash games than Mario 64. Right down the spin being the primary attack method and the 2D/3D hybrid gameplay. Galaxy was a good platformer. The Crash games are good platformers. Mario 64 was not. It was a technical achievement and an interesting game from an exploration point of view. As a platformer it wasn't in the same league as Crash.
Of course these discussions are pretty pointless anyway. We all know Rayman 2 was the best 3D platformer of that era anyway. That game was a linear, focused platforming experience too. The best platformers being linear is not a coincidence.
LifEndz
Member
Yep. I remember riding my bike all the way to Toys R Us and playing it on one of those display units. I didn't want to get to far because I wanted to save something for when I'd get it, but I also just had to see what each world looked like. The music for the water stage....sooooooo good. Maybe the GOAT.
Mudron
Member
I stopped playing videogames shortly after the SNES came out (I was just entering high school and games couldn't hold a candle to girls/new friends/etc), but a few years later (after I'd dropped out of college), some friends and I were wandering around a mall, killing time before seeing the special edition of The Empire Strikes Back in theaters, when we stumbled across an N64 kiosk outside of a Sears department store.
I'd fallen out of gaming so much that I didn't even know that Nintendo had come out with a new console, much less a 3D console with a new Mario game that let you run around a virtual three-dimensional world, and the few minutes I got to play Mario 64 at that kiosk BLEW MY GODDAMNED MIND.
A few weeks later, I'd scraped up enough money to buy a brand-new N64 (this must've been the spring after the console was released in the States) and a copy of Mario 64, and I haven't stopped playing games since.
I'd fallen out of gaming so much that I didn't even know that Nintendo had come out with a new console, much less a 3D console with a new Mario game that let you run around a virtual three-dimensional world, and the few minutes I got to play Mario 64 at that kiosk BLEW MY GODDAMNED MIND.
A few weeks later, I'd scraped up enough money to buy a brand-new N64 (this must've been the spring after the console was released in the States) and a copy of Mario 64, and I haven't stopped playing games since.
Mario 64 blew me away. I've played that game for sooooo many hours as a kid.
"A 3D MARIO GAME?!"
I was a little sad that Yoshi wasn't in the game (outside of the 120 star bonus). When I saw those Pokeys in the desert level, I expected to find Yoshi so I can have him eat those enemies.
But still, amazing game and still is!
"A 3D MARIO GAME?!"
I was a little sad that Yoshi wasn't in the game (outside of the 120 star bonus). When I saw those Pokeys in the desert level, I expected to find Yoshi so I can have him eat those enemies.
But still, amazing game and still is!
Nah, you just can't cope with the fact that Klonoa is a better 3D platformer than Mario 64.
"Bu-bu-but that's a 2.5D platformer!"
That doesn't matter in a nonsensical argument anyway.
Didn't play it back in the day but bought the Wii remake a couple of years ago. Fun game
I was blown away. Despite loving my NES and SNES, I had just gotten a $2,000 Sony VAIO with a whopping 2GB hard drive and 166 MHz processor from Incredible Universe a couple of months prior and had convinced myself that I didn't need it. Then I played it at a friend's house and for the only time in my entire life, traded some games in to be able to afford it. I remember Funcoland trying to sell me Doom 64 for $90. Fuck that just give me Mario and I'm good.
terrisus
Member
It didn't. The Galaxy games are mediocre.
(Hey, if this thread is getting disrailed as it is...)
The 90s was a strange and wonderful place.
Seconded, much, much more hand-holdy than 64. I didn't play enough of 2 to comment on that though.
Well said. I agree 100%. I think the biggest thing that turned me off of Mario 64 was the frustration of missing jumps because I couldn't get a good angle to tell if I could make it or not. Maybe if they would have locked the camera behind Mario it would have been a lot better.
I don't get how some people can't fathom that some of us just had a different experience that caused us to not get excited about the N64 or its games. I was already watching my uncle play DOOM and Destruction Derby on the Playstation far before I really ever heard about N64. By the time I did, I was neck deep in PSX games.
daninthemix
Member
Yep, and along those lines I think some people are underestimating or ignoring what a mind-blowing experience the original Tomb Raider was. The levels may have been enclosed with walls (rather than invisible walls) but they were ENORMOUS, and the atmosphere was incredible, as was the sense of history and timelessness. Not to mention the feeling of gravitas and 'growing up' that it brought to the games industry.
For me it was Tomb Raider that cut the nuts off Mario 64 before I'd even played it.
terrisus
Member
Trying to control a 3D game with a 4-separate-buttons "D-Pad" was a joke.
My experience playing Tomb Raider was this:
*Presses jump button*
*Lara jumps five seconds later*
*Throws game in garbage*
15. Played it day one. Was an avid PC gamer and looooved jumping flash. Really enjoyed the focused platforming and classic setup of the crash bandicoot games.
