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Podcast Discussion / Re: RetroActive 48: Super Mario 64
« on: October 22, 2020, 02:36:53 AM »
Nostalgia goggles will forever weigh heavily on my feelings for Super Mario 64. I have fond memories of every trip to Toys R Us and Target in the fall of 1996, running to the video game section, grabbing the N64 controller and awkwardly placing my left thumb over the left grip and onto the control stick and literally losing all sense of time and place as I was captivated by the magical game world of Super Mario 64. Revisiting it 24 years later, I still love, love this game but it's not without it's faults.
What I love:
- the castle hub world. I let my kids play Super Mario 64 and they easily spent just as much time fiddling around in the castle gardens and they did in the actual worlds -- which mirrors my experience playing the game when I was a kid. A few things that stand out include the way that they modify the hallway size and painting size for the tiny and HUGE paintings for Tiny-Huge Island, the mirror "puzzle" to enter Snowman's Land -- and the way you get a view of Lakitu as your cameraman, the impacts on Tick-Tock Clock depending what time you jump into the level, the endless stairs before the last Bowser fight if you don't have enough stars, and getting Yoshi on the roof of the castle when you get all 120 stars.
- Tick-Tock Clock - platforming bliss
What frustrated me:
- some of the controls were not quite as tight as the later 3D Mario games. In particular, the side flip seems slightly less responsive. You need to actually be moving one direction, flick the stick in the other direction and have Mario move slightly in that other direction before jumping to execute the side flip. In later Mario games, you could side flip by jumping almost immediately after flicking the the stick in the other direction
- a handful of the star hints are very obscure, such as the "Blast Away the Wall" star at Thwomp's Fortress. Like how would anyone ever even figure this out, except by accident or by using a guide?
- Rainbow Ride - what a terrible final level. The magic carpet ride was so boring that I gave up after a few failed attempts and focused on just getting the stars that you can long-jump towards from the starting point
Looking forward to the RetroActive discussion!
What I love:
- the castle hub world. I let my kids play Super Mario 64 and they easily spent just as much time fiddling around in the castle gardens and they did in the actual worlds -- which mirrors my experience playing the game when I was a kid. A few things that stand out include the way that they modify the hallway size and painting size for the tiny and HUGE paintings for Tiny-Huge Island, the mirror "puzzle" to enter Snowman's Land -- and the way you get a view of Lakitu as your cameraman, the impacts on Tick-Tock Clock depending what time you jump into the level, the endless stairs before the last Bowser fight if you don't have enough stars, and getting Yoshi on the roof of the castle when you get all 120 stars.
- Tick-Tock Clock - platforming bliss
What frustrated me:
- some of the controls were not quite as tight as the later 3D Mario games. In particular, the side flip seems slightly less responsive. You need to actually be moving one direction, flick the stick in the other direction and have Mario move slightly in that other direction before jumping to execute the side flip. In later Mario games, you could side flip by jumping almost immediately after flicking the the stick in the other direction
- a handful of the star hints are very obscure, such as the "Blast Away the Wall" star at Thwomp's Fortress. Like how would anyone ever even figure this out, except by accident or by using a guide?
- Rainbow Ride - what a terrible final level. The magic carpet ride was so boring that I gave up after a few failed attempts and focused on just getting the stars that you can long-jump towards from the starting point
Looking forward to the RetroActive discussion!
