Super Mario 64 cover art

Game entry

Super Mario 64

1996 · Action-adventure, Platformer · Nintendo 64, Wii, Wii U · Nintendo

Super Mario 64 is ranked no. 43 among the best video games of all time by GameForever voters, with an ELO score of 1,886 and 61% of duels won.

World rank

no. 43

ELO score

1,886

Wins

61%

Duels played

2,527

Join the debate · 34

About Super Mario 64

Mario is super in a whole new way! Combining the finest 3-D graphics ever developed for a video game and an explosive soundtrack, Super Mario 64 becomes a new standard for video games. It's packed with bruising battles, daunting obstacle courses, and underwater adventures. Retrieve the Power Stars from their hidden locations and confront your arch-nemesis— Bowser, King of the Koopas!

• Run freely in a grassy meadow, tip-toe through a gloomy dungeon, climb to the top of a mountain, or take a swim in the moat!
• Leap headfirst into a watery painting and soon you'll be searching for the surface in an underwater realm!
• On-the-fly, 3-D rendered gameplay delivers the action of ruthless enemy attacks from every angle!
• Find the Caps that give Mario super powers and ponder the mysteries of the pyramid; you can even race Koopas for fabulous prizes!
• With the Nintendo 64 Controller and its analog
Control Stick, Mario can crawl, kick down obstacles, swim, do reverse flips, and even stick the landing on his backwards somersault!
• Saved game information is stored for up to four players in memory.

The community says

played this at my cousins house way too many times, still remember the slide level music stuck in my head for days after

ELO progression

Score moved from 1,500 to 1,886 ELO points over the last 123 days.

Head-to-head

Direct record on the most played match-ups.

In the same genre

All Action-adventure games →
  1. 3 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild2017 · Action-adventure 1,962
  2. 5 Metal Gear Solid1998 · Action-adventure 1,951
  3. 11 Red Dead Redemption 22018 · Action-adventure 1,928
  4. 19 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas2004 · Action-adventure 1,912
  5. 20 The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past1991 · Action-adventure 1,911

Keep exploring

Ranking of action-adventure games All-time best Nintendo games The best 1990s games Greatest games of 1996

Around this spot

The games Super Mario 64 sits between in the world ranking.

  1. 40 Assassin's Creed II 1,888
  2. 41 God of War Ragnarök 1,887
  3. 42 Elden Ring 1,886
  4. 43 Super Mario 64 1,886
  5. 44 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty 1,884
  6. 45 Diablo 1,884
  7. 46 StarCraft 1,882

More games from Nintendo

Released in 1996

The community

The debate

34 comments

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  1. Desiree_87

    played this at my cousins house way too many times, still remember the slide level music stuck in my head for days after

  2. NovaMaster2

    not gonna lie, the movement is genuinely great, best part of the whole thing honestly, but the camera actively fights you in half the levels and pretending otherwise just because it's an old favorite doesn't fix the actual problem people have with it every single time.

    NeonSniper

    Which star gave you the most trouble back then? For me it was always the one on the moving platforms over the lava.

  3. LaurySniper

    I remember spending an entire summer just running around the castle grounds before even touching a star, just to feel the controls.

    Kuphal99

    Replying to NeonWarden

    Won a lot of arguments with friends over whether it aged well, never really settled anything honestly.

    Phyllis_73

    I never touched the castle grounds like that myself, but I get the pull, some games just ask to be walked through slowly first.

    VinylOwl

    People keep bringing up the same summer memories every time this comes up, funny how a 19th place ranking never stops the nostalgia train from rolling through here.

    NeonWarden

    The 61% winrate against modern picks says more about nostalgia voting than actual quality honestly.

    Nova_Corwin

    Tbh the analog stick calibration mattered more than people admit, ever notice how much smoother it feels with a proper stick?

    lenoir_bernadette

    Je retiens surtout la musique de la glisse, comme toi, et rien depuis ne m'a fait cet effet précis

  4. claire72

    I get the camera complaints, you all have a point there, but running around that castle still feels magical to me!!

  5. Pagac35

    Beat this over a long weekend with my brother, taking turns each star, good memories overall.

    Kemmer94

    Taking turns sounds nice (until one of you gets stuck on the same star for an hour) but that's not really evidence it holds up.

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