6 Stars in and I'm loving it.....

[RickHarrisMaine]

I was out of the videogame scene from 1992-2005

 

And right now, I am just loving Super Mario 64.......

 

and bummed that I missed the scene from 1992-2005, because that was when I had a lot more disposable income for games!!!!

[StanJr]

Mario 64 is/was amazing. I was in awe of Mario's first 3D world and still enjoy a revisit now and then. I must have explored every nook and cranny of that stupid castle and tried everything. It was a real breakthrough moment for me as I moved from the 2D side-scrolling world into the wonderland of 3D. I had a similar experience with the first Tomb Raider game.

 

Glad you are enjoying it. Wait until you start chasing the rabbit in the basement, maddening I tell you!

[shadow460]

You know, Super Mario 64 is one game I have never played or even owned. Probably the closest I've got is Gex for the N64.

[kevincal]

It really doesn't get any better than Mario 64 when it comes to 3d action/adventure/platforming games. Similar to how it doesn't get much better than the original Super Mario Bros. 1996 was such an exciting year to be a gamer. The magazines were huge, the internet was just getting underway, there were several companies and systems fighting it out. 16 bit was still around. Tons of systems and games, tons of great games. Good times.

 

Also Mario 64 was the first 3d game to have the smooth look. Until then , everyone was used to the pixely 3d look. Mario 64 blew almost everyone away. In 1996 I was 15 years old and in the height of my gaming obsession. I read several gaming magazines per month, I knew all the specs and what games were coming out etc. I preordered an N64 and got it on launch day. Mario 64 was especially amazing playing it back in 1996 with the refined analog control tech. The sound coming out of a cart was amazing too.

 

I even replayed Mario 64 this past year, getting all 120 stars without using any guides etc. Great fun still. Mario Sunshine on the GameCube is good too, but not as good as Mario 64. Haven't played Galaxy yet..

[Mirage]

I worked in a rental place when the N64 came out, and we had a hard time keeping the N64 in the store. People would just rent the N64 along with just Mario 64 and keep it for awhile, happy to pay the late fees, and the reservation list was always long. People really went crazy over it. When I finally got to play it, it still exceeded my expectations in graphics and gameplay. To this day, the N64 is still one of my favorite systems to play. Such a high ratio of good-to-bad titles for it, and many unique (at the time) titles. Superb system all around.

[RickHarrisMaine]

Looking at some of those old videogame magazines I've cobbled together over the past year, it amazes me people would pay in excess of $60 for a game....

 

I thought paying full price at $49.95 for Super Mario Galaxy was bad......games were definitely more expensive in the Clinton administration....

[Eltigro]

I worked retail during the PS/Saturn/64 era. The 64 games were always more expensive on average. I blamed it on higher manufacturing costs. A cartridge costs more to build than a CD does to stamp and burn I would imagine.

 

Also, Super Mario 64 is the only game I own for my Nintendo 64.

 

I used to stand in Toys R Us playing SM64 on the demo kiosk for hours. They probably thought I had no life. It was across the street from the Target I worked at and I couldn't just stand there and play the one in Target. People would ask me questions or get mad because an employee was hogging the demo unit.

[MagitekAngel]

I went all the way through Mario 64 a few months ago over about 3 days. Still fresh, still magical, still unsurpassed.

[doubleminor]

I went all the way through Mario 64 a few months ago over about 3 days. Still fresh, still magical, still unsurpassed.

 

Purchased Super Mario World for the VC when I had a Wii. It took only two days to complete.

 

Back in the summer of '93, I remember it taking a whole summer to beat.

[pinball22]

Super Mario 64 will always be one of my favorite games ever... playing it for the first time is one of the biggest WOW moments I've ever had as a gamer, and it holds up remarkably well.

[NE146]

I really liked Super Mario 64. However, if we're talking about N64 I definitely think Banjo Kazooie (1) is the superior 3D Platformer Collectathon. Once your done with Mario 64, DEFINITELY find a copy of Banjo Kazooie and play that next

 

Yes, it is a 100% clone of Mario 64, but oh what a clone

[pinball22]

Yep, Banjo-Kazooie is definitely a must-play for any SM64 fan... I think it's clearly a close second in the best-N64-platformer competition. I love its style and sense of humor -- my favorite character is Mumbo Jumbo (best shaman in all game!)

