Top 50 Video Games: Number 17

#17: Super Mario 64
System: Nintendo 64
Publisher: Nintendo
Released: 1996
Players: 1


Super Mario 64: One of the alltime greats.


Super Mario 64 had a lot of significance for Nintendo. It was the launch title that came packaged with their Nintendo 64 systems. It was the first game in their vaunted Mario franchise to make the big jump to 3d. It's also one of the best games ever made. Heavy promotion of the game plus word of mouth helped Nintendo get an early jump on sales for their N64 - one of the worst consoles I've ever owned.

No doubt about it, Mario was the face of Nintendo. Every Mario game had been outstanding and expectations were high, with the added burden of the transition to 3d. Super Mario 64 met and exceeded those expectations in every way. The N64 was the first game controller I used that had an analog stick. I was quite clumsy with it at first, and thankfully the designers anticipated that. Upon entering the game Mario is simply out in the open near the castle. There are no enemies to fight, nothing to pressure or hinder you. You are allowed to simply run, jump, slide and flip until you feel ready for action. The game also helps ease the player into the 3d gaming world with a tutorial of how to maneuver the camera.


The environments are quite varied, as are your tasks. Here Mario returns a baby penguin to its mother to earn a star.


The game revolves around locating stars. You select your stages by jumping into paintings in the castle. Each stage has 6 stars in it, and there are 120 stars in all, though in classic Nintendo fashion you only need to gather 70 to finish the game. But this game isn't something you'll want to rush through. The various environments are so well designed, so colorful and full of things to see and experience I got lost up in them for hours on end. Apart from the typical running, jumping and swimming, Mario now punches, kicks, does backflips, crawls, bobsleds and fires himself out of cannons. He also flies as he has in past games, but it's much more challenging and exhilirating this time around. You swoop and dive through the clouds and the graphics (at the time) made it seem like something out of a dream.

Super Mario 64 is a beautiful and imaginitive gaming experience. It manages to be both accessable and challenging. You can tell that the developers really poured their heart and soul into this project. There is so much to see and do, this is one of those games that makes the hours fly by. The Nintendo 64 was the beginning of a slow descent for Nintendo - they've since been soundly beaten by Sony and, more recently, Microsoft. At the moment in my mind, this stands as the last great Nintendo game. They've made some good ones since, but this is the last one that's truly an alltime classic. I wound up owning a grand total of 4 games for the Nintendo 64 (SM64, Harvest Moon 64, Mario Kart 64 and Paper Mario.) Super Mario 64 is the reason to own this gaming system and not pawn it for 15 bucks. It's also the reason to drop $20 on an N64 on Ebay.