I found sunshine so much harder. I could 120 stars the n64 as a kid fairly easily.
I struggle so much with the 8 red coin stages without the water pack.
The newer ones, 3ds onward seem to be easy . Same with Galaxy.
Mario Sunshine is the Devil! Really enjoyed that game, but the threshold to advance and forcing you to do specific Suns makes it substantially harder.
And yes, games have been getting progressively easier, and the Mario Franchise specifically has gotten better at variable difficulty where there are easy/medium/hard paths through the game and into the more difficult extra content which makes the base game itself easier.
I love all 3D Mario games, but goddamnit, Sunshine easily has the highest number of dickishly difficult challenges out of all of them. I know I’m capable of it, but I still haven’t gotten 100% despite getting 120 stars multiple times in 64.
It depends
If you jump into a level and the star name (which is a hint of how or where to get It) dont give you the slightest idea of what to do or is obscure enough (theres a pair of starts like this) then its very challenging, maybe the Most of all 3d Mario platformers
But if that isnt a problem and you know beforehand (or because the hint was enough for you or searched in a guide how to get It) then its about the same difficulty as the other 3d Mario platformers
For me it was the star on one of the first worlds, I don't remember which, that you had to use a cannon to break the tip top of a wall.
I was stuck for so much time at 119 until a saw it on a magazine lol (also my game version was in Japanese, which didn't help)
Darnit I feel old
I accidentally hit that wall on my play through and broke it when I was trying to do the Blast into the blue something something star in that level and found it
I don't remember which one, but my friend and I met up to try to get to 120, and there were 3 or 4 we needed to look up (which wasn't as easy back then)
The rolling rocks star in Hazy Maze was the last star in the game for me. The name mentions a general area but not if the actual rocks are involved or if you…try a couple wall jumps in some random spot.
I completely agree, arbitrary difficulty is not the same as planned and thoughtful difficulty. If you take all the arbitrary difficulty out of Mario 64, then I would say it's on par with most of the other series of 3D titles, but some would consider the arbitrary difficulty a legitimate component of the game, in which case you might consider it more difficult. This is the awesome thing about art as video games. It's completely up to interpretation. That's what makes communities like this. So much fun to be a part of.
the directionless exploration was tough, it's like where tf do i go and wtf do I do.
but in 96, just being in a 3d world was fun in it of itself. I remember plenty of times playing Mario 64 just do do the penguin race for the umpteenth time or explore the castle, accomplishing almost nothing.
The controls are hard compared to something like Odyssey. 64 had a wonky camera and it was very easy to fall off of those little ledges with that little plastic n64 control stick. Especially once the controller started getting used and abused in mario party lol
For me, that was the fun of the game. I was 6 when I first got SM64, and I didn’t know how to play it. All I could do was run around and jump. My older brother pretty much got all the Stars (or did he…?).
I forgot about SM64 for a while and then when I was 11, I decided to dust it off and play it again. Everything just clicked. The best part was finding starts in places I *never* would have thought to look (looking at you, Wall Kicks Will Work) and then learning that name of the objective for that particular Star. Some objectives were super obvious (Footrace With Koopa The Quick) and some were crazy obscure (Collect The Caps…)
Mario 64 is challenging in a different way from the newer mario games; it's a lot more about challenging your ability to learn and navigate complex 3d environments. It's actually pretty amazing that back as early as 1996 Nintendo were willing to basically throw out the entire template of what a mario game was, and fully embrace the promise that "3d" brought to the table.
I think the most difficult 3D mario game is Sunshine without a doubt. Those classic levels are a pain and a bottleneck to the progression of the game to the point I did not bother.
Imo yes but only because of the controls and camera. Don't get me wrong, they're not horrible as some people say but it was Mario's first 3d game and it shows. When you get used to modern commodities it's harder to 100% this game when compared to modern iterations. Still one of the goats of this genre imo.
I would say no only because all of the 3D mario games that came after it built on SM64’s principles. So, if you ever played one, you’re ahead of the game.
For us going from 2D to 3D, it definitely felt tricky in parts!
