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[Iorv3th]

My first experience with it was a demo in wal-mart. I bought the n64 that weekend.

 

[broncobuster]

Past the standard mind blown reaction, it was how intuitive the controls felt. Didn't have the learning period to wrap my head around the controls the way I had with 3D games that came before and after.

 

[LurkerPrime]

That large chain chomp scared the shit out of me.

That piano was too much.

Edit: The stairs were bad too. I forgot about them...

 

[Rich!]

That large chain chomp scared the shit out of me.

that didn't scare me at all.

the neverending stairs scared the shit out of me.

 

[Dee Dah Dave]

Just incredible.

Shigsy needs to make the true sequel before he retires.

 

[Kleegamefan]

Mario 64 was the most mind blowing game and influntial 3d title ever

It is also one of my top 5 games of all time

I view it as the most impactful game in history....it totally changed how 3d games were made and viewed and the entire worldwide development community stood up and took notice of that game.....I remember the time well when I worked at GameFan

 

[RAWi]

That large chain chomp scared the shit out of me.

The Piano, Big Bertha with shades XD, the giant eel, and the water spiders. This game had things that scared me when I was a kid D:

 

[galvatron]

Fun but too short. It wasn't different enough from Super Mario Kart (aside from the Matrix Reloaded highway level).

Someone misread...

Mario 64 was the most mind blowing game and influntial 3d title ever

It is also one of my top 5 games of all time

I view it as the most impactful game in history....it totally changed how 3d games were made and viewed and the entire worldwide development community stood up and took notice of that game.....I remember the time well when I worked at GameFan

I agree

 

[Shion]

Yep.

It was pure shock and awe.

I remember myself spending hours doing random shit outside the castle...and it was glorious.

 

[gelf]

Mario 64 came late here in the UK and I had already played Tomb Raider so it wasn't that impressive, and Crash Although not an open 3D World looked better imo although Mario 64 was technically more advanced.
First impressions are important and I think the impact was lost on me in this case.

Similar to my experience as well. I'd played and seen many 3D games before seeing Mario and so it had little impact on me.

Didn't end up actually playing it until I got a DS and it felt like a "you had to be there" kind of thing.

 

[Cyborg]

My reaction was: This is not Mario ....I want the old one back

 

[mr_sockochris]

Was back in 1996 at a Toys R Us demo station. I had spent the last few years playing Wario Land, Kirby, Zelda and Super Mario All Stars

I was absolutely astounded. Confounded. Amazed. Shocked. Excited. I went there every single day, just to jump around Bob-Omb Battlefield and use that analog stick. It was a fucking revelation, an experience I will never, ever, ever come across again.

This. I probably made about a dozen Toys R Us trips in the lead up to the N64 launch. By far and away the most impressive launch title I've ever experienced with only SNES SFII coming close.

 

[AlphaDump]

In awe. i have only been able to get that feeling a few times from gaming. Going PC with a super rig, and playing Mario 64 for the first time. It took everything to the next level, that gave it an overwhelming sense of "this is going to be so fucking good" kind of feeling.

 

[Panajev2001a]

It insta-justified waiting for my parents to bring it over, they bought it on vacation, and waiting for its RGB fix. N64 games do all feel a tiny but blurry at first, but that lasts about half a second. Mario 64, Zelda: TOoT, DOOM 64, Turok, and all the Star Wars titles (except the Naboo and the Pod Racer ones) made N64 such a memorable awesome console for me. Lucky to own the awesome juggernaut PSX too .

 

[jblank83]

I view it as the most impactful game in history....it totally changed how 3d games were made and viewed and the entire worldwide development community stood up and took notice of that game.....I remember the time well when I worked at GameFan

I'm glad someone who was in magazines at the time can corroborate my claims. Everyone was talking about it at the time, even PC magazines.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Mario 64 was the most mind blowing game and influntial 3d title ever

It is also one of my top 5 games of all time

I view it as the most impactful game in history....it totally changed how 3d games were made and viewed and the entire worldwide development community stood up and took notice of that game.....I remember the time well when I worked at GameFan

True, all so true man .

 

[Onyar]

I feel like Gomez.

 

[GameGuru59]

I could never get into it. I remember beating the bob-omb level but that's it.

Graphics didn't impress me either. Even as a kid, I thought there was too much inconsistency going on.

"This isn't the Mushroom Kingdom"

Now that I think about it, I'm disappointed the first 3D Mario didn't resemble any of the old art.

I don't think the N64 had enough power to fully realize that world. To me, Mario 64's artstyle is similar to Mario World's, in that it's sort of a 90's cartoon style alternate universe than the whimsical playgrounds of Yoshi's Island, SMB3 and SMB2 (US). You got that back in the Galaxies and 3D World's though.

Personally, I want that artstyle in a fully realized 3D environment that emphasize all 6 planes of motion like 64 and Sunshine. The 3D worlds in particular feel kind of lazy in that aspect. They're just not as fun to explore.

 

[czk]

It was the most revolutionary game I've ever played, I loved everything about it.
It made me a Nintendo fanboy to this day.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

I don't think I've felt such a feeling in gaming before or since... I probably never will (unless VR kicks off).

 

[Gillian Seed]

It was great at the time. It's still fun, but it hasn't aged well.

So wrong! It has aged better than other 3D game from that era. Imo

 

[Jedi2016]

Mario 64 was the most mind blowing game and influntial 3d title ever

It is also one of my top 5 games of all time

I view it as the most impactful game in history....it totally changed how 3d games were made and viewed and the entire worldwide development community stood up and took notice of that game.....I remember the time well when I worked at GameFan

Yup, this.

And first post nails it.

Has there really been anything as truly revolutionary since? Even today's third-person games still use the basic precepts that were laid down by M64.

