Mario 64

[Blue]

There's an mp3 version of that ripped directly from the OST here

Jings. Listening to that again brings a tear to my eye. My kids and I played Mario 64 together, taking turns when someone died (or lived too long ) and we were all absolutely captivated by the game. Those water levels felt like you were lost in some magical dreamworld due, in no small part, to the glorious music. Wonderful stuff.

[Barnard]

I found some of the clues in the level names far too ambiguous and found myself doing the wrong thing entirely. Actally, this is exactly why I don't like the game.

That was one of the things that made it better than Sunshine, you could do whatever you wanted on the level and end up with a star. The level tips in Sunshine were telling you exactly what you could do on that particular level, for example the red coin challenge only places the red coins on the level when you choose it. Whereas 64 had the red coins on the level the whole time meaning you complete the task the very first time you play the level.

I would have liked to be play the void by finding them by accident, which would have happened in 64.

[Major Britten]

All this mention of music and nobody has said about the music at the file select screen, the shame. Probably my favourite piece in the game audio wise

[Sigourney Beaver]

The Sunshine void levels would be great as Wiiware. They should make new ones and offer them up for download.

[Shimmyhill]

That was one of the things that made it better than Sunshine, you could do whatever you wanted on the level and end up with a star. The level tips in Sunshine were telling you exactly what you could do on that particular level, for example the red coin challenge only places the red coins on the level when you choose it. Whereas 64 had the red coins on the level the whole time meaning you complete the task the very first time you play the level.

I would have liked to be play the void by finding them by accident, which would have happened in 64.

I only played them in english recently (both jp originall) and its pretty shocking the clues you get at the start, really pleased i didnt have them first time out as it made me play more of the level than just go on a mission to get the reward.

The Sunshine void levels would be great as Wiiware. They should make new ones and offer them up for download.

Brilliant idea, i loved the void levels !

[Eats hoops and leaves]

It's nowhere near as good as any of the games in that list.

Rllmuk has failed me.

It's the most perfectly designed game that I can think of.

[Eats hoops and leaves]

Jings. Listening to that again brings a tear to my eye. My kids and I played Mario 64 together, taking turns when someone died (or lived too long ) and we were all absolutely captivated by the game. Those water levels felt like you were lost in some magical dreamworld due, in no small part, to the glorious music. Wonderful stuff.

Same here (not the kids bit thought). I can't believe the memories this is bringing back.

[joeplus]

The Sunshine void levels would be great as Wiiware. They should make new ones and offer them up for download.

With level editor. And ability to send them to friends. And a Brawl-style "level of the day" feature. That would be

[IR354Lifeqhybot]

To help me ween me of the crack addiction that is the Super Mario galaxy thread, I've just re-started Mario 64 on the VC. It's still is a wonderful game. At the same time, my son is playing the DS version and I hadn't realised the subtle differences between the two. He has got 50 stars so far, I've only got 19. Once West Ham have beaten Bolton this afternoon, I shall be returning for some more Mario goodness. Hopefully, once I've finished Mario 64, it will be time for Super Mario Galaxy time

It doesn't get much better than this.

[Qazimod]

Someone commented on my Mario 64 DS review in the Reviews folder today and it made me think about how it was my first real experience of the game (as said review explains, I usually own one format per generation and back then it was the PlayStation that earned the privilege.) Of course, I've since experienced the game properly, as it were, but as someone late to the party the 3D treatment was never going to impress me like it did to so many others, and whilst the controls are very good, what impressed me the most about the game was the depth of it's levels. To begin with, I thought that the star-collecting business was a lazy way of recycling levels without having to create more new ones, but just when I thought I had a good measure of a level, it would send me into a volcano, or through an igloo, or around the inside of a pyramid, or towards some bizarre town. All these little surprises from the level design were as rewarding as finally locating the star I'd been tasked with searching, since every time you'd uncover something like that you knew that there were potentially several more courses to enjoy that used this new area as the focal point. It was the next gen equivalent of playing Super Mario World and taking a deadly detour down some unassuming route full of enemies and hazards, to later find a lock and key that sent you to Star Road. Surprises ftw!

