Now when people say the N64 was a failure, I tell them that they are wrong. While it's obvious that Sony came ahead in the Playstation vs. N64 competition. However Nintendo still made plenty of money off the N64, and they still had a lot of hit games for the N64. One of them is this game which debuted at launch. I of course bought it when I bought my N64 5 years ago.

Story.
Mario has been invited for cake at the princess castle. Of course he rushes right over. Only to find that a party crasher has invaded the castle, and trapped the princess in the walls of her own castle. Of course Mario knows it's Bowser from the second he steps into the now deserted castle, and to get her back he'll have to find the power stars that Bowser has stolen. To do this he'll have to enter the different worlds connected to the castle in order to find them.

Graphics.
Of course seeing how this game is 5 years old, it isn’t going to be any competition to any of the new games coming out for the new console. However for the time it's been one of the first 3d Mario games and the graphics where great. However now days they have lost a little bit of there charm, but there still a lot of fun to look at. While Mario has many sharp edges, has a polygon for a nose, and no fingers. However, he still looks like Mario.

There is of course the camera system that's in the game, everybody seen worse then this, and everybody seen better. While you have complete control of the camera in most situations. There are still a lot of next to a near impossible jump, made harder because the stupid camera won't get in the right angel. Nintendo also made it so you can get right close into Mario by pressing the R button, however it moves a little to close. The only thing you see is the back of Mario only use in extreme emergency.

Sound.
This game has some good music. The water worlds have impressive music, the usual over world music is happy go lucky Mario music. And of course Bowser levels sound bad to the core.

However Mario 64 gave us something more then a 3d Mario, it also gave us a Mario with a bad Italian accent. No more boing, boing, boing. It's now whoo, yeah, yippee. While Mario does give you a laugh every once in a while, especially when he rubs his head and yells Mama-mia when ever he dies. He does get annoying after a while, while it won't make you mute it, you will want to throw the controller at the screen the 100 time you hear him say mama-mia.

Gameplay.
This game introduce us to the analog controls on the N64. To make Mario walk tap the controller a little bit, to make him run push it all the way back. The game is made for the controller, and it makes you fell confrotable with the N64 controller. Now along with the analog controller you also move the camera angels with the C and R button, and made Mario duck with the Z button. There where all sorts of moves that Mario could to, however I'll leave them has a surprise for those who haven't played it.

Now you start off in the front yard of the castle. This is the training area, and is the first area to explore, you can goof around has much has you like, till you feel like entering the castle. The castle is where the levels are, and now its not has big has Kong Island, or Gruntilda's layer. It's still big enough to offer an hour or two of heavy-duty exploring before you see it all. Now the levels are found in, paintings, portals, and hidden walls.

In each level there are 6 stars, plus a star for collecting over 100 coins in each level. The levels are pretty big and give you a lot of exploring. However you will find yourself having a trap in a box felling sometimes, especially while flying, while Nintendo painted most background to go into the horizon, the actual levels don't go that far. You'll find yourself bumping into a wall a few times if your not paying attention.

To find the stars you have to find the clues that you get in the start of the level. This includes killing bosses, collecting 100 coins, going thorough rings, and many other things. While most stars aren't that challenging to get, you should expect to take no more then 15 minutes each per star, for most of them anyway’s. So getting the 70 stars you need to rescue the Princess will be accomplished in one or two days. However, if you want to go all out and get all the stars, and unlock the way to the roof of the castle, will require you getting all 120 stars. This can be very frustrating even to season Mario vets, getting all the stars comes close to getting the 9th world in the lost levels of Super Mario All Stars. But it is doable and it's nothing like trying to collect all of DK64 200 golden bananas.

Final recommendation.
The best Mario game for the N64 is definitely one you shouldn’t have skipped over if you own a N64. While it doesn’t last has long has Banjo Kazzoie, or DK. It also doesn’t have has many frustrations and will keep you coming back for more fun in the princess castle.


Recommended: Yes