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[soundwave05]

Anyone else agree? Even playing it on the DS without the analog, this game is so brilliantly designed and bursting with so much imagination.

I think there a few reasons. The main one is the level design is so incredible. Being in Super Mario 64's world is like being in the world's greatest theme park. There's the desert area sure, but you can actually go into the pyramid and explore inside. There's the token fire level, but you can actually go inside that volcano. There's a haunted house. There's a huge castle complete with a moat and draw bridge in front of it. There's an underground level that has a lochness monster-type down below. There's the clock tower that you can go inside of. There's an ice mountain with a huge ice slide.

Too many 3D games just have "levels" these days, but some seem arbitrarily thrown in.
In Mario 64, levels extend to multiple layers, even the main castle area.

The soundtrack also is fantastic. The act of just moving Mario around is fun ... he can backflip, triple jump, wall climb like Jackie Chan, super jump like Carl Lewis ... all very intuitively and smoothly.

In other industries, like movie enthusiasts can still lookat old movies and be awed by them, or car enthusiasts can look at old cars and be wowwed ... well I feel the same way as a gamer looking at Mario 64 now. The craftmanship behind this game is still amazing.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Anyone else agree? Even playing it on the DS without the analog, this game is so brilliantly designed and bursting with so much imagination.

I think there a few reasons. The main one is the level design is so incredible. Being in Super Mario 64's world is like being in the world's greatest theme park. There's the desert area sure, but you can actually go into the pyramid and explore inside. There's the token fire level, but you can actually go inside that volcano. There's a haunted house. There's a huge castle complete with a moat and draw bridge in front of it. There's an underground level that has a lochness monster-type down below. There's the clock tower that you can go inside of. There's an ice mountain with a huge ice slide.

Too many 3D games just have "levels" these days, but some seem arbitrarily thrown in.
In Mario 64, levels extend to multiple layers, even the main castle area.

The soundtrack also is fantastic. The act of just moving Mario around is fun ... he can backflip, triple jump, wall climb like Jackie Chan, super jump like Carl Lewis ... all very intuitively and smoothly.

In other industries, like movie enthusiasts can still lookat old movies and be awed by them, or car enthusiasts can look at old cars and be wowwed ... well I feel the same way as a gamer looking at Mario 64 now. The craftmanship behind this game is still amazing.

It's a goddamn Lapras. :|

 

[olimario]

I agree.
Jak and Ratchet both have more of a story.
Super Mario Sunshine has better platforming and better control.
but Mario 64 still remains the most fun. It has simple boss fights and not the most complex platforming, but the design is just so spot-on.

Mario 64 is perfect. Hopefully 128 can outclass it.

 

[shuri]

It's a neatly done technical demo, but I dont think I ever care for the actual game. Even back then, I remember trying japanese demo after waiting in line, in the sun, for like 45 minutes, and I felt sooo underwhelmed by the game itself when I actually played it.

I really didnt like the way they structured the game the 7 (or maybe more, I didnt get very far) levels that had multiple objectives in them. That felt so lame, especially since some of the objectives were fruity as fuck, and it never felt like the previous games. I always wished that Nintendo would come up with a classic smb-type 3D game for the n64 and future console, but it never came. Mario64 was the beginning of the whole gimmicky games era for Nintendo, imho.

I still bought it for DS, its a neat technical demo for the stylus, but i cant be bothered doing the missions, at all. I think I have like 7 stars.

 

[Do The Mario]

Anyone else agree? Even playing it on the DS without the analog, this game is so brilliantly designed and bursting with so much imagination.

I think there a few reasons. The main one is the level design is so incredible. Being in Super Mario 64's world is like being in the world's greatest theme park. There's the desert area sure, but you can actually go into the pyramid and explore inside. There's the token fire level, but you can actually go inside that volcano. There's a haunted house. There's a huge castle complete with a moat and draw bridge in front of it. There's an underground level that has a lochness monster-type down below. There's the clock tower that you can go inside of. There's an ice mountain with a huge ice slide.

Too many 3D games just have "levels" these days, but some seem arbitrarily thrown in.
In Mario 64, levels extend to multiple layers, even the main castle area.

The soundtrack also is fantastic. The act of just moving Mario around is fun ... he can backflip, triple jump, wall climb like Jackie Chan, super jump like Carl Lewis ... all very intuitively and smoothly.

In other industries, like movie enthusiasts can still lookat old movies and be awed by them, or car enthusiasts can look at old cars and be wowwed ... well I feel the same way as a gamer looking at Mario 64 now. The craftmanship behind this game is still amazing.

Yup I agree but Banjo Kazooie comes bloody close

 

[drohne]

yup. level design is still tops for the genre. it casts a very long shadow. personally i prefer super magnetic niu niu, but i won't argue that it's objectively better.

