Nostalgia's got to do with it, but still: this is my all-time favourite game. 'Nuff said.
In Super Mario 64 you are once again Mario, and your goal is to save the princess Peach who has been abducted by Bowser. A good story is once again absent, and this time you don't have to travel through all kinds of worlds because you start your adventure in front of the main castle; or that's what you think, because within the castle walls, there's more to explore than you can imagine. To get access to Bowser and the princess, you are going to have to jump into paintings, and do your thing like you did in every previous instalment of the series. Mario now has vast 3D realms to explore, with a decent amount of secrets, and even some secret levels (remember the magic wall and the ghost level in the courtyard?). Level designs are marvellous, and fun to explore with the varied arsenal of jumps Mario has been blessed with for this game. To make it to the very end, you'll have to master the long jump, somersault, triple jump, not to mention times you have to climb or slide down some mountain. To complete the game you'll have to earn at least 70 stars, which can be collected by completing missions and a large array of minigames, but the game isn't even that linear since there are 120 stars in total, so you can choose which stars to hunt and which you deem too hard (or: too easy). Also Nintendo didn't forget about including some nice power-ups, this time around you'll be able to soar around the skies, walk through walls or explore the bottom of the oceans. After you've beaten Bowser three times you're guaranteed to have had lots of fun, but you're not even done because there are still 50 more stars out there. Once you have them all you can meet Yoshi at the top of the castle, which isn't much of a bonus, but who cares: getting those 120 stars was fun enough.
Now what makes this game better than most platformers that are being released even now, is firstly the controls. It's as though the N64 controller was designed solely to fit this game and it is a pure joy to jump around in Super Mario 64. The camera worked pretty smooth for a game of its age too. Looking back at the graphic you won't be impressed: sometimes half of Mario's face would have fused with a nearby wall, however overall I simply cannot comprehend this game was released back in 1996. Games with better music have been made, but not countless times. The tunes of Super Mario 64 definitely improve on the previous Mario games and make the game as complete as it is. The lack of depth in this game can’t spoil the fun at all: the previous Mario games didn’t have a decent story and character development either, did they? It’s not an RPG, mind you. The power of this franchise is the fact it doesn’t need depth and epic moments. What’s more: once you start playing this game, you don’t want a good story anymore.
The simple 2D action in the first Super Mario’s has been brilliantly translated, and apart from having a great basis, the game is very complete and satisfying in every way. I wouldn’t know how to make a better 3D Mario game.
I think I forgot to use arguments that actually make sense in this review, however the thing I just wanna make clear is: if you haven’t been playing this game, you fail as a gamer. Go play it now, forget about Ocarina of Time and FF7, this is the best game of the 64-bit era.