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Super Mario 64
Developer(s)	Nintendo EAD
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigeru Miyamoto
Series	Mario
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64, Nintendo DS, iQue, Virtual Console
Release	Nintendo 64 JP: June 231996 NA: September 291996 EU: March 11997 AUS: March 11997 iQue CHN: November 2003 Virtual Console NA: November 192006 JP: December 22006 AUS: December 72006 EU: December 82006
Genre(s)	Platform
Mode(s)	Single player

Super Mario 64 (スーパーマリオ64, Sūpā Mario Rokujūyon) is a top-selling platform game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It debuted in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe on March 1, 1997. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the new console. As of 2006, Super Mario 64 has sold 11.62 million copies, not including the Wii's Virtual Console sales, making it the best-selling Nintendo 64 game and one of the best-selling non-bundled console games to date.

Super Mario 64, the first 3D platform game in the Mario series, 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.

In 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. It is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time.

Gameplay

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. Mario unlocks doors in the castle with keys obtained by defeating Bowser in special courses.

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 and walk underwater, 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). 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

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 at great heights or distances using the game controller's analog stick and buttons. As jumping was Mario's signature move in earlier games, particular attention was paid to this move. 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 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). Mario can pick up and carry certain items, an ability which is used to solve various puzzles. Mario can also swim underwater at various speeds. His life slowly diminishes while underwater (representing how long he can hold his breath); he must find coins or air bubbles to replenish it, or return to the surface before drowning. If Mario surfaces from underwater, he heals all of his damage regardless of the source.

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 and other areas, usually accessed by jumping into a painting. Each course is an enclosed world in which the player is free to wander in all directions and discover the environment without time limits.

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. 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.

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. 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.

The development of the game started with the creation of the characters and camera system. Shigeru 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. The original concept involved the game having fixed path much like an isometric type game, before the choice was made to settle on a free-roaming 3D design. 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 for 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. 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 the golden rabbit, MIPS.

Shigeru Miyamoto's guiding design philosophy behind Super Mario 64 was to include more details. Many were inspired from real life; for example, one character is based on assistant director Takashi Tezuka's wife who "is very quiet normally, but one day she exploded, maddened by all the time spent at work. In the game, there is now a character (Big Boo) which shrinks (or looks semi-transparent) when Mario looks at it, but when Mario turns away, it will grow large and menacing." 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 Zelda was released years later, some puzzles were taken from that game for Super Mario 64.

Reliable information about Nintendo's new 3D Mario first leaked out in November 1995, and a playable version of Super Mario 64 was presented days later as part of the world premiere for the Nintendo 64 (then known as Ultra 64) at Nintendo SpaceWorld. The basic controls had at this point been implemented, and the game was reportedly 50% finished, although most course design remained. At least 32 courses were planned, but the number turned out lower in the final game, as only 15 could fit (or 25 courses, if the game's 10 extra mini-levels are included).

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 the voice acting of Charles Martinet. It also features Leslie Swan as Princess Peach and Isaac Marshall as Bowser. The characters speak more in the English version than in the Japanese version. 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 is counted by 1up.com as one of the first games to have brought a series of 2D games into full 3D and is regarded as one of the best games ever made. 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. Super Mario 64 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 bestseller Player's Choice selection. It has placed high on many "greatest games of all time" lists, ranked #1 by Next Generation Magazine, #5 and #1 in Nintendo Power issues 200 and 100 respectively, #1 by Super PLAY, #1 by IGN, #2 by Electronic Gaming Monthly, #5 by GameInformer.and #13 by GameFAQs users.

EGM awarded Super Mario 64 a Gold award in its initial review, and in Edge, the game was the first of only six games to ever score a perfect 10/10. Michael Grayford of Liquid Entertainment stated that 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 that "each level brought some new unique cool gameplay element and I was never bored."GameSpot called Super Mario 64 one of the 15 most influential games of all time. They rated the Nintendo 64 version a 9.4 and the Wii Virtual Console version an 8. The Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu rated Super Mario 64 a 39/40. The Japanese magazine "Nintendo Dream" gave Super Mario 64 a full 10/10, making the first game ever to receive a perfect score. Warren Spector, former lead designer at Ion Storm Inc., stated that 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 on that the exploration aspect of the game, allowed players to "explore the same spaces several times while revealing something new each time is a revelation." Although it is the most downloadable title in the Virtual Console, it is the second most popular title in the Wii's Virtual Console, as of June 2007.

Impact and legacy

Super Mario 64 set many precedents for 3D platformers to follow. 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. In order 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. The camera system was the first of its kind in the platform genre, and would become the standard for 3D platformers in the future.

The Nintendo 64's analog control 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 either character-relative controls in which the player could rotate the character, or screen-relative controls in conjunction with a fixed camera, which were a logical extension of 2D control. 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.

Super Mario 64 was also 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 that "the idea for the huge variety of missions within a level came from Super Mario 64."

Sequels and remakes

Super Mario 64 was first re-released in Japan on July 18 1997 as Shindou Super Mario 64. This version added support for the Rumble Pak and included voice acting from the American version as well. 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 canceled due to the failure of that peripheral, as well as a lack of progress in development. 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. The next 3D Mario platformer, Super Mario Galaxy, will be released for Wii in November 2007.

An enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS called Super Mario 64 DS was available for the launch of the DS in 2004. Yoshi, Luigi, and Wario were added as additional playable characters, and the game featured slightly altered graphics, additional stars and courses, touch screen mini-games, and a few minor multiplayer modes. Super Mario 64 is downloadable for the Wii's Virtual Console service, with a price of 1,000 Wii Points. This release adds compatibility with the GameCube and Classic controllers, and enhances the display. This version is able to run in 480p on properly configured NTSC setups. Otherwise it will still run at 480i, an improvement over its original resolution of 320x240. The PAL Virtual Console release runs at 576i at 50Hz.

Rumors

Because of the game's popularity, rumors about glitches and secrets spread rapidly after its release. 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 L(uigi) was real. IGN received so many questions and supposed methods to unlock Luigi that the staff offered a $100 bounty to anyone who could prove that Luigi was in the game. The number of false codes submitted to IGN dropped dramatically; no successful method emerged.

Nintendo has consistently denied Luigi's playability, and never commented on the meaning of "L is real 2401" except for the April Fool's 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 had only 106 pages. The section also featured a facetious article entitled "Luigi 64", commenting humorously on the rumor. The then-infamous texture made a cameo appearance in Dodongo's Cavern, a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

References

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See also

• List of Mario games by year
• List of Nintendo 64 games

External links

• The Making of Super Mario 64 by Andy Robinson
• Super Mario 64 at IMDb
• Template:StrategyWiki
• Super Mario 64 Beta Sample

Interviews

• GameSpot - Tim Schafer (LucasArts) comments - 1999

• 1996 video games
• Mario platform games
• Nintendo 64 games
• IQue games
• Virtual Console games