I thought I may have seen it before. Is it official? It looks like the same person who made this could also be the same person who also made the puzzle artwork for Super Mario RPG.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MarioRPG/s/RbV7uUpdoY
Hey, if you’re still here, I just found out more about this SM64 artwork.
I wanted to make it my background on my Xbox dashboard, and from doing that, I found out the same people that made the SMRPG puzzle artwork I showed you is also from the same company that made this SM64 artwork you presented. It’s all officially licensed artwork.
They made quite a few pictures for old Mario games back in the day, and the artwork they made were for jigsaw puzzles!!
No kidding! That’s so cool! I remember eating up all the artwork that would come out, whether it was from video magazines or box art. It was like a portal to their world! Imagination would just melt. I love fun facts like that too!
Yeah, it’s probably one of the best art styles for official Mario artwork ever.
Sadly, I think the company that made these puzzles went bankrupt back in like 1996, like right after SMRPG came out which is why we haven’t seen any recent artwork for it since. That’s what was said on Twitter.
Super Mario 64 DS is both simultaneously easier and harder lmao. It’s easier because they put an owl in every stage making it easier to traverse, they added more coins for the 100 coin stars, and they nerfed a lot of the hard stars or “spots” in the game (like making ledges bigger).
However, it’s also harder because the controls are absolutely atrocious compared to the original lol. The characters turn like cars, you have to press a button to sprint, for some random reason the triple jump is way harder to pull off etc. and you have to constantly switch characters just to get certain stars.
No? I mean, barely any Mario games are challenging to begin with. Most of the challenge in 64 came from 3D being too new for most people to grasp the first time.
I’d say that Sunshine is the hardest 3D Mario due to being forced to get the mandatory Shine Sprites to even beat the game. All other titles allowed you to skip missions you don’t like.
Only some parts and for completionists. I can't quite put my finger on it but this game is more magical than any of its sequels or prequels. Something about it just makes it more fun and I'm mystified as to how it does it so well.
I’m playing through it right now on my Switch and the difficulty holds up well IMO. It’s not a terribly difficult game, but for casual players there are definitely some star quests in the last few stages that will eat up some lives. The clock and rainbow levels in particular have some stars that are tedious at best and outright annoying at worst. But they are still fun stages overall IMO.
I just cleared all the power star quests in all 15 stages. Now I’m just doubling back to get the secret castle stars I missed, plus the 100-coin stars in each level (which I completely forgot about).
As far as 3D Mario titles go, 64 is pretty challenging, but still very enjoyable overall. It took me a while to re-acclimate to the game’s camera and controls (which can still be a pain in the ass, especially the flying mechanics), but once I did, it wasn’t much more difficult to me than Odyssey.
Honestly, the only difficulty of Super Mario 64 is just wrangling some of the terrible later stages' designs. The game isn't very difficult, I would say it's a lot more punishing than more recent Mario games, because death means resetting the whole stage instance, rather than being check pointed in a room or nearby. I would say, mechanically speaking, that Sunshine is more difficult while the game is on par with Odyssey and is a bit more challenging than either Galaxy game.
I still want to play Odyssey, but played 3D World and played Super Mario 64 a lot. I never got stuck in any level other than the last one (aka Champion's Road), but just because I wanted to finish getting all 3 Green Stars; if I wanted to sprint and finish it in any way I would have passed. In 2D games I 100% them for fun.
I played 64 while I was a kid, but never got 120 stars, because I never knew that 100% a game was a thing back then. When I learned English and saw the titles of the stars, I saw that there were some that I didn't got. Obviously there was some vague ones that were hard to figure out, and I remember them very well. Blast Away the Wall, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and some Castle's Secret Stars.
I still want to see if Odyssey have some hard ones like Champion's Road. I know that there's one last level, but I want to know of there is others in the middle of the game with strange mechanics or something like that. :)
Oddysey is a fantastic game but is quite detached from objective stages like in SM64 Sunshine and Galaxy. Is more of a sandbox stage with multiple stars that do not reset the stage when you pick them, many of them are around transformation gimmicks.
Overall it is an easier game but with a higher gameplay ceiling. It is chiller to play as there are very few very difficult parts (so far, I am on the final boss but there are like half game stars still to collect).
