When you boot up Mario 64, you’re greeted with a cheerful “hello” from the moustachioed plumber himself, grinning at you against a dark blue background. However, to properly tell the story of how Super Mario 64 changed everything, you have to start at the beginning. And it kinda kicked the butt of everything on the N64 after it.”ĭirected by the legendary designer and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, the impact of Super Mario 64 continues to be felt in many games created over two decades later. “The industry hadn't really figured out 3D platforming yet, and here it was, a masterwork that set the standard.
It defined the 3D platformer as a genre,” says veteran designer, Co-Founder of id Software and Senior Creative Director for VR developers Resolution Games Tom Hall. “Apart from camera criticism, everyone thought it was amazing.
Add in a camera-relative control scheme which was unparalleled at the time, an iconic soundtrack by series veteran Koji Kondo and open-ended, exploration-focused level design, and game developers were stunned. Mario himself was a smoothly-animated marvel, steered around with the analogue stick in the middle of the unusual N64 controller. Critics and players alike were astonished by the platformer, which took the world-famous plumber out of the second dimension and popped him into a vibrant, colourful 3D world. On June 23rd 1996, twenty-five years ago, Super Mario 64 was released in Japan as a launch title for Nintendo’s N64 console. “It was like an epiphany, that’s what I would say: Mario 64 was an epiphany.” To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Tim Schafer, renowned developer and President and CEO of Double Fine Productions, takes a second to think: how exactly did Super Mario 64 impact him when he first played it? “What’s the right word? It was like a milestone, or a watershed - what am I looking for here…” Super Mario 64 sold nearly 12 million copies, making it the most successful Nintendo 64 game of all time.Twenty-five years on, we catch up with the developers inspired by Miyamoto's revolutionary platformer. The game changed the way developers made 3D games, as well as the way Mario games were designed. It was unique for changing the face of gaming and revitalizing the Mario series in ways that many would never have imagined. Similar to other Mario games, Mario 64 presented the protagonist with the challenge of saving the princess from Bowser. Super Mario 64 enabled players to traverse Princess Peach?s castle and enter various worlds by jumping into paintings on the walls. This new game, however, enabled players to view richer and more nuanced worlds for the first time in Mario history. Prior to this entry, the Mario series had been confined to a two dimensional arena. In 1996, Nintendo released Super Mario 64, which revolutionized the franchise by becoming the first 3D Mario console game. In almost all cases, the goal is to navigate the titular character through various levels or worlds, each of which concludes with a castle or dungeon and a boss fight. Similar gameplay, reoccurring characters and power-ups link the games of the main Mario series. The game takes place in the mythical Mushroom kingdom and stars Mario as he attempts to save Princess Peach from an antagonistic, anthropomorphized turtle named Bowser. In 1985, Miyamoto produced the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game Super Mario Bros.
In certain advertisements, Jumpman was named Mario, after the landlord of Nintendo of America's offices, and the name stuck.
As his name suggests, the character completed levels by jumping over barrels and climbing ladders to rescue the Lady kidnapped by Donkey Kong. Created by Shigeru Miyamoto in 1981, Mario first appeared as the protagonist Jumpman in Donkey Kong. The franchise further includes television shows, a live-action movie, comics, and promotional materials.
While the Mario series mainly features platform adventures, often involving the safe rescue of Princess Peach, it also includes role-playing, puzzle, racing, and educational games.
The character Mario appears in over 200 games on every Nintendo console ever made, and in the 1990s, a survey discovered more children recognized Mario than Mickey Mouse. Mario is the most popular video game franchise of all time, selling over 260 million games worldwide.