One thing I always found hilarious about that secret level music is how it always seemed those levels got more vast in scale and seemingly more harrowing in design. It was already ridiculous that Mario was being placed into these crazy-tall obstacle courses with impossibly high drops, but something about that Bluegrass music chugging along while the camera stops following Mario careening to his demise from a fall and with a distant wail always struck me as so funny, even as a kid... 😂 I always loved how Mario just starts to wail in those falls and then the levels cuts him off as he's flung back into the Castle. It was pop culture's first perfectly-cut scream! I give no judgments for having grown up with 64 DS over the regular 64 - both are fine games in their own way! I think it's safe to say that if we had Mario 64's control scheme but with the extra content of DS, we'd all be more than happy with that final product. I did always love the levels in 64 though! I don't know if it could be explained through just one quality; maybe it was just the level themes and settings, or how varied the star challenges could get? I'm sure some of it is nostalgia too! What I always liked about Mario 64 - that others usually critique - is how you collect one star in a level before being booted out. I think a lot of people take for granted how much this streamlined the game at the time! In an era where full, camera-controlled 3D platforming was brand-new, it was so helpful to be told an objective, go to it, and then be spit back out only to return to that level for the next objective. I think it made for a gameplay loop that made it easy to translate Mario into 3D - the Stars weren't "collectibles" because "collect-a-thon" wasn't a thing yet. The stars were effectively 3D Mario's flagpoles! Great overview, and loved hearing the childhood perspectives! All the makings of a perfect childhood gem - getting stuck on the final boss, being scared by the music, replaying the early easy levels ad nauseum, getting help from a let's play online - love it!
Yes, I totally get where you're coming from! It's a strange and jarring juxtaposition. Having to race through a dark void with a floating platform while a country bop is playing in the background. Mario's wailing definitely made my brother and I laugh for ages, too. I remember rough housing with my brothers one day and while we were jumping off and on our beds, we kept doing the Mario scream each time 😂 Its funny how little moments like that end up sticking in our memories, don't you think? Oooo! I never thought of it that way, but you're right. Gathering each star was like the flagpole equivalent of those earlier games. Although I had no clue people criticized that aspect of the game. It never bothered me in the least, and it gave me an incentive to re-explore areas I have already been to in the hopes of finding something new. Thanks again for the wonderful comment, Will! 😁 I'll never get tired of saying it, but its always a joy reading them!
Spinning Bowser around was pretty fun to do. It does take a little getting used to. I don't really have much experience with Super Maior 64 DS. Anyone remember the Luigi or Yoshi on top of the castle rumor?
Haha! I remember that rumor, too. I can't remember if I tried it for days like @Petrisha did but I do vaguely remember spending hours on it one day... 🤔
This was an interesting one, because I cut my teeth on the NES and SEGA Master System, and 3D made me really apprehensive; I didn't see the appeal like everyone else seemed to, and didn't really care for 3D Action until Devil May Cry came along, though I was fine with the flood of 3D RPGs following in Final Fantasy 7's wake, because the combat was all menu-based. That said, I can't deny the feeling of dropping into Bob-omb Battlefield, and seeing that absolute PLAYGROUND sprawl out before me for the first time; your brain just kinda goes into overdrive, running around and screaming, "What's this? What's THIS? What's EVERYTHING!?" because of all the moving parts everywhere; it's so overwhelming, but in a good way. This hits just kept coming, too, at least until that snowy mountain area; can't say I was particularly fond of that one. Then again, the giant clock is one of my favorites, so what do I know? I feel like it's a game I need to revisit at some point and really reassess, though I've got about as games in my current backlog as this game has stars to collect before that's going to happen. Someday, right? In any case, I think part of the difference might be how Steph Sterling puts it: the distinction of playing a game and playing *with* a game. There is conquering every single star and putting Bowser down for good, and there is going in just to mess around and see what's possible within the boundaries of the world, and I feel that like the first Legend of Zelda, Mario 64 is better designed for the latter. Trying to beat your best time on that secret slide is a lot more fun than stressing out over whether you'll be fast enough to get that extra star, for example. Speaking of which, I'd thought that I was the only one to notice the music there sounded a lot like the horse minigame music in Ocarina of Time, though to me (and maybe that's the synaesthesia talking), they sound like an anxiety attack in musical form. Funny story about this game's music and its influence, though: I had to call... I think it was a nursing home, but it might've been an insurance company. As expected, I was put on hold, and the music was unusually soothing. It was a little while before it started sounding familiar, and then, my brain just stood at attention. "No... they didn- THEY DID!" No lie: the hold music for this place was Jolly Roger Bay. Whoever was running the place clearly had some fond memories swimming around that pirate ship!
