Volume 4: Back To Basics

Dear reader, it’s been a long few weeks. After finishing Chrono Trigger, I’ve found myself stuck in a little bit of a rut; laying out all of the games that I want to play left me with a choice paralysis that had me staring at a list of potential games for nearly 30 minutes. With a tumultuous few weeks in my personal life, I decided not to play anything particularly heavy for you this time. 

I think we’ve all hit brick walls where even playing games can feel too much. I am incredibly lucky to have the chance to write about them, but it does mean that you have to sit upright and play. In my stupor, I settled on a game that I had touched before, but never properly sat down to get to grips with: Super Mario 64. Technically, I may have partially played this one before, but I consider it “played” in the loosest sense of the word.  The only version of Super Mario 64 that I’ve spent any real time with was on my Nintendo DS as a toddler. While little Joe might have enjoyed just running around, grown-up Joe has to actually work out what this running around means. Big responsibilities. 

Since I don’t have access to the N64 release, I used Super Mario 3D All Stars in order to get as close as I can to the original experience, ignoring the resolution bump. More than anything, picking Super Mario 64 for this month’s column was a decision made to refresh my palette. Being able to just sit down and play scratched an itch that I’d neglected for a bit too long.  

I’ve not about to say that I’ve never played a 3D platformer before, but Super Mario 64 impresses with how much of a foundation it laid for the future of the series and for platformers in general. With the aid of a simple (sometimes unhelpful) descriptive name, you’re literally dropped into a world and let loose to explore and find your objective. 

To be honest, there isn’t much I can say about Super Mario 64 on a mechanical level, outside of acknowledging the fact that it does, in fact, stand the test of time. Despite being sequestered to the Nintendo 64, it’s one of the few games on that system that I would consider even mildly enjoyable to play now. The most interesting part of Super Mario 64 for me was seeing how it managed to succeed with such rudimentary technology, and the fact that this was it. 

I’m used to platformers being criticized for what is considered “generic” theming and level design. You know the type; grass world, desert world, fire world. Coming out when it did, Super Mario 64 feels like it’s given carte blanche to be what it wants, unbeholden to anything that came before. There’s a liminality to the world design that feels like the series has never recaptured. If we’re sticking strictly to Mario, it feels like more of an effort has been made to make worlds rather than just stages to jump around in; I think there’s an untapped potential in the level design of 64 that deserves another look. Super Mario 64 never tries to be cohesive (every world stands alone, a painting connected by the halls of a castle), and that becomes its identity. 

My perspective on Super Mario 64 is bound to be different to the people that played it when it was new; I can appreciate the work that it did for the games that came later, but playing it after every other game in the series means that I am naturally more inclined to notice shortcomings. Appreciation is not equal to being head over heels, and I must confess that I actually struggle to say that I loved my time with it. Levels are impressively open, but do run the gambit of feeling directionless. I’m used to being given a direction, with the option to explore if I would prefer – a balance that was perfected in Super Mario Odyssey.

Odyssey’s approach to mission design essentially means you can ignore the critical path to go and do what you’d like, and encourages experimental play; there were several occasions in 64 where I was thrown to the wind with nothing more than a vague hint that may or may not be helpful.

 Sure, there’s a wall I need to blow up. This entire level is made of walls. 

After playing through the N64 version, I did take a brief look at the DS remake to cover my bases. Outside of having a shockingly worse camera, it attempts to redeem the original game, by sanding down rough edges.  As was the custom for most DS games stretching for a reason to justify two screens, Super Mario 64 DS has a full map on the touchscreen that also shows you exactly where a star can be found in any stage. It’s a slapdash inclusion that overcorrects on the obscure objectives found in the original; instead of remaking the game with stronger core design, you simply are told where to go instead. It becomes a lot easier to deal with weird design choices if you’re signposted the whole time.

I didn’t play through the entirety of 64 DS; I simply didn’t have the patience to. If I can’t walk in a straight line in Bob-Omb Battlefield, I’m not about to suffer through an actual challenge. It’s a fascinating curio, but no more. I do not think the DS was ever going to be a home for the game that essentially established 360° movement as we know it. Fork found in kitchen. Of course it was never going to fit. But I can appreciate it for trying.

Appreciation might be the best way to describe my feelings around Super Mario 64; I appreciate what it did, and I can appreciate the games that it helped give us after, but it certainly feels its age. Like the crowd that holds Ocarina of Time as the best game in the Zelda series, I feel like this game is far more than the sum of its parts.

But for giving us quite possibly the most jolly voice in gaming, I’ll give Super Mario 64 a pass. And for a change of pace, I couldn’t have asked for anything better. All of this to say, I think I prefer Super Mario Sunshine. 

Next time, something far further out of my comfort zone, chaperoned by a fellow Skybox writer. It’s never too late, but I sometimes wish it could be. Until then!