User:Maplestrip/List of Super Mario 64 levels

The 1996 platform video game Super Mario 64 has a total of fifteen main levels, as well as three boss levels and several secret levels. These environments were designed by course director Yoichi Yamada in conversation with game director Shigeru Miyamoto, and further developed by a team of level designers. Each of the main levels of Super Mario 64 is set up as a sandbox environment for players to roam around in freely, with seven objectives ("stars") dispersed throughout them.

The first level of the game, "Bob-omb Battlefield", is a grassy mountain that introduces players to the game's 3D platforming mechanics and overall structure. Levels such as "Jolly Roger Bay" and "Dire Dire Docks" exemplify the game's swimming mechanics, while "Big Boo's Haunt" and "Hazy Maze Cave" are more constricted environments with darker atmospheres. The final levels of the game are known for their precise platforming and high difficulty.

As one of the first 3D platformers, Super Mario 64's level design was highly influential. Games like Spyro the Dragon and Banjo Kazooie mimicked its hub world and long views. The game is praised for its iconic landmarks, and environments such as "Cool, Cool Mountain" and "Big Boo's Haunt" introduced elements that continue to be used throughout the Mario franchise.

Overview

The fifteen levels of Super Mario 64 can be entered from Princess Peach's Castle, which serves as the game's "hub world". Allowing players to experiment with the game's mechanics and discover various secrets, Tech Times described this area as "iconic". IGN explained that Princess Peach's Castle is a good central hub because it functions as a "huge sprawling level" of its own.

The player can typically let the titular player character Mario enter levels throughout the hub world by jumping into specific paintings. The game includes a number of variations on this concept, such as a level with multiple entrances ("Tiny Huge Island") and a secret stage that can be entered by making Mario look up into the Sun. Jeremy Peel, writing for GAMINGbible, compared the experience of jumping into paintings with the "childlike escapism" of C. S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia novels.

Each level in Super Mario 64 holds seven "stars" for Mario to collect. A player needs to collect a certain number of stars in order to unlock new levels and eventually beat the game. The stars available in later levels in the game have the same value as those Mario can collect in the early levels, and there are many more stars available than needed to complete the game. This allows players to decide for themselves which levels to play in order to accumulate the 70 stars necessary to access the final bossfight. In Game Feel, author Steve Swink described Super Mario 64's levels as "like zones of a theme park," noting that the game's "landmark-focused" approach provides instant points of reference. Swink said that this design principle mitigates issues with the virtual camera system and creates a "delightful sense of vastness and exploration."

Development

The levels of Super Mario 64 were designed by course director Yoichi Yamada. The game's overall director Shigeru Miyamoto would talk with Yamada about the concept of a level, and Yamada would draw rough sketches of it. The designers wrote notes for elements they wanted to add to the levels. These sketches and notes were adapted by the level design team into the final product. Miyamoto described the process as "kind of like sculpting a diorama out of clay. First you make a very general shape ... [and] we gradually add more and more ideas, changing the map as we go."

In a 2020 interview with The Washington Post, assistant director Takashi Tezuka said that, because the team was making a 3D platformer without precedent, they felt encouraged to create sandbox levels that “enabled a freer style of play," not limited to a single path. At one point in Super Mario 64's development, Miyamoto stated that they had 32 courses planned and that they were considering creating up to 40 levels, not including bonus stages. Due to the 8 gigabyte cartridges of the Nintendo 64, the development team had to cut the number of levels down to fifteen, and the designers put more emphasis on exploration and completing multiple tasks within a single level instead. Although the majority of Super Mario 64 ended up featuring the free-roaming design, elements of the original fixed path concept would remain in certain parts of the game, particularly in the levels leading up to the three Bowser encounters. One of the programmers of Super Mario 64, Giles Goddard, explained that these few linear elements survived as a means to force players into Bowser's lair rather than to encourage exploration.

Main courses

Bob-omb Battlefield

The first level of Super Mario 64, "Bob-omb Battlefield" introduces players to the game's 3D platforming and the overall structure of the game's levels. As a grassy location centered around a mountain, players are initially tasked to climb said mountain. However, they may see stars hidden elsewhere along the course and switch to a different objective. While presented as a warzone between the bomb-like Bob-ombs, the player can also interact with Goomba, Koopa, and a large Chain Chomp. "Bob-omb Battlefield" introduces cannons, which can be used to launch Mario, propelling him across the level or onto a floating island.

As the player progresses, new features such as the cannons are unlocked in "Bob-omb Battlefield". Jeremy Peel of GAMINGbible said that the level presents variations on the theme, as the environment is reimagined as a racetrack, a game of hide-and-seek, and eventually an airfield.

The "iconic" level is a common target for fan recreations. A detailed diorama of "Bob-omb Battlefield" is included in the 2021 Lego "Question Mark Block" set.

Whomp's Fortress

The second level of Super Mario 64 is presented as a floating fortress, wherein Mario can drop to his death off the side of the structure. This level introduced the Whomp enemy, a giant version of which resides on the top of the fortress. IGN noted that "Whomp's Fortress" is well remembered, and the level made a return appearance in Super Mario Galaxy as "Throwback Galaxy".

