Super Mario 64 1996

About

Super Mario 64 came out on June 23, 1996 for Nintendo 64, then for Wii on November 19, 2006 and for Wii U on April 1, 2015. The main story takes about 8.5 hours, doing everything about 14 hours. It was nominated for 1 award.

Mario is super in a whole new way! Combining the finest 3-D graphics ever developed for a video game and an explosive soundtrack, Super Mario 64 becomes a new standard for video games. It's packed with bruising battles, daunting obstacle courses, and underwater adventures. Retrieve the Power Stars from their hidden locations and confront your arch-nemesis— Bowser, King of the Koopas! • Run freely in a grassy meadow, tip-toe through a gloomy dungeon, climb to the top of a mountain, or take a swim in the moat! • Leap headfirst into a watery painting and soon you'll be searching for the surface in an underwater realm! • On-the-fly, 3-D rendered gameplay delivers the action of ruthless enemy attacks from every angle! • Find the Caps that give Mario super powers and ponder the mysteries of the pyramid; you can even race Koopas for fabulous prizes! • With the Nintendo 64 Controller and its analog Control Stick, Mario can crawl, kick down obstacles, swim, do reverse flips, and even stick the landing on his backwards somersault! • Saved game information is stored for up to four players in memory.

Story

On a bright, sunny day in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario goes to visit the princess but finds her castle eerily empty. Leaping through pictures hanging from the walls, he enters 15 magical worlds in a quest to collect the 120 Power Stars pilfered by evil Bowser and save the day. The game's vast worlds teem with daunting obstacle courses, hidden items, puzzles, and more than 30 types of enemies. Take advantage of Mario's large selection of moves, including running, jumping, swimming, stomping, punching, and even backward somersaulting! Special caps give him short-lived powers, including the ability to fly.

What is happening now

Super Mario 64 remains one of the N64's most enduring platformers since its 1996 debut, and the game continues to inspire creative reinterpretations across unexpected platforms. Recent months have seen developers port the classic to unlikely systems - including the notoriously underpowered Panasonic 3DO and PS1 - with varying degrees of success. A VR recreation has also emerged, enabling players to interact with Mario in three-dimensional space, while another project leveraged YouTube's spherical video player to make the game browser-playable. These fan projects underscore Super Mario 64's lasting technical and cultural footprint. Whether functioning as proof-of-concept ports or experimental new formats, they demonstrate how the original's design continues to resonate with developers and players alike, even as the broader N64 library receives ongoing reassessment.