Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 31, 2005

Super Mario 64 is a platform game, published by Nintendo and developed by its EAD division, for the Nintendo 64. Along with Pilotwings 64, it was one of the launch titles for the console.[5] It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, and later in North America, Europe, and Australia. Super Mario 64 has sold over eleven million copies. An enhanced remake called Super Mario 64 DS was released for the Nintendo DS in 2004.

As one of the first three dimensional (3D) platform games, Super Mario 64 features free-roaming analog degrees of freedom, large open-ended areas, and true 3D polygons as opposed to two-dimensional (2D) sprites. It established a new archetype for the genre, much as Super Mario Bros. did for 2D sidescrolling platformers. Hailed as "revolutionary", the game left a lasting impression on 3D game design, particularly notable for its use of a dynamic camera system and the implementation of its analog control.

In going from two to three dimensions, Super Mario 64 placed an emphasis on exploration within vast worlds that require the player to complete multiple diverse missions, replacing the linear obstacle courses of traditional platform games. While doing so, it managed to preserve many gameplay elements and characters of earlier Mario games. The title is acclaimed by many critics and fans as one of the greatest and most revolutionary video games of all time. (more...)

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