was fully expecting to dislike this, but, honestly, this was amazing. the game has aged quite gracefully. was smiling for most of my playthrough. also feels oddly nostalgic even though i never played this before.
i remember playing this a year or 2 after it came out and being so frustrated with the camera. it really is a great game despite the occasional camera problems
Feeling torn about this at the moment. As many people said, controls and camera are very difficult to get into if you are a new player to this. When I played a bit of Odyssey a while ago I was like "man, imagine how fun Mario 64 would be with these controls and camera". Maybe there's a lot of depth to it but it really diminished my enjoyment throughout.
However... I disagree the level design is dated. It is absolutely pure genious. Okay, maybe annoying at times, but you can't tell me it's not damn impressive for a 1996 3D game. Actually there's a lot of things to discuss in how Mario levels have evolved, and this is very connected to advancements made through SMB3 --> SMW --> SMW2: YI --> SM 64. They put like 5-7 different levels in each course. They left the world structure and replaced it with a walkable 3D castle full of secrets. Many more things to discuss but please think on these revolutionary changes.
However... I disagree the level design is dated. It is absolutely pure genious. Okay, maybe annoying at times, but you can't tell me it's not damn impressive for a 1996 3D game. Actually there's a lot of things to discuss in how Mario levels have evolved, and this is very connected to advancements made through SMB3 --> SMW --> SMW2: YI --> SM 64. They put like 5-7 different levels in each course. They left the world structure and replaced it with a walkable 3D castle full of secrets. Many more things to discuss but please think on these revolutionary changes.