When Nintendo announced that they were making a 64 bit machine back in 1994, they told us that Killer Instinct and Cruis'n USA would be among the games. They never said a word about Mario. To date, there hasn't been a Nintendo system without a Mario game to launch it with (NES saw Super Mario Bros, Game Boy had Super Mario Land, Super Mario World was packed with the SNES, and Mario Tennis was Virtual Boy's debut game). Well, later at Shoshinkai in 1995 (Space World to you new gamers), they gave us what we all wanted (and knew was coming), a 3D Mario. And with Miyamoto to back it up, we knew it'd be the best thing ever.

Well, now it's 1998, and we've been playing Mario 64 for a good year and a half. Many people still back it up as the best game ever, but most have changed opinions. Was Mario 64 just a fad? Well the answer in my own humble opinion is no, but I don't consider it the best game ever like I used to. Right now, there is no best game ever for me. Now that I'm done ranting, let's talk about the game.

The Nintendo 64 needed a game to show off its power back in '96. Pilotwings did this perfectly and was a pretty fun game. Mario 64 did so as well, but Mario was intended to sell systems, not show the power. Even so the graphics are perfect. Only a few shaky camera angles (the most prevalent problem with any 3D platformer) and some polygon breakup get in the way. Other than that, everything is a smooth ride with almost no slowdown. Mario 64 also comes with some catchy tunes, from the bouncy music of the regular stages to the calm score of the water levels to the mood setting music in the lava and desert stages.

The game does not feel like the other Mario games. No longer is your goal to beat the level. Rather, it's your duty to do several tasks in order to earn stars. These range from beating a boss to beating a turtle in a race. Every stage has an eight red coin challenge that'll get you another star. This would all be nearly impossible with a control pad, but with the 3D stick, Mario performs beautifully.

The story is your basic Mario story. Peach (Toadstool) sends Mario a letter telling him to come to the castle to get a cake. Before Mario can do this, Bowser kidnaps Peach and takes over the castle (the hidden message here is that punctuality is a good trait to have). The castle serves as an overworld map for the stages. You can explore the castle itself for a long time. The stages only open up when you have enough stars to open them up. As you keep getting stars, you can keep opening up stages. The stage design is the most perfect I've seen. Never before were these kind of stages possible.

Bottom line is that this game is awesome. All the other 3D platformers (Croc, Gex, Crash Bandicoot) pale greatly in comparison. Anyone who has an N64 without this is a definite sinner.

Overall: 9.8