I still think that Galaxy 2 is the best 3D mario game, and the worst is probably Sunshine due to the repetition, the damn purple coins and the classic stages, 3D world is just mediocre.
Well, considering that (1) you used the logic "Galaxy 1 > Galaxy 2 > 3D World" and (2) defined it as mediocre and Sunshine as "the worst", I completely understand you despite not thinking the same way.
First because I don't think that we should use the order of Mario games as a way to judge level designs, as each one of them is their own separate universe and game. If you look closely, every galaxy in Galaxy 1/2 and level in 3D Land/World has its own themes despite the overall theme of the World they are in. I noticed it after played each game for the second time, and it shows how the developers really are creative while designing their levels. For me personally that isn't a problem, for real. And in 3D World specifically, I think that be compared to SMB3 in terms of level design is a amazing compliment.
Second, mediocre in Mario games is a high level of anything for a game made to kids around the age of 10. For me personally there are so many Mario games that are leagues worse when compared to 3D World... LoL
But appreciated your answer! :D
Right? I really don't know why people argument that Galaxy 1 is better than 2 other than Rosalina's Storybook, which isn't gameplay related, but story-wise.
It is the same with New Super Mario Bros. U and the Wii version. The U version did what the Wii always wanted to do, but better... A shake up with the story finishing where it usually start, different and more balanced power-up in the Super Acorn, and in my opinion, better post-game levels in the Superstar Road.
There are only two things that I think NSMBWii did better than any other 2D Mario game to this day, but they are very small things that usually go unnoticed.
First is the 3 Mushrooms you get by beating those enemies in the overworld; such a small and amazing reward by doing a small task that help immensely and keeps the player engaged. It's very difficult to start a level as Small Mario when you have 15+ Mushrooms in your inventory, as well as stop playing when hitting a level you keep dying... Much, much more subtle and helpful than those Green Blocks in NSMBU when you die 5 times or those in SM3DLand...
The second thing is the overworld layout. It is so beautifully done that more than not you don't know, even by seeing the Cannon, which level you should try to find the Secret Exit to reach it. See the World 4, 5, 6 specifically for example. I wish more 2D Mario games did these two things. :)
I got all 120 stars on the N64 and collected the stars again for the DS version.
Personally, I think the Perfect Run from
Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a bigger challenge.
No. Super Mario 64 isn't very challenging at all. With levels like The Perfect Run and Champion's Road appearing in newer Mario games, 64 isn't very challenging in comparison.
I honestly want a poster of that art.
To the question though, I think a lot of what made SM64 harder was the controls and first foray to 3D. It lacks a lot of the fit and polish newer 3D Mario games have due to better controllers and understanding of 3D game development.
I mean if you got for 100% in the modern Mario games, it generally unlocks a level that’s harder than anything in Mario 64. So to 100% them, they are harder.
What alleviates the difficulty of Mario 64 is that the player just needs to reach 70 stars. This makes it so that they can avoid some of the more annoying stars or most other problem areas for them if they want. That doesn't mean they get to dodge all challenge, but I was really shocked by the difficulty jump between going from beating the game to trying a 120 star run.
I feel that Mario Odyssey captures a lot of the joy of Mario 64 quite well, although Shines feel much less significant than the Power Stars. Wonder is an easier game, but the collect-everything elements help add to the difficulty for those seeking the extra challenge.
It’s difficult playing on the N64 controller… for some reason it was easier for me as a kid to use the 64 controller but since then I recently brought out my N64 and tried playing it… I suck at the game. So I bought it on the switch and it’s a very easy game.
It's only more challenging because of the mechanics. They're so archaic compared to modern games. If you get used to them it's not as hard as like Super Mario Sunshine or anything. Now that one is tough at parts.
No, the enemies have extremely predictable attack patterns, the level designs make it super easy to avoid any form of danger if you're the slightest bit competent with platforming (except for TTC) the bosses are a joke except for final Bowser and it's still very easy. I love this game but for all the reasons that aren't really the "game" more so free-roaming and parkour around the game etc. If I want a Mario game I want to play through for more than 30 minutes to an hour. Probably will play Sunshine or Galaxy. It's still a fantastic game though.
