Game Information

Nintendo Quote: "The ultimate Mario platformer. Pure N64 gold."
Nintendo Score: 92%

No of Players:1
Exp Pak: NO
Memory Pak: NO
Rumble Pak: NO

Price: £12.99
Released:
1996
Extras:

Once again the story goes, Princess Toadstool has been kidnapped...again! Well blow me, isn't that original it seems every other weekend she gets kidnapped by Bowser and Mario comes to save the day. Fortunatly this game offers a lot more the an original plot, and so the story goes, as per the instructions. "Mario, Please come to the castle. I've baked a cake for you. Yours truly, Princess Toadstool." "Wow, an invitation from Peach! I'll head out right away. I hope she can wait for me!" "Hmmm, something's not quite right here... It's so quite..." "No one's home! Now scram! Bwa, ha, ha." "Who's there?! I've heard that voice somewhere before..." That voice is in fact Bowser, Mario should know that by now, I mean who else goes Bwa ha ha! Still, Mario soon finds that the castle holds some secret paintings, he hears voices coming from within the paintings and he decides to jump inside, where another world opens before his very eyes...and so the adventure begins!

"Mario64 still manages to impress 4 years after it's original release, which can't be bad"

The gameplay is your basic mario style, jump on the bad guys, pick up coins, collect special caps which allow you to fly, and jumping from platforms to platforms, some of which are moving platforms. However, this time it's in glorious 3D and my goodness does it look good, its not the best visuals out there, that honour currently goes to Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast, however Mario64 still manages to impress 4 years after it's original release, which can't be bad!

The game works in a very unique way, and allows you to basically do what you want to do, and tackle the game the way you want to. The game is not level based, where by you start on level one and move up the levels one after the other, Mario64 works by you selecting where you go. The game is based around the Princesses castle, all it's rooms and the surrounding area. There are various rooms within the castle and each room contains at least one painting, which Mario can jump into. Once he jumps inside the painting so the level begins, whatever the painting looks like, thats what the level will be based on.

The game also revolves around stars, there are a total of 120 stars and each time you complete a task within the plaintings, you gain a star. The more stars you gain, so the more rooms you can enter, you see all the rooms have an amount of stars on the front, so a door with 5 stars on the front, means you need to have gained at least 5 stars to be able to enter. There are also a load of hidden stars, placed around the castle...it's up to you to find them!

In total there are 15 courses, each course comes with 6 tasks, or courses as they are known. Each course, once completed, will gain you a star and the more stars you gain, the more you can do...and so there's a real sense of progression, as you can see how many stars you've got and how many you need to gain in order to see what lies behind the next door. There are also a few special doors, which require anything upto 70 stars or special keys, and these either contain the bad boy Bowser, or simply the next floor of the castle. Whenever you enter the Bowser course you have to work your way to the end where you will then have to fight Bowser, in order to gain a secret key. This key is used to unlock some extra special doors, which allow you to move onto the next floor of the castle, where there are a load of new paintings each bringing with them their own challenges and of course stars.

"The thing about this game, which I have never experienced before, is the diversity of the task you have to carry out."

That's how the game works, but how does it play? The thing about this game, which I have never experienced before, is the diversity of the task you have to carry out. One minute you'll be asked to capture a monkey, who is intent on running away from you, the next minute you'll be racing penguins down ski slopes, racing turtles up hills, sliding down poles, swimming for stars, jumping off walls, sneaking around Mario eating plants, flying threw coin rings, you name it you'll be doing it. It's total fun and playability at its very best, and it means the game never gets boring and you never know what to expect next.

All the locations are varied, and some are based on well known mario levels, such as the ghost house and the rainbow level. The game takes you to some of the most memorable locations ever, as you'll be sliding around snowy levels, jumping around quick sand filled levels, swimming through a ship wreck in the water level, or dodging books in the ghost house. You can't help but smile at some of the locations, and you'll spend a good few hours just taking it all in and saying "Yeah baby..."!

All your memorable characters are in there too, such as the Toadstalls, Bowser, the Princess, them exploding bombs and dare I say it...Yoshi! There are also a lot of other new memorable characters, such as the snowmen and penguins all of which look better then ever.

The visuals are stunning, they are so well defined, that no matter how close you get up to them, they never become blocky, in fact the closer you get the better they get! There are no graphic glitches what so ever, and the levels are full of bright colours and just look fun and exciting. They are without doubt some of the best visuals you will ever see on the Nintendo64, Mario has never looked good, and he knows it! The sound is also spot on for the game, birds will sing outside of the castle, and the splashing of the water as you run thourgh it, the same can be said of the music. It just fits in perfectly with the game, and at times you will not even notice it, there's even some of the tunes that were heard in the early Marios, such as the 'da da da da da daaa' from the underground levels of the original mario...it all makes for a great experience.

"within no time you have mario sliding, kicking, punching, pulling off back flips, side jumping, sliding down poles, swimming, flying, basically every move you could ever wish for!"

The controls are fantastic, at first there seems a lot of moves to master...but somehow you just pick it up! The buttons are all placed in just the right positions, allowing you to pull off some complex moves, within no time you have mario sliding, kicking, punching, pulling off back flips, side jumping, sliding down poles, swimming, flying, basically every move you could ever wish for! There are also various sign posts through out the adventure, which tell you how to carry out some moves and inform you of certain moves you may need to know in order to complete the course...

It all flows along so nicely, and the moves are beatifully animated, Mario even has a load of special animations, if you leave him alone for a few minutes he yawns and then falls asleep, on the snow levels if he falls from a great height he will get stuck in the snow, and you will watch as he pulls himself out. If he falls head first his head gets stuck in the snow, you can't help but smile and at times you'll even jump head first into the snow just to watch him...if he gets cought in the flames, he will run around the screen out of control shouting and screaming with smoke pouring from his butt, all of which loses your power yet it does look beatiful! Mario has a long list of screams and pharses and it just fits in perfectly with the rest of the game.

The attention to detail is of a high quality, there are so many little things that Mario says and does, the levels never suffer from graphical glitches and you really feel like you are in a 100% real 3D world, this is something I have only ever experienced with the original Tomb Raider on the SONY Playstation! Having said that, you will never have experienced anything like this before, it's total gameplay heaven.

Everything seems perfect so far, and it so nearly is...sadly the camera is dodgy at the best of times, and you will lose many lifes due to the camera having a mind of its own. It has to be said, that you actually have to not only control Mario but also the camera, and this is something which takes time to get used to. Once mastered however, you can pretty much set the camera where you want it, at the tap of a button, it just takes a while to get used to and even when mastered, will still catch you out.

This is the only fault with the game, there are loads of sub games, stunning visuals, fantastic attention to detail, great controls and to top it all off nicely the difficulty level is spot on. The first few levels are there simply to get you used to the controls, moves and that dodgy camera. However, the more you progress so the tasks become much harder, but also far more statisfying and great fun. The tasks are such, that you want to try and get the next star, you always feel as if you can and as long as you don't give up, which isn't easy, you will get that star...

In short, Mario has never looked so good and there is hours and hours of gameplay in here. This isn't the best Mario, that honour goes to Super Mario on the SNES, yet it comes pretty dam close, and only the dodgy camera stops it from being the best mario ever. It's certainly the best 3D platformer ever, and for that reason alone you have to experience it, you never know what to expect next and the sense of progression brings you back for more time after time, in an attempt to get that next star. Learn how to cope with that camera, and what you have here, is not only one of the best Nintendo64 experiences, but also one of the greatest adventures ever...

Kevin Preston

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