How Super Mario 64 has passed the test of time with flying colors: A Review

Nintendo has a really excellent past. And the Nintendo 64 game Super Mario 64 is undoubtedly a huge part of that past. Super Mario 64 launched alongside Nintendo's groundbreaking system and served as the blueprint for all 3-D games to come.

Super Mario 64 was an innovation back then, but how does the game hold up today, 16 years later? Read on, my friend, to find out!

In Super Mario 64, Peach's castle is your gateway to a slew of fully explorable worlds. Returning to these worlds again and again turns out to be necessary, as each contains up to 6 power stars, and power stars are used to open up new parts of the castle. You might think that coming back to worlds would be a bad thing, but it isn't in this game: the levels are well designed and fun to explore. Nintendo didn't include the timer that is a staple of Mario side scrollers, and this works well, promoting players to explore to their content.

As for level variety, Super Mario 64 doesn't lack in that department. In addition to standard themes like ice, water, and lava, players will be treated to a mountainous level, a level with a hidden city, a dank underground level, a level inside a clock, and much more. Once you've unlocked the entire castle, you'll hardly know where to turn or which incredible world to visit next.

Just as you'd expect from a Super Mario game, the controls in Super Mario 64 are tight and hold up surprisingly well today. But when you realize that each successive 3-D Mario game has used essentially the same control scheme, it's no surprise. Mario added a fair amount of new tricks to his skill set during his first foray into a 3-D world, and once mastered, they are a joy to perform.

Do I have any complaints at all? Admittedly, yes. The camera control in Super Mario 64 is one thing that hasn't aged so gracefully. Sometimes it feels like the game is trying to put the camera in the most inconvenient position possible. But the rest of the game is just so awesome, this turns out to be pretty nit picky.

Conclusion
Super Mario 64 has passed the test of time with flying colors. The worlds are a lot of fun to explore and the controls have endured well. If you own a Wii, you have no excuse to miss out on this classic: it's well worth the $10 admission price.    

Mario's Many Moves: Flight

Through the use of a variety of power-ups, Mario has taken flight many times over the years. This began with the ever-famous Tanooki suit in the NES game Super Mario Bros. 3. The Tanooki leaf turns Mario into a raccoon-like form. The key feature of the Tanooki suit is the tail. Mario can spin the Tanooki tail to put the hurt on enemies and also fly into the sky. Infinite flight would destroy the integrity of a Mario platformer, so the Tanooki tail's power is limited.

As Mario moved from 8- to 16-bit, he maintained his ability to fly with the feather power-up in Super Mario World. No, the feather did not grant him wings: instead, it adorned him in a bright yellow cape. Though it grants him the same ability as the Tanooki tail, the cape feels and controls entirely different. Mario can soar into the sky with enough momentum, but maintaining that flight turns out to be a tad more tricky in SMW. I would love to tell you exactly how it's done, but I'm afraid I don't know myself!

Flight in a 3-D Mario platformer turned out even more different. In Super Mario 64, the wing cap is the power-up of choice for flight. To lift from the ground to soaring heights, Mario need only perform a consecutive high jump with the wing cap on. After that, it's a matter of alternately diving and reaching for the sky again in smooth, sweeping motions.

So there you have it! Not all of it, of course, but I hope you'll play all the Mario you can to discover the secrets of flight for yourself! Have a splendid weekend!

Mario's Many Moves: The Jump

The time has come to post on something other than Kid Icarus: Uprising. I cannot tell you how much I love this game, so I'm really looking forward to the big review!

And now for today's topic! Mario's jump is legendary. Mario, after all, defined the platform genre, to which jumping is essential! It's easy to take Mario's jump for granted, but it is really outrageous.

Mario's amazing jumping skills have evolved over the years. Nowhere is that change more pronounced than in Mario's first 3-D adventure, Super Mario 64. Before this groundbreaking game, Mario's jumps were fairly straightforward. They could be manipulated to some degree, but there are many varieties of jumps in Super Mario 64. One of those variations is the consecutive high-jump. To pull this off, a player must jump three times in quick succession, without losing momentum. The first is a normal jump, the second a little higher, and the third even higher. Since Super Mario 64 was released, the consecutive high-jump has stuck with the series, even appearing in Mario's side-scrolling adventures.

Next, Super Mario 64 added the long jump to Mario's skill set. The long jump is undoubtedly harder to pull off, but well worth mastering. As Mario runs, he can duck, then quickly jump for an impressive long jump. Again, this maneuver has become a staple of successive 3-D Super Mario games.

The back flip was also an important jump that Mario learned in Super Mario 64. The back flip is considerably easier than the long jump, yet the only difference between the two in controller command is Mario's movement. The long jump requires a running start, while the back flip requires stillness. When still, Mario can duck and then jump. Voila! A back flip! Mario's back flip will propel him into the air more than a regular jump, but not more than a consecutive high jump.

So there you have it! It's gospel truth that playing a 3-D Mario platformer is easier and more fun when you have mastered Mario's various jumps. Hope you have a great weekend!