Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 is the first three-dimensional platformer starring Mario, and was released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997 in Europe and 1996 elsewhere. At the time, it received critical acclaim, and has been often said to have defined its genre by being one of the first well-made games of its type. The game has since been remade on the Nintendo DS in the form of Super Mario 64 DS.

Story
Princess Toadstool sends Mario to come to her castle to have a cake. When Mario arrives, he meets the Lakitu Bros., whom are filming Mario. They go inside the castle and hear a familiar voice telling him to get out of the castle. Toad informs him that Bowser has kidnapped the princess again and is holding everyone hostage inside the castle walls. He has also stolen the Power Stars and given them to his minions who are hiding in paintings. Mario hops in the magical paintings and retrieves the Power Stars in order to defeat Bowser and save the Princess.

During the journey, Mario makes his way to more areas of the castle. When he finds out he has enough stars, he goes into Bowser's final level. Once he makes his way through the long course, Mario sees Bowser, and the two battle. When Mario defeats Bowser, he gives up and hands him a Giant Power Star, before he explodes. Mario grabs the star, and has been given the Wing Cap and flies away back to the castle.

As Mario's Wing Cap disappears, he uses the Giant Power Star to make Princess Peach appear. Peach wakes up and thanks Mario, by giving him a kiss, and the cake she had promised before.

Gameplay
The aim of the game is to collect enough Power Stars to progress to new, previously inaccessible areas of the castle. The primary goal is to collect enough to reach the final battle and save Princess Peach from Bowser. Each level, or "course", holds 6 stars, plus one for collecting 100 coins, which are obtained by completing a certain mission. The only clue to what this may be is in the star's title, which are often cryptic. Aspects of each course vary with each star; beyond this, the player is given free reign in exploring each world.

Super Mario 64 introduced a number of abilities to the series, allowing Mario to crawl, ground pound, punch and kick, backflip, sideflip, wall-kick, long-jump and slide, amongst others. These moves give the player a greater freedom than in past games as regards ways that Mario can be controlled, introducing the idea of there being a number of alternative routes to arrive at any one place. These are additionally used to perform actions such as pressing down switches as well as harming enemies or reaching high or distant places. The game's use of the Nintendo 64 controller's Analog Stick is another first for the Mario series, and allows the player to move Mario at different speeds by controlling the stick. This allows Mario to walk slowly, which, as opposed to running, does not awaken sleeping enemies.

Caps are another aspect introduced to the gameplay in Super Mario 64, giving Mario the ability to fly, walk underwater or walk through certain barriers. They are turned on in short bursts, and made available when activated with the switch associated with each one.

Levels
Levels in the game are accessed by jumping into holes or portraits, usually the latter, and each consists of a differently-themed world existing outside the castle. All but Bob-omb Battlefield, the first one, are inaccessible from the start of the game. In order to get to the different rooms which contain the paintings that Mario needs to enter to get to another level, stars must be collected from the levels already unlocked, and keys obtained from boss battles with Bowser.

As well as the 15 main courses, there are a number of secret areas, containing one or two stars, and possibly other unlockable items or boss battles. The stars obtained from these constitute the remaining 15 stars, called "Castle Secret Stars".

Courses

 * Bob-omb Battlefield is the first world, or level, that Mario is able to enter. This course is basic with Goombas and Bob-ombs, and the Big Bob-omb is the boss here.
 * Whomp's Fortress is the second level of the game. Once Mario has collected at least one star from the previous level, he is able to enter Whomp's Fortress. The course contains several Whomps and Piranha Plants, and the Whomp King is fought here.
 * Jolly Roger Bay The third level of the game. The course involves swimming, and has a large boat present. Eels are found here.
 * Cool, Cool Mountain The fourth level. A snowy mountain that Mario can slide down. Some penguins are here and a body-less snowman.
 * Big Boo's Haunt The fifth level. A ghost house filled with Boos and spinning eyeballs..
 * Hazy Maze Cave is the sixth level. A large underground area, with a toxic maze, a lake and rolling boulders.
 * Lethal Lava Land A level with a volcano, lava and moving platforms. Bullies are found here.
 * Shifting Sand Land A desert land with a pyramid, and quicksand. Many Pokeys, Propeller Shy Guys, and Tox Boxes are here.
 * Dire, Dire Docks An area you have to get the first star from before accessing Bowser in the Fire Sea. A giant dock is here, as well as a submarine.
 * Snowman's Land A large snowman in the middle of a large plain of snow, surrounded by several ice lakes and an ice sculpture.
 * Wet-Dry World An area where you can step on switches to raise or lower the water level to access new areas.
 * Tall, Tall Mountain A very tall mountain that Mario has to scale to find stars and secrets.
 * Tiny-Huge Island An island where Mario is either small or huge, and can change the size using Warp Pipes.
 * Tick Tock Clock A large clock which Mario must climb up to find stars, utilizing things that move at certain times.
 * Rainbow Ride The final main course. Mario must use magic carpets to navigate. An Airship and a large house is found here.