 

[jonno394]

Played it at bbc big bash in 1996 and I left knowing id experienced something special. Due to not having much money in the family I didn't buy it until about 99 but boy was it worth the wait.

 

[Auto-Reply]

Was walking through an electronics store and it catched my view, there was a N64 demo-station with SM64, I lost my balance watching Mario getting shot out of the cannon. I couldn't process the fluid 3d movement and I have played several 3d games before, it was a new level of awesome.

 

[TsunamiOfSwagger]

A cousin of mine imported it from Japan, and like the first post, mind=blown.

 

[entremet]

Incredible.

It wasn't so much the graphics, but the fluidity of Mario's movements. He was gymnast of sorts. The hub world was genius too.

 

[manueldelalas]

This is accurate, so many possibilities revealed.

What really blows my mind though is that the game cartridge was 8MB big. WTF, those wizards.

 

[Riposte]

I think my impression was particularly weird because I had to rent a N64 to even play it. That whole procedure added another level of specialness to it I guess.

I spent a good hour and a half jumping around in the courtyard, trying to get over the hills.

 

[shaowebb]

So good.

 

[Dr. Black Jack]

The first thing I ever saw was the strat guide...the level layouts totally blew my mind. Played it a week or so later and the rest is history.

 

[Reversed]

Kept looking at the demo attracts, especially the one with the Bowser 1 battle.

 

[Branduil]

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

Perfect example.
Also can someone link me to the original source of this, I have seen it I just cant rem it lol

 

[orava]

Kinda Meh actually. I was too busy playing diablo, quake(s), tomb raider, civ 2, hexen 2, TA, GTA etc.

We did have a n64 to play with because friends hauled it around but we mostly played goldeneye. It was released 1997 here. I tried mario 64 but it wasn't anything mind blowing. I remember liking the fluid controls. I was more impressed when ultrahle emulator could run it on my PC.

 

[kswiston]

I never actually owned a N64 until years later, but I rented the system and SM64 shortly after launch. I would have been about 14 at the time.

It's probably not all that apparent 18 years later with the much higher standards we put on 3D games these days, but I remember Super Mario 64 feeling very polished compared to most polygon-based titles up to that point. The worlds were huge and full of secrets, the frame-rate and IQ were pretty solid compared to what we were getting from 3D titles on PS1 and Saturn. Finally, the game was very fun. Overall, a great experience, and still one of my Top 3 games on that console.

 

[Maedhros]

I wasn't impressed because I was playing PS1/PC for years before I've even seen the game.

But I had a lot of fun with it.

 

[Maddocks]

I remember going to Target and the line for the n64 was a mile long. Then I remember them actually having them out in the open, they didn't put them behind glass or anything and a guy play it for 5 minutes and then go directly to the stand and pick one up.

 

[BasilZero]

This for me.

Not so much with SM64DS though.

Anyways gonna play SM64 on N64 soon again

 

[Anura]

Mine was something like "this is so much more fun than galaxy!"

 

[E-Cat]

Holy fuck, you can go anywhere.

 

[QisTopTier]

"This isn't mario"

*goes home and plays mario 3*

 

[Rich!]

I wasn't impressed because I was playing PS1/PC for years before I've even seen the game.

But I had a lot of fun with it.

so had I, and absolutely nothing compared to mario 64.

 

[Panajev2001a]

This for me.

Not so much with SM64DS though.

Anyways gonna play SM64 on N64 soon again

SM64DS should have never been made, it should have waited for the 3DS at least.
"I have to play it with a DPad?!? Why is everything pixelated? Why are some textures appearing even less detailed/pre-filtered? What happened to some of the colors?"

 

[GameGuru59]

I remember going to Target and the line for the n64 was a mile long. Then I remember them actually having them out in the open, they didn't put them behind glass or anything and a guy play it for 5 minutes and then go directly to the stand and pick one up.

"Hmm, do I really want this? Lemme try it out... *5 mins later* Yup, I want it!"

 

[zakujanai]

I was really blown away. I first played it at a demo kiosk at Toys R Us before the system was actually released, and I spent the entire day there playing it with my mouth agape. I'd never played anything like it, and it was so fun too.

Think this is my exact experience. Made my mum take me there to play it and decided I had to spend all my savings on the console day one. Then it almost halved in price two weeks later and I was broken as a gamer (until Lylat Wars came out and all was forgiven)

 

[TGO]

Similar to my experience as well. I'd played and seen many 3D games before seeing Mario and so it had little impact on me.

Didn't end up actually playing it until I got a DS and it felt like a "you had to be there" kind of thing.

Yeah, it was still new when I played it but Tomb Raider with it's atmosphere, musical score and more mature theme etc blew my mind.
Mario 64 was just Mario in 3D or Mario jumping on the 3D bandwagon (I know it was first but it took ages to get released )and I preferred Super Mario World, to me it was like 3D Sonics and just lost me in it transition to 3D.

 

[Sylverstone14]

More or less, this. I got so lost in Bob-omb Battlefield.

 

[score01]

First play I was amazed. I was a pc gamer but still thought... Wow. I remember how difficult I found getting used to navigating in a 3d plane. The first time seeing the water ripple effect on the paintings and the T3 metal mario was zomg. The control mechanic for spinning bowser and throwing him was such a natural feeling. Nailed all 120 stars and met Yoshi. Good times.

 

[topplehat]

It was all-consuming, I was about 8 and all I could think about was Mario 64. What I was going to do the next time I played, wondering about all the secrets.

I don't know if I will ever get to experience that with a game.

 

[Neff]

First post's gif was pretty much invented for Super Mario 64 first play threads.

First feeling the controller melt into my hands, touching the stick, making Mario walk around in circles, then run, then hop on the spot with weight and shadow... I've never had a feeling like that in gaming before and I probably never again will.