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23 June 1996 (Japan)Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Super Mario 64 remakes the platformer in three dimensions

The Nintendo 64's launch title invents the modern 3D camera

On the timeline · around 23 June 1996 (Japan) · 3D, CDs, and the Console WarsThe Crash and the Nintendo Revival3D, CDs, and the Console WarsSuper Mario 64 remakes the platformer in three dimensions19921993199519961997199819992000

Quick facts

Developer
Nintendo EAD
Director
Shigeru Miyamoto
Platform
Nintendo 64
Japan release
23 June 1996

What happened

Nintendo launched its Nintendo 64 console in Japan with Super Mario 64 as a flagship title, giving players a free-moving 3D camera and analog-stick control that let Mario run, long-jump, climb, and punch through fully three-dimensional castle grounds and paintings-as-portals to other worlds. Unlike the fixed, linear stages of earlier Mario games, levels rewarded open exploration and puzzle-solving toward collecting stars rather than following one set path from start to finish, a structural departure the development team, led again by Shigeru Miyamoto, built specifically to showcase what 3D hardware and an analog joystick could do that 2D games could not.

Why it matters

Super Mario 64 established the camera and control conventions still used across 3D platform games decades later, effectively codifying how a player moves and sees a 3D game world the way its own predecessor, Super Mario Bros., had codified 2D side-scrolling.

How we know

Nintendo Life's 2015 and 2016 anniversary retrospectives, drawing on its own contemporaneous and historical games coverage, detail the design choices behind the free camera, the analog control scheme, and the game's launch alongside the Nintendo 64 hardware.

Sources

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