Super Mario 64 turns 20 years old today, and we here at the Outerhaven have some pretty fond memories of the game that arguably changed the platformer genre back in June of 1996. Come take a trip with J.J and Delaila as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of Super Mario 64.
J.J. Piedra (@TheAnimePulse)
I remember back in November 1996 when the Nintendo 64 came out. I begged my mom to bring me to Toys R’ Us where they had one console left. We got there and I claimed it alongside of Super Mario 64. Up until this point, the world only knew of the Mario games in a 2D setting so you can imagine how my eyes filled with wonder when I saw Mario in full 3D for the first time. While I had fun playing it, I vividly remember bringing my N64 over to my friend Jonathan’s house where he only had a Sega Genesis/32X and a Sony Playstation. We hooked up the Nintendo 64 to his TV and before I knew it, he had called his friends over and we were all playing Super Mario 64 in an impromptu gaming party. He loved the game so much that he wanted people to come experience it for themselves. When a game can excite someone enough to cause them to bring people together to share their experience, it makes for a pretty cool memory. Getting 120 stars and discovering Yoshi for the first time was also a pretty cool memory for me, too, but it doesn’t top that one trip to my friend’s house.
Delaila Lugo (@ASSASSINA_SAN)
While there were so many heavy hitters on the Nintendo 64 (Golden Eye 007, Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Perfect Dark) Super Mario 64 was the first to blossom my love for this console. My brother and I shared systems growing up but he always got first dibs, so it wasn’t until junior high school when I finally got to dig deep into Mario 64. One memory my mom will never let me live down is when I gargled white bread and orange juice to pretend I was throwing up in the toilet bowl, just to stay home from school and play this game; she couldn’t be fooled. It was not too long after this that I genuinely had a medical issue keeping me out of school for a couple of days, so I powered through what is in my opinion, one of the best Mario games of all time. To experience the different Mario stages of sand, water, ice, lava, gas, etc. in 3d with a 360 degree camera view was not only revolutionary for Mario, but for gaming in general. As a side note, Metal Mario was cool as hell! This game unlocked the explorer/completionist in me. I had to collect all 100 coins, earn all the power stars and find all the secret stars. The Nintendo DS version of Mario 64 in 2004 showed that this game held up well. Even up until 2007, Super Mario Galaxy was evidently influenced from Mario 64, because it was basically Mario 64 on acid (Mario is already on shrooms). Just like everyone else who played this game, I threw the baby penguin off of Cool, Cool Mountain….many times.