That's interesting! I always hear about how adding the 3D element to games was a "game changer" (ba dum pish!) for a lot of people, but I rarely ever hear about the people who were apprehensive about it. Were there a ton of other people who were against it too, back then? 🤔 I'm glad you noticed the similarity between the horse music from Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, too! It's funny how similar they are when comparing it, but it also makes sense considering both of those games were composed by the same person, right? Koji Kondo? And it's not just you, I got panicky while listening to the horse minigame music, too. Like there was this really surreal experience that I went through once while listening to that track... I had it playing lightly in the background while doing some homework one day back in high school, and when the track finished, I turned the music off and was sitting in silence for a bit. However, I could still hear the song playing in the background even though I was not thinking at all about it, so it couldn't had been an ear worm or anything. The music wasn't even playing on my computer anymore, like I said. I got the panic attack of a lifetime, that's for sure. I don't know how to explain that experience in a way that makes sense, to be honest. I started laughing when I got up to the hold music part of your comment! 😂 That's absolutely incredible, I wish every company had video game music playing while you're on hold! It would make the wait a lot more pleasant instead of the 20 second "inspirational copyright free" loops that they almost all currently use... Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment! 😁
@@Dutchess5 No, it's always been kind of a rare sentiment; 3D was blowing people's minds back then, but to me, it looked like a 3-year-old's origami project, and before actually putting my hands on Mario 64, I'd assumed that it played about as well... turns out that was hit-or-miss. Mario 64 played alright; what threw me more was some of the stunts I had to pull to grab some of the stars, or at least, that's how I remember it. Ocarina of Time, on the other hand, was the game that turned an absolute Zelda freak away from the franchise for a long time; Wind Waker is my favorite, but my top 5 in descending order from that are Adventure of Link, A Link Between Worlds, A Link to the Past, and Oracle of Seasons: all 2D games. I did eventually warm up to 3D overall when I finally played Devil May Cry and the zillion imitators that followed, but that game was a revolution in and of itself. But yes, if you look back at reviews from that time period, you'll see magazines practically worshiping Castlevania 64, and absolutely trashing Symphony of the Night, because it looked "so ugly and flat". Pretty crazy to think about now, but I feel it's a pretty big part of what killed the Saturn; back in its day, the Saturn was an absolute joke, because it was a 2D powerhouse (something I found out entirely too late), but wasn't all that good at 3D. That would be Koji Kondo, yes; I'm not as sure about Mario, but unless you count the Game Boy games, Koji Kondo was the sole composer for Zelda until Wind Waker, where Kenta Nagata composed all of the nautical-sounding stuff, which - let's be honest - is most of the game's non-legacy tunes. Glad it's not just me; I always think of that comic strip that says, "Spice up your anxiety attacks with a harmonica!" I think I get you, though; there's the music you hear inside of your head and the music you hear outside of your head, and even when it's the same song, there's a different sound to it. The volume's a bit lower on the internal one, but there's something else to it that's hard to describe. Kind of like how you can stand a pencil up in front of your face, but you can look... around it? ...through it? ...but you know it's still there. But sometimes, you hear something in your head, but it sounds external, and it's frightening; I sometimes get that with people shouting my name in a dream just as I'm waking up, so I'm awake, but my... I guess you'd say ears are still in the dream, because I'm still in a state of transition. Right? I'd put most of the Anodyne 2 soundtrack up against that weird 15-second loop that sounds like Dick Tracy dancing the Charleston in a back alley with low lighting any day! ...I spend entirely too much of my work life on hold with doctors' offices... You could even make a pretty decent playlist for classy dinner parties and the like, and unless your guests are classical music afficionados (or video game composer nerds like me), they wouldn't be able to tell that they're listening to the underground music from Final Fantasy 4 or whatever. You could even sound all fancy, like, "Ah, yes, this is from one of Nobuo Uematsu's finest works!"
