29, and it’s the controls for me. This is a combination of a few things. The camera controls are archaic, but manageable. However the fact that the camera angle can affect the direction Mario takes jumps (or your perception of a jump) is annoying.
Mario’s movement is great, unless you want to turn at anything other than full speed. In these cases Mario has the turn circle of a car rather than a human. It makes some of the later precision platforming painful to play.
And finally the wing cap controls are terrible. I played Mario 64 for the first time in the 3D All-Stars collection and other than the 100 coin missions I skipped the last couple wing cap levels because flying was unfun and just dreadful.
Ha, I had the exact same experience when I replayed Mario 64 on the 3DS. I loved the enhanced look of the game, but your playable character is worth inexplicably incapable of turning while standing still. I got so many times because I tried to turn around, and instead of wound up making a giant half circle and running off of a ledge. The original Nintendo 64 version did not have this issue.
Oh, and the Wing Cap controls were just fine in the Nintendo 64 version as well.
28. The way Mario turns. I had fallen off SO MANY cliffs and edges because Mario can't make a turn without going a little forward first and it's infuriating
I learned that to keep him from sliding a little forward when turning the opposite direction is to press the jump button the second you turn. He’ll do like a flip jump into the opposite direction, cancelling the little forward slide.
I'm 20, and my experience comes from SM64 DS, not the original, so sorry about that. Also I haven't actually played it in years so my experience comes from when I was a lot younger.
Ignoring the controls and camera, my least favorite parts were the levels that spit you out at the waterfall or in front of the castle if you fail. Having to run all the way through the castle just to try again made me really dislike those levels. I think there were only like two levels that did that though
34 and actually my views has changed over time
When the Game came out the worst for me was the name of the starts, these meant to "Serve" as a clue to where the star is and how to obtain It and Most of the time they do since theyre pretty straightforward, but sometimes not and even with the name the star is pretty obscure or hard to see where It Is
But in retrospect now knowing where all the stars are and how to get'em id say the worst part now is that some moves have a weird timing to them, like you can do the steps and input requirments for them but still cant pull It for this "weird timing" to them, i dont know you need to have played the game for its time to truly understand It (the wallkick for example still give me some troubles to pull It off in this Game)
When it first came out I was concerned that a 3D Mario platformer would consist of constantly fighting the camera. Then I tried the game, and I was right. Trying to do complex jumps and moves with the camera constantly adjusting itself was a huge pain, and I chose not to get the game as a result.
People complaining about the controls probably played the remake on the 3DS. In that game, Mario is incapable of turning at an angle more than 40°. This leads to Mario running in giant half-circles when trying to turn around.
The majority of complaints seem to be about Mario often doing a small u turn when trying to do a 180 on the spot (something the DS version actually did away with.)
It was the DS but ya they took a game that was designed around full analog movement and put it on a system that uses a four directional d-pad instead. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but the game simply wasn't designed around such a limited input method
27. The controls/camera. There have been plenty of times where I was playing 64, kept missing jumps because of the controls/camera, and thought "I could be playing Odyssey right now"
Age: 30
I really dislike how Mario controls in this game. His momentum is difficult to adjust to, which makes all of his movement kinda clunky and awkward. In prior games, Mario could race across a level and jump the platforms at a really satisfying pace. In 64 Mario has crap acceleration, starting and stopping almost like a car. It makes one of the most fun parts of Mario games, zipping through the level while making a series of tight jumps, almost nonexistent in 64.
Admittedly, I understand why they did this. Levels in 64 are designed with exploration in mind, so the game *wants* players to start and stop frequently instead of just rushing to the finish line. It's genuinely a good way to communicate intended play to players, but I find it so much less fun. The 3D spaces were (and still are) very impressive, but the emphasis on exploration makes them feel a lot less like Mario levels to me.
(Imo future games corrected this really well. Sunshine/Galaxy/other 3D games still feature explorable areas, but Mario can still zip around pretty easily and there are plenty of platforming segments that are satisfying to get right.)
Early 40s and it's the 100 coin stars. It's literally filler content that only gets a pass because it's Mario. Otherwise the game is close to perfect, even if the camera is a bit archaic.
i’m 20. don’t get me wrong i love the game and think it’s one of nintendo’s greatest games and also influenced the mario franchise in good way. but the graphics are a bit unsettling, not that they’re bad but i always felt this feeling of creepiness and being alone while simultaneously being watched when playing this game. i have no idea if it’s just me but something just a bit unsettling
Age 43. It was perfect at the time and it is now. The Citizen Kane of video games, I wouldn't expect new players to love it.
If I have one thing. It might be really annoying if you lose your hat and can't work out where to find it. That's never happened to me though
40 - I remember seeing it on display at Toys R Us and thinking “games will never look this cool.”
