The Video Game Critic

Mario Odyssey inspired me to revisit Super Mario 64. They are actually very similar games but there's one area lacking in 64, and that's the camera. I feel like it's a constant struggle. Also, the blurry boundary walls of each stage do not look good at all.

Don't think this one has aged particularly well.

VideoGameCritic wrote:Mario Odyssey inspired me to revisit Super Mario 64. They are actually very similar games but there's one area lacking in 64, and that's the camera. I feel like it's a constant struggle. Also, the blurry boundary walls of each stage do not look good at all.

Don't think this one has aged particularly well.

Mario 64 shows its age, but it can't be overstated how huge a step it was for gaming.

If you look at similar 3D titles from the time, there was nothing close to this game. Nothing remotely even on the same level of design and polish. Mario 64 is the game that led the way for 3D gaming.

I have fond memories of it because it was the only N64 game I had for a long time.

Go read the second sentence of your N64 review.

My first thought is the 64 games, in general, haven’t aged well. No real reason I can think of, other than the consoles after it, did the same think, but just with more polish.

But still, many of the popular games for the 64 “paved the way” for the future of 3D gaming.

There are some weird areas where the camera either sticks when you need it to move or moves when you need it to stay put, but it works overall, and I can't think of a single complaint otherwise. Blurry textures? Seriously? You might as well be annoyed that the sprites in NES games have only four colors or that PS1 games have wobbly polygons.

On the other hand, the rest of the game can't be praised enough. The worlds behind the paintings are all unique and packed with cool stuff to discover, and the castle tying them all together has plenty of its own secrets. The controls are brilliant; not only is walking effortless, but so are swimming and flying, in an era when just getting a character across a room was often a hassle. The sheer visual drama, from the opening flight around the castle to the draining of the moat to the crazy tilting of Bowser's fire arena to the final cutscene, is like nothing before and holds its own against much since. The game is a masterpiece.

I love how all the movement controls, the jumps and everything, are the exact same controls on Odyssey as Mario 64. But yeah, this game definitely lacks polish, as it was one of Nintendo's early attempts at 3D. Not that I don't love it though. I'll always have fond memories of Mario 64.

21 years, 1996 vs 2017. Without doubt Odyssey is a more polished game but it drew most it's inspiration from a classic 1996 title. Does not diminish the greatness of the original game. As is the case with most, if not all early 3D titles, they do not hold up well when viewed through a contemporary lens.

Played a bit last night. Definitely have to juggle with the camera a bit but I still think it is a great game and deserving of an A relative to other games on the N64

While I will agree overall that early 3D hasn't aged well, and is possibly the worst aging genre overall, (That can be a whole different thread right there...) I still think Mario 64 is fantastic. Definitely worth an A+ for an N64 game. All the criticisms about the camera are valid, (companies REALLY didn't know how to work with 3D yet.) but at the time it was genuinely the best camera control available. Everything about it was revolutionary. Remember the first time you just sat there playing with Mario with the hand icon and pulling his face all over before even playing? I sat there for easily 5 minutes before even starting the game!

And honestly, for me personally, it still ranks as one of the best games ever made. I think it has aged much better than most N64 games, and certainly better than most 3d platformers on the PS1/Saturn. I'm playing through Onimusha currently, and while the graphics on the PS2 game are certainly better than the N64, Mario 64 has better controls. Much, much better controls.

So I guess my conclusion would be in general the 90's early 3d realm of games is pretty rough overall, but Mario 64 is still exceptional.

Just to provide a counterpoint to the SM64 love....
The Critic's B+ review for Super Mario 64 has gotten some backlash through the years, but count me among those that thinks it's directly on point. Some say SM64 hasn't aged well. Well, I played through the whole game around 2000 and already thought it was overrated then, well before it aged. I can understand why it was beloved in 1996--it was head and shoulders over anything else out there, so I have no issue with the praise it got at that time. But with the benefit of hindsight (even 4 years of hindsight in 2000), I thought of it as just an above-average platformer. And nowadays, forget it.. I consider it a novelty at best, rather than a game that you can recommend as a quality playthrough. However, N64 games in general haven't aged great, so I think the Critic's B+ for the game is perfectly fair when comparing SM64 to other N64 games. I wouldn't even fault him if he dropped it to a B. I give the VGC credit for seeing through the hype, and not drinking the Kool-aid, by giving it a B+ in 2003, despite the pressure to change it over the years.