The hype leading up to it was intense; I remember them giving out VHS tapes at Wal-Mart ahead of the release to show you footage of the types of games you'd be able to play on the "Ultra 64", and Mario was the headliner - it was the one game everyone knew they had to have with the system. I had a subscription to [Game Players](https://archive.org/details/Game_Players_080_January_1996_U) magazine and just spent the entire summer leading up to the release reading every tiny bit of information I could find about it, obsessing over screen grabs.
When it came out, trying to find a Nintendo 64 anywhere was a struggle, but we finally caught one at a random K-Mart in the middle of nowhere. Put it on layaway and picked it up on my 14th birthday a little over a month later.
I can't express the wonder we all felt the first time my friends and I booted the game up and just walked around outside the castle. It was our first exposure to true three-dimensional digital environments, and it was absolutely mind-blowing. The movement was so smooth.
Haven't had a moment like that since. It was truly magical.
I didn't get mine until Christmas, and I spent the first hour just being blown away by the fact that Mario *kicked up dust* while running. That and the 3rd person camera...and it rotates?!?!?!? I was living in future.
If I remember correctly they actually created lakatu to help explain the concept of a 3rd person perspective in games since it was really rare at that point.
Always wild seeing people talk about how Mario 64's camera's bad. Like sure we've done better since, but it basically invented fun third person movement in a 3D space.
I think this is the reason that on every game I play I need to inverse the y camera controls. In my mind I am not controlling the way I look, but I am controlling the camera behind my character. When I pull down on the thumbstick I am tilting the camera downwards to move the view finder up.
Lakitu floated on a cloud in SNES Super Mario World and threw spiky boys out his cloud in Mario’s general direction. Then he showed up in Super Mario Kart to signal the start, tell you were going the wrong way, and to haul your unskilled ass back up in the track.
I remember this being a thing back in the 80s/90s, if you got a console for Christmas it was already opened as they had to test it to make sure it worked
Were electronics so unreliable back then
It's easier to set it up the night before than it is trying to do it while a bunch of euphoric kids are running around screaming and grabbing everything related to it. While you also have all the other Christmas day preparations pulling your attention.
Oh man, I remember getting a VHS tape of the Banjo Kazooie preview in the mail. 9-year-old me must driven my parents crazy watching that thing like 5 times a day for a couple months up until release. That game was every bit as magical as I hoped it would be
Super Mario RPG was and still is one of my top 5 favorite games. I remember thinking the graphics for that game were incredible. Then Super Mario 64 came out and it blew anything I had ever seen away. The leap in graphics between Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 was massive. Now you can barely tell the difference when new consoles come out
Super Mario World was amazing. So many little unlocks and secrets. Gameplay was dialed. But yeah Mario 64 was iconic. The mechanics were so good. I can still hear a ton of the music in my head.
For real, Mario Wonder is fantastic and looks beautiful. The animations are great. I feel like I see a lot of level design influence from Yoshi's Island, and there are some Mario Maker influences.
I was a kid at the time, but I recently heard a guy on a podcast describe it like, "imagine you invented motion pictures, and the first movie you make to show off the new tech was The Godfather"
The closest thing I can compare it to was when the first iPhone came out. The idea of 3D games had been around, there had been some examples that were sort of kludgy and awkward. But this one was buttery smooth, it was just an immediately obvious step into a new tier.
I didn't know it was gonna be 3d. I was pretty young and didn't have an Internet connection, so I hadn't seen footage of the game ahead of time. I thought it was gonna look like Super Mario World.
I think that's the biggest difference now. Tech would completely change every five years, and I'd never see any of the changes coming. Each new console generation was amazing.
Now people do deep dives into every shred of footage we get, trying to analyze the story and every tidbit of info before the game comes our, then are bored by it or have ruined twists for themselves lol
The 90s was a really exciting time to be a kid with all the technological innovation.
From 8 bit to 16 bit to 32 bit consoles (plus the N64) each generation spawned new types of game play that weren't possible on the previous generation console. These days, there isn't much gameplay-wise you can do on a PS5 that you couldn't do on a PS3 (aside from VR which is a niche market).
Same, I was born in 82...so much innovation, it felt like technology was going to make the world so much better.... instead of dividing people and spawning "influencer" as a job aspiration.
The 90s were mad
Start of the decade the Mega drive / Genesis was launched. End of the decade the PS2 was launched. Went from sprite platformers and rudimentary 3D polygons to a system that could run GTA3 in a decade.
Was awful being a PC enthusiast as you needed to constantly update. I got a 486 in 1994 and by 1995 everything was needing Pentiums
Incredible. My dad scored an N64 with my paper route money on the console release day. It was unavailable for months afterwards. Kids at school would gather around just to hear me talk about the game.
It was both mind blowing and weird.
The weird part was how *right* it felt. It was one of the first 3D platformers ever, yet the controls were extremely tight and still hold up to this day, almost 30 years later. It was crazy seeing Mario move around in 3D *and still feel like good old Mario from the 2D games*.
Totally agree. Got an N64 the month it came out and I remember all the promotional booklets saying the console was more powerful than all the computers that took the Apollo missions to the moon combined!! I remember the VHS tape that was full of gameplay. I remember the photos of it labeled as the Ultra 64 and the coming soon of the additional DD add on with its different floppy disc like cartridges.
I even remember how mind blowing it was when Mario Paint came out SNES. I never had it or played on it but that leap in ideas and technology attached to a gaming console was enormous.
I played Mario 64 all the way through for the first time in decades this last winter on the Switch and the levels and how to get the stars are burnt into my brain. It still stands up completely and blows Mario Sunshine away. Sunshine I always felt like it was somehow unfinished when released as it’s just not all there for me. But Mario 64…there had been absolutely nothing like it before. Nothing. The camera angles were sometime annoying but…they never existed before. And in the end it all felt natural to play. Could still never work out what that little breakdance move you can do was actually for. The fact that people still speed run the game to such lengths really shows you how cherished the game is I suppose.
And then…we waited…
Ocarina of Time was released. Never had I experienced such an open world game before like that. But that’s a whole different story.
I remember going to a friend's house to play Golden Eye. First guy with a 64. While waiting to play, they were playing Mario 64 and it was insane. It might be the biggest leap in video game tech of all time.
I'm probably going to get downvoted. I was 12 or 13 when it came out, and I was definitely the target demographic, as someone who'd been playing Mario games for years at that point.
But I... didn't like it. I tried. I gave it an honest effort. I played it several different times at the game demo kiosk at Target, for somewhat lengthy sessions. But I thought that it looked ugly (still do), and that the controls weren't very intuitive. I guess I sorta shrugged and took comfort in my older Mario games. And when I played N64 at my friends' houses, we usually just did Mario Kart 64. I never bonded with Super Mario 64, and in a lot of ways I think it sorta put me off keeping up with new Mario games, and gaming in general, for a few decades.
But I'm fully back, and definitely a lifelong Mario person, with both a Switch and a 3DS in my arsenal, and a few dozen games. Odyssey is a masterpiece, taking so much of what 64 tried to be and refining it into something beautiful and intuitive. I still don't like Mario 64. Maybe one day I'll get it!
I am totally with you! I remember at the time thinking the first 3D games just looked much worse than the cartoon/drawn style art in SNES games and Arcade cabinets. I did marvel at the tech, like pulling Mario's face and the sheer wonder of running around in a 3D world but they just didn't appeal to me the same way the cartoon/drawn style art in SNES games did.
The next few years of advancement improved things drastically, I remember seeing an ad for Metal Gear Solid and being so excited for that game then being blown away by it and Amored Core. Both of those look quite dated now too but I was totally engrossed by them.
I had this same reaction to Donkey Kong 64. The SNES games were so moody and atmospheric, you felt like you were in the jungle or on top of a frozen mountain or in a lost lagoon or in a cavern. DK64 felt like a corny cartoon by comparison and the gameplay was nowhere near as engrossing.
No, same for me! I didn't like it either. To this day I can't cope with 3d games on console. I have no problems with keyboard and mouse, but console just doesn't click for me somehow. We had a NES at home, my best mate had a SNES and his cousin (who lived three doors down the road from us) got an N64 with Mario 3d. We played it for a few hours and then went to my mate's house to play on the SNES instead.
It was technologically impressive. I remember my cousin bringing his N64 around and showing us the game like "you can run ANYWHERE, and at any speed!"
Which back then was impressive. But I do agree. I ran around for 5 minutes impressed, then switched it off and went to Mario Kart.
Same.
I played a shit ton of Super Mario 1, 3 (didn't really like 2) and World before. Then 64 came out and I was just like: WTF is this?
Part of it was that it was one of the first 3d platformers, so some things were still wonky.
But my main complaint was the artstyle. In the older games, Marios proportions were kinda like a normal dude. In 64, he looked like a toddler with a full diper and a moustache slapped on. And the running anymation and squeeky voice just amplified this.
I didn't like it when it came out and I don't like it now. It's never been my thing and that's okay. Not everything is for everybody.
This was influenced by me having a Saturn first, though I did eventually get an N64. My favorite games of that era were the Capcom fighters and VF2, though I also very much enjoyed the AKI wrestling games, GoldenEye and especially Banjo Kazooie, which I thought was significantly better than Mario 64.
I wrote out a huge explanation to your question and then deleted the whole thing.. the answer is simply as real as, it was fucking awesome. Growing up gaming, you could’ve never envisioned a game like that. And then we just, had it… it completely revolutionized gaming
It was exceptional.
