It may be hard to believe, but it has been nineteen years since Nintendo established the 3D adventure platforming model with Super Mario 64. One of the most amazing feats of the game is that despite it being one of (if not the first) of its kind, it managed to put together memorable and awesome worlds. Here is a ranking. While I’m intending to rank these based on what I think is the best, the word best of course is subject to debate. Also, I am only ranking the main courses. No Cap Switch Palaces, no Bowser levels etc. Nonetheless, here we go!
- Tiny-Huge Island
The idea behind Tiny-Huge Island is tremendous. Problem is that it doesn’t quite work in Super Mario 64. When everything is huge the world is a chore to get around, but at least it’s not terrible. But when everything is tiny Tiny-Huge Island is the worst. Tiny Goombas run around like crazy and knock your giant self off the small island. It’s an absolute plan to get through most of the time. The red coin challenge in Wiggler’s Cave also feels awkward, but at least we get some solid platforming out of it. It has some good moments, like Wiggler making an appearance and the Koopa the Quick rematch, but overall as I said before, it’s a pain to get through.
- Tall Tall Mountain
Pretty much the most boring course in the game. Tall Tall Mountain has four notable features: it’s tall, it has a bunch of mushrooms to platform through, it has an annoying monkey and it has a somewhat difficult slide. Only the slide is a positive here. Being tall would be a good challenge, but Tick Tock Clock does the “scale the tall world” thing a lot better.
- Dire Dire Docks
Right up there with Tall Tall Mountain with being boring. Dire Dire Docks is simply two sections of water. It contains the Bowser sub, which unlocks Bowser at the Lava Sea. Problem there is there is next to no challenge upon boarding that sub. There’s also barely 100 coins here (I think 108 total?) so the entire challenge there is making sure you don’t screw up the blue coins. One of its potentially most interesting stars, Collect the Caps, is rendered useless as it’s actually easier to ignore the metal cap here. The only good star is the red coin challenge, as you must jump from one pole to another to collect them. Also has an area that if you get sucked in you end up in the moat outside the castle, which is an unnecessary time waster. It does have awesome music, so there is that.
- Shifting Sand Land
Probably the worst level I would consider good (which means Mario 64’s worlds are 80% good. That’s pretty awesome actually). The outside is a pain, as normal plains are slow moving quicksand traps, so if you stand in place for too long it’s hard to run out if you need to. There are tons of other instant death sandtraps, specifically around pillars you need to land on or the main pyramid. The pillars themselves are annoying to get to the top of as the physics around them are strange, and trying it with a shell, while possible and fun, is probably unnecessarily dangerous. There is a lot of good in the Shifting Sand Land though. Crazy boxes are cool. The pyramid itself is quite fun and there’s a fun little boss battle in there.
- Hazy Maze Cave
An interesting course for sure. Being that it’s a maze, it is easy to get lost and not find everything, but there’s nothing wrong with that. For the most part, this course is good. My only issue is that some of the stars seem a bit awkward to obtain. Riding Dorrie’s head is a bit weird. The actual maze with toxic fumes can be tough to navigate with beavers throwing rocks at you. The red coin star can be frustrating. But in the grand scheme of things, no biggie. Hazy Maze Cave is good and enjoyable and an interesting course to explore.
- Cool Cool Mountain
Cool Cool Mountain has a couple of good things going for it. The slide and penguin race is a lot of fun. The baby penguin star can also be a lot of fun. Wall Kicks will work, also a lot of fun. On the flip side, the snowman lost his head star is a bit weird. Other than that, Cool Cool Mountain is another solid, fun level, but it’s only tenth as other than the slide, there is nothing special about it at all.
- Whomp’s Fortress
One of the most interesting ideas that seemed to get dropped early on in Mario 64 is each world having a theme related to an enemy. The first world was a war between the Bob-ombs. Here we have the fortress of the Whomps (later, we’d have the house of the Boos). Anyway, Whomp’s Fortress is fantastically designed for the most part. Only issue is there’s a piece of the course when you’re platforming on small platforms that don’t really fit in with the rest of the level. Other than that, it’s thoroughly enjoyable and the Whomp King is pretty funny.
