The Mario 64 ending

[GGovan]

So how did you feel at the time? I was seriously dissapointed..
I enjoyed the whole game, and I was expecting something amazing to happen, yet all we got was 99 lives..
Am I the only one thinking that it could have been way better, like another level, or Yoshi running around with you, etc.

 

[jose26425]

I definitely agree with you. Mario 64 was a groundbreaking game at the time, and I was expecting something more after spending hours upon hours trying to beat it. I found the entire idea of getting 100 stars so I can talk to Yoshi on top of the castle pointless. Why did I need 99 lives? I've already beaten the game AND found all of the stars...there's no need for me to play anymore, let alone use all the lives. Even the option of being able to play through again as Luigi would have been a decent reward.

 

[Esperahol]

That's kind of the point though isn't it? You've beat the game now go live out your real life - Mario might have 99, but you've only the one. I like meta jokes like that... also secret stars that required a great many of those 99 lives.

 

[BanjoKazooie]

I wish there was an extra world, where you would actually need the 99 lives! That would be amazing. Still my favorite mario game regardless

 

[steeleda]

I found the point that you could beat the game without getting all the stars pointless. I mean, don't get me wrong, this was definitely my favorite Mario game and probably one that I could still spend hours on, but I never got all the stars but I still beat the game. What was the point then? Perhaps they should have only made enough stars to beat the game and then be done with it but they didn't. It truly was very disappointing to make it that far, beat Bowser again, and realize that spending all those hours trying to get every single star was virtually useless.

 

[Y0shiM0n]

I want to play as Yoshi!!!

 

[gamerboy]

I really think that at the time the game was one of the greatest games that I have ever played on the console and I will tell you that I had so much fun completing that game and it was good. Now that when I go back and play the game I kind of see what you are talking about, but back then I never really thought much about that and I just thought that it was a really good game.

 

[polski691]

That's kind of the point though isn't it? You've beat the game now go live out your real life - Mario might have 99, but you've only the one. I like meta jokes like that... also secret stars that required a great many of those 99 lives.

I think you are reading a bit deeper into it than actually necessary.

Meta joke or not, I do agree with you. Some of those secret stars really do take a toll on your lives, and they would have been frustrating to achieve without those 99 extra ones.

 

[steeleda]

It is just a game, there really is no need to get all serious about it. On the other hand, it was one of my favorite childhood games and I wish I could sit and play it now (I have the game and a controller but no 64 . . . thank you brother). I just really found the ending a little disappointing.

 

[aboleth_lich]

Well, don't forget that in addition to getting ninety-nine extra lives: Yoshi gives Mario the ability to triple jump!

However, even with the triple jump factored in, I have to agree with the general consensus here: it is a bit of an underwhelming, anti-climatic reward for having collected each and every one of the Super Mario 64's one-hundred-and-twenty stars!

Perhaps, if in addition to the ninety-nine extra lives and the triple jump: Mario also gained access to a set of extra special, especially challenging bonus levels? Like Super Mario World's Star World? Or perhaps a more impressive extra power-up than the triple jump? Or even a unlocked extra character?

Honestly though, it's my own complaint in an otherwise fantastic game--and it's a fairly minor one at that.

 

[LitoLawless]

I always thought that you get Yoshi when you beat the game as well as the 99 lives. There was a secret area that you had to find or something along those lines. I remember the ending was a bit lackluster as well, but I felt that way for most Mario games. I can remember being especially disappointed with the Super Mario Sunshine ending.

 

[steeleda]

I got super frustrated with Sunshine pretty early on. I thought that it was going to be like 64 but it wasn't. I ended with a secret world that I couldn't figure out and I just gave up. It wasn't my favorite game. I've not ever heard that you get Yoshi when you beat the game. Then again, the internet wasn't prevalent when I last beat the game either so I guess I would have no way of knowing. Overall, the ending to 64 was a bit disappointing and Sunshine was a pretty big disappointment to me as well.