Mario 64 and the praise it gets, doesn't change in the face of all that. Its... probably the biggest leap forward in all areas, of any genre in console gaming. Maybe gaming period.
Its completely disingenuous to compare Tomb Raider to what Mario 64 accomplished with the 3D space. Or CB/Jumping flash to the platforming in said space.
edit: Quake and GoldenEye are two other games that approach the level paradigm shift M64 did to its respective genre.
Your comparison of Mario and Crash is great and I wholeheartedly agree. While Galaxy didn't come to my mind, the newest 3D mario games seem to be heading even more in a Crash direction.
Also I had no idea Rayman 2 was like this. What's put me off playing it is I thought it was a big open 3D world, but now I want to give it a go even more!
Nice to see another fan of the classic Tomb Raiders. These games were misunderstood. Just because Lara controlled "like a tank" people cried. But the whole point was she was supposed to control that way to compliment the level design.
What you two don't understand is that Lara controlled a specific way to cater to the level design. If she controlled the way you two wanted then it wouldn't have been as challenging and probably too easy. The kind of thing you want is like what Tomb Raider has become and that is boring.
I said that before realizing that everyone here apparently has SM64 on some unreachable pedastal. Is it so hard to imagine that everything in SM64 would seem like a step down from DK64 for someone that played DK64 first?
terrisus
Member
So if she actually controlled well, the game would be boring?
There are more than 4 (or 8, if one wants to count the awkward diagonals with those buttons) directions in a 3D world, controlling movement in them with 4 buttons made no sense.
Also, how does this even make sense, considering Tomb Raider came out after Mario 64?
it was sorta the same shock and awe i felt when i first saw Super Mario World on the SNES walking around the mall, then games like Driver and Driver 2 on playstation, the player animation on the main menu of Madden 2001 on PS2, then GTA 3, Gears and Halo 3 ect...
i guess i was like 12-13 walkin around in a Toys R Us december of 96, walked passed a playstation kiosk with madden which looked dope as hell and was gonna be my choice for christmas present, was about to ask mom for that, then she came and told me about this "new game system over here" and there was like 10 full kiosks with mario 64 set up and a bunch of parents all standing around, i dont think anyone else was playing it.
i remember seeing the controller and figuring out how to hold it in like 2 seconds, tested out the controls, it was that underground level with the pillars and water, after playin for like 5-10 minutes i was like forget playstation, i want this!
but i seem to remember my first game being Shadows of the Empire, not Mario, i think maybe they were sold out cause we were shopping in december and it had just came out or maybe it came bundled idk, that game was dope as hell too tho.
as for Mario 64 itself, it took me like maybe 2 years or something to actually get all the stars and finish the game, cause i had gotten stuck on one of the later sections and stopped playing it for a while.
i guess i was like 12-13 walkin around in a Toys R Us december of 96, walked passed a playstation kiosk with madden which looked dope as hell and was gonna be my choice for christmas present, was about to ask mom for that, then she came and told me about this "new game system over here" and there was like 10 full kiosks with mario 64 set up and a bunch of parents all standing around, i dont think anyone else was playing it.
i remember seeing the controller and figuring out how to hold it in like 2 seconds, tested out the controls, it was that underground level with the pillars and water, after playin for like 5-10 minutes i was like forget playstation, i want this!
but i seem to remember my first game being Shadows of the Empire, not Mario, i think maybe they were sold out cause we were shopping in december and it had just came out or maybe it came bundled idk, that game was dope as hell too tho.
as for Mario 64 itself, it took me like maybe 2 years or something to actually get all the stars and finish the game, cause i had gotten stuck on one of the later sections and stopped playing it for a while.
daninthemix
Member
In Europe Tomb Raider came out in 96, the N64 launched in 97.
But in Tomb Raider the levels were designed 4x4 to aid the platforming. You lined up your jumps exactly in order to pull them successfully. That was part of the challenge. Having movement in all directions wouldn't have made sense, it would've been a totally different game.
I was around 15 at the time I think, and it was completely amazing. I used to go to TRU and just play it and watch other people play it at the setups they had there.
Finally got it that Christmas and played the living shit out of it.
Oh, I also played and loved Tomb Raider. I would even play it on a tiny, windowed screen to try and get it up to a decent framerate. When that 3dfx patch finally hit my jaw freaking dropped to the ground. The two games are nothing alike. One is a slow and deliberate 3D Prince of Persia (which I love) and the other was an amazing, faster-paced platformer with some really impressive tech for the time.
Finally got it that Christmas and played the living shit out of it.