That being said, the very first time I played it, I was in the hospital at age 10 recovering from a surgery. They rolled it in on a special combined TV tray console, and I was confused and didn't understand that you had to jump into the paintings. I gave up after 20 minutes.
>I was in the hospital at age 10 recovering from a surgery. They rolled it in on a special combined TV tray console, and I was confused and didn't understand that you had to jump into the paintings. I gave up after 20 minutes.
you sure you weren't just like...really high?
I remember getting Orcarina of time when I was 9 or 10 and I never went further than the very first area. My mind was blown when I went to my cousins place and learned it was an actual whole game lol
I wish I could describe the feeling of having to learn an entirely new set of skills for understanding and responding to the N64 thumb stick and 3D space after nearly a decade of playing 2D platformers. Of course, I had also played DOOM, Rise of the Triad, and other 3D pc games pretty extensively. Yet movement for those games was still on the “compass rose” layout with WASD, and the mouse (if it was integrated) only controlling camera. With Super Mario 64, it was the first time that I experienced an 8 way control input (which they marketed as “3D control”) specifically used for navigating the various 3D environments. It seems to quaint now, but at the time there was nothing like it and, for me, there wouldn’t be until Sony dropped the Dual Shock in 97.
Growing up with huge steps like that in the lexicon of game play has really made it hard to feel like there’s not as much thought put towards innovation in gameplay anymore—but that’s a post for a different time /slumps back into rocking chair and gazes out the window
My best friend told me that his other friend, who I'd never met, had one reserved at Babbage's but didn't have a ride to get it and I was the first one to get my license. So I went and met him and took him to get the game, and I ended up staying the night at his house despite having just met him, and we played the game all night. It was the best game of all time, up to that point. And that guy became one of my best friends and still is to this day. Just talked to him a little bit ago, actually.
I was in the same camp. I remember playing Tekken on PS and in King's arena you could see the fight in real time on the big screen TV. Absolutely fucking mind blowing!! I really got into console gaming until I got married. She wasn't into games until we played Wii Sports Tennis at a friend's house. We had a Wii before the end of the weekend. Now we've got kids and we have bought every Nintendo console since. The Switch is awesome. My absolute favorite is still Zack and Wiki on the Wii.
As a largely PC gamer not that interesting to be honest. We had quake, duke nukem 3d, tomb raider, diablo, descent 2. Super Mario 64 looked basic comparatively. Nights into dreams made me want to pick up a Saturn though.
The jump between 32 to 64 bit gaming systems felt more significant than any upgrade since. Golden eye felt like photo realistic graphics at the time. It's funny looking back at it now but at the time Nintendo 64/PlayStation was mind blowing
You may read a lot of words like "amazing!', "life-changing!", "shocking!", etc. But the truth was a lot more subtle. I was 13 when Mario 64 came out, and it was truly an amazing game, but it had little to do with the graphics.
The graphics were impressive, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't "photo-real" like some people exaggerate. Even back then we knew it looked terrible, but we also knew it would get better.
What the real amazing thing about Mario 64 was the gameplay, you couldn't put it down. You could play small chunks or long marathons. You could walk around(almost) anywhere, so part of the fun was exploring in a real 3D world. It was the first time I played a game and felt truly immersed. I would often play for hours without getting a single star and having a blast. THAT was what made Mario 64 so great.
And it still is today.
> Even back then we knew it looked terrible, but we also knew it would get better
I know these replies are all anecdotal, but personally I don’t remember “looked terrible” being the consensus. Even just the detail of the Metal Mario suit alone was unlike anything that came before. The leap in graphics was kind of surreal, especially back in the day.
Everything about the game just seemed, from a design and visual standpoint, so sophisticated and expensive.
I had stopped playing video games after the 80’s. Was busy with school and work. Seeing Super Mario 64 on display at Fry’s got me back. I got the N64 a week after launch and I’ve been back into gaming ever since.
I remember my mom being upset at my dad for bringing home that and a brand new N64 console. Had years of fun with that thing. Still have both over 25 years later.
I’d never seen anything like it. I remember walking over to the Blockbuster after school with my friends just to play the demo kiosk they had a set up the day of release. We were all just in awe.
Thr hype around the Nintendo 64 was huge. Inwas a kid working a summer job under the table at a greenhouse and used my money to buy an N64 and SM64. I remember my dad being disappointed that we didn't get a free game like when he got us the NES.
Anyway it must have been August because it was hot and all the doors and windows were open in the house. I remember hearing summer sounds come through as my beothers and sister and I played SM64 into the night. Great times.
I absolutely loved it! I didn't get a Nintendo 64 until around 2 years later.
Looking back I am realizing how much of a sacrifice my mom made for me to get that game.
We were on welfare in Canada. I think the game itself at the time was around $40-50? I could be wrong.
It was so cool! Moving all over inside the maps was crazy.
I was obsessed with finding "secrets" in the game and there were quite a few. I was 11 at the time and I played that game until it was finished. I mostly played it initially because you didn't need a memory card (we didn't have money to buy one). I for some reason remember having a used copy of mortal combat but I couldnt save it 😂 because we didn't have a memory card.
Sadly my mom eventually had to pawn it and wasn't able to get it back. Best game ever. I got it on my wii and then on my switch.
I was like 7 so while I had a lot of fun with it, I hadn't reached the age where I understood what a revolution it was. It was just a fun video game. I don't even remember having much problems adjusting to 3D from 2D. Maybe I did, but I don't remember having problems with it and it felt natural from the start.
It was peak console war time, and I was team Mario all the way. I had read everything available about Ultra 64 / Nintendo 64 leading up to launch and was counting on it to trounce PlayStation (I didn't know anyone with a Saturn). So, I had a preorder at Toys R Us. Everyone expected it to be $250, but it turned out to be $200. IIRC I left the store with Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, and my dad and I overheard another kid getting told that there were none left unless you had a preorder.
Adjusting to an analog stick after years on a D-pad was not easy. I spent a long time running around Peach's courtyard to get used to it. It was fun just to traverse the landscape.
Having a 3D map meant the designers could hide secrets with camera angles for the first time. I remember getting stuck on the ghost house for a while before realizing (maybe hearing from a friend?) that there was a ledge up to a second level IIRC near the piano.
This was in the days of the early Internet. I got lots of info, both good and bunk, from Prodigy message boards. I don't remember anything specifically about Mario 64, just lots of rumors about Chun-Li nude codes.
I remember leafing through a magazine in a newsagent, and seeing pre-release shots. THOSE blew my mind.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Then I saw it in action at a kiosk in a shop. I had to have it, even tho an N64 was $600, and the game was $100.
My parents had to get to Target at 4AM to get in line to get an N64 and Mario for Christmas.
It was mind blowing. I remember playing with Mario's face forever before actually playing.
Adjusting the camera was an entirely new concept to us.
I was 6 years old and got it for Christmas. It was mind boggling. I was huge Mario fan from the Super Nintendo days with Super Mario World. It was just such a massive jump. I thought this is as good as it will get. I remember my parents who played video games just be like “I’m out”. The 3d graphics and joystick was just too much for them. I also remember them just letting me hook it up. They just somehow couldn’t figure out how to switch from cox cable to the RCA cables. I just randomly pressed the TV Source button and it worked and they signed relief the system was broken.
I saved up money working for several months, and the N64 was the first big thing I bought. I really don't know why I didn't end up getting Super Mario 64, I think I went straight for Mario Kart which I became obsessed with and because games were about $17,000 (adjusted relative to an 11 year old's income) it was a while before I got another game. Then it was Goldeneye and then Perfect Dark, and then the wrestling games started and I never looked back. DK64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day were in there somewhere too. I've tried going back several times and maybe it's because it lacks nostalgia? But it's just not for me.
Strangely, it never crossed my mind. I had a Gameboy and took that wherever I went, but I had grown up without tv so it just wasn’t a big deal. A few friends got them, but girls and dirt bikes was where it was at.
If I remember correctly, we had just gotten a satellite dish and we’d look for porn that was scrambled but still somewhat visible.
Super Mario 64 was a massive sea change in games at the time, there was absolutely nothing like it. I would say, at least from my perspective, it was the most consequential thing in video games since the launch of the NES and maybe the debut of Street Fighter II in arcades.
Played it at my dads friends house and it was literally like being transported into another world. Modern vr is the closest I've come to that experience.
I stood in line outside a Toys 'R' Us to buy the N64 and accompanying said Mario game. Biggest thing I remember was being embarrassed that a friend of mine in line with me paid for his mostly in coins. Not all of which were rolled.
Feel bad now years later, kids and finances don't usually go hand in hand, but at the time....
My hype for the Nintendo 64 (which was called Ultra 64 at the time) was unreal. I had never been so excited for a console before or since. I bought every gaming magazine I could find with information and read them cover to cover several times. I remember stopping at a Toys R Us that had demo units with Super Mario 64 (prior to the systems release) and it blew my mind! I was initially confused by the weird controller as it was really bizarre compared to the SNES and Genesis controller I was used to. But I loved the demo and the game was amazing! I got my Nintendo 64 from my parents that same Christmas, shortly after launch. And Super Mario 64, of course.
Not as good as going from NES to SNES in my opinion. Mario 3 to Mario World was a huge jump in every way. Graphics, sound, music, everything. By the time I actually played a N64, PC games with 3D graphics were already looking pretty good at that point and that's what I was primarily playing, what the N64 offered wasn't really mind blowing to me. I also didn't like the N64 controller, if I could use the D-pad and not that little joystick that would have helped.
I still remember the first time getting to control Mario in full 3d. There are literally no words to describe it. All other games were small improvements, Mario64 in a literally added an entire dimension
The first time playing it, I got this really weird sense of vertigo. It made me feel a little nauseous. After a couple of short play sessions, and breaks it passed.