 

[Matlock]

Sunshine > 64 for level design and controls.

 

[Speevy]

One of my favorites along with Super Mario Sunshine, Yoshi's Island, Prince of Persia: SoT, and Jet Set Radio Future.

 

[soundwave05]

I really think you could take Super Mario 64 and use it as a blue print for a theme park.

I like the care that EAD put into all the little touches ... the room for the Water level isn't just a generic water painting, there's a nice aquarium on the side with fish swimming about.

I guess it's just the amount of care they put into just about everything that still impresses.

So many times in games you think "well there's a water level, wouldn't it be cool if there was a sunken treasure ship?" ... Mario 64 just does all that stuff. Like John Hammond would say in Jurassic Park ... spared no expense.

That's what I think was missing from Sunshine, by limiting itself to only tropical themed levels, you limit the type of experiences the player can have.

 

[Speevy]

Well you'll just love the Revolution's "Super Mario Snowfall".

 

[BeOnEdge]

i didnt know mario 64 was the best 3d platformer. i thought that belonged to tomb raider.

 

[Speevy]

i didnt know mario 64 was the best 3d platformer. i thought that belonged to tomb raider.

:lol

 

[Musashi Wins!]

Sunshine > 64 for level design and controls.

c'mon.

 

[Speevy]

c'mon.

Well, the pack-less levels were designed better than any of M64's levels, just not aesthetically.

 

[drohne]

oh wait. i forgot the original jet set radio. that's objectively better than mario 64. rock that shit, homie!

edit: i maintain that a game consisting entirely of platforming mini-levels in the style of mario sunshine's would be the greatest game ever. or close enough to it. sadly, mario sunshine scatters a handful of them through a deadening travesty of mario 64's ideas.

 

[MrparisSM]

I really think you could take Super Mario 64 and use it as a blue print for a theme park.

I like the care that EAD put into all the little touches ... the room for the Water level isn't just a generic water painting, there's a nice aquarium on the side with fish swimming about.

I guess it's just the amount of care they put into just about everything that still impresses.

So many times in games you think "well there's a water level, wouldn't it be cool if there was a sunken treasure ship?" ... Mario 64 just does all that stuff. Like John Hammond would say in Jurassic Park ... spared no expense.

That's what I think was missing from Sunshine, by limiting itself to only tropical themed levels, you limit the type of experiences the player can have.

Very well said man. And another thing that is so impressive is that they did this one damn CATRIDGE. It was amazing back then and is still amazing now. I've been obsessed with this game for the past couple weeks on my DS. So much fun.

 

[Soul4ger]

I really didnt like the way they structured the game the 7 (or maybe more, I didnt get very far) levels that had multiple objectives in them.

Clearly... Since there were more than double seven. But you're allowed to have your opinion.

 

[XS+]

Ape Escape, for me. While Mario 64 was a technical masterpiece, it lacked personality. Ape Escape had that in spades. I've never enjoyed a platformer as much as I did Ape Escape.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Very well said man. And another thing that is so impressive is that they did this one damn CATRIDGE. It was amazing back then and is still amazing now. I've been obsessed with this game for the past couple weeks on my DS. So much fun.

Why's it so impressive that it's on a cartidge? Most of my favorite games are on cartridges.

 

[MrparisSM]

Why's it so impressive that it's on a cartidge? Most of my favorite games are on cartridges.

Because at the time everyone was saying how catridges wouldn't be enough for 3D games. And then BAM here comes this HUGE ass platformer with stunning graphics huge worlds and tasks to complete. Lots of variety. It was just an awesome technical feet and set the mark on what was capable for the system.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Because at the time everyone was saying how catridges wouldn't be enough for 3D games. And then BAM here comes this HUGE ass platformer with stunning graphics huge worlds and tasks to complete. Lots of variety. It was just an awesome technical feet and set the mark on what was capable for the system.

heh. I wouldn't know. I was eight at the time. (!!!)

Man... it's been eight years.

 

[Dynamite Shikoku]

mario 64 > any real life adventure anyone has ever had

 

[soundwave05]

I remember even thinking though that games in terms of physical size of the 3D world wouldn't be able to fit on a cartridge :lol That was one of those "urban legends" back in those days in the mid-1990s (like the "you can go grab a soda and drink it because loading times will be so bad!!!").

It is quite amazing though that Super Mario 64 is what ... only 4MB? I have MP3s that are a bigger file size than that.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I remember even thinking though that games in terms of physical size of the 3D world wouldn't be able to fit on a cartridge :lol

It is quite amazing though that Super Mario 64 is what ... only 4MB? I have MP3s that are a bigger file size than that.

