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…

89 23 June 1996

Adventure Platform Action Fantasy Open world

Super Mario 64 is an adventure developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development, released 23 June 1996 on Wii U, Wii and Nintendo 64. The main story takes about 13 hrs to finish.

Verified 15 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Super Mario 64 is

Super Mario 64 is an adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development and released in 1996. It was published by Gradiente. It is available on Wii U, Wii and Nintendo 64. It runs on Super Mario 64 Engine.

The premise, in the publisher's words

On a bright, sunny day in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario goes to visit the princess but finds her castle eerily empty. Leaping through pictures hanging from the walls, he enters 15 magical worlds in a quest to collect the 120 Power Stars pilfered by evil Bowser and save the day. The game's vast worlds teem with daunting obstacle courses, hidden items, puzzles, and more than 30 types of enemies. Take advantage of Mario's large selection of moves, including running, jumping, swimming, stomping, punching, and even backward somersaulting! Special caps give him short-lived powers, including the ability to fly.

Description from the publisher · source

How it plays

It is played from a third person perspective. Its themes are action, fantasy and open world. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component.

Where it sits in the Mario Bros. series

Super Mario 64 is the 17th of 66 entries we hold in the Mario Bros. series. The next entry was Mario Kart 64 in 1996. Its critic score of 89 is 15 points above the series average of 74. The highest-rated entry is Super Mario World at 100.

See all 66 Mario Bros. games in release order →

How it was received

Super Mario 64 holds a critic score of 89 out of 100. That places it above 91% of the 7,525 rated adventure games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 1996 averaged 70, so it scored 19 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 89, across 2,088 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 13 hrs.

What it launched against

Super Mario 64 launched on 23 June 1996, within three weeks of Nights Into Dreams..., Star Gladiator Episode I: Final Crusade, Pro Pinball and Actua Golf. It reviewed better than all of them.

Released around the same time: Nights Into Dreams..., Star Gladiator Episode I: Final Crusade, Pro Pinball, Actua Golf.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Super Mario 64 yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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