After that it became a challenge to see where I could get to, how I could get there... It changed the game
Well I was twelve and my brother got it immediately, I probably pissed myself, although my favorite was quest 64 , I know the masses will hate me but I loved it.
First time playing n64 was unreal. Seeing games in 3D was mind blowing at the time. Was hard to put the controller down once I started playing. Goldeneye and Zelda were masterpieces on n64. Mario was fun but I thought it was hard with the camera angles and movements. I didn’t enjoy it alot until I was older.
First time I saw it was at a Kiosk in WalMart. It was nothing short of incredible to see a 3D Mario that could run about in all dimensions. It’s literally a core memory of mine and I can recall vivid details.
It's impossible to overstate the hype, Mario was the biggest franchise in gaming at the time, and here was this game game everyone and their dog had played but in 3D for the first time! I remember seeing pictures of it and thinking to myself "how would you know where you were supposed to go?", because traditionally you would just run to the right of screen...
I was working at 3DO, where half my team spent about two weeks crowded around each other's cubes playing Nintendo instead of developing our own titles
Freeko, I'm looking at you... >8\^)
Games back then hit different. The market wasn't nearly as saturated so when an in-house studio released a game it was almost like a... Like that feeling kids get at Christmas time.
Mario 64 wasn't just the first 3D Mario game. It was our first foray into analog sticks, it was Nintendos new 64 bit console, and we were just starting to envision what 3D games looked like.
It was goddamn magical.
My *first impression* was not good. I was 8 going on 9 years old when it was released here in north america. Where as the 2D marios threw you right into the action right away with enemies, blocks, and powerups; it seemed like it was all substance in the beginning.
Playing the intro part at a wal-mart display, it didn't seem all that exciting being thrown into this open setting with no enemies or powerups. It was like, "Mario in 3D, cool. This is it?" Then I walked away and picked up a gaming mag.
Anyway, I eventually played it all the way through some years later on my brother's N64 and loved it.
I joined the Club Nintendo in the NES/SNES era and some of us got invited to a preview of the n64 launching titles, including a demo of Mario 64. It blew our minds!
It was better than we were expecting. We knew about it from the magazines but seeing it in real life OMG.
I liked the look of it, abd I liked playing it, but didn't have an N64. I was a Sega fanboy, and NiGHTS was more my cup of tea - the flying wasn't free-roaming 3D, but it looked way more colourful and was fast as hell.
You have to realize how huge Mario and the Super Nintendo was in those days. Everyone played Mario. Everyone had a Nintendo, or Super Nintendo. I myself spent thousands of hours playing. When Mario 3D on N64 came out, it was all anyone could talk about. The hype was greater than the Halo 2 hype. The leap from 2D, to 3D was truly mind blowing, and there hasn’t been a leap forward in gaming graphics since that felt as amazing. From a horse carriage to Ferrari. Sure games like Doom were also amazing, but 3D Mario made you feel like the world was around you, instead of in front of you. We all hoped VR gaming would bring that sense of wonder, but it’s just chasing the dragon. I like to imagine it’s probably similar to when TV made the leap from black and white to color, or Radio from mono to stereo, but I wasn’t around to experience that.
I was not even ten yet, so i don't remember specifics but i do remember so much more hype and marketing for video games in stores. Being able to preview games on the demo, craning your neck way up to see it, finding favorite characters on the posters and endcaps, the Sears Pokémart... it was a good time to be a kid
My cousin had an N64 and Mario 64 and I did not. I was SO JEALOUS. I begged for one but I had a Gameboy and was told to be content with that. When we visited my cousin it was all I wanted to play. We'd even spend ages just stretching Mario's face on the title screen.
The first console we got in the house was a PS2 so I never had my own copy. I still fire up my N64 emulator now and again and play some Mario. I still think it's gotta be one of the best games.
I distinctly remember playing it on a store kiosk, not knowing what it was and being mesmerized. There was a queue for the kiosk too.
I even went back there in high school breaks just to play.
Bought a N64 not long after that.
My friend and I were playing the hell out of Kirby Superstar on SNES. We went up to Toys R Us on the weekend and they had the Mario 64 demo and we gave it a shot. Kirby lost a lot of its luster after that. (I still bought a Playstation not an N64 because I was into JRPGs)
I saved up my paper route money for months and managed to get an N64 on launch day, by far the biggest purchase of my life at the time hah. I had already seen images of it and knew what to expect, but it was still mind blowing. The controls (and controller!) took some getting used to but it was awesome in the end.
I remember playing it in my friend's basement. It felt unreal, like entering another world. Even though it wouldn't be considered open world today, it felt so big and coherent!
Dad here. My boy was eleven. We had rented a system for a weekend and minds were blown.
Christmas was coming and I was determined to find one. There were ads in the newspaper for people scalping them, and I wouldn't buy that. I either had to use a landline for an hour asking stores if they even had one, or just get in the car and drive around and hunt.
After several hours, I found a Target store manager who had squirrelled away five systems because people were snatching them up, and he sensed they were just poaching them for resale.
My boy was one of only two kids who got one for Christmas. We played with that thing for HOURS.
It's funny in hindsight , our house got broken in to and my sega genesis and games stolen , (much more than that , but thats whats relevant here) since sega wasn't being produced anymore the insurance company, said we could choose an n64 or playstation, my family chose the n64 so in one fell swoop i got Mario 64, Mario Kart, Cruisin usa, Starfox and a few others . it was june, by the time we got it, the robbery being over the may 2-4 weekend . and let me tell you that last few weeks of school, was torture... but it was the best summer ever lol.
Gaming back then was simply better on all accounts. Magazines were written by people who enjoyed playing video games and were concerned about their reputation amongst gamers. Games were made by passionate people. The toxicity you see today largely didn't exist. Games were more complex and had some amazing stories and depth to them.
Now you have journalism filled with failures from other fields who happily will lie to you about the quality of a game and run whatever hit piece the industry wants written. Companies are ran by managarial class hires who treat developers abysmally and do not have a clue what they're doing. They have a questionable grasp on the basics of business and economics. AAA games are dumbed down copy pasted trite. Some of the developers will get upset if trends change or dice gods forbid they have to deliver a complex engaging experience. Console warring is absolutely moronic. What was akin to a sports team rivalry, is now a cult like last man competition of who can ignore how mediocre or bad their company is the hardest.
Graphics have improved and optimatation has declined. We went from an industry that of passionate developers who wanted to innovate and one up each other, to one where a huge chunk of developers hate the people who they make products for and the feeling is mutual from that community.
If you can look past graphics, the age of Mario 64 was grand.
I was a little older (early 20's) at the time, and I thought the game looked interesting, but the idea of a 3D Mario world wasn't very appealing to me at all. I still don't believe I have ever played it for more than a few seconds.
I remember the hype for the original gold Zelda cartridge though. I was excited for that and I loved the weird TV commercials.
Fridays was when I had a garage packed full of Atleast 12 of us neighborhood kids jamming Mario 64. My friend would put his system and a small tv in a wagon and wheel it on over to my garage and we’d have two systems set up. Pizza Hut or dominoes already knew what house to show up to on a Friday night
I still have my console and my copy but when it came out, I remember playing the demo in Walmart and having to tilt your head back to look at the analog tv above you while playing a demo. For some reason, watching those graphics for the first time gave me a headache.
Kind of like this but for N64.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Gamecube/s/4obRMluiL7
I got it on my 13th birthday and played it so much I didn’t hear about princess Diana dying until I turned it off 2 days later. She died on my birthday. I don’t think I even slept
They had kiosks in some stores here before the game came out where you could try the game out. I had my dad drop me off while he went grocery shopping and I just stood there and played for hours.
Came with my N64… we spent a long time on just the main screen just distorting the face- it was the most degrees of freedom we had since Mario paint.
Let me give you an alternate mind blow… playing aces over the pacific with fuel turned off…. It just…. Kept going……for hours. Inconceivable at the time, like the promises of no man’s sky
I couldn't get across the bridge in Bob-omb Battlefield for a while lol. After playing in 2D my whole life, 3D was a HUGE adjustment. The possibilities were endless. Finally made it across that bridge. Felt like I played that game for 200 hours, but I did eventually get everything.
Mario 64 was great and all but my attention was fixed on Rogue Squadron. For the first time you could freely pilot a Star Wars ship and even wrap up AtAts with you snow speeder tow line in a 3d space
Paperboy 64 was pretty mind boggling as someone who grew up playing paper boy. Zelda - Ocarina of Time (the best game ever created) came out before Christmas in I think 98 or 99. That game was a total game changer for open world play in 3D games. Superman 64 also deserves a nod.
Best Buy made this giant composite screen of like 10-15 box TVs suspended from the ceiling all linked together and connected to the N64 where you could demo the game, essentially making a jumbotron in the middle of the store, so no matter where you were, you could see the gameplay footage of whoever was trying out the game.
That was peak Best But for me, and no video game display has ever come close to being as cool
I went to Best Buy around launch time and they had Mario 64 running on a TV up front. It was mind blowing to 16 year old me. I remember thinking “they can do anything with graphics now”. I legit felt like any situation a game dev could think of could now be done.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/03/ee/37/03ee3734966c73daeb0f7351b3b4cf6a.jpg
We were a bit optimistic haha
I was 5 and all I knew of was Donkey Kong Country and Tetris. It is probably one of the coolest things a kid could go through at that age - seeing graphics and gameplay take such a monumental leap like that was crazy cool.
