Super Mario 64 is an all time classic. The first time I played it, it had such an effect on me after I had previously played the Mario games on NES and SNES. I had always loved them but playing a Mario game in full 3D like this for the first time was like nothing else. I was in awe of what I saw and played constantly and decades later, I noticed it still holds up surprisingly well unlike its contemporaries.
In retrospect, this wasn’t the highpoint of the series but in fact a second beginning In a way similar to how the original Super Mario Bros on NES stood out above almost every other platformer at the time, Super Mario 64 was miles ahead of the competition. Notable is the fact that most other 3D platformers from that era have not aged particularly well ,such as the first Crash Bandicoot while Super Mario 64 comes across like a finely aged wine due to its polish. The visuals , while dated, manage to still retain their charm, thanks to an excellent art style and Nintendo has acknowledged this through throwbacks in other games since.
The controls are another reason the game aged well, especially when looking at the N64 controller. This is what the game was designed around and the sad truth is that modern controllers do not handle many N64 games well. I am still amazed at ust how well Super Mario 64 uses its control scheme. Every detail is accounted for and there is a function for everything, which became the norm for Mario in his future outings.
In addition, that the game design is so unique that people have still found new things to do with the game years after release. These include new speedrun tactics and finding new even secrets decades later. Again, compare this to other games of the era and you will see why this stands out so much. Most of them simply were there, but Mario 64 has taken on a life of its own.
While, this one is lacking compared to the modern games that do many things better of course, it is important to remember that Super Mario 64 was where modern Mario derives from. It can even be argued that all of modern gaming derives from Super Mario 64 in some way, This is a game that has inspired and keeps inspiring and should continue to be played.