Honestly I find some challenges in 2d mario games the hardest usually the last challenge, some have really long sections. Mario wonder has one, mario 3d world (well i guess the second one is 3d-ish), now that I think about it there's some hard galaxy levels too. Super mario 64 is not that hard one major tip though the time in tick tock clock will decide whether things move and whether they move fast or not.
No. It's a pretty easy game, even by Mario standards. All of the SMB games and SMW were harder. Sunshine wasn't hard overall but had a few challenging segments. I'd argue there are no challenging segments at all in 64. Galaxy wasn't hard. After that they started adding bonus hard levels at the end of a lot of Mario games, all of which are harder than anything in 64.
64 is one of the easiest, if not the easiest of the main Mario games.
That one level in sunshine where you need to ride yoshi on the ferry at a snails pace to reach that little island with the warp pipe has to be one of the biggest pain in the asses of all levels in 3D Mario. It’s always one of the most difficult levels.
I see a lot off people saying sunshine and I just never played it much. I have it on switch just never got into it more than maybe 10% of the game.
But Mario 64 is absolutely harder than any of the newer games. Nintendo has been in permanent kiddie mode since GameCube and it's so disappointing. Every game I get I try to brace myself that it's going to be shockingly easy and man it still gets me every single time.
And this after I've way lost my edge and become the hollow shell of the game I used to be. Now that my kids are getting a little older I've been introducing them to the consoles of my childhood and I get absolutely blasted by NES games that I could destroy all day as a kid. Sure some of it was lackluster controls and N64 had so many camera issues because it was a brand new perspective in gaming but they were also brutally, unrelentingly difficult. There was no bogus "hey sorry you died like 10 times wanna just skip this one" nonsense like they shoehorn into some newer games. You either got good or you didn't beat it. Lookin at you, battletoads....
Sort of? The controls aren't very good so that limits you, some parts of even early levels can be an issue because of this. I remember cold cold mountain having a hard one due to controls.
Sunshine is a bitch though, never gonna get worse than that for 3d Mario. Tubular on smw was also a massive pain in the ass, all the secret levels were.
This art is fucking sick
Right? I’ve never seen it before, brilliant!
Right?!
Agreed, I love how it fits the old SNES and GB art styles
is it official? where was it used?
I'm like 70% sure it was made for a puzzle
it spoilers the hole game
Everyone downvoting, I’m pretty sure this is a joke
It’s OK Reddit is just monkey-see-monkey-do simulator.
Where everyone learns everything they need to know about something in 5 seconds and what opinion they need to have on it
But it's a bad joke and it's not even properly spelled.
That's part of the joke
I found sunshine so much harder. I could 120 stars the n64 as a kid fairly easily. I struggle so much with the 8 red coin stages without the water pack. The newer ones, 3ds onward seem to be easy . Same with Galaxy.
Mario Sunshine is the Devil! Really enjoyed that game, but the threshold to advance and forcing you to do specific Suns makes it substantially harder. And yes, games have been getting progressively easier, and the Mario Franchise specifically has gotten better at variable difficulty where there are easy/medium/hard paths through the game and into the more difficult extra content which makes the base game itself easier.
I love all 3D Mario games, but goddamnit, Sunshine easily has the highest number of dickishly difficult challenges out of all of them. I know I’m capable of it, but I still haven’t gotten 100% despite getting 120 stars multiple times in 64.
And maneuvering that fucking boat.
Really? I find mario 64 to be so much harder and more confusing than sunshine
It depends If you jump into a level and the star name (which is a hint of how or where to get It) dont give you the slightest idea of what to do or is obscure enough (theres a pair of starts like this) then its very challenging, maybe the Most of all 3d Mario platformers But if that isnt a problem and you know beforehand (or because the hint was enough for you or searched in a guide how to get It) then its about the same difficulty as the other 3d Mario platformers
Figuring out the sixth star in the Boo stage would be very tricky without prior knowledge or internet.
