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News   Super Mario 64
- Posted By Eric Tajchman, 08.23.2002

There are many that know the reasons for Nintendo’s lackluster performance during the third generation of console gaming. Delay after delay forced the Nintendo 64 to be pushed back over a year behind its competitors, the Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn. Nintendo’s decision to use costly cart media instead of an inexpensive CD based media (even after they signed an agreement with Panasonic, causing Sony to split with Nintendo on the SNES CD project) cost them the talents of many developers, most especially Square Soft. The programming difficulties and hardware bottlenecks and drove even more developers to produce games mostly for other systems. But many people don’t seem to remember the great, innovative things that Nintendo did, one of which was creating one of the first and best 3D console games, Super Mario 64.

In reality, the entire Nintendo 64 system was based off of Super Mario 64. The cartridge media was used instead of CDs to eliminate long load times. The hardware specifications were designed to run Super Mario 64 with ease and no technical hiccups. Even the controller was designed for Mario’s 3D romp, as it featured an analog control stick to easily navigate 3D worlds and the C-buttons to revolve the camera around the mustachioed hero. Super Mario 64 was the ideal transition of a 2D idea to a 3D game. It was able to capture the same Mario experience in a new 3D world, something which games of today cannot accomplish. It was truly a masterpiece.




But like most masterpieces, its creation took time. Part of the Nintendo 64’s long delay was because of Super Mario 64 still being unfinished. Over 50 people worked on the title and programmed more than 4 Megabytes of code, compared to 5 people on the original Donkey Kong team programming 20 kilobytes. But the fate of the Nintendo 64 launch rested on the shoulders of Mario’s first 3D outing, and so if it required a little more time to polish and perfect, it would be worth it. When the Nintendo 64 launched with Super Mario 64, it was an instant hit. The 300,000 consoles delegated to the Japanese launch sold out that first week, with nearly the same number buying a copy of Super Mario 64. In America, the 500,000 consoles produced for launch sold out in a short weekend, with about nearly that same number of Super Mario 64 sold.




Indeed, Super Mario 64 was a new, revolutionary, and insanely fun game. It was the first quality game to cross the 2D/3D line and show that 3D gaming could be entertaining and successful. If you want to check out the particulars of the game, check out EIC Michael Loewer’s review of Super Mario 64.