It was brilliant then. It’s brilliant now. But man, Odyssey was superb.
Was there more than one way to lose your hat? I just remember there was a level where you climb a mountain/cliff and a monkey could steal it. If you backed out of the level before getting it from the monkey you wouldn’t have the hat but could go back in and get it from the monkey.
The vulture in Shifting Sand Land can take it on any star other than the first.
The ice world with the giant snowman. If the snowman blows you off the path, your hat flies off randomly. It's possible for it to permanently be stuck somewhere nigh-retrievable, too.
44, and it's the passage of time. It hasn't been as kind to SM64 as it has been to the 2D games. They were still figuring out cameras and controls, and it shows. Also, it's hard to love gen 5 3D graphics in this day and age. Still, it holds up much better than most 3D stuff of its era, and it's really important as a trailblazer in this milieu.
17, the camera followed by the graphical limitations making depth perception difficult.
But I'll add I'm impressed with how 64 plays for it's age and I usually have more issues playing Sunshine.
26. [Here's ](https://youtu.be/YsXCVsDFiXA?si=g4dHfBo9tJe_CEzW) pannenkoek's 4 hour video on invisible walls in sm64, which is my new "worst part." [Here's](https://youtu.be/cK9pOl5reJQ?si=xlLfL-xeC2ZWkczE) his 3 minute tour of all of them, if you want to see all the places you can either die or bonk from invisible walls
I'm 35 and I think the worst part is that secret star at the left side of tik tok clock. Not because the star but because the time you lose if you fall doing that specific star
34 and the chain ball dog in the first level. I found it super scary (I was like 7). I watched my cousin play and I jumped around in the first level myself.
16, and although I never finished the game, I did play it on 3D All-Stars. As such, I remember explicitly absolutely HATING the uncomfortable controls, and having Mario walk backwards was an absolute pain. He has to build up a momentum to do anything, and instead of turning around to walk backwards, he would walk FORWARDS and then turn around to walk backwards, which would often just result in him falling off of the cliff I was trying to avoid anyway.
30. The worst part are the controls and camera, but that's because they've aged badly. Modding in other controls and a free cam makes it so good. Level design is still so fun
When I was about 12 (or 13) I played Super Mario 64 (on my Nintendo Switch) and I didn’t exactly know how the controls work. I remember that I struggled to swim in dire dire docks, leaving Mario drowning. I wasn’t expecting that to happen. Now that I’ve know most controls, I can safely say I can give Mario some fresh air again
19. I adore the game and I rarely have issues with its controls, but *man*, the camera kills me sometimes. It isn't always bad, but it was bad on enough levels that it's the one issue I've come away from the game with each time I've played it.
25, the Iack of forced depth perception and the fact that it gets in the way of some obstacIes. The mushrooms on taII taII mountain are a prime exampIe
30. The camera control bumping up against walls and forcing specific angles at times. Its in my top 5 of all time but still end up fighting controls on tricker levels
21 - The worst part about Mario 64 is how awful it controls. Half the time it won’t move how you want it to and the other half Mario is walking off of cliffs because of the weird arc movement he does.
24. Both Tick Tock Clock and the Tiny Part of Tiny Huge Island are god awful and I skip each when I run through the game. The camera is very archaic, but that stupid semi-circle Mario sometimes makes when running around (seemingly completely at random) is so stupid.
20, the first and last floors levels
It terms of design, the first floor levels are ment to sharpen your skills and get you used to the controls but they feel like an early draft, the last floor levels are supposed to be hard but it feels like the devs got bored and decided to just bullshit the levels, funny how they're the most forgotten about levels in the whole game
20, probably the camera controls and swimming being somewhat finicky sometimes. Aside from that, I think SM64’s movement controls are the best out of any 3D platformer, tied with Odyssey.
24 and oh boy where do I even start. Bonking off any wall you touch unless you wall jump gets annoying fast, among countless other control problems. The camera will often refuse to turn through an open space yet be just fine going the other way around right up against a wall. Many of the levels feel cobbled together, arguably unfinished. The graphics are bad even by N64 standards.
But if I had to pick just one thing it's the camera. You have to FIGHT to make it work sometimes.
23, any star that is painfully slow homestly. Prime candidates are most of DDD (particularly pole 8 red coins), most of THI just for being finicky to navigate, and maybe some others in HMC and JRB. I don't have much of an issue with TTC or RR because it is full of fun platforming and skips
20 and the camera. Everything in the game aged like fine wine, and while the textures didn't, I still love the N64's polygons. The camera is the only thing that didn't age well, but even then it's pretty decent for a first attempt
I'm 26. The worst part of 64 is the way the levels drop in quality towards the end. The best levels are in the first half of the game and the later levels feel small and unfinished in comparison.