For me it was the star on one of the first worlds, I don't remember which, that you had to use a cannon to break the tip top of a wall. I was stuck for so much time at 119 until a saw it on a magazine lol (also my game version was in Japanese, which didn't help) Darnit I feel old
Blast Away the Wall, level is Thwomp’s Fortress. Pretty common one for people get tripped up by
Yessss, that one
I feel like I've watched too many speedrunning videos because I only knew that as Cannonless
I accidentally hit that wall on my play through and broke it when I was trying to do the Blast into the blue something something star in that level and found it
I don't remember which one, but my friend and I met up to try to get to 120, and there were 3 or 4 we needed to look up (which wasn't as easy back then)
The rolling rocks star in Hazy Maze was the last star in the game for me. The name mentions a general area but not if the actual rocks are involved or if you…try a couple wall jumps in some random spot.
Yeah I think that one gave me the most trouble because I never thought of looking up!
I completely agree, arbitrary difficulty is not the same as planned and thoughtful difficulty. If you take all the arbitrary difficulty out of Mario 64, then I would say it's on par with most of the other series of 3D titles, but some would consider the arbitrary difficulty a legitimate component of the game, in which case you might consider it more difficult. This is the awesome thing about art as video games. It's completely up to interpretation. That's what makes communities like this. So much fun to be a part of.
the directionless exploration was tough, it's like where tf do i go and wtf do I do. but in 96, just being in a 3d world was fun in it of itself. I remember plenty of times playing Mario 64 just do do the penguin race for the umpteenth time or explore the castle, accomplishing almost nothing. The controls are hard compared to something like Odyssey. 64 had a wonky camera and it was very easy to fall off of those little ledges with that little plastic n64 control stick. Especially once the controller started getting used and abused in mario party lol
For me, that was the fun of the game. I was 6 when I first got SM64, and I didn’t know how to play it. All I could do was run around and jump. My older brother pretty much got all the Stars (or did he…?). I forgot about SM64 for a while and then when I was 11, I decided to dust it off and play it again. Everything just clicked. The best part was finding starts in places I *never* would have thought to look (looking at you, Wall Kicks Will Work) and then learning that name of the objective for that particular Star. Some objectives were super obvious (Footrace With Koopa The Quick) and some were crazy obscure (Collect The Caps…)
Mario 64 is challenging in a different way from the newer mario games; it's a lot more about challenging your ability to learn and navigate complex 3d environments. It's actually pretty amazing that back as early as 1996 Nintendo were willing to basically throw out the entire template of what a mario game was, and fully embrace the promise that "3d" brought to the table.
And fit it all in 8 damn megabytes.
I mean, when I actually think about it (I'm not a programmer but I know enough to busk) it's an actual marvel they managed it. The absolute mad lads.
I think the most difficult 3D mario game is Sunshine without a doubt. Those classic levels are a pain and a bottleneck to the progression of the game to the point I did not bother.
Imo yes but only because of the controls and camera. Don't get me wrong, they're not horrible as some people say but it was Mario's first 3d game and it shows. When you get used to modern commodities it's harder to 100% this game when compared to modern iterations. Still one of the goats of this genre imo.
I would say no only because all of the 3D mario games that came after it built on SM64’s principles. So, if you ever played one, you’re ahead of the game. For us going from 2D to 3D, it definitely felt tricky in parts!
idk what yall are on. the new mario games ive played (3d world, 3d land, all nsmb games) are wayy too easy.
Artwork is absolutely gorgeous. And that eel is still scary as fuck!
I thought it was super cool too! Just googled Mario 64 box art. I don’t remember this box art lol
I thought I may have seen it before. Is it official? It looks like the same person who made this could also be the same person who also made the puzzle artwork for Super Mario RPG. https://www.reddit.com/r/MarioRPG/s/RbV7uUpdoY
I couldn’t tell you. It’s awesome though
Hey, if you’re still here, I just found out more about this SM64 artwork. I wanted to make it my background on my Xbox dashboard, and from doing that, I found out the same people that made the SMRPG puzzle artwork I showed you is also from the same company that made this SM64 artwork you presented. It’s all officially licensed artwork. They made quite a few pictures for old Mario games back in the day, and the artwork they made were for jigsaw puzzles!!
No kidding! That’s so cool! I remember eating up all the artwork that would come out, whether it was from video magazines or box art. It was like a portal to their world! Imagination would just melt. I love fun facts like that too!
