Is Super Mario 64 Still Fun To Play?

I recently purchased Super Mario 3D All Stars for the Nintendo Switch, which includes Super Mario 64 (from the Nintendo 64), Super Mario Sunshine (from the Nintendo GameCube), and Super Mario Galaxy (from the Nintendo Wii). Three full-length games for the price of one regular-priced Switch is a good value. In addition, I wanted to relive the nostalgia of playing through Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy again (I did not play Super Mario Sunshine). For the purposes of this post, I will talk about Super Mario 64. I will talk about my experiences with the game, and then talk about if the game still holds up today.

I consider Super Mario 64 to be one of the most important games in video game history. SM64 ushered in the new 3D era in video games, and all 3D games can trace their lineage back to this game. In addition, partly because of the new 3D capabilities, Super Mario 64 was a landmark game in the platforming genre, where there were new challenges that we have not seen before. Other things Super Mario 64 has pioneered include full control and movement of Mario (once again, because of 3D), as well as a fully independent third-person camera that follows Mario around. The player can actively change the angle of the camera while controlling Mario to get better views.

I had Super Mario 64 when I was a young kid that had an N64, and I would spend hours exploring the levels and getting as many stars as I could. It has gotten to the point that I can get all 120 stars in the game with no assistance at all. Now that I am playing the game again as an adult, a big flaw of the game became apparent to me. I praise the camera for being the first of its kind, but the camera is also the player's worst enemy. It is sometimes difficult to get the camera where you want it to be, because when you manually change the camera, the camera jumps about 60 degrees to either side, instead of just fine-tuning the camera movement (like most third-person adventure games today). Whenever you move Mario to try to make some difficult jumps or move through somewhere where you can easily fall off, the camera will move by itself. If you are already moving Mario, the direction Mario moves changes with the camera, which could cause you to fall off a platform. This was the most infuriating thing for me while playing Super Mario 64 as an adult, but this issue did not make the game 'unplayable', which was what I heard from some younger gamers.

Despite this issue, Super Mario 64 is still loads of fun to play, and I am not saying that because of nostalgia. Super Mario 64 still holds up due to its addictive gameplay, fun music, and outstanding level design. This game will still provide a good challenge for those who have not played the game before, as well as getting to play one of the generational games of video game history. Obviously, the graphics are still stuck in the mid-1990s, and I do encounter more than the occasional bug in the game (such as falling through the arena on the second Bowser boss fight), but that is what gives Super Mario 64 its charm. I am just glad Nintendo gave the starved viewers what they want and re-released this game for a new curious audience.