The arrival of the Nintendo 64 and Super Mario
1996 was a most exciting year for Mario, but especially for his fans. It was the year that the Nintendo 64 hit stores, bundled with the highly anticipated Super Mario 64. The new console achieved the impossible, showing us a 3D Mario for the first time. The game painted him as a limitless hero: he jumped higher than ever, he faced villains much bigger than he was and it was there that many heard him pronounce his first words: “It’s-a me, Mario!”. This is how the game welcomed you, with the voice of actor Charles Martinet, a greeting that in the end would become the character’s calling card. The icing on the cake was that curious screen where you could let loose and disfigure Mario’s face before starting to play. SM64 was truly a watershed moment for Nintendo. It was just what they needed to position Mario as a true action figure.
It was a game that entertained millions, myself included. Although I never had a copy, SM64 was everywhere: it was constantly advertised on TV, your neighbor had it, department stores let you try it, you could rent it for a weekend, or your classmate was willing to lend it to you until you beat it. It was a ubiquitous game. In addition to leaving its mark on a generation, its success also meant the end of an era for traditional platform games, a genre that Mario himself trailblazed for years. Shigeru Miyamoto, its creator, masterfully crafted a style of gameplay that has not been surpassed to this day. Since then, much of the Super Mario series has followed the path laid out by the Nintendo 64 days.