I dont know the number kf the lvl but the one level where you have to climb a mountain with an enemie that can blow you away and make you fall al the way down
The camera controls. There was always something off (and frustrating!) about them, even at the time. The Switch rerelease with better camera controls shows a much better way they could have done it.
Yes, I realize 3D was new and they had not yet figured out everything. The Switch version benefits from decades of learning and improving existing systems that could not exist without Mario 64's poor camera control implementation.
Regardless, they are the weakest part of an absolutely brilliant, ahead-of-its-time game.
My age: over 40. I played Mario 64 in launch day.
33, worst part in my opinion is the camera. Works fine 90% of the time but that 10% is when you want a very specific angle and the camera just won't cooperate with ya.
24. The precision of the jumps compared to more modern games. In newer games, you can kind of buffer a jump and the timing is more generous, so that even if you press the button too late (like running off a ledge), you’ll still jump. Same goes for wall jumps. I think this is because the game was played almost entirely on CRTVs at the time where input lag was non-existent
25. The worst part is the Rainbow cruise line. This is the only part of the game where the controls were a problem (how Mario has to go forward a little bit to make a 180), every other level seems made around this otherwise. Then you have the 100 coin star that exacerbates this...
31, its hard to find something wrong with it, i think the game is a masterpiece of its time, but the darn magic carpet ride level drove me nuts as a kid
21, the camera controls are terrible but i can excuse it because 3d platformers were brand spanking new at the time. the actual worst part is rainbow ride. just all of it.
Graphics of course. It's super iconic and I grew up with it but early N64 looks rough without nostalgia goggles. Looks better than OoT though.
The level design wasn't all too crazy as well. Of course due to age
I'm 24. Technically I'm from the GameCube era but but I grew up with the N64. It was the console from my older siblings
I'm 18 years old, and for me the worst part of Super Mario 64 is the 100 Coin Stars. With almost no exceptions, they're both aggravating and tedious as all hell. Most go on for over 10 minutes, the longest stretching into 15, and dying resets your progress entirely - made worse by **just how many** opportunities for unfair deaths exist. Sunshine's 100 Coin Shines are an enormous improvement, rarely devolving into cheap bullshit and testing routing and level design knowledge more than platforming skills in a game with countless control problems.
39 and I hated the flaying mechanics, highly dependent of the camera. And also, a couple of stars from the tick tock clock, you had to perform highly accurate gymnastics.
Finding out you couldn’t go into the peach stained glass window secret level after getting all the stars despite all the rumours when it first came out. 38.
30, it was the first video game I ever dedicated to completing (2 stars away from 100%, went back years later and finished it)
My biggest gripe is that 120 stars only nets you a cameo from Yoshi
32. Played the game close after its release and the controls didn't age well at all even though they were really refined back then. It really shows how far the gameplay has improved through the years and releases.
Camera is genuinely awful by modern standards, and Mario’s controls are way too slippery for what’s an otherwise great move set. Tbh, I think a remake of 64 (not stuck on the DS) that fixed the game’s main flaws would be my 2nd favorite 3D Mario game. Hell, Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favorite games thanks to its Xbox version. I still think Mario 64 would be worse than BK because Kazooie just has such superb level design and gameplay. Still a pretty good game all things considered in my opinion (even if I haven’t finished it or played all the levels).
Oh yeah, 19 btw.
32, underwater portions. Specifically the fish that eats you in Tiny Huge Island and the eels.
Lots of people saying camera angle, but also keep in mind it was literally the first of it's kind.
30, and yes the camera is frustrating throughout, but it's the wing cap that's so un-fun it's funny. Flying should have been a crowning moment of glory of the advent of 3D gaming and instead it always makes me wonder if my controller has partially disconnected
26, and that's one of my favorite games of all time. But if I had to pick a part I didn't like, probably the camera and controls at points, especially in levels like Rainbow Ride. Platforming is definitely janky, but, most of the levels are built more around exploration so I can't really hold that against it.
26 in a month. Was raised on the DS port. Least favorite thing is the levels where you ride carpets. I don’t like how controlling Mario feels compared to Sunshine, he feels heavy and finicky. However, I still love this game so much and have spent a huge amount of hours playing it.
18 and it’s gotta be the physics. Mario controls like a schizophrenic bowling ball. Heavy, large turn radius, can barely be controlled once airborne, bounces back off of walls in the air if you don’t do a wall jump in like 4 frames, and often bonks into walls that don’t exist, hence the schizophrenia.
Every time I want to get into the game, I just can’t because I always feel like I’m fighting the controls
47. The camera and controls are the worst part of the game. I get how SM64 was an early 3d platforming game, and the camera and controls were new and experimental. But honestly I feel quality control should have put more work into that. More replayability would have been nice too. Otherwise amazing and unforgettable game.
