Super Mario 64 Levels

[Gleebergloben123]

My favorite levels are Bob-Omb Battlefield (great intro to the game), Jolly Roger Bay (I can listen to that music all day), and Cool Cool Mountain (who doesn’t love sled riding on your backside?).

You didn’t ask, and I probably told this story before here, but I was working in Tokyo in 1996 right when the N64 was released in Japan. This was late June or early July 1996, (release date in US was Sept 1996). I had the day off so I hit the arcades in Tokyo (in Japan in 1996 they were EVERYWHERE). I then walk into this big department in Shinjuku and they had the N64, and some kid was playing Mario 64. I was absolutely mesmerized by the game, and I’m sure I watched the game for over an hour. I didn’t even want to play, I just wanted to take it all in. A great memory. And my God that was almost 26 years ago.

[jon]

My favorite levels are Bob-Omb Battlefield (great intro to the game), Jolly Roger Bay (I can listen to that music all day), and Cool Cool Mountain (who doesn’t love sled riding on your backside?).

You didn’t ask, and I probably told this story before here, but I was working in Tokyo in 1996 right when the N64 was released in Japan. This was late June or early July 1996, (release date in US was Sept 1996). I had the day off so I hit the arcades in Tokyo (in Japan in 1996 they were EVERYWHERE). I then walk into this big department in Shinjuku and they had the N64, and some kid was playing Mario 64. I was absolutely mesmerized by the game, and I’m sure I watched the game for over an hour. I didn’t even want to play, I just wanted to take it all in. A great memory. And my God that was almost 26 years ago.

That's a really cool story. If I may ask, what were some of the most popular arcade games in Tokyo in 1996? Were the Neo Geo games popular?

[Gleebergloben123]

My favorite levels are Bob-Omb Battlefield (great intro to the game), Jolly Roger Bay (I can listen to that music all day), and Cool Cool Mountain (who doesn’t love sled riding on your backside?).

You didn’t ask, and I probably told this story before here, but I was working in Tokyo in 1996 right when the N64 was released in Japan. This was late June or early July 1996, (release date in US was Sept 1996). I had the day off so I hit the arcades in Tokyo (in Japan in 1996 they were EVERYWHERE). I then walk into this big department in Shinjuku and they had the N64, and some kid was playing Mario 64. I was absolutely mesmerized by the game, and I’m sure I watched the game for over an hour. I didn’t even want to play, I just wanted to take it all in. A great memory. And my God that was almost 26 years ago.

That's a really cool story. If I may ask, what were some of the most popular arcade games in Tokyo in 1996? Were the Neo Geo games popular?

The only arcade games I remember is the one I used to play all the time, Virtua Fighter, and Tekken. Both games were extremely popular in Japan back in the day. I didn’t know anything about the Neo Geo until I started visiting VGC in the early 2000’s. I haven’t been back to Japan since 2009 and I’m itching to go.

And on Mario 64, Tiny Huge Island is also one of my favorites. Just a very clever idea that’s well executed.

[jon]

It dawned on me that this is the only 3d game I like or have played since I literally broke in 2 my Twisted Metal 2 CD and into many pieces my controller. I was going to maybe get College Hoops 2k8 for the Xbox 360 as I played it a lot years back. But two things. Is that really 3d? I mean, it's basketball. And two, the rap music is so unbelievably annoying. It's got the weirdest soundtrack of all time. It also has this weird techno sounding music like something you'd hear at a rave or something. I'm going to see if there's a way to filter the music.

But playing Super Mario 64 is at the same time fun and infuriating. Dying because of some ridiculous camera view and you can't even jump where you want to is absurd. And just having to navigate a camera the whole time sucks. I think I only enjoy the game because it's easy and I think of it as a tutorial or something. It's basically like a demo. And the game is just small enough that it's not too complicated. But yea, it really reminds me how much I hate 3d and how ridiculous it is that 2d went away. Unbelievable.

But as far as Japan, I'd love to see what an arcade over there looked like around 1995. I know that some Neo Geo games were really popular like the King of Fighters. They actually sold reasonably well for the AES in Japan.

[jon]

One thing that I’ve done is, and of course right after I trash the system, is on the “Lethal Lava Land” level I never knew that you could get 100 coins without going inside the volcano or lava pit. Gosh I just don’t know. I’m not that smart. But if you ride on the shell you can get 100 coins scattered all across the level the whole time. Those black bomb guys the small ones you have to knock them off and hope the coin comes back up and not into the lava. I think if more than 2 don’t come up it’ll be less than 100. Then you have to get off the shell and there’s that box thing you jump with 3 times and has coins when it explodes. It’s definitely fun. And perhaps totally meaningless. I’ve always complained about this game having no go to levels but I have to admit that’s a sliver of hope in that regards. The game still could’ve been better.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

It dawned on me that this is the only 3d game I like or have played since I literally broke in 2 my Twisted Metal 2 CD and into many pieces my controller.

This explains a lot, actually.

Shame it's probably not any more genuine than your other acts.

[Zack Burner]

So far one of my least favorite levels is Cool, Cool Mountain. The penguin race mission had me pulling my hair out in large chunks, it's very easy to fall of the edges, I just managed to beat it at last.

[jon]

So far one of my least favorite levels is Cool, Cool Mountain. The penguin race mission had me pulling my hair out in large chunks, it's very easy to fall of the edges, I just managed to beat it at last.

Tell me about it. I just yesterday fell again. It's weird. It would kind of be cool not to die in this game, considering there's barely any dicey spots if you're really careful except maybe Tick Tock Clock. But I get 20 stars in and die on the penguin race or even just by myself to get the first star. Some of the edges are really hard and they have coins that to get makes things dicey. It's such a childish game but I freaking hate dying in this game.

Tiny Huge Mountain is kind of out of my doghouse now. It just takes experience but dying on this level it always because of something so ridiculously stupid that it's infuriating. I've come close to throwing my controller. But beating that level without some stupid fall or getting eaten by a fish is a lot more manageable. I think at the end of the day the Rainbow Ride level is probably the worst. The part where you have to do all those wall jumps to get blue coins drives me crazy. I guess I'm in the minority in that I still kind of find the Big Boo's Haunt pointless and boring.

[strat]

Dire, Dire Docks is the only SM64 level I would cut. Getting the red coins is tedious beyond measure and it's otherwise a pointless retread of Jolly Roger Bay (oh look, a star that needs the metal and invisible caps at once). All the other weak courses have some redeeming features and parts of Rainbow Ride are great (I love "Wall kicks will work").

[jon]

One thing I love about video games is that it’s not always so cut and dry. A bad movie is a bad movie. A bad album is a bad album. But with video games there are all these variables. I always point to otherwise mediocre games that have a great mode of some sort. For instance Triple Play 98 isn’t that great of a game, especially after a while. But the home run derby is unreal. The zooming into the stadiums breathtaking. College Hoops 2k8 has an amazing 3 point practice, although that game is already pretty amazing.

Super Mario 64 to me is a game that’s hard to pigeonhole. I mean, there’s some great moments but a lot of fluff and boring levels. There’s some annoying stars like chasing that whatever animal it is twice. Very controller destroying inducing. Some courses after a while just seem so lame like Dire Dire Docks. Yet I can’t stop playing it. I don’t know if it’s incredibly great or average or maybe I just like it because it’s not too complicated.