Your Best Moments In...Super Mario 64

gamerforever wrote:Thats what I love about the game - you could have fun without completing any objectives. SM64 would be ideal with Achievements/ Trophies as the number of imaginitive objectives would be very high!

Absolutely, even looking at screenshots of it gets me all giddy. My N64 mains adapter is missing so i can't fire it up any more (just not the same on VC).

Oh god, stomping on the chain chomp's chain to get a start, finding the red coins, unlocking a cannon to fire you across the levels, hidden switches, NERD-GASM!

Ad7 wrote:

gamerforever wrote:Thats what I love about the game - you could have fun without completing any objectives. SM64 would be ideal with Achievements/ Trophies as the number of imaginitive objectives would be very high!

Absolutely, even looking at screenshots of it gets me all giddy. My N64 mains adapter is missing so i can't fire it up any more (just not the same on VC).

Oh god, stomping on the chain chomp's chain to get a start, finding the red coins, unlocking a cannon to fire you across the levels, hidden switches, NERD-GASM!

Yeah the game was built around the N64 controller, but the picture quality through a component cable is better on the Wii. It was just so fresh and exciting at the time and even now it brings back so many great gaming memories. I am so glad I got every star and virtually every coin in the game!

I'm ashamed ot say that I never defeated bowser at the end! in fact, I don't think i even got to him as I was trying to nail every star. I think i had 2 left to get in the end.

God damn you lava land 100 coins!!!

Secret Aquarium

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:Turning on my brand-new N64 for the first time, and stretching Mario's face!

Controlling a character in a 3D space with an analogue stick for the first time.

I.e. just after the opening cutscene.

Oh, look. If I push the stick a little bit, he walks slowly and if I push it all the way he runs!

And loads of little things like: Oh, his footsteps sound different when he's walking in the grass or on the path! If you jump towards a tree, Mario will climb into it, and birds will fly away and leaves will scatter.

All standard stuff now, all new and exciting back then. Will there ever be a game as revolutionary as Super Mario 64?

Dandy Kong wrote:

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:Turning on my brand-new N64 for the first time, and stretching Mario's face!

Controlling a character in a 3D space with an analogue stick for the first time.

I.e. just after the opening cutscene.

Oh, look. If I push the stick a little bit, he walks slowly and if I push it all the way he runs!

And loads of little things like: Oh, his footsteps sound different when he's walking in the grass or on the path! If you jump towards a tree, Mario will climb into it, and birds will fly away and leaves will scatter.

All standard stuff now, all new and exciting back then. Will there ever be a game as revolutionary as Super Mario 64?

No I doubt it. It is still my best game ever made, its simply wonderful and as close to perfection a videogame can get. A 3D update of the original (not crappy NDS version) on the 3DS or Wii HD would be awesome.

Last weekend I connected my Netbook to my TV and was playing SM64 with my daughters. Still an awesome game. Looks fantastic in High-res, with such bright, vibrant colours. Used a PS3 controller which worked really well.

Yoshimi wrote:Last weekend I connected my Netbook to my TV and was playing SM64 with my daughters. Still an awesome game. Looks fantastic in High-res, with such bright, vibrant colours. Used a PS3 controller which worked really well.

Yep, it really is awesome, but nothing beats playing it on the good old N64.

my best moment would have to be the first time I played the game in A shop in town, even though I was only running around the grounds of the castle my mind was amazed at seeing this for the first time

The pyramid level, taking to the skies and looking at things that were miles away was amazing.

Plus, the boss battle with the hands.

Noticing that the music on the first water stage built up as you progress from the beach towards the cave.

Oh, and finding Peach's castle in MK64.

While in Indonesia last summer I heard some gamelans and the first thing I thought of was the music from the haunted house level of Super Mario 64.





Starts at 1:43.

I think I've never heard that instrument anywhere else.

I can tell you my worst one - The Secret Of The Haunted Books. I almost broke my laptop yesterday because it was so bloody annoying! I ended up breaking my controller but that's probably for the best, as I would almost certainly have had a heart attack or broke my laptop otherwise.

Is it the one where you have to race to the loft with the invisible cap?

No it's the one where there's this secret passage above a bookcase that you have to wall-kick to access. Then it leads to the balcony where there's a massive ghost.