Either 4 or 8 MB. I'm pretty damn sure it was 64 Mbits, so it's 8

 

[soundwave05]

Yeah I think you're right ... Donkey Kong Country is 4MB, Super Mario 64 is 8MB.

 

[Amir0x]

Either 4 or 8 MB. I'm pretty damn sure it was 64 Mbits, so it's 8

Yeah, it's 8MB.

 

[MrparisSM]

Either 4 or 8 MB. I'm pretty damn sure it was 64 Mbits, so it's 8

Damn, I didn't know it was that small a size. 0_o I bet the DS version maybe even smaller(because it's rendering at a lower resolution than a TV screen.) But this bodes well for how big DS games will be able to get. FF VII anyone?

 

[soundwave05]

If they could put Resident Evil 2 on an N64 cart, they could fit Final Fantasy VII on a DS card I'm sure.

I have a feeling Nintendo probably will have higher capacity cards in the future too (for storing animated movies on for instance).

The compression technologies we have nowadays are also far beyond what was availible in 1997.

I would love to see Final Fantasy VII on the DS actually since its been years since I've had a reason to pick it up.

Touchscreen controls would be great for battles/inventory and the second screen could display your other characters as you walk around the main world.

 

[Redbeard]

Banjo is better.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Damn, I didn't know it was that small a size. 0_o I bet the DS version maybe even smaller(because it's rendering at a lower resolution than a TV screen.) But this bodes well for how big DS games will be able to get. FF VII anyone?

Perhaps in a year or two, it'll be possible. the minimum DS card size is 128 MB. FFVII was something like 2.5 GB, including the FMV sequences. Although, with DivX and other compression techniques, I bet they could get it down to 1.5 GB, heck, with the lower quality on the screen, they could probably remove stuff from the models that won't be noticeable onthe small screen, and maybe even get it down to 1 GB, if they do a great job at it. And I bet that we'll see 1 Gigabyte DS cards in a year or two, so a one or two card game isn't out of the question. (the GBA went from 16 Mb minimum carts (I believe), to 256 Mb carts)

 

[moondance]

The best platformer I've ever played was Rayman 2 (dreamcast). The game was magic

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

i didnt know mario 64 was the best 3d platformer. i thought that belonged to tomb raider.

best not first

 

[soundwave05]

Screen resoultion on the DS is considerably lower than a television though, so all those pre-rendered backgrounds would not take up nearly as much space.

Square should do it. They seem reluctant to re-do FF7 because they'd have to redo all the graphics, which would probably entail a huge budget, but on the DS they could reuse the original Playstation art with a few upgrades.

 

[imastalker co.]

Sunshine has better controls, but Mario 64 has better everything else (graphics aside obviously).

second place goes to Rayman 2.

 

[MrparisSM]

Perhaps in a year or two, it'll be possible. the minimum DS card size is 128 MB. FFVII was something like 2.5 GB, including the FMV sequences. Although, with DivX and other compression techniques, I bet they could get it down to 1.5 GB, heck, with the lower quality on the screen, they could probably remove stuff from the models that won't be noticeable onthe small screen, and maybe even get it down to 1 GB, if they do a great job at it. And I bet that we'll see 1 Gigabyte DS cards in a year or two, so a one or two card game isn't out of the question. (the GBA went from 16 Mb minimum carts (I believe), to 256 Mb carts)

Have you seen the little FMV on the Metroid:Hunters Demo?? They could use that compression technology, and I"m pretty sure it would fit on one 128MB card. Resident Evil 2 was able to do it in only 64MB. It's just all about how you compress everything.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Have you seen the little FMV on the Metroid:Hunters Demo?? They could use that compression technology, and I"m pretty sure it would fit on one 128MB card. Resident Evil 2 was able to do it in only 64MB. It's just all about how you compress everything.

No, I haven't. I own a DS, I must own first hunt, and I haven't seen it.

 

[soundwave05]

They'll probably have 256MB cards out by the time it would take Square to port the game anyway, which should be enough space.

I wouldn't mind a PSP port either, but I'm wary of the battery life on that thing for "longer play" types of genres like RPGs. I also think genuniely the touchscreen/dual screen set up on the DS is ideally suited for RPGs.

They could add some cool touchscreen mini-games too, like in that casino area

 

[Date of Lies]

just ended a Mario 64 DS session. best 3d platformer, no contest.

"wet-dry world" = genius level design

 

[GaimeGuy]

They'll probably have 256MB cards out by the time it would take Square to port the game anyway, which should be enough space.

I wouldn't mind a PSP port either, but I'm wary of the battery life on that thing for "longer play" types of genres like RPGs. I also think genuniely the touchscreen/dual screen set up on the DS is ideally suited for RPGs.

