In absence of the power-ups normally found in previous games, such as the Super Mushroom and Fire Flower, three colors of translucent blocks-red, green, and blue-appear throughout many stages. When Mario finishes a course, he gains a life for every fifty yellow coins the player collected, and extra life mushrooms are hidden in various places such as trees and may chase Mario through the air or fall to the ground and disappear shortly if not collected. The game ends if Mario loses all his lives. As in previous Super Mario games, he starts with a number of extra lives, lost when his health is depleted or he falls into a bottomless pit. Underwater, Mario's health instead represents how long he can hold his breath, slowly diminishing while underwater and replenishing when he surfaces. If Mario has taken damage, he can replenish his health either by collecting three types of coins-yellow, which replenishes one segment red, equal to two yellow coins and blue, equal to five yellow coins-or by walking through a spinning heart. Unlike many of its predecessors, Super Mario 64 uses a health point system, represented by a pie shape consisting of eight segments. The player can adjust the camera-operated by a Lakitu broadcasting Mario-and toggle between first-person and third-person view. He can execute special jumps by combining a regular jump with other actions, including the double and triple jumps, long jump, backflip, and wall jump. He can walk, run, jump, crouch, crawl, climb, swim, kick, grab objects, and punch using the game controller's analog stick and buttons. Mario's abilities are far more diverse than in previous games. Super Mario 64 is a 3D platformer in which the player controls Mario through various courses.

The three screenshots show the camera automatically rotating to show the path. Gameplay Controls From left to right clockwise, the interface shows the number of extra lives, health points remaining, coins obtained, Power Stars collected throughout the game, and the camera configuration. The game has attracted a cult following, spawning many fangames and mods, a large speedrunning presence, and enduring rumors surrounding game features. It was remade as Super Mario 64 DS for the Nintendo DS in 2004, and has been ported to other Nintendo consoles since.

Numerous developers have cited it as an influence on 3D platform games, with its dynamic camera system and 360-degree analog control establishing a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. Retrospectively, Super Mario 64 has been considered one of the greatest video games of all time. It is the best-selling Nintendo 64 game, with nearly twelve million copies sold by 2015. It received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising its ambition, visuals, level design, and gameplay, though some criticized its virtual camera system. Super Mario 64 was highly anticipated by video game journalists and audiences, boosted by advertising campaigns and showings at the 1996 E3 trade show. The sound effects were recorded by Yoji Inagaki and the score was composed by Koji Kondo. The team continued with illustrating the 3D character models-at the time a relatively unattempted task-and refining sprite movements. Development lasted nearly three years: about one year on design and twenty months on production, starting with designing the virtual camera system. As Mario, the player collects Power Stars to unlock enough of Princess Peach's castle to get to Bowser and rescue Princess Peach.ĭirector Shigeru Miyamoto conceived a 3D Super Mario game during the production of Star Fox (1993). In the game, Bowser, the primary antagonist of the Super Mario franchise, invades Princess Peach's castle and hides the castle's sources of protection, the Power Stars, in many different worlds inside magical paintings. It is the first Super Mario game to feature 3D gameplay, combining traditional Super Mario gameplay, visual style, and characters in a large open world. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. Super Mario 64 is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64.

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