The original was my first video game ever. And I got a new appreciation for it once I got around to playing the older 2D games and recognizing the almost seamless adaptation Nintendo bright the world to the third dimension. The sense of freedom it brings, not just in the ability to move in all directions but to choose and find out different ways to reach a goal, was what kept my buddies and I coming back to it.
Absolutely! It was that way with me when I experienced it in Super Mario 64 DS. 😁 It was easy to keep going back to the game over and over throughout the years because there was always something new and different to explore each time. As I got older and my motor skills/hand to eye coordination improved, I was able to progress more and more. It's a game that's up there on my top 10, that's for sure! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, I truly appreciate it! 😊
Great video! I would agree that Mario 64 had a major impact on 3D games. While the camera controls are definitely clunky by today's standards, they were advanced for the time when you look at other 3D games like Tomb Raider and Croc. The controls were more advanced as well. In most 3D games at the time you push forward to move forward and left or right to turn the character. Mario 64 changed the formula by having the character move in the direction you are pushing the controller in relation to the camera instead... i.e. if you push left, your character moves left rather than turning left. These controls allow for better controls in 3D action games. I'm glad you brought up the DS version, because I thought that version was absolutely fantastic with the extra stages and extra playable characters. Unfortunately, it seems like Nintendo has forgotten the DS version... as they only seem to bring back the N64 version. As for the music, Miyamoto has said that he's a big fan of bluegrass music... and likes to include it in his games when he can. That's why you hear bluegrass a lot when playing athletic stages or races.
Oh the camera control was never good with this game. A the time it was great since it was the first time exploring a 3D world, but looking at an N64 controller, those camera buttons were not in an easy to use place. Another great video essay!
I’m glad you chimed in with your opinion! :D So the N64 controls weren’t much better, huh? It’s definitely a product of its time as innovative as it was. They had to start somewhere! Thanks for watching my video and for leaving a comment. I’m happy you enjoyed watching 😁
I appreciate it, friend! 😊 I'm always happy with my current sub count, no matter what it is. I'm happy to be here with you all throughout my channel's journey, so anything that I get out of it is a nice extra! 😁 Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
One thing I always found hilarious about that secret level music is how it always seemed those levels got more vast in scale and seemingly more harrowing in design. It was already ridiculous that Mario was being placed into these crazy-tall obstacle courses with impossibly high drops, but something about that Bluegrass music chugging along while the camera stops following Mario careening to his demise from a fall and with a distant wail always struck me as so funny, even as a kid... 😂 I always loved how Mario just starts to wail in those falls and then the levels cuts him off as he's flung back into the Castle. It was pop culture's first perfectly-cut scream!
I give no judgments for having grown up with 64 DS over the regular 64 - both are fine games in their own way! I think it's safe to say that if we had Mario 64's control scheme but with the extra content of DS, we'd all be more than happy with that final product. I did always love the levels in 64 though! I don't know if it could be explained through just one quality; maybe it was just the level themes and settings, or how varied the star challenges could get? I'm sure some of it is nostalgia too!
What I always liked about Mario 64 - that others usually critique - is how you collect one star in a level before being booted out. I think a lot of people take for granted how much this streamlined the game at the time! In an era where full, camera-controlled 3D platforming was brand-new, it was so helpful to be told an objective, go to it, and then be spit back out only to return to that level for the next objective. I think it made for a gameplay loop that made it easy to translate Mario into 3D - the Stars weren't "collectibles" because "collect-a-thon" wasn't a thing yet. The stars were effectively 3D Mario's flagpoles!
Great overview, and loved hearing the childhood perspectives! All the makings of a perfect childhood gem - getting stuck on the final boss, being scared by the music, replaying the early easy levels ad nauseum, getting help from a let's play online - love it!
Yes, I totally get where you're coming from! It's a strange and jarring juxtaposition. Having to race through a dark void with a floating platform while a country bop is playing in the background. Mario's wailing definitely made my brother and I laugh for ages, too. I remember rough housing with my brothers one day and while we were jumping off and on our beds, we kept doing the Mario scream each time 😂 Its funny how little moments like that end up sticking in our memories, don't you think?
Oooo! I never thought of it that way, but you're right. Gathering each star was like the flagpole equivalent of those earlier games. Although I had no clue people criticized that aspect of the game. It never bothered me in the least, and it gave me an incentive to re-explore areas I have already been to in the hopes of finding something new.
Thanks again for the wonderful comment, Will! 😁 I'll never get tired of saying it, but its always a joy reading them!