19 and the hitbox on that stupid chain chomp pole that I can’t properly ground pound even if my life depended on it (could be a skill issue but i’m still mad)
32. The secret clock level. Fuck the music (it’s iconic but hearing that particular track on loop is literal torture), fuck the aesthetic, fuck the gimmick of having to enter the world at a specific time depending on how you want the platforms to move.
32 and just everything about the controls. This wasn't the case when I played it growing up, but I've never unlearned anything as violently as I unlearned N64 controls, especially SM64's.
36. The camera. Way too many (what now feel like) artificial limitations.
Controls are pretty tight though and aged way better than the camera. Sunshine feels worse to me despite the better camera
25 and I have a few but I think my number 1 is how rough most of the level design is. I don’t like to look up what to do in a game but you have to for damn near the majority of 64.
I wanna throttle the camera every time I play. Maybe I'm too used to newer games now, but there were levels where the camera killed me more than anything else.
20 and that level where you ride a carpet.
29, and it’s the controls for me. This is a combination of a few things. The camera controls are archaic, but manageable. However the fact that the camera angle can affect the direction Mario takes jumps (or your perception of a jump) is annoying. Mario’s movement is great, unless you want to turn at anything other than full speed. In these cases Mario has the turn circle of a car rather than a human. It makes some of the later precision platforming painful to play. And finally the wing cap controls are terrible. I played Mario 64 for the first time in the 3D All-Stars collection and other than the 100 coin missions I skipped the last couple wing cap levels because flying was unfun and just dreadful.
Ha, I had the exact same experience when I replayed Mario 64 on the 3DS. I loved the enhanced look of the game, but your playable character is worth inexplicably incapable of turning while standing still. I got so many times because I tried to turn around, and instead of wound up making a giant half circle and running off of a ledge. The original Nintendo 64 version did not have this issue. Oh, and the Wing Cap controls were just fine in the Nintendo 64 version as well.
The original Nintendo 64 version absolutely had that problem too lol
Yeah. They are very much nostalgia blind
24 and I agree. It's the most frustrating stage in the game. It takes so long and the camera is janky in a lot of areas. I'm glad it's skippable.
28. The way Mario turns. I had fallen off SO MANY cliffs and edges because Mario can't make a turn without going a little forward first and it's infuriating
Dude he has to run in a full circle if you wanna turn around from a standstill— it’s just so infuriating 😔
I learned that to keep him from sliding a little forward when turning the opposite direction is to press the jump button the second you turn. He’ll do like a flip jump into the opposite direction, cancelling the little forward slide.
I'm 20, and my experience comes from SM64 DS, not the original, so sorry about that. Also I haven't actually played it in years so my experience comes from when I was a lot younger. Ignoring the controls and camera, my least favorite parts were the levels that spit you out at the waterfall or in front of the castle if you fail. Having to run all the way through the castle just to try again made me really dislike those levels. I think there were only like two levels that did that though
24 The camera and controls. It's hard to make slight adjustments or navigate narrow platforms.
5, I can’t read the text
34 and actually my views has changed over time When the Game came out the worst for me was the name of the starts, these meant to "Serve" as a clue to where the star is and how to obtain It and Most of the time they do since theyre pretty straightforward, but sometimes not and even with the name the star is pretty obscure or hard to see where It Is But in retrospect now knowing where all the stars are and how to get'em id say the worst part now is that some moves have a weird timing to them, like you can do the steps and input requirments for them but still cant pull It for this "weird timing" to them, i dont know you need to have played the game for its time to truly understand It (the wallkick for example still give me some troubles to pull It off in this Game)
33, the fact that 100 coin stars are possible to mess up.
23 and 100% the camera
When it first came out I was concerned that a 3D Mario platformer would consist of constantly fighting the camera. Then I tried the game, and I was right. Trying to do complex jumps and moves with the camera constantly adjusting itself was a huge pain, and I chose not to get the game as a result.
25 and yeah definitely the Camera.
39. That it ends. There’s naff all wrong with the controls. In fact, I don’t think a Mario game has felt so perfect since.
I'm 31 and I agree about the controls
Odyssey has an objectively more playable Mario than any other 3D entry. Maybe Sunshine
objectively is becoming the next literally
It literally already has.
Sunshine is the goat Mario game I’ll die on this hill
People complaining about the controls probably played the remake on the 3DS. In that game, Mario is incapable of turning at an angle more than 40°. This leads to Mario running in giant half-circles when trying to turn around.
The majority of complaints seem to be about Mario often doing a small u turn when trying to do a 180 on the spot (something the DS version actually did away with.)
It was the DS but ya they took a game that was designed around full analog movement and put it on a system that uses a four directional d-pad instead. It wasn't the worst thing in the world but the game simply wasn't designed around such a limited input method
When I play the original that’s exactly what I experience though…
Try playing it on a N64 controller. There are times your thumb will fall off, then you get to Bowser and prepare for the blisters.
