(played with the modern preset but movement settings changed to not include any additions from games past Galaxy, or Sunshine in this case)

Having stars not boot you out of a stage really changes how you go about clearing them, I was always thinking of what star I should get and in what order as I explored. It also makes the worlds feel even more like these bite-sized playgrounds as you go through

This is the ideal form of a QoL fork/mod/hack, every piece of constructive criticism you've ever heard towards Mario 64 is here and working just like you imagined them to, with some extras to add, all able to be ticked and customized into your most ideal version of the game, or something else if you're feeling funny

Almost wanna be petty and take a point off for how often my antivirus tripped with false positives while compiling this shit, but I genuinely can't be.

The coolest thing about the Mario 64 PC port existing is that it's allowed for so many unique takes on what's already one of the best video games ever made. Online multiplayer, visuals replicating the renders of the game's key art, the full suite of Mario Odyssey mechanics; as somebody with no idea how this stuff is programmed, it's batshit insane to me. I don't know if I'll ever fuck around with them, but we'll see what happens. Point is, some insane stuff can be done with the PC port, and even as an onlooker, it's been awesome to see Mario 64 evolve into an even bigger and better title.

Enter Mario 64 Plus. This thing is like if someone looked at Mario 64 and waved a magic wand to make it even better. Want that authentic Mario 64 experience? Hey, that's cool, the vanilla PC port's always there, but what if you've played the game a bazillion times like me and wanna spice it up? Then you go into the fucking options menu and start tinkering with stuff.

You wanna stay in levels after getting stars, and have the game automatically roll over to the next star on the list, to make for a seamless experience? Sure, go for it! You want the Mario Odyssey roll and ground pound jump, or Mario Sunshine's spammable dive to further expand Mario's movement options? Those are all options, too! You can make Mario's control smoother across the board, from on ground, in water, mid-air and even on monkey bars. Even small things, like the ability to skip cutscenes or the stage start screen can cut down on things dramatically, and made replaying the game once again feel like a breeze.

I should add that I kept my 120 star run a mostly vanilla experience, only using the Sunshine dive, Odyssey ground pound and roll, and the abilities stay in course after collecting a star and automatically start the next mission, and I'd still be showering all this praise if that was all this was. It can't be understated how much just having more movement options and the ability to stay in levels without getting booted can improve on what's already a damn near perfect video game. But 64 Plus offers a whole suite of additional modes for you to toggle on and off as you see fit, stuff that will definitely have me coming back for more. Green Demon Mode, where 1-Up mushrooms instantly kill on contact, probably expected all things considered given how far back the challenge dates. There's both easier and harder difficulty options, the former halving Mario's damage and allowing infinite health underwater, while the latter removes Mario's cap to permanently increase his damage and making races and bosses harder. Nice ways for new players to experience the game, or for veterans to get a new, more difficult shakeup. Or maybe you want a new spin on the game's visuals and level design? There's a take on Sonic Mania's Encore Mode, that not only gives all the levels a different colour pallette, but also flips the entire game horizontally. Only want one or the other, though? They're separate toggles, so don't worry about it!

Or if you really want the game to challenge you, how about turning off the ability to heal unless you collect a star? Maybe you want to try and beat the entire game on a single hit point per life? Or go in the complete sadist direction and have a permadeath restriction that'll irreversably delete your entire save file upon death, giving you essentially one shot to beat the whole game? Even stack them on top of each other for the most impossible run of Mario 64 you'll ever get? Those are all options the willing masochist player can do, and just having all these possible customisability choices is enough to make 64 Plus a more than worthwhile playthrough for those who've already beaten the original game hundreds of times before.

And that's just about the best way I can sell Mario 64 Plus to anybody. At its core, it's obviously still Mario 64, and Mario 64 is still one of the finest 3D platformers of all time even nearly 30 years on from its initial release. It'd have value on that alone, albeit owed to the standalone PC port itself. But all the different options make it a more than worthy recommendation to anybody looking to give Mario 64 either a first time run, or just another playthrough to add to a long, long count of revisits.

Probably the best way to play Mario 64 in the modern age. And while this port is practically perfect and while Mario 64 is a monumental classic masterpiece worthy of nothing lower than 5 stars based on sheer legacy alone, Mario 64 in general is just kind of tough to play these days, at least for me.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but this game is very frustrating for me to play. Compared to stuff like Odyssey or Galaxy or Bowser's Fury, Mario here in 64 controls not as good. Again, compared to other 3D platformers coming out at and around 1996, it's incredible that Mario controls as well as he does, but it's not 1996 anymore. I just think people see this game's incredible legacy and let it get in their way of seeing how it hasn't aged nearly as good as they say it has.

I recently also finished the PC port of Ocarina of Time, and I had a much better time with that, I think Ocarina in general has just aged better, and that's probably just due to the simple fact that Ocarina is not a platformer, so there's a lot less 90s jank that it has.

Now, don't get me wrong, the enhancements in the Mario 64 Plus fork are amazing and improve the game experience a lot, but some of the intrinsic annoyances I have with how Mario controls, or how a lot of the stars are designed are unfixable in my opinion. I got so frustrated I just BLJ'd up to final Bowser 10 stars early.