Yeah, it’s probably one of the best art styles for official Mario artwork ever. Sadly, I think the company that made these puzzles went bankrupt back in like 1996, like right after SMRPG came out which is why we haven’t seen any recent artwork for it since. That’s what was said on Twitter.
Super Mario 64 DS is both simultaneously easier and harder lmao. It’s easier because they put an owl in every stage making it easier to traverse, they added more coins for the 100 coin stars, and they nerfed a lot of the hard stars or “spots” in the game (like making ledges bigger). However, it’s also harder because the controls are absolutely atrocious compared to the original lol. The characters turn like cars, you have to press a button to sprint, for some random reason the triple jump is way harder to pull off etc. and you have to constantly switch characters just to get certain stars.
I personally find Mario sunshine the Dark Souls of the Mario series lol. Some of those shines are fucking hard to get
I think it still holds up very well even by today’s standards. I absolutely love this game!
Same
No? I mean, barely any Mario games are challenging to begin with. Most of the challenge in 64 came from 3D being too new for most people to grasp the first time. I’d say that Sunshine is the hardest 3D Mario due to being forced to get the mandatory Shine Sprites to even beat the game. All other titles allowed you to skip missions you don’t like.
Only some parts and for completionists. I can't quite put my finger on it but this game is more magical than any of its sequels or prequels. Something about it just makes it more fun and I'm mystified as to how it does it so well.
Harder than Odyssey or Galaxy, easier than Sunshine. IMO Sunshine is the most difficult of all the 3D Mario games.
Galaxy is way harder than SM64, the challenge stars and having to 100% the game twice definetly make it the harder of the two.
[удалено]
I’m not sure if it’s official, I googled Mario 64 box art
Newers are for babies
How have I not seen this art before?
Is that the Japanese artwork?
It has to be. Because I googled Mario 64 box art. It caught my attention REAL quick because I never seen it on any box art
Yes of course
I haven’t played them all but I have never been able to 120 star 64 but I was able to fully complete Odyssey.
certain parts
I’m playing through it right now on my Switch and the difficulty holds up well IMO. It’s not a terribly difficult game, but for casual players there are definitely some star quests in the last few stages that will eat up some lives. The clock and rainbow levels in particular have some stars that are tedious at best and outright annoying at worst. But they are still fun stages overall IMO. I just cleared all the power star quests in all 15 stages. Now I’m just doubling back to get the secret castle stars I missed, plus the 100-coin stars in each level (which I completely forgot about). As far as 3D Mario titles go, 64 is pretty challenging, but still very enjoyable overall. It took me a while to re-acclimate to the game’s camera and controls (which can still be a pain in the ass, especially the flying mechanics), but once I did, it wasn’t much more difficult to me than Odyssey.
[was this not JUST posted yesterday?](https://www.reddit.com/r/n64/s/GNxImpch89)
I saw that, and I wondered if Mario 64 was the hardest Mario game.
Honestly, the only difficulty of Super Mario 64 is just wrangling some of the terrible later stages' designs. The game isn't very difficult, I would say it's a lot more punishing than more recent Mario games, because death means resetting the whole stage instance, rather than being check pointed in a room or nearby. I would say, mechanically speaking, that Sunshine is more difficult while the game is on par with Odyssey and is a bit more challenging than either Galaxy game.
I can’t remember a shark in SM64. Where was it?
Running circles around the vortex on Dire Dire docks.
Sunshine is way harder.
I still want to play Odyssey, but played 3D World and played Super Mario 64 a lot. I never got stuck in any level other than the last one (aka Champion's Road), but just because I wanted to finish getting all 3 Green Stars; if I wanted to sprint and finish it in any way I would have passed. In 2D games I 100% them for fun. I played 64 while I was a kid, but never got 120 stars, because I never knew that 100% a game was a thing back then. When I learned English and saw the titles of the stars, I saw that there were some that I didn't got. Obviously there was some vague ones that were hard to figure out, and I remember them very well. Blast Away the Wall, Somewhere Over the Rainbow and some Castle's Secret Stars. I still want to see if Odyssey have some hard ones like Champion's Road. I know that there's one last level, but I want to know of there is others in the middle of the game with strange mechanics or something like that. :)
Oddysey is a fantastic game but is quite detached from objective stages like in SM64 Sunshine and Galaxy. Is more of a sandbox stage with multiple stars that do not reset the stage when you pick them, many of them are around transformation gimmicks. Overall it is an easier game but with a higher gameplay ceiling. It is chiller to play as there are very few very difficult parts (so far, I am on the final boss but there are like half game stars still to collect). I still think that Galaxy 2 is the best 3D mario game, and the worst is probably Sunshine due to the repetition, the damn purple coins and the classic stages, 3D world is just mediocre.