My friend's older brother showed up with it out of nowhere. I knew about the Ultra 64 but somehow completely missed all the N64 and Mario hype.
I honestly wasn't very impressed. I've never had the discipline for platformers. I remember his brother bursting into the room while were playing some 2-D fighter on the genesis or mk2 on SNES.
The N64 didn't really catch my attention until games like South Park 64 and GoldenEye.
I remember finally getting the N64 w/ Super Mario 64 for my bday a little after it released. My aunts and uncles all still lived with my grandparents at the time and all grew up with Atari so we were all stoked to plug it up and see it in action, my mother then discovered 3d games give her motion sickness lol fun times. I just remember the whole family gathered around and marveling at the 3d lol
It came out and changed what I envisioned a platformer could be. The music was epic, the challenges interesting, the levels amazing. It and Ocarina were game changers.
Some of these replies are interesting - not that they’re not true, it’s just that I don’t remember that.
Personally, I just remember that it was really difficult to get an N64 system upon or near release. And as this was basically pre-internet, you had to resort to calling stores to learn about their stock situation.
So one day I called a bunch of stores and found a store that had one in stock. It was an hour away. They agreed to hold it for me for that hour, so I drove up there and got it. I’m fairly certain I got Super Mario 64 at the same time because that was the first game I/we played on it.
To me at the time, it was revolutionary. It was so unlike any other game we’d ever seen or played - even in an arcade. It wasn’t like the first time I saw/played football on a Dreamcast however. That seemed eerily realistic. It was cartoonish - as you’d expect it to be - but also completely immersive.
Once word spread throughout the building that I had an N64 with SM64 in our apartment, I won’t say my popularity soared or anything, but I’d venture to say 50% of the people (college students) came by at least once to see it.
I remember playing the demo at WalMart and being blown away. Then was fortunate enough to get the Nintendo 64 and game for Christmas that year. It was magical.
My aunt loves telling this story:
Her and my mom went out to try and get my cousin and I N64s for Christmas. She explains that the consoles were actually kinda easy to find, it was the games that were in short supply. Well, my aunt was able to snag a Pilotwings game for my cousin but my mom hadn’t had any luck getting me a game yet.
The last store they went to, my mom sees the game I wanted the most, Mario64. She picks up the last copy, and some other woman tries to grab it out of her hand and my mom straight up decked the lady, “This is for my baby.”
It’s always fun hearing my aunt tell the story because she’s such an animated storyteller. My mom’s been gone now for almost 8 years but every time I hear this story, I get a huge smile on my face.
As for the game, it was absolutely incredible. I remember thinking that there’s no way games can get better than that. I will say, the giant eel gave me NIGHTMARES.
Bro, my local Best Buy had a N64 with Mario set up in the middle of the store. That game was hooked up to like 16 different screens above it which made up one giant 4x4 screen up top. That was visible throughout the entire store and it was the first thing you saw when you walked in. It was amazing.
the N64 was our first console. Watching my sister play Mario 64 was such a blast, I looked forward to it after school every day. We weren't well versed in 2D Mario, but of course when we got a gameboy too we had to check it out.
I was in game dev at that time and I had been ranting about why console systems needed analog joysticks for so long. Having people play Mario 64 finally got my point across that analog joysticks were not just something for flight/space sim/games.
It was one of two gaming experiences that truly blew my mind (the other being Half-Life).
There were hardly any 3D platformers that got much exposure before it, and here was this sprawling, immersive 3D world that was EVERYWHERE (like every major department and media store would have an N64 hooked up to a TV with Super Mario 64 on it).
It literally felt like the future of video games, and I'll never forget it.
Golden Eye and Star Fox were actually the real big games that i really remember. I felt Mario 64 was kind eh. Worst game for the 64 was by far Superman.
Edit: I forgot to mention Ocarina of Time which makes me feel insanely foolish.
In my neck of the woods, just about everyone hated it completely, and saying that it was a disgrace to the mario we loved. Never liked it myself either.
I got an n64 for Xmas when it came out with sm64. I booted it up that morning and not only me, but the rest of my family was amazed. I never thought video games could become better.
It's my favorite game of all time. My friend got a 64 the first Christmas of release and we played that game and GoldenEye nonstop for a while. My family didn't have money for those kinds of presents so over a year later when the prices dropped I saved up and bought an N64 of my own and that game. I spent forever trying to get 120 stars but eventually got it and unlocked that outdoor cannon. What a great teaser since it was there all along.
My seven year old mind could not comprehend it fully.
I remember my mother telling me that the neighbours kid, who I used to play with, had a new Mario and that it was “in 3D”.
I did not understand what she meant by this. I tried to picture it in my head and couldn’t. I imagined a 2d Mario but with the question blocks drawn as cubes instead of squares. I didn’t even know there was a new console out, I was just a kid with no internet.
So I call the neighbours house on the landline and ask their mom if I could go over to play. I ride my bike there and ring the doorbell, and he opens the door and shows me to the tv room where a brand new n64 was sitting on top of the crt. I remember looking at the black curved outlines and thinking it looked so strange. The controller even more so. Like a spaceship.
To say my mind was blown when he put on the game would be a massive understatement. Never could my mind have imagined something like that. We were so clueless that in the beginning we were pinching the analog stick and moving our arm to move mario around.
I will never forget it.
I remember my dad telling me the night before that we were going to go and rent an N64 from the video rental place tomorrow cuz mom and my brother were out of town for the weekend. I did not sleep a fucking wink that night. I rented like the only two games available. Mario 64 and pilot wings. I played so much that my hands hurt. Like when a junkie blows out his veins from too much heroin and wants more but physically cannot.
I might be one of the only people actually disappointed at first. I was like 8 and we got it for Christmas. All during the lead up my brother is going on and on about how it is 3D. In my 8 year old brain, I literally thought it meant it would be popping out of the screen. I was actually let down when I first played it lol. But obviously it’s one of the best games ever and definitely took over our lives.
Totally wild, like everyone huddled around the display at the electronics store. Kids were glued to the screen, taking turns to jump into paintings. It felt like stepping into another dimension. The hype was real, parents trying to understand why their kids were freaking over a plumber in a 3D world. Gamers knew it was a big deal – nothing like it before. The buzz lasted for months.
I got an N64 on my 10th birthday with Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64 as gifts. We had a huge party with about 10 of my friends at my house and turned it on. Every kid wanted a turn and even the adults were amazed at the graphics at the time. It was pretty mind-blowing and one of the most memorable gifts I've ever received. I played that game every day for months. It was just the coolest thing ever.
The hype leading up to it was intense; I remember them giving out VHS tapes at Wal-Mart ahead of the release to show you footage of the types of games you'd be able to play on the "Ultra 64", and Mario was the headliner - it was the one game everyone knew they had to have with the system. I had a subscription to [Game Players](https://archive.org/details/Game_Players_080_January_1996_U) magazine and just spent the entire summer leading up to the release reading every tiny bit of information I could find about it, obsessing over screen grabs. When it came out, trying to find a Nintendo 64 anywhere was a struggle, but we finally caught one at a random K-Mart in the middle of nowhere. Put it on layaway and picked it up on my 14th birthday a little over a month later. I can't express the wonder we all felt the first time my friends and I booted the game up and just walked around outside the castle. It was our first exposure to true three-dimensional digital environments, and it was absolutely mind-blowing. The movement was so smooth. Haven't had a moment like that since. It was truly magical.
I didn't get mine until Christmas, and I spent the first hour just being blown away by the fact that Mario *kicked up dust* while running. That and the 3rd person camera...and it rotates?!?!?!? I was living in future.
If I remember correctly they actually created lakatu to help explain the concept of a 3rd person perspective in games since it was really rare at that point.
Always wild seeing people talk about how Mario 64's camera's bad. Like sure we've done better since, but it basically invented fun third person movement in a 3D space.
Plus the noise when you hit the C buttons is awesome
The flying hat level was always my favourite. The controls were smooth and the “whoosh” sounds made it really feel like you were flying at mach speeds
You get to see him/ interact with him at certain points in the game. Floating on his cloud with his camera on a stick. He did a fantastic job!
I think this is the reason that on every game I play I need to inverse the y camera controls. In my mind I am not controlling the way I look, but I am controlling the camera behind my character. When I pull down on the thumbstick I am tilting the camera downwards to move the view finder up.
Lakitu floated on a cloud in SNES Super Mario World and threw spiky boys out his cloud in Mario’s general direction. Then he showed up in Super Mario Kart to signal the start, tell you were going the wrong way, and to haul your unskilled ass back up in the track.
I remember my dad trying to fight king bombbomb when making sure the system and game worked in the basement. I was 9.
I remember this being a thing back in the 80s/90s, if you got a console for Christmas it was already opened as they had to test it to make sure it worked Were electronics so unreliable back then
It's easier to set it up the night before than it is trying to do it while a bunch of euphoric kids are running around screaming and grabbing everything related to it. While you also have all the other Christmas day preparations pulling your attention.
Nah they just playing with it early before his birthday😂😂😂😂
No they were super reliable, like more reliable than they are now in many cases. Sounds like your dad just likes playing video games.
More reliable tbh.
The 3rd person camera blew my mind. I just ran around jumping for an hour.
I still remember repeatedly exclaiming, "This is so cool!" while walking and jumping around outside the castle.
I spent so long just pulling Mario’s face. Such a fun game.
Oh man, I remember getting a VHS tape of the Banjo Kazooie preview in the mail. 9-year-old me must driven my parents crazy watching that thing like 5 times a day for a couple months up until release. That game was every bit as magical as I hoped it would be
>I had a subscription to Game Players magazine The best video game magazine of the 90s.