Secret Courses

 * The Princess's Secret Slide A large slide filled with 1-Ups and coins and question blocks.
 * The Secret Aquarium is a giant fish-tank filled with 8 red coins.
 * Wing Mario Over the Rainbow is a stage in the sky where Mario must fly around using cannons to collect 8 red coins.

Cap Switch Courses
The game's three caps must be activated before the blocks that allow Mario to use them are made solid. This is done by pressing the switch for each, found in the cap's respective course.


 * Tower of the Wing Cap is reachable after 10 stars have been collected. Mario is given the Wing Cap and must fly around the area surrounded by four towers to collect the 8 red coins.
 * Vanish Cap Under the Moat is located under the moat of the castle, reachable after the moat of water has been drained. Mario is given the Vanish Cap and must make his way down a slide, before using see-saws to try and get 8 red coins.
 * Cavern of the Metal Cap is located in the Hazy Maze Cave. Mario is given the Metal Cap and can go through strong currents to try and get 8 red coins.

Bowser levels
Bowser levels are obstacle courses that lead up to an encounter with Bowser, comprising the game's three major boss battles.


 * Bowser in the Dark World - the first encounter with Bowser. Mario navigates through fire-spitting statues, moving platforms and takes a fall down to the platform where Bowser awaits. Grab his tail, make a spin and toss him towards one of the bombs attached to the rim of the stage. One hit is enough, and Mario will now be able to get to the lowest basement of the castle.
 * Bowser in the Fire Sea - the second encounter with the evil Koopa King. This one is situated in a giant arena of fire, constituted of goombas, fire-breathing blocks, and sinking platforms. After a short pole maze, Mario can fight Bowser, who can now jump and turn the fighting stage on end. One swing into a bomb kills him, and Mario can then access the second floor of the castle.
 * Bowser in the Sky - the third and final encounter with Bowser. This one is a longer course, involving more fire, goombas, wind, piranha plants, and even the odd Whomp. It takes three hits to kill him, including one on a very small platform, before Bowser gives up Peach.

Power-ups

 * Wing Cap - this cap enables Mario to fly by performing a triple jump, or blasts out of a cannon.
 * Vanish Cap - this cap transforms Mario into Vanish Mario which makes him invulnerable to attacks. He can also walk through some walls, and gates.
 * Metal Cap - this cap grants Mario partial invincibility which makes him walk into enemies, as well as avoid fire, water currents, and allows him to walk underwater.

Items

 * Power Star
 * Coin
 * Red Coin
 * Blue Coin
 * Power Star
 * Green Shell
 * ! Block
 * 1-Up Mushroom
 * Wing Cap
 * Vanish Cap
 * Metal Cap

Ratings

 * GameRankings, known to be the best rating company, gave the game a high score of 95.90%/100%.

Trivia

 * Contrary to popular belief, this game was not technically Charles Martinet's debut as Mario's voice actor - this instead happened in Mario's FUNdamentals. However, it is the first mainstream Mario game he voiced, and is thus regarded as his effective debut in the role.
 * This is the first Mario game to feature a method of Invincibility other than a Starman
 * This was the very first mario game to not include mushrooms or fire flowers.
 * Big Boo's Haunt becomes available at 13 stars. The number thirteen is usually considered to be bad luck.
 * Some courses, such as Wet Dry World, can change depending on how you jump in. In this example, the higher Mario jumps into the portrait, the higher the water level will start out as.
 * Snowman's Land may be a pun on 'no man's land', which is appropriate considering the perilous terrain.
 * On [[Tiny-huge island there are two entrances the smaller one takes you to the tiny version the extremely large painting takes you to the huge version.
 * There are two "wall" entrances to various worlds: the first is Dry Dry Desert] the second is [[Snowman's Land.
 * Every Bowser stage involves falling into some sort of pit.
 * Near the top of Tall, Tall Mountain, there is a portal that takes Mario to a slide similar to Peach's Secret Slide, except a lot harder and you can acually lose a life.
 * There are two stars that can be obtained by talking to Toads. The first one is near the entrance to Hazy Maze Cave, the other is next to the stairs that leads to the 50 star door
 * On the ice slide in Cool, Cool Mountain, when you get to the first straight snow pack, ram into it, and Mario will be taken to an alternate route (you can't beat the giant penguin this way, however).
 * If you're swimming or falling you cant exit the level.
 * If you fail to defeat bowser you'll be thrown out to just outside the pipe.

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