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Super Mario 64

 
Alright by now if you're a nintendo fan or a mario fan you probaly know about Super Mario 64, but if you don't and you have a N64 you'll want to pick this up.

The story is you come to visit your sweetheart Princess Peach at her castlewhen to your surprise you find out that she has been kidnapped by Bowser.  I know I know this is what always happens, but there's a catch.  Bowser has transformed the paintings on the walls into levels, and you have to collect power stars to gain power and eventually take down Bowser and save Peach.  It's an intresting premise and it works well.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is outstanding. Myiamota has brought our favorite little 2-D character that we know and love and brought him to 3-D in perfection.  Now since Mario is now in 3-D he is capable to do much more.  Punches, kicks, backflips, side flips, and even butt stomps will be avaible.  The gameplay is crisp and responsive and works great in the new 3-D enviroments.  But if you don't like buggy cameras you might not like this one.  It has it's strengths and weakeness'.  The Pros are that you can either have the camera stuck on Mario from his point of view, or have the camera be based on Lakitu (you know the guy in the cloud that throws red spiky things at you) who floats around you with his camera.  The cons are that if you use the Lakitu camera and you're in a tight spot you're going to be pushing the C button to try and move the camera and it won't.  This is very frustrating espically in the smaller inside levels.

Graphics:(just pretend this is 1996)
These graphics are simply put beautiful.  Mario is now in beautifully rendered polygons.  Due to the new 3-D engine Mario is much more detailed and absolutely stunning.  His overalls, his hat, his huge nose, and yes even his love handles are beautifully rendered.  The enviroments are lush and expanding.

Sound:
The sound in this game is top-notch.  From Mario's "Wa Hoo" and "Yippe" to even a little voice bit from Luigi everything sounds great and well placed.  There's never a moment when you think to yourself if a sound wasn't really needed.

Lasting Appeal:
Simply said you'll be playing this game for hours on end.  There's a total of 120 stars to collect and roughly 15 of them are hidden.  You're going to be playing this game for a long time, and that's not a bad thing.

Overall:
If you love platformers there's no better game out there.  With over 15 huge levels, a brand new 3-D engine, and over 20 hours of gameplay you're going to be loving this game for a long while.

9.7/10
 
-Blake Becker (GoinCommando)