Super Mario 64 arrived on the Nintendo 64 in 1996 and became the template for the 3D platformer genre. Developed by Nintendo EAD and directed by Shigeru Miyamoto, it placed Mario inside Princess Peach’s castle — which serves as an interconnected hub world — for the first time in three dimensions. Bowser has seized the castle and scattered 120 Power Stars across 15 painting-worlds hidden on its walls and floors. Recovering those Stars is the whole game.
How to play
Each of the 15 worlds contains six Stars earned through specific missions — a timed race, a boss fight, a hunt for eight scattered red coins, a secret tucked into the geometry — plus a bonus Star for collecting 100 yellow coins in a single trip. You need only 70 Stars to unlock the final Bowser showdown, so the ending is reachable without finishing everything.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Move | Arrow keys |
| Jump (A) | Z |
| Punch / kick (B) | X |
| Crouch / Z-trigger | Shift |
| Start / pause | Enter |
Tips
- Hold Shift (Z-trigger) and press Z (jump) while running for a long jump — it covers far more horizontal distance than a standard jump and is essential for crossing wide gaps.
- String three consecutive jumps together (pressing Z to jump, landing, jumping again immediately) and the third becomes a spinning backflip that gains significant height. Follow it with a wall-kick off a nearby surface to climb even higher.
- You are not locked into any mission order. If one Star is giving you trouble, try a different objective in the same world or switch worlds entirely — the 70-Star target gives you plenty of flexibility.
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