1996 was a big year for me, I say this because this year we were all entering the next generation of gaming, Nintendo and Sony were competing for eachother for the best 3D game console, Each with their own game to show what the console can do, Over at Sony, they were making the awesome 3D adventure game we All know and love, Crash bandicoot, for the Sony PlayStation, The PlayStation was one of the first consoles to uses CD'S for games. Meanwhile at Nintendo, they were busy making Super Mario 64, a 3D adventure game with our favorite plumber Mario, This game has been critically acclaimed as the greatest 3D platformer of all time, But does It hold up today after all of these years? Let's find out will we?

Story-8/10
I will say, the plot in this game a little bit reminds me of the first game, but Here is how It goes. The game starts off with Princes peach reading us a letter she wrote for Mario about a cake that she was going to bake him, Then we get a good view of Peach's castle, and last but not least, Our hero Mario finally jumps into action! Mario then walks into the castle, He is warned by Bowser that she has kidnapped peach and that he must collect power stars to save her. Oh well, I'm pretty sure this is the plot.

Gameplay-9/10
Super Mario 64 is a 3D platformer like no other, In this game, you control Mario as you adventure through more then 20 big levels doing a bunch of quests and whatnot in order to earn power stars, You see, Power stars are the currency of this game, They will let you access new area to explore more. Anyways, Mario is armed with alot of moves, such as a ground pound, a punch,?a dive, etc.?In order to get from each level to another, you will have to run around Princess peach's castle, all of the main?worlds in this whole game are located in paintings behind of doors, with the exception of some levels like snowman's land which can be founding by jumping into a yellow wall. Each level is crazier then the last, which is exactly what I expect from a Nintendo game, Some levels have you doing tasks so crazy, Only this game can do It well, and that is why I like It!?Mario will be collecting a disposal of Items and powers duing his quest, some items include coins, blue coins, etc. Powers include the wing cap, which will let you fly in the air, The vanish cap which lets him turn invisible, etc. Anyways, that Is what I can say for the gameplay.

Graphics-10/10
The graphics are simply put, AMAZING. Every single world you will be exploring is big, colorful, and bursting with atmosphere. As for the characters, they look pretty darn good as well! Mario looks like himself, Peach looks like herself, Bowser looks like himself, heck the game even brings back some of Mario's old enemies like goomba and koopa! Including some new ones as well. The HUD in the game is pretty self explanatory, It shows how much Health you have until you die, How many coins you have collected, And how many lives you have left until you get a game over. I must say Nintendo put alot of effort into this game before putting It on the shelves of Target walmart and toys'R'us, unlike some developers who just rush the game in time for the holiday season without testing It completely, Sega, I'm looking right at you.

Sound-10/10
The sound, oh yeah, the sound, The sound in this game is probably one of the best Mario soundtracks I have heard in a while! All songs you will be hearing in each level fit the mood alot, such as Boo's haunted house, or Dire dire docks. As for the sound effects, they are pretty good as well! You get your coin sound effects, your punch, etc.? This was also one of the first games to truly show Charles martinet's amazing Mario voice, which has been saved into our heads for god knows how long.

Addictiveness-10/10
Is this a game I am going to play again? Oh yes, If I?had anything to do in my life, It would be collect all 120 power stars in this whole entire game, But I am still at 110, which is pretty good If you ask me! I had alot of fun playing the game back as a little kid as well, No make that alot of memories.

Depth-9/10
One thing you need to know, this game offers so much to do and collect! I am not kidding, there are 120 power stars in total for this adventure, and getting some of them takes alot of skill and strategy that is for sure. So in general the game is a big 10-15 hour quest with so much stuff to do It's insane! I still play the game to this day.

Difficulty-8/10
This game was flipping hard! But is that a bad thing? No, not at all! I like a challenge you know, and this is not an exception. The game is quite hard and can get you frustrated at times (Tick tock clock) But if you are good enough at video games, then this game should not be too much of a challenge for you.

Overall-10/10
To everybody here on vizzed board, do yourself a huge favor and please buy this amazing 3D platformer! It is pretty cheap these days and I would not be surprised If I found It for a penny. So I gave this game a 10 because how amazingly fun It is and the amount of content It offers for you. So if there are any last words It would be, Please buy this right now! And also be aware that they also remade this game for the Nintendo DS called Super mario 64 DS, get that one if you can! This has been your favorite reviewer RedHotToddy, and I am signing out! See you all in my next review!