Throwback Thursday Super Mario 64

“It’s me Mario”

            Today’s Throwback Thursday game is a legend.  A must had game for anyone that had a Nintendo 64. That game is Super Mario 64.

            Super Mario 64 was released on the Nintendo 64 on June 23, 1996, September 26, 1996 in America and March 1 1997 in Europe. This was one of the first games released on the Nintendo 64 and not only was it one of the first games released on that system but it was also one of the first games to introduce gamers to a 3D world. . Of course many gamers would say the graphics weren’t that great in the 90s but looking at the year it was you can say that Nintendo did a great job. During that time places like Wal-Mart, Toys R US and many places that sold video games had this game on display.

            Players take controller of everyone’s favorite Italian hero Mario. He is invited to the castle by Princess Peach where she has baked him a cake but as soon as Mario arrived to the castle he notices that Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and it’s up to Mario using the power of the stars to save her.

            Now the biggest difference between Mario 64 and his past titles is that it’s no longer a 2D side plat former and it gave players to walk around in a 3D world going wherever you want to go and with that Mario can do a lot more than what he can do in previous games. He can punch, kick, jump, long jump, flip, back flip, wall jump, swim underwater and many more.

            The objective of the game is to collect the stars by traveling to different worlds by having Mario jump through paintings and completing certain objectives such as fighting bosses, solving puzzles, collecting red coins and many more. In these levels players will run into familiar enemies such as the bomb-ombs who will chase Mario as soon as they see him, Goombas who will run into Mario but just like other Mario games they are defeated the same way by simply jumping on them. As players complete the objective they are awarded with a star. Mario can use the stars to unlock more levels and getting to the bad guy himself Bowser. By defeating Bowser the first time gives Mario a key to unlock a different floor in the castle. There are three sections of the castle the player will have to explore. Take note that certain levels can only be unlocked with a certain number of stars and also take not that not every level contains a painting. That’s up to the players to try and find all of them.

            There are also secret rooms in the castle that players can find. In those secret rooms players can also unlock hat abilities such as the Red Wing Cap which gives Mario the ability to fly around and glide through levels. The Blue Vanish Cap makes Mario immaterial and gives him the ability to walk through certain walls and cages. The Green Cap transforms Mario’s whole body into metal making invincible, walking underwater, withstanding wind and many more.

            The reception for Super Mario 64 has been nothing but great. Receiving nothing but 90s and almost received a perfect score. The only downside with this game is the camera control. Take note that is one of the first games to give players free control of the camera. It was a bit difficult to control the camera especially with the c buttons. But Nintendo learned from their mistake and later used the c stick for future generation games.

            The soundtrack for this game is amazing as well. My favorite soundtrack of the game has to be the water music. It’s so calm and relaxing. A soundtrack for this game has been released but players can find all the tracks on YouTube.

            The impact Super Mario 64 has been huge. There are gamers that have performed speed runs and still to this day there are many gamers on twitch TV setting records and it’s really enjoyable to watch. They definitely take their time and practice a lot to beat the records.

            To this day many gamers say that Super Mario 64 is their favorite Mario game of all time or greatest video game of all time. This is definitely one of my favorite games of all time and I never get tired of playing it. Gamers can download Super Mario 64 as an emulator or they can be it brought on the Wii’s virtual console. The Gaming Advisory gives Super Mario 64 9 out of 10.