Still have my 64 and this game. It’s the best
It was literally mind blowing.
Those were really amazing years for the Mario franchise. Super Mario RPG and Yoshi's Island on the SNES and then Super Mario 64
Super Mario RPG was and still is one of my top 5 favorite games. I remember thinking the graphics for that game were incredible. Then Super Mario 64 came out and it blew anything I had ever seen away. The leap in graphics between Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 was massive. Now you can barely tell the difference when new consoles come out
Also, Super Mario World. I still wish they'd make another 2D game in the specific visual style of Super Mario World.
Super Mario World was amazing. So many little unlocks and secrets. Gameplay was dialed. But yeah Mario 64 was iconic. The mechanics were so good. I can still hear a ton of the music in my head.
Have you played Super Mario Wonder?
For real, Mario Wonder is fantastic and looks beautiful. The animations are great. I feel like I see a lot of level design influence from Yoshi's Island, and there are some Mario Maker influences.
I was a kid at the time, but I recently heard a guy on a podcast describe it like, "imagine you invented motion pictures, and the first movie you make to show off the new tech was The Godfather"
Yep, lines at Walmart to play...
Ow, my neck.
The closest thing I can compare it to was when the first iPhone came out. The idea of 3D games had been around, there had been some examples that were sort of kludgy and awkward. But this one was buttery smooth, it was just an immediately obvious step into a new tier.
I used to go to toys R us every chance I got to play the display in the store. Had finished most of the game before I even had an N64. :p
I didn't know it was gonna be 3d. I was pretty young and didn't have an Internet connection, so I hadn't seen footage of the game ahead of time. I thought it was gonna look like Super Mario World. I think that's the biggest difference now. Tech would completely change every five years, and I'd never see any of the changes coming. Each new console generation was amazing.
In 1996 people weren't watching game footage online. Took damn near 30 seconds to open an image let alone a video. You didn't miss anything.
We had magazines though
Opening up Games Master every month felt like taking a peek into the future.
Now people do deep dives into every shred of footage we get, trying to analyze the story and every tidbit of info before the game comes our, then are bored by it or have ruined twists for themselves lol
My son knows how to beat every game before he gets it because he watches countless videos about it. Where is the fun in that?
The 90s was a really exciting time to be a kid with all the technological innovation. From 8 bit to 16 bit to 32 bit consoles (plus the N64) each generation spawned new types of game play that weren't possible on the previous generation console. These days, there isn't much gameplay-wise you can do on a PS5 that you couldn't do on a PS3 (aside from VR which is a niche market).
Being born in 1980, having been a teenager through the 90s was so great, it really was a golden era, I miss it so much.
Same, I was born in 82...so much innovation, it felt like technology was going to make the world so much better.... instead of dividing people and spawning "influencer" as a job aspiration.
The 90s were mad Start of the decade the Mega drive / Genesis was launched. End of the decade the PS2 was launched. Went from sprite platformers and rudimentary 3D polygons to a system that could run GTA3 in a decade. Was awful being a PC enthusiast as you needed to constantly update. I got a 486 in 1994 and by 1995 everything was needing Pentiums
Incredible. My dad scored an N64 with my paper route money on the console release day. It was unavailable for months afterwards. Kids at school would gather around just to hear me talk about the game.
It was both mind blowing and weird. The weird part was how *right* it felt. It was one of the first 3D platformers ever, yet the controls were extremely tight and still hold up to this day, almost 30 years later. It was crazy seeing Mario move around in 3D *and still feel like good old Mario from the 2D games*.
Yeah to this day I don't think any 3D platformer feels as in control of the character as you do in Mario 64.
Totally agree. Got an N64 the month it came out and I remember all the promotional booklets saying the console was more powerful than all the computers that took the Apollo missions to the moon combined!! I remember the VHS tape that was full of gameplay. I remember the photos of it labeled as the Ultra 64 and the coming soon of the additional DD add on with its different floppy disc like cartridges. I even remember how mind blowing it was when Mario Paint came out SNES. I never had it or played on it but that leap in ideas and technology attached to a gaming console was enormous. I played Mario 64 all the way through for the first time in decades this last winter on the Switch and the levels and how to get the stars are burnt into my brain. It still stands up completely and blows Mario Sunshine away. Sunshine I always felt like it was somehow unfinished when released as it’s just not all there for me. But Mario 64…there had been absolutely nothing like it before. Nothing. The camera angles were sometime annoying but…they never existed before. And in the end it all felt natural to play. Could still never work out what that little breakdance move you can do was actually for. The fact that people still speed run the game to such lengths really shows you how cherished the game is I suppose. And then…we waited… Ocarina of Time was released. Never had I experienced such an open world game before like that. But that’s a whole different story.
[удалено]
So long gay Bowser
I really wanted Mario 64 but my dad got me Turok instead. He made the right choice.
In your dads defense Turok was fucking fire.
My dad rented it years ago, and I remember not liking it due to its weird controls. Maybe I was too used to how games like Goldeneye played.
Your dad was brilliant. Turok > any Mario game
I remember going to a friend's house to play Golden Eye. First guy with a 64. While waiting to play, they were playing Mario 64 and it was insane. It might be the biggest leap in video game tech of all time.
I'm probably going to get downvoted. I was 12 or 13 when it came out, and I was definitely the target demographic, as someone who'd been playing Mario games for years at that point. But I... didn't like it. I tried. I gave it an honest effort. I played it several different times at the game demo kiosk at Target, for somewhat lengthy sessions. But I thought that it looked ugly (still do), and that the controls weren't very intuitive. I guess I sorta shrugged and took comfort in my older Mario games. And when I played N64 at my friends' houses, we usually just did Mario Kart 64. I never bonded with Super Mario 64, and in a lot of ways I think it sorta put me off keeping up with new Mario games, and gaming in general, for a few decades. But I'm fully back, and definitely a lifelong Mario person, with both a Switch and a 3DS in my arsenal, and a few dozen games. Odyssey is a masterpiece, taking so much of what 64 tried to be and refining it into something beautiful and intuitive. I still don't like Mario 64. Maybe one day I'll get it!
I am totally with you! I remember at the time thinking the first 3D games just looked much worse than the cartoon/drawn style art in SNES games and Arcade cabinets. I did marvel at the tech, like pulling Mario's face and the sheer wonder of running around in a 3D world but they just didn't appeal to me the same way the cartoon/drawn style art in SNES games did. The next few years of advancement improved things drastically, I remember seeing an ad for Metal Gear Solid and being so excited for that game then being blown away by it and Amored Core. Both of those look quite dated now too but I was totally engrossed by them.
I had this same reaction to Donkey Kong 64. The SNES games were so moody and atmospheric, you felt like you were in the jungle or on top of a frozen mountain or in a lost lagoon or in a cavern. DK64 felt like a corny cartoon by comparison and the gameplay was nowhere near as engrossing.
I think the first “aesthetic” game for that gen was Ocarina of Time, the design work was excellent and the game played great
No, same for me! I didn't like it either. To this day I can't cope with 3d games on console. I have no problems with keyboard and mouse, but console just doesn't click for me somehow. We had a NES at home, my best mate had a SNES and his cousin (who lived three doors down the road from us) got an N64 with Mario 3d. We played it for a few hours and then went to my mate's house to play on the SNES instead.
It was technologically impressive. I remember my cousin bringing his N64 around and showing us the game like "you can run ANYWHERE, and at any speed!" Which back then was impressive. But I do agree. I ran around for 5 minutes impressed, then switched it off and went to Mario Kart.
Same. I played a shit ton of Super Mario 1, 3 (didn't really like 2) and World before. Then 64 came out and I was just like: WTF is this? Part of it was that it was one of the first 3d platformers, so some things were still wonky. But my main complaint was the artstyle. In the older games, Marios proportions were kinda like a normal dude. In 64, he looked like a toddler with a full diper and a moustache slapped on. And the running anymation and squeeky voice just amplified this.
I didn't like it when it came out and I don't like it now. It's never been my thing and that's okay. Not everything is for everybody. This was influenced by me having a Saturn first, though I did eventually get an N64. My favorite games of that era were the Capcom fighters and VF2, though I also very much enjoyed the AKI wrestling games, GoldenEye and especially Banjo Kazooie, which I thought was significantly better than Mario 64.
I much, much preferred Crash Bandicoot. Had the N64 for about a month before I sold it. Very disappointed in Mario 64. I was around 21.
What the fuck
Just letting them know they weren't alone in disliking Mario 64.
I wrote out a huge explanation to your question and then deleted the whole thing.. the answer is simply as real as, it was fucking awesome. Growing up gaming, you could’ve never envisioned a game like that. And then we just, had it… it completely revolutionized gaming
It was exceptional. That being said, the very first time I played it, I was in the hospital at age 10 recovering from a surgery. They rolled it in on a special combined TV tray console, and I was confused and didn't understand that you had to jump into the paintings. I gave up after 20 minutes.
I was at the hospital for a week, and they rolled out the SNES with this bullshit Thomas the Tank Engine game. The PS2 was already out at this time.
>I was in the hospital at age 10 recovering from a surgery. They rolled it in on a special combined TV tray console, and I was confused and didn't understand that you had to jump into the paintings. I gave up after 20 minutes. you sure you weren't just like...really high?
I remember getting Orcarina of time when I was 9 or 10 and I never went further than the very first area. My mind was blown when I went to my cousins place and learned it was an actual whole game lol
It was like looking at a Michelin Star on the Nintendo shelf. This set the standards and you knew you were in for a good time with this game.