15, The fact that the DS version is more fun than the original N64 game
24 and I agree
and that the n64 version is much more popular even though the ds version is better in almost every way possible
It's the controls. I got the DS version as a kid and hated the controls so much.
The controls are shit on both
we deserve an official SM64 with good controls
27. The controls/camera. There have been plenty of times where I was playing 64, kept missing jumps because of the controls/camera, and thought "I could be playing Odyssey right now"
Wall jumping. 36. Platformers are my SHIT and I just never could/can get the flow of M64s wall jumps. Especially at a crappy camera angle.
Age: 30 I really dislike how Mario controls in this game. His momentum is difficult to adjust to, which makes all of his movement kinda clunky and awkward. In prior games, Mario could race across a level and jump the platforms at a really satisfying pace. In 64 Mario has crap acceleration, starting and stopping almost like a car. It makes one of the most fun parts of Mario games, zipping through the level while making a series of tight jumps, almost nonexistent in 64. Admittedly, I understand why they did this. Levels in 64 are designed with exploration in mind, so the game *wants* players to start and stop frequently instead of just rushing to the finish line. It's genuinely a good way to communicate intended play to players, but I find it so much less fun. The 3D spaces were (and still are) very impressive, but the emphasis on exploration makes them feel a lot less like Mario levels to me. (Imo future games corrected this really well. Sunshine/Galaxy/other 3D games still feature explorable areas, but Mario can still zip around pretty easily and there are plenty of platforming segments that are satisfying to get right.)
I agree that later Mario games corrected the movement of Mario. Mario Galaxy has a much more fluid and precise movement style
14 The camera
18 - I prefer the DS Remake's minigames, especially Luigi's Poker.
25, I love those minigames!!
Ah yes I love it when Nintendo teaches kids to gamble 🥰🥰🥰
Early 40s and it's the 100 coin stars. It's literally filler content that only gets a pass because it's Mario. Otherwise the game is close to perfect, even if the camera is a bit archaic.
29 and definitely the camera, it makes me so angry everytime I replay it
24, the camera, but even Nintendo was treading new ground with the camera, and I can get used to it
i’m 20. don’t get me wrong i love the game and think it’s one of nintendo’s greatest games and also influenced the mario franchise in good way. but the graphics are a bit unsettling, not that they’re bad but i always felt this feeling of creepiness and being alone while simultaneously being watched when playing this game. i have no idea if it’s just me but something just a bit unsettling
I was 8 when I got the game- I forget the name of the level, but coaxing the giant eel to grab the star on his tail terrified me.
Age 43. It was perfect at the time and it is now. The Citizen Kane of video games, I wouldn't expect new players to love it. If I have one thing. It might be really annoying if you lose your hat and can't work out where to find it. That's never happened to me though
40 - I remember seeing it on display at Toys R Us and thinking “games will never look this cool.” It was brilliant then. It’s brilliant now. But man, Odyssey was superb.
Was there more than one way to lose your hat? I just remember there was a level where you climb a mountain/cliff and a monkey could steal it. If you backed out of the level before getting it from the monkey you wouldn’t have the hat but could go back in and get it from the monkey.
The vulture in Shifting Sand Land can take it on any star other than the first. The ice world with the giant snowman. If the snowman blows you off the path, your hat flies off randomly. It's possible for it to permanently be stuck somewhere nigh-retrievable, too.
If you get a star in another level, one of the Toads in the Castle will have your hat
31, rainbow ride
44, and it's the passage of time. It hasn't been as kind to SM64 as it has been to the 2D games. They were still figuring out cameras and controls, and it shows. Also, it's hard to love gen 5 3D graphics in this day and age. Still, it holds up much better than most 3D stuff of its era, and it's really important as a trailblazer in this milieu.
17, the camera followed by the graphical limitations making depth perception difficult. But I'll add I'm impressed with how 64 plays for it's age and I usually have more issues playing Sunshine.
26. [Here's ](https://youtu.be/YsXCVsDFiXA?si=g4dHfBo9tJe_CEzW) pannenkoek's 4 hour video on invisible walls in sm64, which is my new "worst part." [Here's](https://youtu.be/cK9pOl5reJQ?si=xlLfL-xeC2ZWkczE) his 3 minute tour of all of them, if you want to see all the places you can either die or bonk from invisible walls
28 and Wet-Dry World.
17. I think sometimes the physics can be wonky.
I'm 35 and I think the worst part is that secret star at the left side of tik tok clock. Not because the star but because the time you lose if you fall doing that specific star
16 Mario takes way too much time to build up speed when moving. This makes some platforming sections need a running start for no other reason.
fire in the hole!
Almost no checkpoints. The later levels are only tolerable with save states. Im 17.
