Super Mario 64 was a strong launch game with the Nintendo 64 and brought the plumpy plumber into 3D in ways that very few even imagined. The game was a blueprint for what 3D platformers would be moving forward, and in fact, it set the table for 3D games in general in many ways. Playing Super Mario 64 on the Switch is a dream come true for many, and it also is a reminder of how another Switch 3D Mario game is arguably as good, that being Super Mario Odyssey.
Super Mario 64 is one of the three games in Super Mario 3D All-Stars on the Nintendo Switch, a collection of classic Mario titles put together as a celebration for Super Mario‘s 35th anniversary. There’s little denying the pure fun in the package, and based on the love and nostalgia of the iconic Nintendo 64 game, many may run to play Super Mario 64 before anything else. But now that the Switch is home to Mario 64 and Mario Odyssey, it is more clear than ever that Odyssey is a perfect extension and evolution on the Mario 3D formula that Mario 64 started.
Perhaps a perfect video game in 1996 when it launched, Super Mario 64 certainly has its quirks today. The game could have been updated for the times in various ways, which is part of the complaints in the otherwise stellar Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection. Things like clunky controls for precision platforming and a pretty lousy camera can bog down the experience in 2020, but the foundation was laid for what a 3D Mario game could be.
While games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World are supreme titles, they are in some ways more of an evolution of the 2D Mario games, with the gameplay having a more obstacle course focus and feel than anything. The 2D Mario games, like Super Mario World, are filled with puzzles and secrets, but the end goal is usually to simply go from point A to point B. This is very similar to Super Mario Galaxy, for example, which is one of the other titles inside of the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection.
There is so much about Mario Odyssey that feels like Mario 64, but improved on. Obviously, things like camera functionality, platforming gameplay, and feel (expected in a Nintendo game in 2020) are there as a big step-up from Mario 64, but those betterments are more on a technical perspective. From a gameplay perspective, Mario Odyssey provides the same feeling of freedom and expression of exploration that Mario 64 provided. Darn near perfect gameplay and freedom is part of the reason Odyssey reviewed so exceptionally.
Just like it was remarkable to be plopped down in Bob-omb Battlefield and blast onto a floating island, climb to the top of the mountain to defeat Big Bob-omb, or unchain Chain Chomp for Stars, Mario Odyssey allows freedom of exploration in a level like Fossil Falls, where players can jump onto hidden floating isles, defeat Madame Broode on top of the mountain, and capture a Chain Chomp to burst open a wall for Moons. In Mario 64, it was an absolute delight to find out that there is an entire pyramid to explore from the inside that is just as big as the level itself in Shifting Sand Land. Meanwhile, it is a wonderful surprise to find out that there is an entire underground forest underneath Steam Gardens in Mario Odyssey.
In Mario 64, players are limited to one single star at a time (other than a few exceptions like snagging the 8 red coins in a Bowser level). As fun as it is to explore, sometimes it can be frustrating to make it deep into a level and have to abruptly stop when one of the Stars are located. There is often the urge to keep going, keep exploring. Once a Star is found, however, Mario jumps back through the painting and into Peach’s Castle again. If the player wants to go back to the tip-top of that Tall, Tall Mountain again, they need to jump back into the painting and climb all the way up.
Mario Odyssey doubles down on that feeling of exploration. Instead of forcing a level to be restarted whenever a Power Moon is found, Odyssey allows players to continue searching and traversing the world. One thirty-minute session of running around in New Donk City can result in 20 Moons being discovered, without any stoppage in the flow of traversal and investigation. There is nothing holding back the player from going deeper in the level. There are secrets around every corner and the gameplay is built so that the player will want to keep being delighted by discovery. The feeling of finding a Star in Mario 64 was one of euphoric surprise. It felt less like meeting an objective and more like true revelation. This is exactly what finding a Moon is like in Mario Odyssey.
There are some other games that attempted to follow-up on the formula of Mario 64. Super Mario 3D All-Stars also comes packed with Super Mario Sunshine, a delightful game that is a bit more in line with the exploration style 3D Mario games. Mario Sunshine is vibrant, creative, and special, as it cleaned up the Mario 64 experience. The gameplay is smoother. The camera issues are basically gone. And Nintendo was even able to implement gameplay ideas that it wanted to with Mario 64 but couldn’t, like a rideable Yoshi.
As wonderful as Sunshine is, it really wasn’t overly innovative or new. The watery jetpack named F.L.U.D.D is a fun gameplay gimmick, but in general, Sunshine is basically a honed-in version of Mario 64. The same general formula is in place, that being that there are multiple levels to explore and specific challenges that result in Stars/Shrines upon completion. The game is much more linear than it may seem, however, as Sunshine holds the player back from true exploration by sort of forcing players to complete one pre-designed objective at a time. Sunshine doesn’t expand on the idea of Mario 64; it simply attempts to perfect, in the same way that a game like Twilight Princess carries on the same exact formula of Ocarina of Time.
And to continue on with the Zelda analogy, if Breath of the Wild is the evolution of Zelda, compounding and expanding on the ideas of freedom and exploration from the original, then Super Mario Odyssey is the evolution of Super Mario 64.
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