Nintendo's a great company that has a long lineage of great video games, but for many people, their nostalgia lies in one specific title, Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 released in 1996 as a launch title on the Nintendo 64. It was one of the first games to implement three-dimensional graphics and platforming. The big hook with Super Mario 64, out🌳side of being🔯 a brand new gaming experience, was the ability to travel to multiple worlds via the painting in and around the castle.
Super Mario 64 can be looked at as the foundation for what we now refer to as collect-a-thon platformers. In order to complete the game and defeat Bowser players were tasked with collecting 100 stars from various areas and worlds throughout the game. It was a pioneer in terms of 3D character movement and traversal as well as camera controls. It was uncharted territory for most of the industry but Nintendo brilliantly tackled the new challenge head on. Super Mario 64 is a game in which people can refer to specific areas of the game and the person they're conversing with can also share in the memories. Everyone has their story about saving the baby penguin and returning it to the mother. Super Mario 64 is also a nostalgia fest that's responsible for numerous theorie꧒s and plenty of hidden 𓆏secrets.
According to Nintendo, players will be treated to a spiritual successor to Super Mario 64 in 2017's Super Mario Odyssey. There are plenty of hidden facts and stories inside💟 the infamous Nintendo 64 platformer. Let's hop into 15 of them right now.
15 Star R😼ecolor ꧃
The primary focus of Super Mario 64 is to collect stars by going to multiple worlds and completing quests and puzzles. Of course, Nintendo would have the foresight to make star collecting and the information around it easily understood. When you're exploring the world looking for stars, there's an easy indicator as to whether or not you've collected said star. If it pops up and is a translucent dark blue —instead of the iconic shimmering gold— well you've found a star in which you've already collected. It turns ඣout that these stars weren't always that dark blue color. In the pre-release build of the game, these collected stars were gray. Nintendo probably felt that it didn't mesh with the rest of the colorful world and decided upon dark blue being the color of completion.
14 Quit Hor🔯sing Around ꧋
Riding horses is a traversal mechanic that's regularly used in video games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Nintendo's newest masterpiece and showcases the usefulness of horses in a large open-world, which became iconic after 1998's The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Originally horses were intended to be a part of Super Mario 64 in some capacity. Though it never made it into the game, rideable horses were heavily discussed early in development. It's safe to say that even though the didn't utilize this idea in Super Mario 64, it was enough of a springboard that led to the creation and implementation of Link's horse Epona in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. How weird would it have been if Super Mario 64 included the ability to ride horses?
13 🍌 🥀 64 Was A Lie
Though the Nintendo 64 was touted as including an impressive 64-bits of processing power, many of the games on the system utilized only 32-bits. Super Mario 64﷽ was one of the many titles that did this, even though its name would lead you to believe otherwise.💎 The reasoning behind using 32-bits, instead of the full 64-bits the system was capable of, comes down to two key factors. The first of these factors is that 32-bit executed faster, meaning that there were fewer hiccups, and the game's overall performance benefited from it. Storage space was hard to come by in the mid-90s, and the simple fact that 32-bit took up less storage space was the other contributing factor in regards to choosing 32-bit over 64-bit. This is another tale of how marketing and messaging is more important than what actually happens in terms of development. It also didn't hurt that the game was phenomenal for its time.
12 Man O🦩f Many Hats
Older games are notorious for including various glitches and bugs. Even though they're not as complicated in terms of scope and size in terms of today's video games, they weren't without their fair share of gaffs and exploits. An interesting glitch in Super Mario 64 happeꦺns when Mario picks up two hats in rapid succession and is often referred to simply as the double hat glitch. Upon picking up both hats in a short matter of time the game's solution to the problem at hand is to put one of these hats in Mario's right hand. The glitch is easily replicated in the Snowman's Land level by taking the warp under the tree after Mario has his hat blown off his head my the giant snowman's breath. After warping, your hat will be duplicate and simply picking them up will activate the hat hold.