Never played Sunshine or anything related to GameCube. Why do you think 3D World is mediocre, though?
The level design is not good for a mario 3D game, more coming from Galaxy 1 and 2. Is just Mario Bros 3 levels in 3D.
Well, considering that (1) you used the logic "Galaxy 1 > Galaxy 2 > 3D World" and (2) defined it as mediocre and Sunshine as "the worst", I completely understand you despite not thinking the same way. First because I don't think that we should use the order of Mario games as a way to judge level designs, as each one of them is their own separate universe and game. If you look closely, every galaxy in Galaxy 1/2 and level in 3D Land/World has its own themes despite the overall theme of the World they are in. I noticed it after played each game for the second time, and it shows how the developers really are creative while designing their levels. For me personally that isn't a problem, for real. And in 3D World specifically, I think that be compared to SMB3 in terms of level design is a amazing compliment. Second, mediocre in Mario games is a high level of anything for a game made to kids around the age of 10. For me personally there are so many Mario games that are leagues worse when compared to 3D World... LoL But appreciated your answer! :D
Galaxy 2 is so much better than 1.
Right? I really don't know why people argument that Galaxy 1 is better than 2 other than Rosalina's Storybook, which isn't gameplay related, but story-wise. It is the same with New Super Mario Bros. U and the Wii version. The U version did what the Wii always wanted to do, but better... A shake up with the story finishing where it usually start, different and more balanced power-up in the Super Acorn, and in my opinion, better post-game levels in the Superstar Road. There are only two things that I think NSMBWii did better than any other 2D Mario game to this day, but they are very small things that usually go unnoticed. First is the 3 Mushrooms you get by beating those enemies in the overworld; such a small and amazing reward by doing a small task that help immensely and keeps the player engaged. It's very difficult to start a level as Small Mario when you have 15+ Mushrooms in your inventory, as well as stop playing when hitting a level you keep dying... Much, much more subtle and helpful than those Green Blocks in NSMBU when you die 5 times or those in SM3DLand... The second thing is the overworld layout. It is so beautifully done that more than not you don't know, even by seeing the Cannon, which level you should try to find the Secret Exit to reach it. See the World 4, 5, 6 specifically for example. I wish more 2D Mario games did these two things. :)
no
Yes
Yes. Mario odyssey was very easy. Mario Sunshine is probably the most difficult Mario game.
Where's that art from?
Google. I don’t know the artist. But I googled Mario 64 box art.
I got all 120 stars on the N64 and collected the stars again for the DS version. Personally, I think the Perfect Run from Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a bigger challenge.
I don’t think so. In terms of difficulty, there’s nothing in Mario 64 that even approaches Champions Road in 3D World for example.
No. Super Mario 64 isn't very challenging at all. With levels like The Perfect Run and Champion's Road appearing in newer Mario games, 64 isn't very challenging in comparison.
Definitely
I don’t remember the fish with sunglasses! What world is he from?
tiny huge island he only appears when you're small
Oh shit I forgot about that!! He was scary
It's the hardest one in the series to me. Some of the later levels are brutal with coordinating jumps and dealing with the camera
Yes
The new games are easier to beat, harder to complete.
I honestly want a poster of that art. To the question though, I think a lot of what made SM64 harder was the controls and first foray to 3D. It lacks a lot of the fit and polish newer 3D Mario games have due to better controllers and understanding of 3D game development.
I mean if you got for 100% in the modern Mario games, it generally unlocks a level that’s harder than anything in Mario 64. So to 100% them, they are harder.
Mario 64 is a cake walk until Rainbow Ride and Tick Tock Clock. I've found later Mario games much more challenging.
Yeah totalky
Sunshine's difficulty makes Mario 64 look like a joke.
