The year is 1996 and Nintendo is back with it's newest and greatest achievement the Nintendo 64 and they kicked off the brand new system by releasing their first Mario game for the N64 called Super Mario 64.  While this game may not have been as big of a hit as another game on the system known as Zelda Ocarina of Time but that was made 2 years later in 1998 and besides it still held alot of promise and was a great game as it took the Mario series from it's 2-D roots and made it into a 3-D game. But one question remains does this game still live up to its hype that it had in 1996 well let's see by starting this review so as Mario would say "Let's A Go!". 


Graphics: 8 out of 10

Nintendo did an amazing job on the graphics for this game as like I stated they turned Mario from a 2-D perspective into a 3-D perspective which is no easy task especially in 1996. Each one of stages in this game has its graphics fit its scenery perfectly as Lethal Lava Land's has large pits of lava surrounding the map, Shifting Sand Land's stages is completely covered with sand as well as having sand pits and pokey's galore, and even Dire Dire Docks with it's underwater scenery. Mario's Animations also are displayed perfectly through out the course of the game as when you're running low on health, Mario starts to get winded/tired and starts breathing heavily. This would be a 10 out of 10 if it weren't for the fact that we must judge this game based on other games that the system has to offer like Banjo Kazooie or Conker's Bad Fur Day and because of this I'm going to have to give Super Mario 64 an 8 out of 10 for graphics.


Sound: 10 out of 10

Even though the graphics might not have blown some people off their feet, the music more than makes up for its set-back of visuals. The Mario series is well known for having nostalgic and unforgettable soundtracks and this game is no exception with one of the levels songs being the most familiar with gamers, that song is the theme of the level Dire Dire Docks which alot of people consider to be one of the greatest video game songs of all time. This however isn't the only song that some people may love from this game as I personally have other favorites such as the main track from the level  Bomb-omb Battlefield, The Wing-Cap Music, The Boss Battle Music, and even the Whomp's Fortress main theme as well. The sound effects in this game were also greatly mastered and shows how much work Nintendo put into this game during it's development as when you ground pound/jump onto a goomba you actually get a sound like you're squishing something or when you kick a koopa back you get the sound of them flying back which is a nice touch to this game, an amazing job in the sound department so a perfect 10 out of 10 is what I'm giving the sound for Super Mario 64.

Addictiveness: 7 out of 10

Now let me just state this right now because it is something important that you need to know before you play this "If you don't like collect-a-thon type games then DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME" Because this game is a collect-a-thon kind of similar to Banjo-Kazooie. If you do not mind playing these kind of games then you will probably find this game to very addictive with it's entertaining music, nice graphics, and entertaining gameplay. I personally think this is a great game to play but not for several hours as it can get kind of boring after a while to just keep collecting stars so I would probably give this game a fair rating of 7 out of 10 for addictiveness.

Story: 7 out of 10

The story in this game is much different compared to the previous games, yes princess peach is kidnapped by bowser but in order to rescue her you have to collect the power stars that are hidden through-out the castle in various levels. The story starts off as Princess Peach sends Mario a letter saying that she has baked a cake for him and is waiting for him at the castle, however once he arrives at the castle a lakitu flies down and immediately warns Mario that Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and that he must go rescue her by collecting these so called power stars. So you must traverse over lands of fire, through treacherous oceans, over mountains of sand, and even through haunted houses in order to bring the rotten koopa king Bowser down in defeat. It is an interesting story and an improvement over the other games but there still could have been room for more inside the story so I'd say another 7 out of 10 is what the story of this game deserves in my own personal opinion.

Depth: 10 out of 10

This is definitely not a game that you can just pick up and finish within just a few hours you really have to put your time into this game as there are many levels in this game actually 15 levels to be exact, there are 120 stars in the entire game and most of them you will find inside the levels but there are actually some hidden inside the castle as well. Although there are 120 stars total inside the game only 70 are actually needed to complete the game and there is only really 1 advantage to getting all 120 stars in the game, that is if you go to the cannon in the courtyard when you have all the stars in the game the grate that is usually covering the cannon will be gone and if you shoot towards the castle and land on top of it then you will find Yoshi and he will give you 100 lives which you can use however you want. This game has alot of depth and it does take a while to beat so another perfect 10 out of 10 is what I'm giving the depth for this game.

