Imagine Bubsy 64. Ok? Cool?
Get that out of your head, that's digusting!
Mario 64 is galaxies better than that. Slightly primitive and janky compared to more recent 3D mario games, it remains one of the better 3D platformers out there. 100%ing the game has always been fun for me, I do it every couple years, and still has some challenges to it. Some iconic Levels and Music also exist in here, and some of Mario's moves still feel great here.
The only couple things that hold this ever so slightly back is the camera and some of the jank, but once you're deep into playing this it doesn't really matter in the long run.
Lovely game, one of the best of the console, it's worth playing now.

Just around a year ago I've heard about Nintendo 64 for the very first time. I was not a big fan of Nintendo, had been completing some Switch hits by that moment. First Zelda from Switch online made me fall in love with Nintendo titles and woke up my interest to games from past generations. Back then I watched reviews of Nintendo 64 with calm excitement and just could dream about having my own console. A year later I've been already diving into Super Mario 64 collecting stars and trying to set princess Pitch free for another innumerable time.
The game is really great. After almost 20 years since its debut it still pulls you in. There are couple of reason for that. Firstly it's inventive and not tedious. There are bunch of mechanics and nice puzzles from the beginning to the end which you really like to master. Secondly level design is developed with huge attention to details, you really feel it. Thirdly it has a balanced level of complexity. To complete the game you need to collect major part of hidden stars. That means you really need to learn almost every course quite well, facing majority of the ideas which game has prepared for you. It's nice point in comparison with modern Marios. Where you can just run through majority of levels and so get to the final titles missing bigger part of content on this way.
I even don't take into attention how inventive it was on the date of its releasing. And what's curious it's played absolutely nice in techical aspect. Strange-looking N64 controller appeared to be a super comfotable pad. Analogue stick feels great. I really like it. The only problem you need to get accustomed to old-fashioned camera. But you don't notice any inconveniences with it after several hours of playing.
As other games from Super Mario series it opened up for me when you want to beat it 100% and need to collect all hidden things. This particular game was a real challenge for me. I decided not to use any help from Internet and just see how many stars I'll be able to find by myself. I even couldn't expect that I'll finish up with all stars except one. That took a lot of time and efforts but I'm really proud by this achievement. Only experience of previously completed Mario games gave me a chance to accomplish that. Also that just proves there are almost no silly unlogical puzzles in the game what is great.
Soundtrack is brilliant as usually. Some themes are so warm and return you back into the childhood. All melodies match the spirit of the levels 100%.
In general the game feels very holistic. Despite the world is very small it was still an attempt to build an open world which you'd like to discover. And team managed to build it.
Why the game is not ideal? In my analysis of the game during its walktrough I was permanently jumping between marks 9 and 10. So till the very last moment I was thinking about 10 but still it's 9. First of all I asked myself a question: will I play it again any time later? The answer is probably no. After beating it 100% I don't think I'll be happy to to try it again struggling with camera and solving puzzles which I've already solved before. Another thing there were couple of courses which I didn't like for their atmospere. It was so uncomfortable for me so I hardly forced myself to beat them. And lastly this last hidden star which I couldn't find without help from Internet.. It made me a bit disappointed. Even during the month of constant playing I'm not sure I could find it somehow :)
Also one curious observation I made during playing one of the courses. Game there was so similar to Zelda Ocarina of Time that it was even fun. Dungeon, darkness, spiders and ability to hit your enemies? For me Mario and Link have never been so close as now. Later I read that Ocarina of Time was built on the same engine SM64 had been. That explained a lot of things.
Finally I'd say don't be afraid to give this game a chance if you think it went outdated. Those generation games have their own charm and attraction. Maybe you needed to grow up that time to understand it better.. I'm not sure. But they give you a feeling modern games can only pretend to give.

Super Mario 64 is probably the single most important video game ever made. It’s also almost assuredly the single most-cited “greatest of all time” in the medium, and considering what it did to the industry, it’s no wonder why. Mario 64 is still considered king of the speedrunning scene–a testament to the quality with which Mario controls. In fact, much of my joy from playing through it came from performing the iconic speedrunning strategies like Cannonless, (failing at) Owlless, and the endless staircase BLJ, to name the well-known ones. Unfortunately, due to a larger focus on tighter platforming as the game progresses, the later levels soured my taste on the title and struggled to live up to the excellence of the early levels in my opinion. Those early stages like Bob-Omb Battlefield, Whomp’s Fortress, and Cool Cool Mountain are near perfect displays of what makes Mario 64 so Super.