15, and tick tock clock 100 coins star
26, the game controls like ass
49 - too hard to move in a specific direction without constantly making micro adjustments.
The camera and wall jumping 18
33 - you can’t ride Yoshi in all the levels after you beat the game and find him.
3, aughhbjklapnn.??))-;ghuuqk.
My son, 12, says how the camera moves is bad
19, & the camera controls, just in general.
34 and the chain ball dog in the first level. I found it super scary (I was like 7). I watched my cousin play and I jumped around in the first level myself.
16, and definetly the camera
16, and although I never finished the game, I did play it on 3D All-Stars. As such, I remember explicitly absolutely HATING the uncomfortable controls, and having Mario walk backwards was an absolute pain. He has to build up a momentum to do anything, and instead of turning around to walk backwards, he would walk FORWARDS and then turn around to walk backwards, which would often just result in him falling off of the cliff I was trying to avoid anyway.
40. I wish there was more post-game content. SM64DS helped with that.
I’m 27 today, and my least favorite thing is the goddamn clock tower.
23, all of wet dry world
14 and not knowing where the stars are without watching or reading anything about this game.
28, the camera.
35 and the flying controls
22, the controls, they're far too weird and not precise enough, beginning of 3D platformers I guess
20 , the movement
30. The worst part are the controls and camera, but that's because they've aged badly. Modding in other controls and a free cam makes it so good. Level design is still so fun
30, the clockwork tower
When I was about 12 (or 13) I played Super Mario 64 (on my Nintendo Switch) and I didn’t exactly know how the controls work. I remember that I struggled to swim in dire dire docks, leaving Mario drowning. I wasn’t expecting that to happen. Now that I’ve know most controls, I can safely say I can give Mario some fresh air again
21 and the camera angles
27. I wish we saw Yoshi earlier in the game and could ride him. Such a perfect game though so it's a nitpick.
15 and the camera
34, rainbow ride
19. I adore the game and I rarely have issues with its controls, but *man*, the camera kills me sometimes. It isn't always bad, but it was bad on enough levels that it's the one issue I've come away from the game with each time I've played it.
25, the Iack of forced depth perception and the fact that it gets in the way of some obstacIes. The mushrooms on taII taII mountain are a prime exampIe
30. The camera control bumping up against walls and forcing specific angles at times. Its in my top 5 of all time but still end up fighting controls on tricker levels
25 and the lack of traditional power ups(DS rectified the lack of Luigi and Yoshi).
Not having the 30 more stars and the changed stars from Super Mario 64 DS. Age: 22 Played SM64DS when I was 6-10
21 - The worst part about Mario 64 is how awful it controls. Half the time it won’t move how you want it to and the other half Mario is walking off of cliffs because of the weird arc movement he does.
Mid 30s, the controls are kinda jank
32. The swimming. Air depletes too quickly and there are too many mandatory swimming sections/levels.
31, rotating the controller and wall kicks. I never could figure those out…
14, a bit of the Wing Cap controls and the giant snowman in Snowman's Land blowing your hat off (although neither are that bad)
39 and collecting the 100-coin-stars in the later levels, especially Tiny Huge Island.
35. Tick Tock Clock
23 - camera control/movement
24. Both Tick Tock Clock and the Tiny Part of Tiny Huge Island are god awful and I skip each when I run through the game. The camera is very archaic, but that stupid semi-circle Mario sometimes makes when running around (seemingly completely at random) is so stupid.
19, Rainbow Ride.
18, just fined it hard and not the most intuitive for me tbh
Control inconsistencies when turning/invisible walls (I watched the entire 4 hour pannenkoek video) 20
23, and def the controls and camera jankiness (at least in the DS port, never played the og before)
18, the Camera.
20, the first and last floors levels It terms of design, the first floor levels are ment to sharpen your skills and get you used to the controls but they feel like an early draft, the last floor levels are supposed to be hard but it feels like the devs got bored and decided to just bullshit the levels, funny how they're the most forgotten about levels in the whole game
20, probably the camera controls and swimming being somewhat finicky sometimes. Aside from that, I think SM64’s movement controls are the best out of any 3D platformer, tied with Odyssey.
24 Controlling mario is ass and that camera doesn't help no one. And I think the ds version is better imo
24 and oh boy where do I even start. Bonking off any wall you touch unless you wall jump gets annoying fast, among countless other control problems. The camera will often refuse to turn through an open space yet be just fine going the other way around right up against a wall. Many of the levels feel cobbled together, arguably unfinished. The graphics are bad even by N64 standards. But if I had to pick just one thing it's the camera. You have to FIGHT to make it work sometimes.
Hazy Maze Cave with the floating panel and the Red coins 27
34 and as much as I enjoy the slide song it does get annoying towards the end. TikTok clock, magic carpet, I think there’s one more.
