Super Mario 64
Super Mario 64 was the first game released for the Nintendo 64 and the console's flagship. In this game Mario has to save Princess Peach Toadstool from King Bowser Koopa, as in the Mario games for the NES and SNES. This was also Mario's first 3D game. This time Mario has to find power stars scattered throughout Peach's castle to succeed. The game is composed of 15 main levels and several secret ones.
Not only was this Mario's first 3D game, but it also made Mario the very first 2D established video game character to appear in a full 3D game.
The game was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and in the US on September 29, 1996. It was produced and directed by Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto. The music was composed by Koji Kondo.
Super Mario 64 is regarded by many as a milestone in gaming history. The following quote from Warren Spector, lead designer at Ion Storm, is illustrative of this view:
- "It's not possible to squeeze this much gameplay into a single game. Mario has, like, ten things he can do and yet there's never a moment where you feel constrained in any way. 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. And the way the game allows players to explore the same spaces several times while revealing something new each time is a revelation. Any developer who wouldn't kill to have made this game is nuts."
Gameplay
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
There are 120 stars to collect, but only 70 are needed to get access to the final stage. For each of the 15 courses, seven stars can be obtained, one of which requires getting at least 100 coins. 15 of the game's total 120 stars are not found in any course. (They are all found in the castle. For example, right before getting to course 4's gateway there is an opening in an aquarium off to the right that contains a star.) Most courses have a painting that the player must jump into in order to get to the course. Some paintings have unique things about them. For example, if a player jumps into the course 11 painting at the top of the painting the water in the course will be a lot higher than it normally is.
Transformation Blocks
There are 3 different transformation blocks throughout the game that Mario can hit:
- Red Block: Wing Cap (Mario can fly)
- Green Block: Metal Cap (Mario becomes metal)
- Blue Block: Invisible Cap (Mario becomes invisible)
Courses
- Bob-omb Battlefield
- Whomp's Fortress
- Jolly Roger Bay
- Cool, Cool Mountain
- Big Boo's Haunt
- Hazy-Maze Cave
- Lethal Lava Land
- Shifting Sand Land
- Dire, Dire Docks
- Snowman's Land
- Wet-Dry World
- Tall Tall Mountain
- Tiny-Huge Island
- Tick Tock Clock
- Rainbow Ride
Super Mario 64 Glitches
Inverted rooms
Once you have all 120 stars, a cannon near the pond in front of the castle will open and launch you to a roof, where Yoshi will be waiting. Also on the roof is a Wing Cap. There is a glitch that can be done with this:
- Get the Wing Cap, then fly off the roof and into the cannon on the ground.
- Launch towards the tower as high as it will go.
- Keep flying towards it until you reach it. The upper part of the castle has 8 sides, so when you land on an outcrop face away from the wall that is wall that is 2nd to the left of the one that is in front (the "front" wall is the wall that was directly in front of you when you blasted from the cannon.)
- Face away from the wall and then quickly turn around and run into it. You should fall down into a strange chamber. Remember that you'll lose half of your power.
- You'll be in a chamber that is inverted-- in other words, the door that looks like it's going outside goes into the castle and vice versa. The only way out is to leave through a hidden wall in the chamber that's inside the castle.
- When you fly to the castle outcrop, you can also walk straight up to the top of the castle instead of falling through (by walking up the 3rd left from the front wall)
Mutated Mario cap
- Go to course 10 (Snowman's land)
- Go to where the giant snowman is blowing and get blown off.
- Your cap will fly off as always, but don't pick it up, go to the teleporter (it is a tree in the corner of the level, stand next to it for a few seconds and it will teleport you to another place.)
- Teleport back to where the tree was.
- Go to your cap. It will be mutated and glitchy. Pick it up and instead of going on Mario's head it will go in his hand.
(The teleporting part is normal, there are teleporters in other levels too. They are not considered glitches.)
Flying Mario corpse
- Go to course 8 (Shifting Sand Land).
- With the Pink Bomb-Omb, open up the cannon in the corner of the level.
- Go in the cannon, and aim it just above the sun. (Move the cannon as far left and as far up as it will go.)
- Fire the cannon, do it many times.
- Eventually Mario's power will run out but he'll still be in the cannon.
- If you fire straight out into the level Mario will technically be dead but still flying. If Mario lands though he'll die and if he gets coins they won't do anything (and if Mario lands in water he'll drown automatically.)
Metal Box
A Metal Box is an green cube in the Super Mario Bros. series that has appeared in several video games. It makes its first appearance in Super Mario 64 and contains the Metal Cap, which can turn Mario into metal. This has the effect of making him heavier than normal, allowing him to perform actions such as walking on the sea floor, and withstanding wind gusts. It appears again in Super Smash Bros. Melee as an item able to turn characters into metal, except that there is no Metal Cap because the box itself activates the transformation.
