Super Mario 64

Super Mario 64 is a 3D action-adventure platformer game released for the Nintendo 64 in 1996. This game was one of two (three in Japan) launch titles for the Nintendo 64, along with Pilotwings 64, which helped drive initial sales of the console. As of January 7, 2017, it has sold over 11 million copies worldwide, and is marked as the best selling Nintendo 64 game of all time. It is also the second most popular game on the Wii's Virtual Console, after Super Mario Bros.

Being the first 3D Mario game, Super Mario 64 has introduced many moves that would be used in almost every later Super Mario title: Triple Jumping, Ground Pounding, Long Jumping, Diving, and Somersaults. Punching and kicking were also introduced, but would not be used in any later main title (besides its DS remake).

Though not the first 3D platforming game, Super Mario 64 codified many of the controls and designs conventions of the genre. It is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important games of all time.

In 2004, a remake of Super Mario 64 was released for the Nintendo DS entitled Super Mario 64 DS. The remake had various differences from the original game such as Luigi, Yoshi, and Wario becoming playable characters. There was also a sequel called Super Mario 64 2 planned for the Nintendo 64DD, but it was canceled due to the 64DD's commercial failure.

Super Mario 64 was rereleased digitally on the Wii's Virtual Console service on November 19, 2006, and again on the Wii U's Virtual Console service on April 1, 2015, making it and Donkey Kong 64 the first two Nintendo 64 games to be released on the Wii U.

Super Mario 64 was the first time that many players heard Charles Martinet as Mario's voice, as it is today. The game also named Princess Toadstool as Peach, as shown in the opening letter, and made it a series standard.

Gameplay
The player controls Mario in a variety of open environments of varying size and complexity, ranging from a small cubic room to large self-contained worlds populated by enemies, items, and friendly NPCs who can either provide limited assistance to Mario or are subject of one of the game's tasks.

To progress, the player must collect Power Stars by completing a variety of missions, ranging from tasks such as defeating a specific enemy, completing a puzzle, collecting a set amount of items, or besting a NPC in a friendly competition. There are a total of 120 Power Stars in the game, though only 70 need to be collected in order to complete the game. The Power Stars are split between the fifteen main courses, nine secret courses, and other objectives. The main courses contain six numbered missions each plus an hidden Power Star for collecting 100 coins. Though missions for a level are numbered, most missions can be performed out of order. Other missions, however, can only be completed by selecting a specific scenario from the course selection screen, as to prompt the appearance or disappearance of a character or object needed to complete the task.

The game is primarily set inside and around Princess Peach's Castle, itself divided in multiple rooms containing portals (most represented as paintings) that lead to the game's courses. Initially, the player can only access one of the paintings and a limited section of the castle, but as the player collects Power Stars, the player will be able to unlock doors leading to the other courses and open up other sections of the castle by collecting a certain number of stars and completing a Bowser level.

Characters
Main Characters
 * Mario
 * Princess Peach
 * Toad
 * Yoshi

Bosses
 * Bowser

Trivia

 * Super Mario 64 was one of the games featured at The Art of Video Games exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2012. The game won voting in the "action" category for the Nintendo 64, beating out Banjo-Kazooie and Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire.
 * Like most Nintendo 64 games at the time, Super Mario 64 does not use the full 64-bit capabilities of the console, but actually runs in 32-bit.
 * The music which plays while climbing the endless staircase is a Shepard tone, a sequence of notes which are made to sound as if they are infinitely ascending in tone when in fact they are looping.
 * Super Mario 64 is one of the few mainstream Mario games, along with Super Mario Sunshine, to not have a single reference to Luigi.