Spinning Bowser around was pretty fun to do. It does take a little getting used to. I don't really have much experience with Super Maior 64 DS. Anyone remember the Luigi or Yoshi on top of the castle rumor?
I definitely remember a rumour where you could triple jump onto Yoshi's back to ride him! Tried it for days...
Haha! I remember that rumor, too. I can't remember if I tried it for days like @Petrisha did but I do vaguely remember spending hours on it one day... 🤔
This was an interesting one, because I cut my teeth on the NES and SEGA Master System, and 3D made me really apprehensive; I didn't see the appeal like everyone else seemed to, and didn't really care for 3D Action until Devil May Cry came along, though I was fine with the flood of 3D RPGs following in Final Fantasy 7's wake, because the combat was all menu-based. That said, I can't deny the feeling of dropping into Bob-omb Battlefield, and seeing that absolute PLAYGROUND sprawl out before me for the first time; your brain just kinda goes into overdrive, running around and screaming, "What's this? What's THIS? What's EVERYTHING!?" because of all the moving parts everywhere; it's so overwhelming, but in a good way. This hits just kept coming, too, at least until that snowy mountain area; can't say I was particularly fond of that one. Then again, the giant clock is one of my favorites, so what do I know? I feel like it's a game I need to revisit at some point and really reassess, though I've got about as games in my current backlog as this game has stars to collect before that's going to happen. Someday, right? In any case, I think part of the difference might be how Steph Sterling puts it: the distinction of playing a game and playing *with* a game. There is conquering every single star and putting Bowser down for good, and there is going in just to mess around and see what's possible within the boundaries of the world, and I feel that like the first Legend of Zelda, Mario 64 is better designed for the latter. Trying to beat your best time on that secret slide is a lot more fun than stressing out over whether you'll be fast enough to get that extra star, for example. Speaking of which, I'd thought that I was the only one to notice the music there sounded a lot like the horse minigame music in Ocarina of Time, though to me (and maybe that's the synaesthesia talking), they sound like an anxiety attack in musical form.
Funny story about this game's music and its influence, though: I had to call... I think it was a nursing home, but it might've been an insurance company. As expected, I was put on hold, and the music was unusually soothing. It was a little while before it started sounding familiar, and then, my brain just stood at attention. "No... they didn- THEY DID!" No lie: the hold music for this place was Jolly Roger Bay. Whoever was running the place clearly had some fond memories swimming around that pirate ship!
That's interesting! I always hear about how adding the 3D element to games was a "game changer" (ba dum pish!) for a lot of people, but I rarely ever hear about the people who were apprehensive about it. Were there a ton of other people who were against it too, back then? 🤔 I'm glad you noticed the similarity between the horse music from Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, too! It's funny how similar they are when comparing it, but it also makes sense considering both of those games were composed by the same person, right? Koji Kondo? And it's not just you, I got panicky while listening to the horse minigame music, too. Like there was this really surreal experience that I went through once while listening to that track... I had it playing lightly in the background while doing some homework one day back in high school, and when the track finished, I turned the music off and was sitting in silence for a bit. However, I could still hear the song playing in the background even though I was not thinking at all about it, so it couldn't had been an ear worm or anything. The music wasn't even playing on my computer anymore, like I said. I got the panic attack of a lifetime, that's for sure. I don't know how to explain that experience in a way that makes sense, to be honest.
I started laughing when I got up to the hold music part of your comment! 😂 That's absolutely incredible, I wish every company had video game music playing while you're on hold! It would make the wait a lot more pleasant instead of the 20 second "inspirational copyright free" loops that they almost all currently use... Thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment! 😁
@@Dutchess5 No, it's always been kind of a rare sentiment; 3D was blowing people's minds back then, but to me, it looked like a 3-year-old's origami project, and before actually putting my hands on Mario 64, I'd assumed that it played about as well... turns out that was hit-or-miss. Mario 64 played alright; what threw me more was some of the stunts I had to pull to grab some of the stars, or at least, that's how I remember it. Ocarina of Time, on the other hand, was the game that turned an absolute Zelda freak away from the franchise for a long time; Wind Waker is my favorite, but my top 5 in descending order from that are Adventure of Link, A Link Between Worlds, A Link to the Past, and Oracle of Seasons: all 2D games. I did eventually warm up to 3D overall when I finally played Devil May Cry and the zillion imitators that followed, but that game was a revolution in and of itself. But yes, if you look back at reviews from that time period, you'll see magazines practically worshiping Castlevania 64, and absolutely trashing Symphony of the Night, because it looked "so ugly and flat". Pretty crazy to think about now, but I feel it's a pretty big part of what killed the Saturn; back in its day, the Saturn was an absolute joke, because it was a 2D powerhouse (something I found out entirely too late), but wasn't all that good at 3D.