I wish I could describe the feeling of having to learn an entirely new set of skills for understanding and responding to the N64 thumb stick and 3D space after nearly a decade of playing 2D platformers. Of course, I had also played DOOM, Rise of the Triad, and other 3D pc games pretty extensively. Yet movement for those games was still on the “compass rose” layout with WASD, and the mouse (if it was integrated) only controlling camera. With Super Mario 64, it was the first time that I experienced an 8 way control input (which they marketed as “3D control”) specifically used for navigating the various 3D environments. It seems to quaint now, but at the time there was nothing like it and, for me, there wouldn’t be until Sony dropped the Dual Shock in 97. Growing up with huge steps like that in the lexicon of game play has really made it hard to feel like there’s not as much thought put towards innovation in gameplay anymore—but that’s a post for a different time /slumps back into rocking chair and gazes out the window
There were a lot of equally good games to come out then. Pretty fukin awesome brov
My best friend told me that his other friend, who I'd never met, had one reserved at Babbage's but didn't have a ride to get it and I was the first one to get my license. So I went and met him and took him to get the game, and I ended up staying the night at his house despite having just met him, and we played the game all night. It was the best game of all time, up to that point. And that guy became one of my best friends and still is to this day. Just talked to him a little bit ago, actually.
I don’t know. For some reason I jumped ship to PlayStation for FFVII and I now regret it.
Pick up a switch and enjoy. It's in a triple game remake with sunshine and galaxy
I was in the same camp. I remember playing Tekken on PS and in King's arena you could see the fight in real time on the big screen TV. Absolutely fucking mind blowing!! I really got into console gaming until I got married. She wasn't into games until we played Wii Sports Tennis at a friend's house. We had a Wii before the end of the weekend. Now we've got kids and we have bought every Nintendo console since. The Switch is awesome. My absolute favorite is still Zack and Wiki on the Wii.
What about doom????
As a largely PC gamer not that interesting to be honest. We had quake, duke nukem 3d, tomb raider, diablo, descent 2. Super Mario 64 looked basic comparatively. Nights into dreams made me want to pick up a Saturn though.
The jump between 32 to 64 bit gaming systems felt more significant than any upgrade since. Golden eye felt like photo realistic graphics at the time. It's funny looking back at it now but at the time Nintendo 64/PlayStation was mind blowing
You may read a lot of words like "amazing!', "life-changing!", "shocking!", etc. But the truth was a lot more subtle. I was 13 when Mario 64 came out, and it was truly an amazing game, but it had little to do with the graphics. The graphics were impressive, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't "photo-real" like some people exaggerate. Even back then we knew it looked terrible, but we also knew it would get better. What the real amazing thing about Mario 64 was the gameplay, you couldn't put it down. You could play small chunks or long marathons. You could walk around(almost) anywhere, so part of the fun was exploring in a real 3D world. It was the first time I played a game and felt truly immersed. I would often play for hours without getting a single star and having a blast. THAT was what made Mario 64 so great. And it still is today.
> Even back then we knew it looked terrible, but we also knew it would get better I know these replies are all anecdotal, but personally I don’t remember “looked terrible” being the consensus. Even just the detail of the Metal Mario suit alone was unlike anything that came before. The leap in graphics was kind of surreal, especially back in the day. Everything about the game just seemed, from a design and visual standpoint, so sophisticated and expensive.
I had stopped playing video games after the 80’s. Was busy with school and work. Seeing Super Mario 64 on display at Fry’s got me back. I got the N64 a week after launch and I’ve been back into gaming ever since.
You could buy a rumble pack!
I was lower middle class so I just watched everyone else play it.
It was the best thing that ever happened to me and a fantastic memory that I cherish.
We didn't know there were more D's to even miss. It was literally the largest leap in video gaming in my lifetime thus far.
Orgasmic
I remember my mom being upset at my dad for bringing home that and a brand new N64 console. Had years of fun with that thing. Still have both over 25 years later.
I’d never seen anything like it. I remember walking over to the Blockbuster after school with my friends just to play the demo kiosk they had a set up the day of release. We were all just in awe.
The game, on the shelf, was in 3D.
Thr hype around the Nintendo 64 was huge. Inwas a kid working a summer job under the table at a greenhouse and used my money to buy an N64 and SM64. I remember my dad being disappointed that we didn't get a free game like when he got us the NES. Anyway it must have been August because it was hot and all the doors and windows were open in the house. I remember hearing summer sounds come through as my beothers and sister and I played SM64 into the night. Great times.
I absolutely loved it! I didn't get a Nintendo 64 until around 2 years later. Looking back I am realizing how much of a sacrifice my mom made for me to get that game. We were on welfare in Canada. I think the game itself at the time was around $40-50? I could be wrong. It was so cool! Moving all over inside the maps was crazy. I was obsessed with finding "secrets" in the game and there were quite a few. I was 11 at the time and I played that game until it was finished. I mostly played it initially because you didn't need a memory card (we didn't have money to buy one). I for some reason remember having a used copy of mortal combat but I couldnt save it 😂 because we didn't have a memory card. Sadly my mom eventually had to pawn it and wasn't able to get it back. Best game ever. I got it on my wii and then on my switch.
I was like 7 so while I had a lot of fun with it, I hadn't reached the age where I understood what a revolution it was. It was just a fun video game. I don't even remember having much problems adjusting to 3D from 2D. Maybe I did, but I don't remember having problems with it and it felt natural from the start.
It was then I learned that I have motion sickness. Forever changed my gaming trajectory... No CS, Halo, etc.
It was peak console war time, and I was team Mario all the way. I had read everything available about Ultra 64 / Nintendo 64 leading up to launch and was counting on it to trounce PlayStation (I didn't know anyone with a Saturn). So, I had a preorder at Toys R Us. Everyone expected it to be $250, but it turned out to be $200. IIRC I left the store with Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, and my dad and I overheard another kid getting told that there were none left unless you had a preorder. Adjusting to an analog stick after years on a D-pad was not easy. I spent a long time running around Peach's courtyard to get used to it. It was fun just to traverse the landscape. Having a 3D map meant the designers could hide secrets with camera angles for the first time. I remember getting stuck on the ghost house for a while before realizing (maybe hearing from a friend?) that there was a ledge up to a second level IIRC near the piano. This was in the days of the early Internet. I got lots of info, both good and bunk, from Prodigy message boards. I don't remember anything specifically about Mario 64, just lots of rumors about Chun-Li nude codes.
I remember leafing through a magazine in a newsagent, and seeing pre-release shots. THOSE blew my mind. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Then I saw it in action at a kiosk in a shop. I had to have it, even tho an N64 was $600, and the game was $100.
My parents had to get to Target at 4AM to get in line to get an N64 and Mario for Christmas. It was mind blowing. I remember playing with Mario's face forever before actually playing. Adjusting the camera was an entirely new concept to us.
I was 6 years old and got it for Christmas. It was mind boggling. I was huge Mario fan from the Super Nintendo days with Super Mario World. It was just such a massive jump. I thought this is as good as it will get. I remember my parents who played video games just be like “I’m out”. The 3d graphics and joystick was just too much for them. I also remember them just letting me hook it up. They just somehow couldn’t figure out how to switch from cox cable to the RCA cables. I just randomly pressed the TV Source button and it worked and they signed relief the system was broken.
I saved up money working for several months, and the N64 was the first big thing I bought. I really don't know why I didn't end up getting Super Mario 64, I think I went straight for Mario Kart which I became obsessed with and because games were about $17,000 (adjusted relative to an 11 year old's income) it was a while before I got another game. Then it was Goldeneye and then Perfect Dark, and then the wrestling games started and I never looked back. DK64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day were in there somewhere too. I've tried going back several times and maybe it's because it lacks nostalgia? But it's just not for me.
It felt like the future. There was nothing like it at the time.
Strangely, it never crossed my mind. I had a Gameboy and took that wherever I went, but I had grown up without tv so it just wasn’t a big deal. A few friends got them, but girls and dirt bikes was where it was at. If I remember correctly, we had just gotten a satellite dish and we’d look for porn that was scrambled but still somewhat visible.
Couldnt grasp my head around movement in a 3d world as I stood in the Toys R Us aisle playing a demo booth of the game. Pretty rad time
I remember my brother being gaga about it and me not having any clue how to play it properly so I hated it.
Super Mario 64 was a massive sea change in games at the time, there was absolutely nothing like it. I would say, at least from my perspective, it was the most consequential thing in video games since the launch of the NES and maybe the debut of Street Fighter II in arcades.
Glorious, actually... Mario in 3d spaces was utterly amazing...
Played it at my dads friends house and it was literally like being transported into another world. Modern vr is the closest I've come to that experience.
I stood in line outside a Toys 'R' Us to buy the N64 and accompanying said Mario game. Biggest thing I remember was being embarrassed that a friend of mine in line with me paid for his mostly in coins. Not all of which were rolled. Feel bad now years later, kids and finances don't usually go hand in hand, but at the time....
My hype for the Nintendo 64 (which was called Ultra 64 at the time) was unreal. I had never been so excited for a console before or since. I bought every gaming magazine I could find with information and read them cover to cover several times. I remember stopping at a Toys R Us that had demo units with Super Mario 64 (prior to the systems release) and it blew my mind! I was initially confused by the weird controller as it was really bizarre compared to the SNES and Genesis controller I was used to. But I loved the demo and the game was amazing! I got my Nintendo 64 from my parents that same Christmas, shortly after launch. And Super Mario 64, of course.