11 𝔉 Looney Tunes 🐽
By now everyone's familiar with Charles Martinet's famous portrayal of the mustached plumber. It's an iconic voice that's immediate recognized by millions of people — let alone video game players. Before Martinet's famous take, Nintendo used stock audio files of the Looney Tunes as placeholders for Mario's voice. Imagine playing Super Mario 64 and being treated to the famous "What's Up Doc?" line by everyone's favorite gray rabbit. Now, Nintendo would probably never use someone else's property as an official in-game implementation, but it's fascinating to see what's used during every part of game development. The next thing we're going to hear is that the Bernstein Bears were used as placeholder voices in the next iteration of Animal Crossing. What carto🌟on voices would you want as placeholders in a Ninte🃏ndo developed game?
10 ꦇ Angry Mother
One of the many iconic parts of Super Mario 64 revolves around a mother penguin and her missing baby. As Mario, the player must carry the baby penguin from the top of the level and descend to the bottom to reunite it with its mother. Surprisingly, this is a difficult task that requires your full attention and a somewhat careful nature. After returning the baby penguin to its mother players receiv🃏e a gold star in return for their efforts, but that's not where the penguin related fun ends. If you pick up the baby penguin after returning it to its mother, the mother will angrily f🌸ollow Mario until you drop her child. The baby penguin was named Tuxie, but strangely enough, the mother never received an official name. Seems like she has something else to be angry about.
9 Mark♊ing The End 💦
When it comes to Mario, there are few things a that are constant throughout the series. Everyone remembers playing Super Mario Bros. for the first time and completing the first level by jumping on the flagpole in hopes of obtaining a higher score, or possibly even an extra life. In Super Mario 64, considering the overall design of the game and its worlds, it didn't really make sense for Nintendo to include the familiar flagpoles. Initial plans in development were to include said flagpoles, but designers felt scouring the land for items played better with the overall design of Super Mario 64. Ninten👍do would later go on to include the flagpoles in future 3D Mario games, but knowing that they were originally intended to be a part of the Nintendo 64 iter🐟ation of Mario is intriguing nonetheless.
8 ཧ ♛ Left Speechless
When it comes to character voice overs, Nintendo is literally all over the map. The interesting part about Super Mario 64 is that players are treated to Princess Peach's voice at the beginning of the game as well as at the very end. It helps shape Mario's adventure and the specific stakes at hand. Hearing her voice at the beginning of the game allows players to obtain an immediate sense of despair, and only including her voice again at the end of the game allows the conclusion of the game to feel as though it was worth it. That being said, the Japanese version of Super Mario 64🔥 included absolutely no voice acting for Princess Peach at release 🔯even though it was included in every other version.
7 That Souᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnds Familiar
Mario is a franchise that features some of the most iconic video game villain laughs of all-time. On numerous occasions, players are treated to both Bowser's deep bellowing chuckle, as well as Boo's creepy nightmare inducing laugh. It's never been an unfamiliar procedure to reuse assets in video games and re-purpose them for maximum efficiency. It allows developers and designers to focus on crafting a solid game, and the more creative a team is, the more efficient they can become with their assets. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that Boo's creepy laugh is simply a souped up version of Bowser's fear inducing chuckle. It's amazing how a little manipulation can lead to a completely different, yet equally iconic Super Mario 64 sound effect.
6 Same Song, Different Sound 🃏
We've already covered reusing assets, but it seems that it was a common practice for Nintendo — especially within Super Mario 64. Anyone who's ever played Super Mario 64 for an extended amount of time is familiar with the sound that plays when entering a new mission inside of a painting. Players hear Mario's familiar voice, accompanied by a catchy and eerily familiar tune. Now, many people would simply think that the same composer has done all of the Mario games, and thus there's a cohesive sound design throughout. Though that may be partially the case, there's another glaring reason why the level select tune sounds so familiar. It's actually the overworld theme from Super Mario Bros., but —like🌟 Boo's laugh— is simply played at a higher tempo and creates a unique and diᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚfferent sound.