Oh, I also played and loved Tomb Raider. I would even play it on a tiny, windowed screen to try and get it up to a decent framerate. When that 3dfx patch finally hit my jaw freaking dropped to the ground. The two games are nothing alike. One is a slow and deliberate 3D Prince of Persia (which I love) and the other was an amazing, faster-paced platformer with some really impressive tech for the time.
I went to my local import game shop in Arlington Heights, IL in the Chicago area that summer. Was totally blown away by Super Mario 64. It felt & looked so 'solid' as a 3D game compared to anything on PlayStation or Saturn at the time. It was truly astounding in how it played. Like nothing else I'd experienced.
I played quite a bit of Pilotwings 64 as well.
Soon after, I decided I wasn't going to wait for the U.S. launch. I had the cash to burn so I ended up getting an N64 with both Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 from one of the mail order stores advertised in either EGM or GameFan. I payed probably double what it would've cost had I waited for domestic release. I had no regrets. Played so much Mario 64 that I think I got to the point of being burnt out on it by the time it hit stateside. Sadly, I lost most interest in it and N64 in general by the middle of 1997 because Sega's next (and last) console was on the horizon.
I played quite a bit of Pilotwings 64 as well.
Soon after, I decided I wasn't going to wait for the U.S. launch. I had the cash to burn so I ended up getting an N64 with both Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 from one of the mail order stores advertised in either EGM or GameFan. I payed probably double what it would've cost had I waited for domestic release. I had no regrets. Played so much Mario 64 that I think I got to the point of being burnt out on it by the time it hit stateside. Sadly, I lost most interest in it and N64 in general by the middle of 1997 because Sega's next (and last) console was on the horizon.
Yes, a better game.
Yeah, it was very methodical. It really reminds me of something an acrobat would do as opposed to something like free running. You aim and prepare yourself then do your acrobatic line and then land it.
Then it would've been all fucked up because they'd have to ensure all the different jutting out points of a full directional 3D world would have collision and grabbing and what not. It wouldn't have worked, they can't even do that now in HD era where we get hand-holdy platforming ala Uncharted and the new Tomb Raider where it's all scripted and there's no death-risk in jumps.
A great comparison is Tomb Raider anniversary (with full 3D directional movement) to the original. For me the original is superior.
Yes exactly, somebody gets what I'm saying
.
terrisus
Member
Ah, fair enough for Europe then.
But, for the people in the US or Japan, playing Tomb Raider before Mario 64 would have been playing them in reverse-release order.
I had a strange relationship with Mario 64.
It, and the N64, was the first time I was really hyped for a console. And I overindulged in that hype. The N64 was a long time coming to Europe, and it gave plenty of time for the UK press to write column inch after column inch about it and Mario 64 in particular. Japanese imports were pored over, the game - as it turned out - almost completely exposed through ridiculously in depth previews.
And I overexposed myself to the game via those previews. But a part of me believed, or wanted to believe, that I was only scratching the surface. I was only a kid, and like I say, I'd no real prior experience of following a new system launch in the specialist press. It was all new and exciting.
So when the day came that I finally could own my own N64 I was actually somewhat underwhelmed. I don't think any game could live up to the hype I'd built up for the game. And like I say, I almost felt like I'd already played through large swathes of the game vicariously through spoiler-ific previews, which I think blunted the experience for me somewhat.
As time passed and I continued to play I started to appreciate it for what it was, though. And I finished it, and got all the stars, and I loved it. But yeah, my first impression was a strange one, and a big lesson.
It, and the N64, was the first time I was really hyped for a console. And I overindulged in that hype. The N64 was a long time coming to Europe, and it gave plenty of time for the UK press to write column inch after column inch about it and Mario 64 in particular. Japanese imports were pored over, the game - as it turned out - almost completely exposed through ridiculously in depth previews.
And I overexposed myself to the game via those previews. But a part of me believed, or wanted to believe, that I was only scratching the surface. I was only a kid, and like I say, I'd no real prior experience of following a new system launch in the specialist press. It was all new and exciting.
So when the day came that I finally could own my own N64 I was actually somewhat underwhelmed. I don't think any game could live up to the hype I'd built up for the game. And like I say, I almost felt like I'd already played through large swathes of the game vicariously through spoiler-ific previews, which I think blunted the experience for me somewhat.
As time passed and I continued to play I started to appreciate it for what it was, though. And I finished it, and got all the stars, and I loved it. But yeah, my first impression was a strange one, and a big lesson.
Rushersauce
Banned
Hyprocrite much?
And holy hell people saying "Crash is better", that's just, like not true.
No mental gymnastics necessary. The camera/control issues are real. They may have been less obvious and more tolerable at the time, back then in the 3D games stone age, but they should be more than apparent today, with dual analog setups having long since rewritten the rules. All the same applies and extends to the N64 controller itself.