- Snowman’s Land
Gets the nod over Whomp’s Fortress as Snowman’s Land has many different interesting sections. Of course, there’s the whole point of the world which is climbing up the big Snowman, which is fine. There’s also an igloo, an ice sculpture you have to jump through, a big bully and some shell shredding. Overall, a really fun course.
- Jolly Roger Bay
This would be where I would start calling the levels great. Jolly Roger Bay may be the first recorderd water level that I really enjoyed in a video game. The music is beautiful (same as Dire Dire Docks…which gets all the credit for some reason as this came first) and provides a peaceful break in between all the platforming you did in Bob-omb Battlefield and Whomp’s Fortress. There is a tricky star where you have to launch yourself to a pillar and jump onto a small alcove in the wall, which gave me a lot of trouble as a kid. There’s also the ship, which leads to another section. Lastly, there’s a small cave that’s some fun as well. It does have one awkward star, the one that you try to take off the tail of the eel, but overall Jolly Roger Bay is great and so much better than Dire Dire Docks.
- Bob-omb Battlefield
One of the best first levels in gaming history. When I first saw that Chain Chomp as a kid I realized that gaming was in a totally different world now. Bob-omb Battlefield is the perfect first world to get used to how Mario works in his new 3D environment. We even get our first tease in regards to the Switch Palaces. There are also some great characters introduced as well, including the Bob-omb King and Koopa the Quick! It would be higher, but flying through the middle of rings of coins is an odd star.
- Rainbow Ride
There’s so much to do in Rainbow Ride! There’s two different main path ways that you need to ride a magic carpet to get to…as well as a platforming maze and a whole lower level. Rainbow Ride is a fun test of platforming. I specifically liked some of the stars here, such as Tricky Triangles. A real great last test of your platforming abilities near the end of the game.
- Lethal Lava Land
Really up here for its awesome picture and it’s awesome first section. The first section has a Bowser matching part for 8 coins that is unnecessary but cool nonetheless. Otherwise, you can shell shred the entire world and it may be the most fun part of Super Mario 64 period. The volcano is pretty bland admittedly, but there is some good platforming to be had here.
- Tick Tock Clock
I would say that this begins the top tier. Easily the most interesting course in Super Mario 64. Tick Tock Clock does the whole “climb a huge level” deal way better than Tall Tall Mountain does. There’s tons of different places to go here with each having a different challenge. Tick Tock Clock is easily the most difficult 100 coin star in the game, with only Rainbow Ride coming close, and yet the challenge of getting all 100 coins is quite satisfying. Really fun. Pretty hard, especially if you don’t know what you are doing. As a bonus, the level reacts differently based on which number you enter the clock in. Great stuff.
- Big Boo’s Haunt
Another level with a myriad of places to explore. If Tick Tock Clock is the better Tall Tall Mountain, then Big Boo’s Haunt is the better Hazy Maze Cave. The 100 coin star requires you to interact with the main enemies of the course, which of course are the Boos. There are boos all over the place which is to be expected. I had another crazy childhood moment with that damn piano. Anyone who claims they weren’t at least startled by is lying. Also has a really cool star which requires a cap, a wall jump and some running. Has only small flaw…falling into the basement is a bit of a pain. But whatever, the rest of it is great.
- Wet-Dry World
Another course that changes based on how you jump into it (the higher you jump…the higher the water level). Wet-Dry World at first seems small until you check out all of its areas. You realize then that his course was just made for platforming. Arrow lift star is cool…even though you can actually avoid it altogether. Getting to the Top of the Town and finding five secrets force you to explore the level. This doesn’t even include the downtown area…another fun platforming level with a fun 8 red coin star and a time based one based on the invisible cap. Wet-Dry World just has no holes. It’s an awesome course in an awesome game.