Difficulty: 4 out of 10

Let's be honest here this has to be one of the easiest Mario games compared to the previous games as there are many ways to collect extra lives in this game and the bosses and missions aren't that hard to complete as once you understand what you have to do it's pretty easy to win your star. The controls are tight and easy to use so this game doesn't have any faults in that regard, I do think that if it had a little more difficulty added to the game it would have been alot better so I think the difficulty only deserves a 4 out of 10 since like I said this isn't a hard Mario game.

That's Super Mario 64 a game that made people fall in love with the Nintendo 64 and as I stated in the introduction to this review, even though it wasn't as much of a huge hit as Ocarina of Time it still was great for being one of the N64's launch titles and besides this game was release 2 years before that Zelda game so the programmers weren't really used to making games for the N64 yet but they still made a great game. Well I think it's time for this review to come to an end as I have to get busy collecting those stars and saving Peach from the claws of bowser so as our good old hero mario would say "See You Next Time!".

Nice review. Very detailed and well formatted.

As far as the game itself goes, I loved playing through it when it was released, and to look at it now is still a marvel even like 15 years after its release.

For me though it's really difficult to want to go back and play some of these early N64 3D platformers. Since developers were still getting the hang of the game "camera" it can be irritating at times.

Great game though.

Jordanv78 : Thanks, I always try and make sure I make my reviews detailed but also somewhat interesting while still adding in some history behind it. It is a creative process and it does take time but in the end result it is worth it and the funny thing is that this is actually my 2nd time having to write this review as the first time was when I tried writing it on the first it wouldn't let me spell-check it so I kept trying and then my browser crashed on me so I had to spend this morning writing it all over again.

Yes I do find this game appealing to pick up and play even now to this day after it's 15 years of release, The only bad thing like you said was the camera angle being irritating at time which was understandable since they were just getting used to making the camera angles for their system and its games.

Thanks for the reply and I look forward to doing me next review this month!

man out of all the reviews i have read to day this has to have the most detail in side of it and has to be the most well put together of them all nice all in all 

Holy-moly the amount of detail you used is outstanding... now if I had your reviewing skills... now that would be the day!
Great review by a great user!

bill14 : Thanks I'm glad you enjoyed it I'm just preparing for me second review for this month not going to say what it is but It's similar to this game.

iN008 : Thanks again, honestly I find my writing to be ok but certainly not the best as I follow by some simple rules for reviewing.

1. Make my titles interesting
2. Make sure to add detail into the reviews
3. The most important thing in my own opinion is: making your reviews interesting because yeah you can give alot of detail and have an interesting title but if it just sounds like you're just reading something bland then it's not going to go that well, which is why you have to make it interesting so it will draw peoples attention towards your review and so they'll keep reading the reviews.

Anyway thanks for the reply and I'm glad you enjoyed this review!

I never knew so many people would like this review. 0_0 

sonicthehedgehog57 : great review , super mario 64 is my first mario , its the best game ever made

supercool22 : Thanks, Cool that is a good first mario gave to have played, my first mario game was Super Mario World. I think in my own personal opinion I think it's one of the best games ever made, I think the best games ever made probably since they were the first 2 games I played are: Zelda Ocarina of Time and Zelda Majora's Mask but like I said that's just my opinion.

Great review. I have played the game and I agree with almost everything besides the difficulty, I think it is higher than a 4, maybe a 6.

sonicthehedgehog57 :
There is no reason why they wouldn't like your review...
It was well done after all

sonicthehedgehog57 : That was a superb review. I really liked all the details you put into it and comparisons to major games at the time. I do agree in that it was a major step for Mario games- 3D games don't sound too surprising now but, considering this back in the 1996 yeah, big step up. I must say, I did have a hard time learning to adjust the camera when I first played it. I do miss the soundtracks and sound effects such as those you mentioned, heavy breathing and squishing, I am surprised to see that gone now, I would think they would have kept that aspect as an essential part of the game. I'd like to see them release a new Mario that really grasps that old school feel but still gives you the graphics we are used to now. To me it wasn't as hard and long to beat as previous Mario games but, I did find collecting stars to open doors to be a bit more difficult specially with all the doors involved and finding secret passages. I am currently playing it on my WiiU and I am already stuck and can't seem to find ways to collect more stars as I just keep dying on the same levels. Overall I think Super Mario 64 was essential to their progress and current Mario Games. Geez, who would have thought they'll end up making so many Mario games I mean really!! Just too many. Anyways, I did enjoy reading your review and again it was really good! 

This was a bad decision.

leimati22 :

You have been posting that on lots of forums . I"m not trying to be mean but if you keep posting like that. It might come across as spam which is against the rules and will get you banned. Again not trying to be mean trying to help you so you won't get into trouble.