Make no mistake, SM64 was clearly a watershed moment and a massive accomplishment. But I view it as one akin to the first automobile, you know, the one you had to start with a crank and operated with multiple levers - a massive accomplishment to be sure, but one that needed more than a little refinement.
Buddha Beam
Banned
I was just amazed. The first time I played it was at a demo kiosk at Toys R Us before the N64 released. I had saved my allowance for over a year and put a preorder down on it that day.
I had played 3D games before on the Playstation, mainly Tomb Raider, and wasn't impressed. The controls were just awful, and thus the games were frustrating as hell to play. So playing Mario 64 for the first time was jaw dropping. It controlled so so perfectly and literally the controls themselves made the game just so fun to play, even for just those 10 minutes. Like if you pushed all the way on the stick, he would run. If you push forward just a little bit, he'd tip-toe. Shit, most games STILL don't implement that even today.
It really was an experience gamers had never known. In that respect, I don't think anything has compared to Mario 64 since then... although Oculus Rift sounds like it might pull it off.
I had played 3D games before on the Playstation, mainly Tomb Raider, and wasn't impressed. The controls were just awful, and thus the games were frustrating as hell to play. So playing Mario 64 for the first time was jaw dropping. It controlled so so perfectly and literally the controls themselves made the game just so fun to play, even for just those 10 minutes. Like if you pushed all the way on the stick, he would run. If you push forward just a little bit, he'd tip-toe. Shit, most games STILL don't implement that even today.
It really was an experience gamers had never known. In that respect, I don't think anything has compared to Mario 64 since then... although Oculus Rift sounds like it might pull it off.
CoolZombie
Member
I remember being absolutely gutted that the UK release of the N64 was so long after the US one and I literally counted the days until March 1st when the console finally released.
I don't think that I have ever been as excited about a game than I was with Super Mario 64. The game absolutely blew me away in all departments. Controls, visuals, level design. To this day it is in my top three games of all time and a masterful accomplishment by Nintendo.
I don't think that I have ever been as excited about a game than I was with Super Mario 64. The game absolutely blew me away in all departments. Controls, visuals, level design. To this day it is in my top three games of all time and a masterful accomplishment by Nintendo.
Lol; that's great.
Not 100% what OP asks for, but still more on topic than some of the other replies...
I just played it for the first time a few weeks ago on an emulator, but I've played all of the other 3D Mario games before, so I have a comparison.
The game has still got it. The graphics might be outdated (the artstyle saves the game from looking terrible, though), but the music still is awesome. After looking up a few tutorials on youtube and fooling around for a bit I got used to the controls, they still are passable.
What really lets this game shine after all these years is the gameplay and the level design. Unlike in newer Mario games, the open structure of both the levels AND their objectives allows for an great amount of exploration (which is rather limited in Galaxy 1&2), while still giving enough guidance to your "real" objective. Also, the castle is now my favorite hub-world EVER. So many secrets to discover *_*. The camera really didn't pass the test of time, though. Awful by today's standards.
9/10, would play again
I just played it for the first time a few weeks ago on an emulator, but I've played all of the other 3D Mario games before, so I have a comparison.
The game has still got it. The graphics might be outdated (the artstyle saves the game from looking terrible, though), but the music still is awesome. After looking up a few tutorials on youtube and fooling around for a bit I got used to the controls, they still are passable.
What really lets this game shine after all these years is the gameplay and the level design. Unlike in newer Mario games, the open structure of both the levels AND their objectives allows for an great amount of exploration (which is rather limited in Galaxy 1&2), while still giving enough guidance to your "real" objective. Also, the castle is now my favorite hub-world EVER. So many secrets to discover *_*. The camera really didn't pass the test of time, though. Awful by today's standards.
9/10, would play again
It let me hypnotized! The first time I saw it, I was seven, and I was with my mom at the supermarket, the console and the game was being displayed in the eletronics isle, I was completly unaware about the game, I stayed there watching that giant Mario head on screen, over and over again, to this day when I turn my N64 on and hear that logo sound followed by the now classic "It's a me Mario!!", I got this happy feeling from my childhood!
I was amazed when I got my Nintendo Power video with Mario 64, Pilot Wings, and, I believe, Shadows of the Empire. I distinctly remember being in awe when Mario jumped through a painting into the first world. And I had already been playing 3d games at the time (Strike Commander, Duke3d).
I've never been that fond of 3D Mario's and that goes all the way back to the beginning. When I got my N64 it came with Mario 64 and Goldeneye. I barely played it, and didn't think that much of it, while being obsessed with 007.
Over time it's one of the things that make me ponder why it seems every hardcore gamer loves it but it never did much for me.
Over time it's one of the things that make me ponder why it seems every hardcore gamer loves it but it never did much for me.