Not as good as going from NES to SNES in my opinion. Mario 3 to Mario World was a huge jump in every way. Graphics, sound, music, everything. By the time I actually played a N64, PC games with 3D graphics were already looking pretty good at that point and that's what I was primarily playing, what the N64 offered wasn't really mind blowing to me. I also didn't like the N64 controller, if I could use the D-pad and not that little joystick that would have helped.
Absolutely epic. My dad had to get a kmart raincheck for it snd it was like 80 bucks back then!
Thats when I lost interest in games. I thought it looked like ass.
It was mind blowing and decently difficult! Still a great game! I fired it up last year with my kids and we had a blast!
Dude I freaked when I got my n64 in middle school, playing Mario in 3D was absolutely insane, I thought "how could graphics get any better?!?!?" Hahah
I still remember the first time getting to control Mario in full 3d. There are literally no words to describe it. All other games were small improvements, Mario64 in a literally added an entire dimension
The first time playing it, I got this really weird sense of vertigo. It made me feel a little nauseous. After a couple of short play sessions, and breaks it passed. After that it became a challenge to see where I could get to, how I could get there... It changed the game
Dunno, I was busy playing Crash Bandicoot
Well I was twelve and my brother got it immediately, I probably pissed myself, although my favorite was quest 64 , I know the masses will hate me but I loved it.
At the time I only had a PlayStation and my friend had the N64 so I really only watched him play. I don't remember being blown away
First time playing n64 was unreal. Seeing games in 3D was mind blowing at the time. Was hard to put the controller down once I started playing. Goldeneye and Zelda were masterpieces on n64. Mario was fun but I thought it was hard with the camera angles and movements. I didn’t enjoy it alot until I was older.
First time I saw it was at a Kiosk in WalMart. It was nothing short of incredible to see a 3D Mario that could run about in all dimensions. It’s literally a core memory of mine and I can recall vivid details.
My mom got it at a Payless Drug store-which turned into a Rite Aid-for Xmas gift. Small town so no hype…
It's impossible to overstate the hype, Mario was the biggest franchise in gaming at the time, and here was this game game everyone and their dog had played but in 3D for the first time! I remember seeing pictures of it and thinking to myself "how would you know where you were supposed to go?", because traditionally you would just run to the right of screen...
I worked at a Game store in the mall, the same Christmas N64 came out. It was hell.
I was working at 3DO, where half my team spent about two weeks crowded around each other's cubes playing Nintendo instead of developing our own titles Freeko, I'm looking at you... >8\^)
Games back then hit different. The market wasn't nearly as saturated so when an in-house studio released a game it was almost like a... Like that feeling kids get at Christmas time. Mario 64 wasn't just the first 3D Mario game. It was our first foray into analog sticks, it was Nintendos new 64 bit console, and we were just starting to envision what 3D games looked like. It was goddamn magical.
My *first impression* was not good. I was 8 going on 9 years old when it was released here in north america. Where as the 2D marios threw you right into the action right away with enemies, blocks, and powerups; it seemed like it was all substance in the beginning. Playing the intro part at a wal-mart display, it didn't seem all that exciting being thrown into this open setting with no enemies or powerups. It was like, "Mario in 3D, cool. This is it?" Then I walked away and picked up a gaming mag. Anyway, I eventually played it all the way through some years later on my brother's N64 and loved it.
I joined the Club Nintendo in the NES/SNES era and some of us got invited to a preview of the n64 launching titles, including a demo of Mario 64. It blew our minds! It was better than we were expecting. We knew about it from the magazines but seeing it in real life OMG.
I liked the look of it, abd I liked playing it, but didn't have an N64. I was a Sega fanboy, and NiGHTS was more my cup of tea - the flying wasn't free-roaming 3D, but it looked way more colourful and was fast as hell.
You have to realize how huge Mario and the Super Nintendo was in those days. Everyone played Mario. Everyone had a Nintendo, or Super Nintendo. I myself spent thousands of hours playing. When Mario 3D on N64 came out, it was all anyone could talk about. The hype was greater than the Halo 2 hype. The leap from 2D, to 3D was truly mind blowing, and there hasn’t been a leap forward in gaming graphics since that felt as amazing. From a horse carriage to Ferrari. Sure games like Doom were also amazing, but 3D Mario made you feel like the world was around you, instead of in front of you. We all hoped VR gaming would bring that sense of wonder, but it’s just chasing the dragon. I like to imagine it’s probably similar to when TV made the leap from black and white to color, or Radio from mono to stereo, but I wasn’t around to experience that.
I was not even ten yet, so i don't remember specifics but i do remember so much more hype and marketing for video games in stores. Being able to preview games on the demo, craning your neck way up to see it, finding favorite characters on the posters and endcaps, the Sears Pokémart... it was a good time to be a kid
My cousin had an N64 and Mario 64 and I did not. I was SO JEALOUS. I begged for one but I had a Gameboy and was told to be content with that. When we visited my cousin it was all I wanted to play. We'd even spend ages just stretching Mario's face on the title screen. The first console we got in the house was a PS2 so I never had my own copy. I still fire up my N64 emulator now and again and play some Mario. I still think it's gotta be one of the best games.
Fucking expensive
I officially feel old.
I distinctly remember playing it on a store kiosk, not knowing what it was and being mesmerized. There was a queue for the kiosk too. I even went back there in high school breaks just to play. Bought a N64 not long after that.
My friend and I were playing the hell out of Kirby Superstar on SNES. We went up to Toys R Us on the weekend and they had the Mario 64 demo and we gave it a shot. Kirby lost a lot of its luster after that. (I still bought a Playstation not an N64 because I was into JRPGs)
I saved up my paper route money for months and managed to get an N64 on launch day, by far the biggest purchase of my life at the time hah. I had already seen images of it and knew what to expect, but it was still mind blowing. The controls (and controller!) took some getting used to but it was awesome in the end.
I remember playing it in my friend's basement. It felt unreal, like entering another world. Even though it wouldn't be considered open world today, it felt so big and coherent!
Groundbreaking doesn't even begin to describe it. The hype was beyond palpable, and it fucking delivered! Great time to be alive
Dad here. My boy was eleven. We had rented a system for a weekend and minds were blown. Christmas was coming and I was determined to find one. There were ads in the newspaper for people scalping them, and I wouldn't buy that. I either had to use a landline for an hour asking stores if they even had one, or just get in the car and drive around and hunt. After several hours, I found a Target store manager who had squirrelled away five systems because people were snatching them up, and he sensed they were just poaching them for resale. My boy was one of only two kids who got one for Christmas. We played with that thing for HOURS.
It's funny in hindsight , our house got broken in to and my sega genesis and games stolen , (much more than that , but thats whats relevant here) since sega wasn't being produced anymore the insurance company, said we could choose an n64 or playstation, my family chose the n64 so in one fell swoop i got Mario 64, Mario Kart, Cruisin usa, Starfox and a few others . it was june, by the time we got it, the robbery being over the may 2-4 weekend . and let me tell you that last few weeks of school, was torture... but it was the best summer ever lol.
Gaming back then was simply better on all accounts. Magazines were written by people who enjoyed playing video games and were concerned about their reputation amongst gamers. Games were made by passionate people. The toxicity you see today largely didn't exist. Games were more complex and had some amazing stories and depth to them. Now you have journalism filled with failures from other fields who happily will lie to you about the quality of a game and run whatever hit piece the industry wants written. Companies are ran by managarial class hires who treat developers abysmally and do not have a clue what they're doing. They have a questionable grasp on the basics of business and economics. AAA games are dumbed down copy pasted trite. Some of the developers will get upset if trends change or dice gods forbid they have to deliver a complex engaging experience. Console warring is absolutely moronic. What was akin to a sports team rivalry, is now a cult like last man competition of who can ignore how mediocre or bad their company is the hardest. Graphics have improved and optimatation has declined. We went from an industry that of passionate developers who wanted to innovate and one up each other, to one where a huge chunk of developers hate the people who they make products for and the feeling is mutual from that community. If you can look past graphics, the age of Mario 64 was grand.
Ah that game came out the year I was born. It was one of the first games I ever played when I was like 3. Along with Super Smash Brothers.
I was a little older (early 20's) at the time, and I thought the game looked interesting, but the idea of a 3D Mario world wasn't very appealing to me at all. I still don't believe I have ever played it for more than a few seconds. I remember the hype for the original gold Zelda cartridge though. I was excited for that and I loved the weird TV commercials.
Fridays was when I had a garage packed full of Atleast 12 of us neighborhood kids jamming Mario 64. My friend would put his system and a small tv in a wagon and wheel it on over to my garage and we’d have two systems set up. Pizza Hut or dominoes already knew what house to show up to on a Friday night
I started to believe in magic I suppose
I still have my console and my copy but when it came out, I remember playing the demo in Walmart and having to tilt your head back to look at the analog tv above you while playing a demo. For some reason, watching those graphics for the first time gave me a headache. Kind of like this but for N64. https://www.reddit.com/r/Gamecube/s/4obRMluiL7
I got it on my 13th birthday and played it so much I didn’t hear about princess Diana dying until I turned it off 2 days later. She died on my birthday. I don’t think I even slept
Too poor to even participate
They had kiosks in some stores here before the game came out where you could try the game out. I had my dad drop me off while he went grocery shopping and I just stood there and played for hours.