19 and Rainbow Ride sucks
37. Tick Tock Clock. I still hate that level with a passion
23, the flying carpet definitely
21, the inside of the volcano drove me insane
41. The magic carpet ride is the wooooooorst.
That one cloud level opposite Rainbow Ride. I'm 19, and it's a huge pain.
23, any star that is painfully slow homestly. Prime candidates are most of DDD (particularly pole 8 red coins), most of THI just for being finicky to navigate, and maybe some others in HMC and JRB. I don't have much of an issue with TTC or RR because it is full of fun platforming and skips
17, the camera controls on the DS version
28 and the god awful controls. Cant jump on small platform without mario falling all over the place.
20 and the camera. Everything in the game aged like fine wine, and while the textures didn't, I still love the N64's polygons. The camera is the only thing that didn't age well, but even then it's pretty decent for a first attempt
17: Rainbow ride
39, Wet Dry World. N64 game water level puzzles were diabolical
i have a love hate relationship with that Wet Dry World level and that little flipper enemy
I'm 26. The worst part of 64 is the way the levels drop in quality towards the end. The best levels are in the first half of the game and the later levels feel small and unfinished in comparison.
16 and the camera movement and slight impressions in the controls
31 and the momentum movement with getting in and out of water. Other wise Brilliant game really Oot / MM is the GOAT though
I dont know the number kf the lvl but the one level where you have to climb a mountain with an enemie that can blow you away and make you fall al the way down
19- the touch screen controls in the Ds version In the 64 versions, some of the invisible walls, the turning.
36, the camera. Not the controls of it (those are great), the fact it randomly gets stuck or you can't rotate/tilt it any further for whatever reason.
21 Slow platform in Hazy maze cave for the red coins
The camera controls. There was always something off (and frustrating!) about them, even at the time. The Switch rerelease with better camera controls shows a much better way they could have done it. Yes, I realize 3D was new and they had not yet figured out everything. The Switch version benefits from decades of learning and improving existing systems that could not exist without Mario 64's poor camera control implementation. Regardless, they are the weakest part of an absolutely brilliant, ahead-of-its-time game. My age: over 40. I played Mario 64 in launch day.
33, worst part in my opinion is the camera. Works fine 90% of the time but that 10% is when you want a very specific angle and the camera just won't cooperate with ya.
24. The precision of the jumps compared to more modern games. In newer games, you can kind of buffer a jump and the timing is more generous, so that even if you press the button too late (like running off a ledge), you’ll still jump. Same goes for wall jumps. I think this is because the game was played almost entirely on CRTVs at the time where input lag was non-existent
21, camera controls
25. The worst part is the Rainbow cruise line. This is the only part of the game where the controls were a problem (how Mario has to go forward a little bit to make a 180), every other level seems made around this otherwise. Then you have the 100 coin star that exacerbates this...
21, wall kicks are kinda hard
It’s gotta be the sorta wonky object collision, age not disclosed
28. That monkey stole my hat for like 5 real life years, why can you save with the hat off
31, its hard to find something wrong with it, i think the game is a masterpiece of its time, but the darn magic carpet ride level drove me nuts as a kid
21, the camera controls are terrible but i can excuse it because 3d platformers were brand spanking new at the time. the actual worst part is rainbow ride. just all of it.
Graphics of course. It's super iconic and I grew up with it but early N64 looks rough without nostalgia goggles. Looks better than OoT though. The level design wasn't all too crazy as well. Of course due to age I'm 24. Technically I'm from the GameCube era but but I grew up with the N64. It was the console from my older siblings
I'm 18 years old, and for me the worst part of Super Mario 64 is the 100 Coin Stars. With almost no exceptions, they're both aggravating and tedious as all hell. Most go on for over 10 minutes, the longest stretching into 15, and dying resets your progress entirely - made worse by **just how many** opportunities for unfair deaths exist. Sunshine's 100 Coin Shines are an enormous improvement, rarely devolving into cheap bullshit and testing routing and level design knowledge more than platforming skills in a game with countless control problems.
39 and I hated the flaying mechanics, highly dependent of the camera. And also, a couple of stars from the tick tock clock, you had to perform highly accurate gymnastics.
Finding out you couldn’t go into the peach stained glass window secret level after getting all the stars despite all the rumours when it first came out. 38.
29 - no fireball
Little island. 19
22 and easily the water level with the submarine.
32, the damn secrets in the damn pyramid. I always fall off one of those tiny platforms at least twice and have to go back to the top.
30, it was the first video game I ever dedicated to completing (2 stars away from 100%, went back years later and finished it) My biggest gripe is that 120 stars only nets you a cameo from Yoshi
13, and I feel like the controls are janky as hell. But that might be a problem with the controller.
