Super Mario 64 (VC)

But does everyone read the words and when it goes to Meta they see 10/10 and go that's perfect.

That's the problem unless the magazine or site makes it clear what 1 through 10 means then the individuals opinion of a score is going to be skewed but if they're not willing to read a review in the first place then why would they even read a description of a rating system?

Well said, sir - well said. Gamesmaster gave a good explanation of why they're keeping scores. It's Metacritic that's caused the problem of "what do numbers represent?", not the outlets that include them in reviews. They're scoring for us, not metacritic.

After what felt like the 47th attempt, I've nailed the Blue Switch Palace! The Switch Palaces were a great idea - where did they go?!

After having reached that particular part of the game, can I just say: Hazy Maze is bad and the person who came up with it should feel bad. Hella atmospheric and all, but still - bad.

Scores certainly aren't the problem, but the way they are interpreted -- by both readers and even developers -- are. That's why we had the annoying metacritic culture in the first place, where readers were refusing to even consider games that didn't score below 90(?) metascore, and developers would miss out on things like bonuses if their game refused to hit x or y metascore. It's a shambles. The other issue is writers refusing to use the entire breadth of the score scale, which is a shame. NGamer and its predecessors were never afraid to give a game proper criticism and a score that reflected it -- anyone remember Greener's Pokémon Diamond and Pearl review?

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Back to Mario 64, it was simply a delight to revisit this, and in 60hz no less! The game felt noticeably faster, which meant it felt new to discover. Years of getting to grips with how Mario controlled under the thumb meant I had to readjust. Readjust I did, though, and this game is still a joy to play, years later and sessions later. I'm not even going to go on about all the great pieces of design it brought to the world and did so successfully, like the freeform hub and the stars system making any objective matter.

I just want to celebrate how it's a real win for how a game can be expressive and how its developers paid real attention to how it plays. The way Mario feels to control makes nearly everything a joy to do, yes, even Hazy Maze Cave's stars. His wide and varied moveset, and the physics behind it all make such a difference, and the levels which contain all this complement it beautifully. These are sandboxes which are refreshingly tight and meaningful, where literally everything you see can be interacted with in any manner. Modern games tend to sign post various points of interest toward us because we have no idea what can be interacted with and what can't, yet Mario 64 makes it clear that this is simply a world to play in. I think the last star of Bob-omb battlefield (with the chain-chomp and wooden stump) symbolises this pretty well.

I think this is my favourite game of all time.

I was probably overreacting a little. However, the combination of tight corridors and the questionable camera in the maze, not to mention all the gas, is not good.

You're bang on about the level design, though. Maybe the reason this archetype hasn't been returned to is because Nintendo knew SM64 couldn't be beaten? But I'd still like to see them try.

Ever since changing the controls to B to jump and Y to attack, things have settled down and I'm getting more and more into it. I'm on 24 stars, which includes a complete exhaustion of Big Boo's Haunt - my favourite level of the game by far. Hoping to unlock the top floor of the castle before too long and reach Tick Tock Clock... my one true weakness.

As much as I loved the N64 controller, I've found that the GamePad's stick is so much better to control Mario; I've definitely been able to pull off more stunts on the WiiU version (e.g. getting to the top floor of the Big Boo mansion before the staircase, and discovering that you don't even need to do the bookcase thing). But I do know what you mean about the Hazy Maze Cave's camera guessing. That's one of the reasons I do wish they'd HD remake this as opposed to any Wii game; as well as the graphical upgrade, Nintendo's current Mario engine would eradicate the camera's archaic... qualities.

Today's painful piece of platforming: the final bit of the tougher star in the volcano. Lost at least four lives there, I did, seeing Mario miss his footing and tumble into the lava.

Yeah, I'd totally dig a remake that retains the purity of the original game, like Ocarina 3D. None of that nonsense added to Mario 64 DS, which took away from the game.

I've warmed to the Wii U GamePad myself. At first it felt plain wrong not to have the octagonal guide-ring around the stick, but it certainly feels smoother.