It kills you in two hits and there's strawberry float all space to manoeuvre, so there's a big risk of falling off if you try the usual running nosedive technique. If you fall off, then at worse you lose loads of energy or die and at best, the boss is reset. That happened to me plenty of times. Even if you don't fall off, using the dive means it takes ages to get up, usually resulting in the ghost hitting you.

Also, sometimes, when obscured from view by the ghost, Mario would accidentally go back through the door, which would also reset the boss. But the most annoying thing is how the collision detection is off, so even when you're blatantly punching it, nothing happens. So desperately, you mash the button (because you can't just run away, as that will result in the ghost hitting you because he's gone opaque), which causes the 3-hit sequence, but it's futile because you know that as soon as the sequence ends, the ghost is going to kill you.

I finally did it the other night, after about 20 stressful attempts, then I turned it on the next day to discover that the emulator hadn't saved for some reason (despite making SURE to choose "Save And Continue"). But I thought that, as I'd done it once, the next time wouldn't be so bad - but I was wrong. After the 2nd failed attempt I felt my heart rate go through the roof and my hands started shaking but I carried on to no avail. After loads more attempts, I just lost my rag and smashed the pad. This was after punching myself in the thigh really hard and nearly breaking my laptop over my knee.

All in all, it reminded me why I stopped playing computer games in the first place. They really are bad for my health...

~Earl Grey~ wrote:I just lost my rag and smashed the pad. This was after punching myself in the thigh really hard and nearly breaking my laptop over my knee.

All in all, it reminded me why I stopped playing computer games in the first place. They really are bad for my health...

Honestly, you sound like you have serious anger issues. In all my years of gaming, the worst I have done is shout strawberry float off at the tv, not once have i hit anything, let alone smashed anything up

Ad7 wrote:

~Earl Grey~ wrote:I just lost my rag and smashed the pad. This was after punching myself in the thigh really hard and nearly breaking my laptop over my knee.

All in all, it reminded me why I stopped playing computer games in the first place. They really are bad for my health...

Honestly, you sound like you have serious anger issues.

No gooseberry fool!

I remember that, it is quite annoying, since IIRC the camera is really far away and you can't move it.

But do get out and do something else; I tossed a few pads on the floor in my time, and once I even destroyed my copy of Paper Mario 2 in a fit of rage, and even though in all occasions I was still a kid, I already knew it isn't normal to hissy fit like that for a game. It means you're obsessing on it too much, lose perspective, etc.

No doubt what I just wrote will just make it worse for you

Are you using Project 64? You can send me your save file and I'll complete that star for you if you want...

Speaking of emulators, remember to save often. The other day I was playing Blast Corps and went on a good hour without saving when it froze and went back to the last save state automatically. Actually, that can happen with pretty much any console, but it annoyed me pretty good.

Sputnik wrote:I remember that, it is quite annoying, since IIRC the camera is really far away and you can't move it.

But do get out and do something else; I tossed a few pads on the floor in my time, and once I even destroyed my copy of Paper Mario 2 in a fit of rage, and even though in all occasions I was still a kid, I already knew it isn't normal to hissy fit like that for a game. It means you're obsessing on it too much, lose perspective, etc.

No doubt what I just wrote will just make it worse for you

Are you using Project 64? You can send me your save file and I'll complete that star for you if you want...

Speaking of emulators, remember to save often. The other day I was playing Blast Corps and went on a good hour without saving when it froze and went back to the last save state automatically. Actually, that can happen with pretty much any console, but it annoyed me pretty good.

I decided never to use state saves with this game as it would 'spoil' the experience. Just the cart save.

It's all academic now, as my pad is destroyed and I've decided not to buy another one or play it anymore as that has really spoiled the game for me. How did it pass playtesting? It's a crock of gooseberry fool - a blemish on an otherwise excellent game.

As I say, this is the kind of thing that made me stop playing games for years. I've broken so many things (too numerous to mention) over the years, it essentially just became an expense for me - all part and parcel of the videogame playing experience.

I know it's not right, but I've been like it since I was about 8. I don't know why I've never grown out of it, but it's just best that I stop playing games.

I always used jump-kick for that boss.