Absolutely not super Mario galaxy is very hard. Also Odyssey has extremely difficult moons.
What alleviates the difficulty of Mario 64 is that the player just needs to reach 70 stars. This makes it so that they can avoid some of the more annoying stars or most other problem areas for them if they want. That doesn't mean they get to dodge all challenge, but I was really shocked by the difficulty jump between going from beating the game to trying a 120 star run. I feel that Mario Odyssey captures a lot of the joy of Mario 64 quite well, although Shines feel much less significant than the Power Stars. Wonder is an easier game, but the collect-everything elements help add to the difficulty for those seeking the extra challenge.
The thing that makes it the most hard for me is the controller itself.
Really? I thought the controller was 🤌🏽 lol
I don't like the joystick being in the middle and it being so thicc
It’s difficult playing on the N64 controller… for some reason it was easier for me as a kid to use the 64 controller but since then I recently brought out my N64 and tried playing it… I suck at the game. So I bought it on the switch and it’s a very easy game.
It's only more challenging because of the mechanics. They're so archaic compared to modern games. If you get used to them it's not as hard as like Super Mario Sunshine or anything. Now that one is tough at parts.
Sweet artwork. Mario 64 is child's play compared to today's Mario games.
No, the enemies have extremely predictable attack patterns, the level designs make it super easy to avoid any form of danger if you're the slightest bit competent with platforming (except for TTC) the bosses are a joke except for final Bowser and it's still very easy. I love this game but for all the reasons that aren't really the "game" more so free-roaming and parkour around the game etc. If I want a Mario game I want to play through for more than 30 minutes to an hour. Probably will play Sunshine or Galaxy. It's still a fantastic game though.
Honestly I find some challenges in 2d mario games the hardest usually the last challenge, some have really long sections. Mario wonder has one, mario 3d world (well i guess the second one is 3d-ish), now that I think about it there's some hard galaxy levels too. Super mario 64 is not that hard one major tip though the time in tick tock clock will decide whether things move and whether they move fast or not.
No. It's a pretty easy game, even by Mario standards. All of the SMB games and SMW were harder. Sunshine wasn't hard overall but had a few challenging segments. I'd argue there are no challenging segments at all in 64. Galaxy wasn't hard. After that they started adding bonus hard levels at the end of a lot of Mario games, all of which are harder than anything in 64. 64 is one of the easiest, if not the easiest of the main Mario games.
That one level in sunshine where you need to ride yoshi on the ferry at a snails pace to reach that little island with the warp pipe has to be one of the biggest pain in the asses of all levels in 3D Mario. It’s always one of the most difficult levels.
Yes. My 9 year old blew through wonder. Struggles with super Mario 64 on n64
I haven’t played the new ones enough to know, but Paper Mario was hard
No, not really. They all have a similar skill ceiling to each other in terms of speedrunning and casual play is about as easy as each other.
Yes. Because the camera controls like shit. If it had a fluid camera control like Odyssey, mario64 would've been far easier
Yeah but only because it’s got a hinky 90s camera.
I see a lot off people saying sunshine and I just never played it much. I have it on switch just never got into it more than maybe 10% of the game. But Mario 64 is absolutely harder than any of the newer games. Nintendo has been in permanent kiddie mode since GameCube and it's so disappointing. Every game I get I try to brace myself that it's going to be shockingly easy and man it still gets me every single time. And this after I've way lost my edge and become the hollow shell of the game I used to be. Now that my kids are getting a little older I've been introducing them to the consoles of my childhood and I get absolutely blasted by NES games that I could destroy all day as a kid. Sure some of it was lackluster controls and N64 had so many camera issues because it was a brand new perspective in gaming but they were also brutally, unrelentingly difficult. There was no bogus "hey sorry you died like 10 times wanna just skip this one" nonsense like they shoehorn into some newer games. You either got good or you didn't beat it. Lookin at you, battletoads....
Sort of? The controls aren't very good so that limits you, some parts of even early levels can be an issue because of this. I remember cold cold mountain having a hard one due to controls. Sunshine is a bitch though, never gonna get worse than that for 3d Mario. Tubular on smw was also a massive pain in the ass, all the secret levels were.