Super Mario 64: No Disc, No Problem
Matt Barton · 2019
The mid-1990s were a crucial turning point for the console side of the industry, which had to deal with two major innovations originating on the PC side: three-dimensional (3D) graphics and CD-ROM. Depending on how hard players pushed it in one direction, Mario would either tiptoe, walk, or run. Miyamoto enjoyed just moving Mario around in 3D so much that at one point he felt “this didn’t really have to be a game.” It’s best to play Super Mario 64 on a Nintendo 64, since it’s optimized for that system’s unique controller. In stark contrast to the PlayStation, which launched with eight titles spanning the genres, the Nintendo 64 had only two games in its lineup. It’s a good thing, then, that one of those was Super Mario 64 . Mario had a bevy of jumps and leaps available, such as wall kicks, long jumps, and side and back somersaults—in short, the skills of a master acrobat.