Jolly Roger Bay

"Jolly Roger Bay" introduces Super Mario 64 players to the game's swimming mechanics. Within a deep bay, this level features a sunken ship and the giant eel Unagi. Writers of Bleeding Cool and Destructoid describe the encounter with Unagi as particularly harrowing, Brittany Vincent writing how "its blank stare, razor-sharp teeth, and lightning-fast attacks combine to make it the absolute Unholy Terror of Super Mario 64."

Cool, Cool Mountain

In contrast to "Bob-omb Battlefield" and "Whomp's Fortress", the autological "Cool, Cool Mountain" is devoted to sliding downhill rather than climbing up. "Cool, Cool Mountain" introduced penguins as a recurring species in the Super Mario franchise. In this level, players race a large penguin down an ice slide and are tasked to help a penguin mother find her lost penguin child. A running joke among Super Mario 64 players is to drop the whiney crying penguin child off of a cliff. Following Super Mario 64, penguins appeared in the Super Mario Party series, Super Mario Odyssey, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

A detailed diorama of "Cool, Cool Mountain" is included in the 2021 Lego "Question Mark Block" set.

Big Boo's Haunt

"Big Boo's Haunt" takes the form of a haunted mansion locked in a bird cage. In order to enter the level, Mario has to defeat a Boo in Peach's castle courtyard and shrink down to enter the cage. Unlike other levels in the game, the atmosphere of "Big Boo's Haunt" is dark and frightening. Furniture in the mansion is possessed and attack Mario as he comes close, and the entire building is laid out like a maze. "Big Boo's Haunt" was likely an inspiration for the 2001 video game Luigi's Mansion. Shacknews writer Josh Hawkins praised the level for its atmosphere and the sounds of ghosts meandering around.

Hazy Maze Cave

Presented as a dark and damp underground labyrinth, "Hazy Maze Cave" features a subterranean lake with a Loch Ness-style plesiosaur. Named Dorrie, she is an ally that can help players navigate the lake, in a game otherwise populated largely with enemies. Though a unique element in Super Mario 64, Dorrie became a recurring species in the Mario franchise. Robert Grosso of TechRaptor called "Hazy Maze Cave" a controversial level in the game, as players can easily get lost in its maze-like structure due to the game's camera system.

Lethal Lava Land

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In Game Feel', author Steve Swink said that "Lethal Lava Land", alongside the three Bowser stages, is unnerving because it requires players to keep an unaccustomed amount of focus on their precise position above the ground. Swink contrasted this with other levels in the game, in which Mario's responsive movement feels more risk-free, and said that this contrast shows that the game's designers understood how to construct different types of levels.

A detailed diorama of "Lethal Lava Land" is included in the 2021 Lego "Question Mark Block" set.

Shifting Sand Land

With its entrance hidden behind a wall, "Shifting Sand Land" is a desert-themed level with pits of quicksand that can swiftly kill Mario and eject him from the level. "Shifting Sand Land" features a pyramid, which serves as a level of its own. Besides an extended obstacle course, the pyramid contains a unique mini-boss that can be reached after blowing off the pyramid's top.

Dire, Dire Docks

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Snowman's Land

"Snowman's Land" is centered around a gigantic talking snowman that Mario can climb, and features an igloo sub-level.

Wet-Dry World

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Nerdist praised "Wet-Dry World" for its strange mystique, especially in contrast to the otherwise sunny and vibrant levels around it, describing it as a "haunting tribute to amphibious living."

Tall, Tall Mountain

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Tiny-Huge Island

"Tiny-Huge Island" serves as an homage to "Giant Land" of Super Mario Bros. 3. A two-sided level, Mario can jump into warp pipes scattered around the island to enter an alternate version of it. In one version of the level, Mario appears tiny in proportion to the large environment and enemies, while in the other version Mario is huge and the environment is made small. Lucas M. Thomas of IGN said that "Tiny-Huge Island" displayed the impressive scale the Nintendo 64 could deliver.

Tick Tock Clock

"Tick Tock Clock" is a winding tower of moving obstacles themed as the inside of a clock. The level is entered by jumping into the face of a clock, and the speed and behavior of the level's obstacles depends on the time the clockface shows when Mario enters it. The level is considered notoriously tricky by casual players of the game. Anthony John Agnello of The A.V. Club stated that later levels of Super Mario 64, such as "Tick Tock Clock" and "Rainbow Ride", are "vicious in their need for precision", making them more enjoyable to watch in speedruns than to play. Josh Hawkins of Shacknews said that players can functionally set the difficulty of the level themselves, and that at its highest speeds "Tick Tock Clock" may be the most difficult level in the game.

Rainbow Ride

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The sky-based "Rainbow Ride" went on to inspire a stage in the Super Smash Bros. series. Alongside "Tick Tock Clock", The A.V. Club called "Rainbow Ride" "vicious in [its] need for precision." Game Rant lists it as the hardest level in Super Mario 64, noting its slow-paced magic carpet rides and hazardous falls.

Legacy

The levels of Super Mario 64 influenced the level design of other 1990s 3D platform games. Spyro the Dragon incorporated long views and distinctive architectural landmarks in its levels, and also included a playable hub area. Michael John, who worked on Spyro the Dragon, said in 2021 that "the level design of Mario 64 holds up to this day," and he continues to use examples from the game to teach level design courses. The hub world of Banjo Kazooie was similarly inspired by Princess Peach' Castle.

References

• Unreliable source, alas: https://whatculture.com/gaming/super-mario-64-every-level-ranked-from-worst-to-best