Welcome to day four of our week-long Nintendo 64 birthday bash.

Today, Octorok takes a look at Super Mario 64, the game that introduced gaming to the third dimension. After that, I write about Paper Mario, one of the best RPGs of that generation.

Read on for more. After you’re done, share your opinions with us!

Previous Articles in this Feature

By: Octorok

I first played Super Mario 64 at E3 in 1996. I remember taking that odd controller into my hands and fumbling around with Mario in his strange new 3D world. Truly, I felt something… The distinct and assured sense that Mario64 was something great, something special… If only I could play it just a bit longer!

10 years later, Mario64 is the stuff of legends. This game single-handedly created the standard by which all platform games are measured, even to this day! It is fitting that this game, born so long ago, is STILL the greatest platform game ever created, offering a depth of gameplay that is fun, challenging, at times infuriating, but never losing that essential quality that makes the game so approachable and addictive. Super Mario 64 is gameplay at it’s finest.

Back in the day, my friend Gregor Fran and I would play this game so frequently that we began setting up 2 TVs, 2 N64s, and we would play side-by-side for hours and hours on end. We would do speed-runs through the entire game, taking turns or otherwise. I honestly believe that we played Mario64 all the way through with 120 stars probably around 75 times, maybe more. The amount of gymnastic precision we acquired playing this game for so many hours over so many months was astounding, if not for the skills themselves, then for the ridiculous amount of time it obviously took to master them.

Having become so good at controlling Mario far beyond the point of “broken”, Gregor and I would challenge each other to races, side by side with 2 TVs. We would pick a start point, such as inside the cannon outside the castle. Next, we would choose a course for the race, such as: Blast off and enter the front door of the castle, race to the top of the unending staircase, then back down to the cannon. Finally we would choose an end point, usually involving hitting the red block on top of the castle. 3…2…1… GO!

Less often then you’d think would these races end with a clear winner. Many times, Gregor and I ran neck and neck from start to finish, each super-jump matching each super-jump, each sound-effect happening almost in unison, all the way till the very end where the victor was made clear only by the near-simultaneous sound of the red blocks breaking. On a very few occasions the race would end with the final sound-effects happening at exactly the same instant - a tie!!… Yes, Gregor and I spent an entire summer racing around in Mario64, we even made a movie about it, which I hope to locate one day soon…

Mario64 has yet to be surpassed in it’s platforming greatness, not even close, not even by it’s namesakes. I was so upset to have seen that Mario’s awesome ’super-jump’ was removed in Super Mario Sunshine, but I am happy to say that it has returned in Mario Galaxy. Yes, the future for Mario is bright, but Mario’s 64bit past still shines just as brightly today as it did back when 64bit was next-gen. Even in 2006, the 10 year old graphics don’t detract from the unbelievably solid gameplay and limitless charm of the game, begging the question, “Why is Super Mario 64 so damn great?” The answer is not simple. In fact, no other developer or designer has figured it out… yet.

By: Greg

Although the RPG genre is huge, only a few companies really stand out as masters of the form. The are companies like Square-Enix, Namco, or Bioware. You generally don’t think of Nintendo. Naturally, they were met with some skepticism when they announced Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64. Could it top Square’s own Super Mario RPG? It not only topped it, it became one of the best RPGs of that generation for any system.

For a Mario game, Paper Mario has a surprisingly deep storyline. Bowser steals the power of the seven Star Spirits and takes a rod that allows his wishes to come true. Just as Mario and Peach sneak off to have a private conversation, the castle itself is lifted from the ground. Bowser steps in to kidnap Peach and Mario, as usual, tries to stop the evil Koopa. However, out favorite plumber is easily defeated and cast out of the floating castle. From there, Mario has to recover the power of the Star Spirits and save the kingdom. In itself, the plot isn’t all that complicated. What makes it special is in the details. Paper Mario did more than any previous Mario game to truly establish the Mushroom King as a legitimate location with real characters. Not only is an overworld established, but you get to meet many of the inhabitants of the kingdom. All of the people to join your party are fairly interesting and they all have their own backstories that add to the overall plot.

Not content to pump out a generic RPG with Mario characters, Intelligent Systems decided to meld the the RPG formula with Mario’s familiar action-platformer elements. The experiment worked. Paper Mario felt fresh and exciting at a time when the standard turn-based formula was getting a little stale. You level up and build your stats by gaining XP in battle. You have HP and a MP system (called FP or “Flower Points”). You upgrade your abilities by equipping items (Badges). All of the RPG elements are there, but adapted to better fit with the Mario theme. The most unique element lies in the battle system. After picking an attack, you have to time it just right to inflict additional damage. A similar system was used in Super Mario RPG, but Nintendo added a few new quirks. Certain special attacks require that the player press buttons in a certain order and at a certain time. Since party members don’t get attacked as often as Mario, they take on more of a support role than in similar RPGs. You can switch party members during combat if you want to try another strategy.

The graphic style used in Paper Mario made it one of the best looking games of the time. The game took place in a 3D environment, but all of the characters were drawn as 2D “paper” representations of themselves. Hence, the title “Paper Mario.” The game looks pretty dated now, but it did set a precedent for its beautiful sequels – The Thousand Year Door and Super Paper Mario.

Since I was a late adopter of the Playstation (when you’re young, you kind of get stuck with whatever one system you have), I was left a bit starved for RPGs. I would snatch up every RPG to appear on the N64. As you can probably guess, I was disappointed with just about all of the offerings. By the time that Paper Mario came out, I had managed to get a Playstation and had just about given up on ever seeing a good RPG on the N64. You can imagine what a surprise that Paper Mario was. I was hooked. I did nothing but play that game and go to school until it was over. It combined two of my favorite things into one really good game.

While Paper Mario may not have set any sales records or changed any genres, it was one of the best offerings for the Nintendo 64. The gameplay was tight, the graphics were amazing. It was a truly compelling experience that Nintendo actually managed to surpass in the various sequels and spin-offs to follow.

Then – 5/5
An almost-perfect game. One of the best RPGs of that generation.
Now – 4/5
Still a great game, but the sequel and spin-off (Mario & Luigi series) are better.

Just two days left. What do you guys think about the feature? What do you think about these games? Let us know in the comments.