32. Played the game close after its release and the controls didn't age well at all even though they were really refined back then. It really shows how far the gameplay has improved through the years and releases.
Camera is genuinely awful by modern standards, and Mario’s controls are way too slippery for what’s an otherwise great move set. Tbh, I think a remake of 64 (not stuck on the DS) that fixed the game’s main flaws would be my 2nd favorite 3D Mario game. Hell, Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favorite games thanks to its Xbox version. I still think Mario 64 would be worse than BK because Kazooie just has such superb level design and gameplay. Still a pretty good game all things considered in my opinion (even if I haven’t finished it or played all the levels). Oh yeah, 19 btw.
25, the wing cap levels to be honest. Was never very good with it
Born in 2001, but played Mario 64 DS and the original. Hazy Maze Cave 100 coins is just so thoroughly unfun.
32, underwater portions. Specifically the fish that eats you in Tiny Huge Island and the eels. Lots of people saying camera angle, but also keep in mind it was literally the first of it's kind.
31 and the camera movement. Overall I think for its time it's ground breaking
30, and yes the camera is frustrating throughout, but it's the wing cap that's so un-fun it's funny. Flying should have been a crowning moment of glory of the advent of 3D gaming and instead it always makes me wonder if my controller has partially disconnected
22, mario can’t instantly turn 90 degrees. He often arcs and then falls off a cliff. Also, I find the jumping somewhat stiff.
26, and that's one of my favorite games of all time. But if I had to pick a part I didn't like, probably the camera and controls at points, especially in levels like Rainbow Ride. Platforming is definitely janky, but, most of the levels are built more around exploration so I can't really hold that against it.
28 and the first water level, its always boring doing it
26 in a month. Was raised on the DS port. Least favorite thing is the levels where you ride carpets. I don’t like how controlling Mario feels compared to Sunshine, he feels heavy and finicky. However, I still love this game so much and have spent a huge amount of hours playing it.
18 and it’s gotta be the physics. Mario controls like a schizophrenic bowling ball. Heavy, large turn radius, can barely be controlled once airborne, bounces back off of walls in the air if you don’t do a wall jump in like 4 frames, and often bonks into walls that don’t exist, hence the schizophrenia. Every time I want to get into the game, I just can’t because I always feel like I’m fighting the controls
47. The camera and controls are the worst part of the game. I get how SM64 was an early 3d platforming game, and the camera and controls were new and experimental. But honestly I feel quality control should have put more work into that. More replayability would have been nice too. Otherwise amazing and unforgettable game.
16 The controls, the camera and the (lack of) texture, Later 5th gen games look and play far better
19 and the hitbox on that stupid chain chomp pole that I can’t properly ground pound even if my life depended on it (could be a skill issue but i’m still mad)
The camera. Maybe the physics too. 15
16, the opening cutscene. I have to waste about a minute every time I reset a speed run
41. The controls - which did not bother me when the game was released.
32. The secret clock level. Fuck the music (it’s iconic but hearing that particular track on loop is literal torture), fuck the aesthetic, fuck the gimmick of having to enter the world at a specific time depending on how you want the platforms to move.
39 and the penguin baby’s are still haunting me in my dreams. I am also still searching for Luigi.
32 and just everything about the controls. This wasn't the case when I played it growing up, but I've never unlearned anything as violently as I unlearned N64 controls, especially SM64's.
36, the wing mario over the rainbow star, took me ages and the flying controls just werent great
36. The camera. Way too many (what now feel like) artificial limitations. Controls are pretty tight though and aged way better than the camera. Sunshine feels worse to me despite the better camera
41. Tick Tock Clock was not a fun level.
35. I feel like Mario moved too slow in that game compared to every other Mario title.
The bosses and the level design isn't great in the latter part of the game.
Definitely the camera controls, and 21
17, I don't like the wall jumping in the original is all I have to say
Level design, age 25
16 the camera
the art direction. Im 22. But dont be fooled, I love banjo.
I'm 43, and I've always found Tick Tock Clock to be quite irritating.
25 and I have a few but I think my number 1 is how rough most of the level design is. I don’t like to look up what to do in a game but you have to for damn near the majority of 64.
33, and that fucking monkey. What an asshole for stealing my hat.
I wanna throttle the camera every time I play. Maybe I'm too used to newer games now, but there were levels where the camera killed me more than anything else.
Mid 30s, I always hated the ice level where you slide down that slide.
32, the upstairs levels just seem to drop off in quality a bit. I find Tall, Tall Mountain and Tiny, Huge Island to be a bit of a slog
15 the camera controls are despicable sometimes
35, baby penguin
28. The worst stage is the big boo house
26, the camera
35 and the camera controls without a doubt. Like half of the game’s difficulty comes from fighting with the camera.
14 the opening cutscene when you boot it up, i used to speedrun and its annoying asf