TBH, I couldn't care less about FFVII.

FFVIII, now....

<3

 

[Date of Lies]

TBH, I couldn't care less about FFVII.

FFVIII, now....

<3

you mean FFIX, of course.

 

[fallout]

i maintain that a game consisting entirely of platforming mini-levels in the style of mario sunshine's would be the greatest game ever. or close enough to it.

Yes! I couldn't agree more. I figured that would've made a great unlockable ... say like, 50 of those levels, accessible whenever you want. They can't be that hard to design.

I can't describe how much I loved those. They were challenging, but never really frustrating. Any time you died, it was your own damn fault.

 

[soundwave05]

The mini-levels in SMS were interesting ... but there were no enemies!

It's just simple platform jumping. To compare that to the 2D Marios would be to play Mario 3 without any enemies in the levels.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Mario 128.

 

[captmcblack]

Yeah, I'd have to agree - Mario 64 is probably the greatest argument for games in 3D there is, IMHO. The level design, especially in Wet-Dry World and Tiny-Huge Island is amazing, and the sheer freedom of movement and precision control is probably surpassed only by Super Mario Sunshine. The only thing missing from Mario 64 - and Sunshine, for that matter - is more of the old-school feel. Fireballs, Super Mushrooms and stuff...that's important for Mario games, too.

 

[Pachinko]

I've always thought Mario 64 despite it's niggling camera problems was pretty well the best platformer in 3D. It did that style of hub levels first and it did it better then anyone else. The only game that came close but still wasn't quite as fun was Jak and Daxter, the first one. Most of the obvious imitations just didnt grab me- Spyro the dragon for example always felt like a super cheap imitation and ape escape felt like a dual shock tech demo , nothing more.

 

[Belfast]

Have to disagree. The game had its time in the sun. I think too many of you are taking minor details and extrapolating them into strokes of genius, when they're not. They're just that, minor details. Cool, but a lot of games incorporate those and I don't think M64 is the best at it, either. Its a landmark title for sure, but so was Pong, but there are better-designed games than that out there. M64 marks some technical achievements in the industry (and even that is debatable with Tomb Raider out there) and it was a good showing of what was new and capable at the time, but there are simply better designed platformers out there these days. We tend to emphasize things when they feel fresh and new and that feeling can become part of memories, which is why nostalgia is such a big factor. We have the memory of it being so fun and fresh and new when we first played it that most of us can't shake that feeling all these years later, but the reality is that its still pretty dated and other games have exceeded it in time.

 

[beerbelly]

One of the things I like about this game is that there are many ways to get to one area. Wall jumps, a leap from a higher cliff, cannon, flying... so great.

 

[GaimeGuy]

Have to disagree. The game had its time in the sun. I think too many of you are taking minor details and extrapolating them into strokes of genius, when they're not. They're just that, minor details. Cool, but a lot of games incorporate those and I don't think M64 is the best at it, either. Its a landmark title for sure, but so was Pong, but there are better-designed games than that out there. M64 marks some technical achievements in the industry (and even that is debatable with Tomb Raider out there) and it was a good showing of what was new and capable at the time, but there are simply better designed platformers out there these days. We tend to emphasize things when they feel fresh and new and that feeling can become part of memories, which is why nostalgia is such a big factor. We have the memory of it being so fun and fresh and new when we first played it that most of us can't shake that feeling all these years later, but the reality is that its still pretty dated and other games have exceeded it in time.

Or maybe it's just that damn good.

 

[captmcblack]

One of the things I like about this game is that there are many ways to get to one area. Wall jumps, a leap from a higher cliff, cannon, flying... so great.

Another reason why M64 is best. It made you feel like you could go anywhere and do anything. There were no "conventional paths"; you could fly through the sky, ground pound 500 miles from the top of a mountain to the bottom, surf on a shell over hazards...pretty much anything you could think of could probably be done if you wanted to. Chaining a sideflip into a dive-roll into a triple jump or something...sexay.

 

[soundwave05]

Actually I find myself enjoying Mario 64 moreso now than I did in 1996 so I don't think it's just the nostalgia.

In '96 I think I was just more absorbed by the technology (ooh, analog control, look at the liquid metal texture mapping, the draw distance, etc.).

Maybe it's the portable nature of the DS version (I can pop it out anytime and just play for a star or two), but I'm able to "savor" the game a bit more and appreciate the design and care put into the game.

 

[lexi]

i maintain that a game consisting entirely of platforming mini-levels in the style of mario sunshine's would be the greatest game ever. or close enough to it. sadly, mario sunshine scatters a handful of them through a deadening travesty of mario 64's ideas.

IAWTP 100%

A 3D Overworld similar to SMB3 with levels like the ones you described would be so goddamn awesome.