[donkeyk]

Can I join in the Jolly Roger Bay/Dire Dire Docks love-in?

Listening to the music now really hits home how big a face-palm moment it was when first swimming in Sunshine. How can you take something so right and brutally cannabalise it so much?

[Paulando]

I enjoyed the DS version. Without a control stick it was never going to be as good as the original, but it's a nice portable version and it's certainly not the monstrosity some people claim. You just have to get used to controlling it with the stylus, and in some sections it's actually easier than using an N64 pad.

[Simon S]

I was there. Shoshinkai 95 I mean. It was abolutely amazing to see Mario 64 announced and playable at the same time. Nobody had heard of it before then. My company was actually part of the official Dream Team (Lol) making a game for the N64 and we hadn't heard of the Mario game till we saw it.

Apparently some Sony Execs were going around the show claiming the game was running on high-end workstations.

It really seems like Sony has always been riddled with pathological lairs.

Anyway, I'll declare my love for Mario 64. It's responsible for my single biggest spend on console hardware (I got the N64 just before the "Only joking, we meant for it to be £100 cheaper").

Still worth it. Played it so many times, and everyone who saw it was staggered by it.

Got it for the virtual console and it's still great. Looks lovely in 640x480 in RGB too.

Was pretty shocked by the DS release though. It's pretty much the only example I can think of where a Nintendo game had bad controls.

EDIT: Okay, bad is an exaggeration, but barely adequate which is pretty poor by Nintendo standards. I got to 50 stars before I gave up on the DS version.

[carleton]

I enjoyed the DS version. Without a control stick it was never going to be as good as the original, but it's a nice portable version and it's certainly not the monstrosity some people claim. You just have to get used to controlling it with the stylus, and in some sections it's actually easier than using an N64 pad.

I've played it most on the DS and don't understand the hate for the controls. I used the thumb thing on the wrist strap and managed 98 stars before giving up. More than I've done on any other version I've started (N64, emulated on PC, VC).

[Chosty]

I was messing around with it the other week. My wife loves the music, and she hums the 'Flying Mario' music to our 8-month old while holding him up, and he breaks into a huge toothy, dribbliy grin.

One of the my favourite effects in a game ever is the misleading perspective when you select the right-hand corridor in the 'Tiny Huge Island' room. You start running towards the paining as normal, but after a second or two you realise it's not getting any closer and then you realise the corridor is really long and the painting is actually huge. I can run up and down the corridor for ages, marvelling at it.

Amazing.

[GGSolid]

I recently finished Mario 64 on the VC and decided to try Sunshine again as I'd only ever finished completely once (while Mario 64 I must have done about 8 times) and what I've found rather annoying was that when you get your 100th coin and collect a shine you automatically exit the level. I spent ages getting all 8 red coins on the first level only to ruin it because i collected the 100th coin-shine instead. The red coins dont even count as coins either, they used to be worth more I think on Mario 64.

That being said Mario Sunshine is a good game I think, by itself anyway. It's a classic case of 'Nintendo's worst enemy is themselves' what with every release automatically being berated for not being its predecessor. Nintendo rarely fail though with their main series. Mario Sunshine is just like Mario Bros 2 and Legend of Zelda: Link's Adventure.

[Danster]

I was messing around with it the other week. My wife loves the music, and she hums the 'Flying Mario' music to our 8-month old while holding him up, and he breaks into a huge toothy, dribbliy grin.

One of the my favourite effects in a game ever is the misleading perspective when you select the right-hand corridor in the 'Tiny Huge Island' room. You start running towards the paining as normal, but after a second or two you realise it's not getting any closer and then you realise the corridor is really long and the painting is actually huge. I can run up and down the corridor for ages, marvelling at it.

Amazing.

And the endless staircase on the way to Bowser's last level.

The hidden warp points.

The Ghost House.

The secret red-coin water level.