Came with my N64… we spent a long time on just the main screen just distorting the face- it was the most degrees of freedom we had since Mario paint. Let me give you an alternate mind blow… playing aces over the pacific with fuel turned off…. It just…. Kept going……for hours. Inconceivable at the time, like the promises of no man’s sky
Honestly confusing. It was hard to tell when you were in a level or not. I constantly felt lost
I couldn't get across the bridge in Bob-omb Battlefield for a while lol. After playing in 2D my whole life, 3D was a HUGE adjustment. The possibilities were endless. Finally made it across that bridge. Felt like I played that game for 200 hours, but I did eventually get everything.
Mario 64 was great and all but my attention was fixed on Rogue Squadron. For the first time you could freely pilot a Star Wars ship and even wrap up AtAts with you snow speeder tow line in a 3d space
Paperboy 64 was pretty mind boggling as someone who grew up playing paper boy. Zelda - Ocarina of Time (the best game ever created) came out before Christmas in I think 98 or 99. That game was a total game changer for open world play in 3D games. Superman 64 also deserves a nod.
I joined the Army Reserves just so I could buy an N64 and Mario64.
I was too poor to afford a N64 so I mostly just heard the usual rumors about cheats or glitches.
Best Buy made this giant composite screen of like 10-15 box TVs suspended from the ceiling all linked together and connected to the N64 where you could demo the game, essentially making a jumbotron in the middle of the store, so no matter where you were, you could see the gameplay footage of whoever was trying out the game. That was peak Best But for me, and no video game display has ever come close to being as cool
Still hard on the Mario kart tour if anybody wants some!
I saw it in a store in Dublin, there was a huge setup and everybody was gathering around the display. I wasn't a fan but still impressed.
I went to Best Buy around launch time and they had Mario 64 running on a TV up front. It was mind blowing to 16 year old me. I remember thinking “they can do anything with graphics now”. I legit felt like any situation a game dev could think of could now be done. https://i.pinimg.com/736x/03/ee/37/03ee3734966c73daeb0f7351b3b4cf6a.jpg We were a bit optimistic haha
I was 5 and all I knew of was Donkey Kong Country and Tetris. It is probably one of the coolest things a kid could go through at that age - seeing graphics and gameplay take such a monumental leap like that was crazy cool.
My friend's older brother showed up with it out of nowhere. I knew about the Ultra 64 but somehow completely missed all the N64 and Mario hype. I honestly wasn't very impressed. I've never had the discipline for platformers. I remember his brother bursting into the room while were playing some 2-D fighter on the genesis or mk2 on SNES. The N64 didn't really catch my attention until games like South Park 64 and GoldenEye.
I didn’t like it. I had previously wanted to get an N64, I stopped wanting one and never got one. I didn’t play video games again for over 20 years.
It was pretty sweet! My friend got the system from his parents, so I was naturally over at his house constantly.
I remember finally getting the N64 w/ Super Mario 64 for my bday a little after it released. My aunts and uncles all still lived with my grandparents at the time and all grew up with Atari so we were all stoked to plug it up and see it in action, my mother then discovered 3d games give her motion sickness lol fun times. I just remember the whole family gathered around and marveling at the 3d lol
Back when Mario was a GAMING ICON and not just a mascot to sell games and systems.
It came out and changed what I envisioned a platformer could be. The music was epic, the challenges interesting, the levels amazing. It and Ocarina were game changers.
I lost good friends to that game, not hearing from them for months until they beat it.
Some of these replies are interesting - not that they’re not true, it’s just that I don’t remember that. Personally, I just remember that it was really difficult to get an N64 system upon or near release. And as this was basically pre-internet, you had to resort to calling stores to learn about their stock situation. So one day I called a bunch of stores and found a store that had one in stock. It was an hour away. They agreed to hold it for me for that hour, so I drove up there and got it. I’m fairly certain I got Super Mario 64 at the same time because that was the first game I/we played on it. To me at the time, it was revolutionary. It was so unlike any other game we’d ever seen or played - even in an arcade. It wasn’t like the first time I saw/played football on a Dreamcast however. That seemed eerily realistic. It was cartoonish - as you’d expect it to be - but also completely immersive. Once word spread throughout the building that I had an N64 with SM64 in our apartment, I won’t say my popularity soared or anything, but I’d venture to say 50% of the people (college students) came by at least once to see it.
Bliss because the games were not expensive at all
I remember playing the demo at WalMart and being blown away. Then was fortunate enough to get the Nintendo 64 and game for Christmas that year. It was magical.
My aunt loves telling this story: Her and my mom went out to try and get my cousin and I N64s for Christmas. She explains that the consoles were actually kinda easy to find, it was the games that were in short supply. Well, my aunt was able to snag a Pilotwings game for my cousin but my mom hadn’t had any luck getting me a game yet. The last store they went to, my mom sees the game I wanted the most, Mario64. She picks up the last copy, and some other woman tries to grab it out of her hand and my mom straight up decked the lady, “This is for my baby.” It’s always fun hearing my aunt tell the story because she’s such an animated storyteller. My mom’s been gone now for almost 8 years but every time I hear this story, I get a huge smile on my face. As for the game, it was absolutely incredible. I remember thinking that there’s no way games can get better than that. I will say, the giant eel gave me NIGHTMARES.
Bro, my local Best Buy had a N64 with Mario set up in the middle of the store. That game was hooked up to like 16 different screens above it which made up one giant 4x4 screen up top. That was visible throughout the entire store and it was the first thing you saw when you walked in. It was amazing.
I remember jumping into the water and just being amazed at the level of freedom and graphics. To me it couldn't get any better.
the N64 was our first console. Watching my sister play Mario 64 was such a blast, I looked forward to it after school every day. We weren't well versed in 2D Mario, but of course when we got a gameboy too we had to check it out.
It was like a whole new dimension opened
God I'm old
I was in game dev at that time and I had been ranting about why console systems needed analog joysticks for so long. Having people play Mario 64 finally got my point across that analog joysticks were not just something for flight/space sim/games.
It was one of two gaming experiences that truly blew my mind (the other being Half-Life). There were hardly any 3D platformers that got much exposure before it, and here was this sprawling, immersive 3D world that was EVERYWHERE (like every major department and media store would have an N64 hooked up to a TV with Super Mario 64 on it). It literally felt like the future of video games, and I'll never forget it.
Golden Eye and Star Fox were actually the real big games that i really remember. I felt Mario 64 was kind eh. Worst game for the 64 was by far Superman. Edit: I forgot to mention Ocarina of Time which makes me feel insanely foolish.
In my neck of the woods, just about everyone hated it completely, and saying that it was a disgrace to the mario we loved. Never liked it myself either.
I got an n64 for Xmas when it came out with sm64. I booted it up that morning and not only me, but the rest of my family was amazed. I never thought video games could become better.
It's my favorite game of all time. My friend got a 64 the first Christmas of release and we played that game and GoldenEye nonstop for a while. My family didn't have money for those kinds of presents so over a year later when the prices dropped I saved up and bought an N64 of my own and that game. I spent forever trying to get 120 stars but eventually got it and unlocked that outdoor cannon. What a great teaser since it was there all along.
My seven year old mind could not comprehend it fully. I remember my mother telling me that the neighbours kid, who I used to play with, had a new Mario and that it was “in 3D”. I did not understand what she meant by this. I tried to picture it in my head and couldn’t. I imagined a 2d Mario but with the question blocks drawn as cubes instead of squares. I didn’t even know there was a new console out, I was just a kid with no internet. So I call the neighbours house on the landline and ask their mom if I could go over to play. I ride my bike there and ring the doorbell, and he opens the door and shows me to the tv room where a brand new n64 was sitting on top of the crt. I remember looking at the black curved outlines and thinking it looked so strange. The controller even more so. Like a spaceship. To say my mind was blown when he put on the game would be a massive understatement. Never could my mind have imagined something like that. We were so clueless that in the beginning we were pinching the analog stick and moving our arm to move mario around. I will never forget it.
I went to the local department store every day after school to play it at the demo station. Memories for life
It wasn’t on shelves, it along with everything N64 related were not available.
It looked soo real to 7 yo me. Like actual class figures.
I remember my dad telling me the night before that we were going to go and rent an N64 from the video rental place tomorrow cuz mom and my brother were out of town for the weekend. I did not sleep a fucking wink that night. I rented like the only two games available. Mario 64 and pilot wings. I played so much that my hands hurt. Like when a junkie blows out his veins from too much heroin and wants more but physically cannot.
I might be one of the only people actually disappointed at first. I was like 8 and we got it for Christmas. All during the lead up my brother is going on and on about how it is 3D. In my 8 year old brain, I literally thought it meant it would be popping out of the screen. I was actually let down when I first played it lol. But obviously it’s one of the best games ever and definitely took over our lives.
It blew my little mind. I had never liked (or been good at) video games before that and *Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time*
In. Fucking. Credible.
Totally wild, like everyone huddled around the display at the electronics store. Kids were glued to the screen, taking turns to jump into paintings. It felt like stepping into another dimension. The hype was real, parents trying to understand why their kids were freaking over a plumber in a 3D world. Gamers knew it was a big deal – nothing like it before. The buzz lasted for months.
I got an N64 on my 10th birthday with Super Mario 64 and Star Fox 64 as gifts. We had a huge party with about 10 of my friends at my house and turned it on. Every kid wanted a turn and even the adults were amazed at the graphics at the time. It was pretty mind-blowing and one of the most memorable gifts I've ever received. I played that game every day for months. It was just the coolest thing ever.
I loved the water levels because I really suck at platforming games. My parents bought it because it was advertised every place
Best Buy had a giant 3x3 television set up above the kiosk. Seemed like everyone in the store was watching. It was incredible.
Incredible. Getting the 3D movement in a digital space made me feel like I was playing on something from the year 3000.