[+atari2600land]

I remember getting this game and a N64 back in 1996. It was too hard for me, but I still have my original copy that a friend beat for me. It has almost 120 stars. There were a few that he couldn't find.

[Tr3vor]

i got banjo kazooie for christmas and even though it is SORTA a clone of smb64, it still has a very original style and a very funny kind of 7 year old humor. like kazooie always calling bottles names. banjo tooie (the 2nd game) is rated .1 higher in gamespot so i think i should get that. (maybe gamespot will tell the truth about this, cuz they pretty much slaughtered The Conduit's review, whine whine whine.)

[Mirage]

The Banjo games are near the top of my list for games to get for my N64 collection. If they're anywhere near as good as Mario 64, I definitely need to play them.

[Hatta]

I picked up Mario 64 about 2 years ago, and I've still yet to finish it. Got something like 60ish stars. It would be a much better game if you didn't have to play the levels over and over again to collect enough stars to continue. It gets old and the hints they give are pretty bad.

 

IMO, the best 3d platformer ever was Rayman 2, though I only played the dreamcast version. There's plenty of collecting to do, if you want to, but you're never forced to play a level twice. All I really want to do in a platformer is get from the beginning to the end of a level without dying. I never want to be left wondering what to do or where to go next. I want the challenge to be in the doing, not the figuring out.

 

SM64 is a good game though. Amazing for its time, and there's some really clever level design. I did also like Banjo Kazooie. Donkey Kong 64 however, is an abomination. I couldn't play that for more than 2 hours before getting stuck, and the abysmal frame rate was making me nauseous anyway.

[BenG76]

I gotta play Mario 64 sometime. I played several Mario games over the past year but havent got to this one. I beat Super Paper Mario on the Wii which I think is excellent by the way. Also played through Super Mario RPG as well and loved it. I am around halfway through Paper Mario TTYD but havent got around to finishing it yet.

[Shannon]

Many fond memories of running by the TRU kiosk and playing SM64!!

 

As said, BK and BT are great games as well.

[+Random Terrain]

. . . I had a lot more disposable income . . .

Please keep money out of the trash and use that discretionary income to buy things.

[RickHarrisMaine]

. . . I had a lot more disposable income . . .

Please keep money out of the trash and use that discretionary income to buy things.

 

 

whatever it was, I had more of it before marriage and kids! Now I feel guilty for spending $5 on a footlong at Subway instead of saving a buck or two for the 6 inch sub.....

[kevincal]

I really liked Super Mario 64. However, if we're talking about N64 I definitely think Banjo Kazooie (1) is the superior 3D Platformer Collectathon. Once your done with Mario 64, DEFINITELY find a copy of Banjo Kazooie and play that next

 

Yes, it is a 100% clone of Mario 64, but oh what a clone

 

Banjo is a great game, but it is just too huge... I mean, Mario 64 is about as big of a game as I'd like to play. Banjo is just massive with endless things to do. It's overkill in my opinion. You can only collect so much crap before it gets old... Rare made awesome games on the N64, just a tick behind Miyamotos games imo. Diddy Kong Racing is awesome. I agree with the other poster about DK64 sucking though.

 

 

I picked up Mario 64 about 2 years ago, and I've still yet to finish it. Got something like 60ish stars. It would be a much better game if you didn't have to play the levels over and over again to collect enough stars to continue. It gets old and the hints they give are pretty bad.

 

IMO, the best 3d platformer ever was Rayman 2, though I only played the dreamcast version. There's plenty of collecting to do, if you want to, but you're never forced to play a level twice. All I really want to do in a platformer is get from the beginning to the end of a level without dying. I never want to be left wondering what to do or where to go next. I want the challenge to be in the doing, not the figuring out.

 

SM64 is a good game though. Amazing for its time, and there's some really clever level design. I did also like Banjo Kazooie. Donkey Kong 64 however, is an abomination. I couldn't play that for more than 2 hours before getting stuck, and the abysmal frame rate was making me nauseous anyway.

 

I couldn't figure out what the hell to do or where the hell to go in DK64 from the get go! I was just wandering aimlessly. Same thing happened to me in Sonic Adventure. Both games have very poor instructions on what to do!