That would be Koji Kondo, yes; I'm not as sure about Mario, but unless you count the Game Boy games, Koji Kondo was the sole composer for Zelda until Wind Waker, where Kenta Nagata composed all of the nautical-sounding stuff, which - let's be honest - is most of the game's non-legacy tunes. Glad it's not just me; I always think of that comic strip that says, "Spice up your anxiety attacks with a harmonica!" I think I get you, though; there's the music you hear inside of your head and the music you hear outside of your head, and even when it's the same song, there's a different sound to it. The volume's a bit lower on the internal one, but there's something else to it that's hard to describe. Kind of like how you can stand a pencil up in front of your face, but you can look... around it? ...through it? ...but you know it's still there. But sometimes, you hear something in your head, but it sounds external, and it's frightening; I sometimes get that with people shouting my name in a dream just as I'm waking up, so I'm awake, but my... I guess you'd say ears are still in the dream, because I'm still in a state of transition.
Right? I'd put most of the Anodyne 2 soundtrack up against that weird 15-second loop that sounds like Dick Tracy dancing the Charleston in a back alley with low lighting any day! ...I spend entirely too much of my work life on hold with doctors' offices... You could even make a pretty decent playlist for classy dinner parties and the like, and unless your guests are classical music afficionados (or video game composer nerds like me), they wouldn't be able to tell that they're listening to the underground music from Final Fantasy 4 or whatever. You could even sound all fancy, like, "Ah, yes, this is from one of Nobuo Uematsu's finest works!"
The original was my first video game ever. And I got a new appreciation for it once I got around to playing the older 2D games and recognizing the almost seamless adaptation Nintendo bright the world to the third dimension. The sense of freedom it brings, not just in the ability to move in all directions but to choose and find out different ways to reach a goal, was what kept my buddies and I coming back to it.
Absolutely! It was that way with me when I experienced it in Super Mario 64 DS. 😁 It was easy to keep going back to the game over and over throughout the years because there was always something new and different to explore each time. As I got older and my motor skills/hand to eye coordination improved, I was able to progress more and more. It's a game that's up there on my top 10, that's for sure! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, I truly appreciate it! 😊
Great video! I would agree that Mario 64 had a major impact on 3D games. While the camera controls are definitely clunky by today's standards, they were advanced for the time when you look at other 3D games like Tomb Raider and Croc. The controls were more advanced as well. In most 3D games at the time you push forward to move forward and left or right to turn the character. Mario 64 changed the formula by having the character move in the direction you are pushing the controller in relation to the camera instead... i.e. if you push left, your character moves left rather than turning left. These controls allow for better controls in 3D action games.
I'm glad you brought up the DS version, because I thought that version was absolutely fantastic with the extra stages and extra playable characters. Unfortunately, it seems like Nintendo has forgotten the DS version... as they only seem to bring back the N64 version.
As for the music, Miyamoto has said that he's a big fan of bluegrass music... and likes to include it in his games when he can. That's why you hear bluegrass a lot when playing athletic stages or races.
Oh the camera control was never good with this game. A the time it was great since it was the first time exploring a 3D world, but looking at an N64 controller, those camera buttons were not in an easy to use place.
Another great video essay!
I’m glad you chimed in with your opinion! :D So the N64 controls weren’t much better, huh? It’s definitely a product of its time as innovative as it was. They had to start somewhere! Thanks for watching my video and for leaving a comment. I’m happy you enjoyed watching 😁
I've never heard a TH-cam video like this start with "hi everyone." Hi back!! (I suppose)
You must not watch a lot of TH-cam videos then 😂
Best game ever!
Hands down the best!
How are you under 1K subs?
I appreciate it, friend! 😊 I'm always happy with my current sub count, no matter what it is. I'm happy to be here with you all throughout my channel's journey, so anything that I get out of it is a nice extra! 😁 Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!