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Back in 1996, the video game industry was in a major transition period. While Nintendo and Sega were rolling in the success of their NES and Genesis consoles respectively, Sony entered the market with its little-console-that-could, the PlayStation. The early PlayStation games dabbled in 3D graphics with varying success, but Nintendo promised that the next Mario game would be the first game to truly master the third dimension. Almost a year to the day after the PlayStation launch, Nintendo released its Nintendo 64 console with just two games: Pilotwings 64 and what is considered by many to still be one of the best 3D games ever created, Super Mario 64.
Mario in 3D was quite a sight to behold in 1996. |
Nintendo was no stranger to innovation when the Nintendo 64 was released. It had invented and refined entire genres on its NES and SNES consoles. But no one was prepared for the wonder that was Super Mario 64. The Nintendo 64's controller was designed around the game, and the N64's analog stick brought new levels of gameplay that previously had only been prophesied. Nudging the analog stick made Mario tiptoe, holding it halfway made him walk, and pushing it to the hilt would cause Mario to run. While the concept sounds simplistic now, in 1996 this was a major innovation.
Mario's 64-bit outing showed the rest of the industry how to manage a camera. |
Nintendo basically set the standards for how 3D space would be navigated within video games with Super Mario 64. In addition to being an actual in-game character, the camera could be controlled in such a way that it became a part of the gameplay and not an obtrusive annoyance. In fact, smoothly swinging the camera as Mario advanced through the levels became an art form. Super Mario 64 made using the camera a fun experience: You could use it to show the action, which made gameplay easier, or you could view the game through Mario's eyes.
Super Mario 64 included a bevy of minigames, and it was also one of the first games to prove that including a variety of gameplay in adventure games could be accomplished without making a game seem disjointed. Mario could slide on his butt down slippery slopes in racing minigames, fly through the sky collecting coins, or use the game's many canons for target practice. The wealth of moves at your disposal was another one of Super Mario 64's influential traits. You could swim, crawl, wall jump, and--for the first time ever--perform the now legendary "butt stomp."
Super Mario 64 was the first console game to utilize particle effects, real-time reflections, and transparencies. |
Besides the obvious leap from 2D sprites to polygonal 3D environments, Super Mario 64 was the first console game to use several graphical tricks that are now commonplace in many 3D console games. Particle effects were used to simulate dust and smoke, transparency routines simulated liquid substances, and reflections were used to illustrate mirrors, marble floors, and the surface of water.
To be fair, Eidos' Tomb Raider was released just a month after Super Mario 64, and it also adequately managed 3D space. However, it lacked the polish of Nintendo's first 3D game. Not to mention that Tomb Raider's game mechanics were not duplicated nearly as often. If it weren't for Super Mario 64, there would be no Banjo-Kazooie, no Ape Escape, no Crash Bandicoot, and 3D gaming in general would never have reached its current state so quickly. Super Mario 64 fits our criteria for one of the 15 most influential games: Its near-flawless mastery of 3D space, its variety of tightly executed gameplay, and its graphical achievements make it an easy pick.
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