Shell-surfing!

A magnificent game that I have completed sevral times, including getting all the stars and keys on the DS version.

When I got a Gamecube, I got SMS with it. I played it for about an hour, then never touched it again. I still can't quite put my finger on what it was that put me off so much. Fingers crossed that SMG will bring back the magic.

[stan]

Fuck, this thread makes me want to go back in time to Christmas when I was 13 or however old and play the game without a care in the world.

[Asura]

I enjoyed the DS version. Without a control stick it was never going to be as good as the original, but it's a nice portable version and it's certainly not the monstrosity some people claim. You just have to get used to controlling it with the stylus, and in some sections it's actually easier than using an N64 pad.

It didn't have the winged cap.

[DarhkFox]

I just don't like what the did to the DS version. The extra levels where poor quality, and the inclusion of extra characters didn't improve the game at all in my opinion.

The controls were a issue with me at times - I gave up on 40 or so stars, id rather play the N64 version.

[noizu]

The Ghost House was absolutely fantastic - the music, and the way the closer you get to the carousel you can hear the music from that mixing in with the main theme; the psycho piano; the huge moon outside; the squawk the eye things made when you ran around to make them dizzy; the box thing that threw you up in the air when you grabbed it...

Haven't played it in ages, and it's easily one of my favourite games, and have meant to get it on the VC. I'm kind of enjoying putting it off though, knowing it's there to play through again sometime when I'm idle games-wise...

[Major Britten]

Sunshine is an awesome game but its biggest problem was being the sequel to Mario 64, it like Yoshis Island in that respect; it has the Mario characters in it but plays nothing like the true Mario games. I can understand why Nintendo wanted to distance it from 64 but they probably went a bit far (same goes for Wind Waker). If Sunshine wasnt a mario game it would have been hailed as a masterpiece (an was in Edge of all places). Its not as good as Mario 64 but its still better than every other platformer. With Galaxy though it seems nintendo has really hit the ball out of the park

[DarhkFox]

Sunshine is an awesome game but its biggest problem was being the sequel to Mario 64, it like Yoshis Island in that respect; it has the Mario characters in it but plays nothing like the true Mario games. I can understand why Nintendo wanted to distance it from 64 but they probably went a bit far (same goes for Wind Waker). If Sunshine wasnt a mario game it would have been hailed as a masterpiece (an was in Edge of all places). Its not as good as Mario 64 but its still better than every other platformer. With Galaxy though it seems nintendo has really hit the ball out of the park

From memory, Sunshine did mostly recieve very good scores at the time. I would say most scored it 90+

I understand what you mean about Yoshi Island to some extent. But I actually quite enjoyed the game - mainly because it was pretty hardcore (collecting everything could be a right pain!) but nowadays I would rather much go back to Mario World than play Yoshi Island again.

[Qazimod]

It didn't have the winged cap.

Yes it did.

EDIT: shave?

[stan]

I lost Mario's hat in Mario 64 years ago and still have no idea where it is. It's weird when I see pictures of Mario and he's wearing a hat.

[roadkill]

Apparently some Sony Execs were going around the show claiming the game was running on high-end workstations.

In fairness Nintendo were pretty keen at playing up the Silicon Graphics connection at every single possibility.

The odd thing is with hindsight the number of obscure companies in the late 90s claiming their products were used in the production of Mario 64.

[Super Craig]

I lost Mario's hat in Mario 64 years ago and still have no idea where it is. It's weird when I see pictures of Mario and he's wearing a hat.

I think the only places you can lose it are in the desert world and the second snow world.

[stan]

I think the only places you can lose it are in the desert world and the second snow world.

If you lose it in the desert, doesn't an eagle fly about with it? He doesn't have it. And I think in the snow level a snow man wears it and jumps about - he doesn't have it either!

I got jacked.

[Blue]

As far as I remember, it can just drift around on the second snow level.

[stan]

Time for mummy to Parcel Force me my N64.

MARIO'S GETTING HIS HAT BACK.